Wilson Grimes Genealogy

Wilson Grimes was born November 9, 1801, and died in Wayne County, Tennessee, September 4, 1866. He was a farmer and a Primitive Baptist preacher. On March 26, 1822, he married Rachel Carr, b. October 11, 1804, d. August 1, 1852. In 1826 he moved with his family from Maury County, Tennessee, to Wayne County, Tennessee, where he settled on Mill Creek, in the Philadelphia community. The writer has obtained from the Department of Archives and History, Nashville, Tennessee, copies of three land grants issued to Wilson Grimes. Two of the grants were signed by Governor Aaron Brown, September 25, 1846. The consideration for the land was 12 1/2 cents per acre. A third grant was signed by Governor Isham G. Harris, June 11, 1861. These grants were for land situated on Mill Creek, a fork of Hardins Creek in Range 11, Section 5, and constituted a part of the 313-acre Wilson Grimes farm. In later years this place was owned by one of Wilson's sons, Henry Stanford Grimes, and still later (1900) by William Henry Grimes. At the present time (1957) the place is owned by Jack Shull. Wilson Grimes and wife are buried in an old cemetery just north of the home site on this farm.

The parentage of Wilson Grimes and Rachel Carr Grimes is not definitely known, nor is the place of their birth known. It seems reasonable to assume that they were born in one of the counties near Nashville, Tennessee, and that their parents migrated to Tennessee from North Carolina or Virginia. This assumption is based upon the facts recorded in history (H.T., p. 128 and 140) that the first white settlement in Middle Tennessee was established on the banks of the Cumberland River, where Nashville now stands, in 1779, and that the early settlers were principally from North Carolina and Virginia. There were only a few thousand white people in Middle Tennessee in 1800. It is known that there were some families by the name of Grimes among these.

Descendents of Wilson Grimes

Wilson and Rachel (Carr) Grimes were the parents of 14 children. The three oldest children were born in Maury County, Tennessee, and the other eleven were born in Wayne County, Tennessee.

Children:

2. Hiram Alexander, b. December 24, 1822 - no other record is available.

3. Elija Marvin, b. January 11, 1824 - no other record is available.

4. Matilda Jane, b. January 3, 1825.

5. Henderson Jackson, b. September 24, 1826 - no other record is available.

6. Elihu Sidna, b. March 30, 1828.

7. William Edgar, b. December 8, 1829.

8. Sophronia Adeline, b. March 5, 1831.

9. Emily Elizabeth, b. September 9, 1832, in Wayne County, Tennessee; m. (1) Jim Rhea of Wayne County, and m. (2) Nathan Biffle of Wayne County. They moved to Texas where she died leaving no issue.

10. James Eli, b. May 28, 1834.

11. George Hogue, b. January 27, 1836 - went to Texas as a young man - no other record is available.

12. Diana Alice, b. January 14, 1838 - no other record is available.

13. Henry Stanford, b. February 6, 1840.

14. Cynthia Ann, b. July 6, 1842, in Wayne County, Tennessee. She m. (1) a Mr. Gallagher, and had a daughter Emily, who became a school teacher and died unmarried. She m. (2) Joe Webster, a farmer on Mill Creek. They had a son, Wilson, who married Ivy Cypert and moved to Arkansas. Wilson had three children, Mary, Nannie, and Newt. The parents and daughter, Mary, died in Arkansas. Newt moved to Missouri and Nannie married and moved to Texas. Cynthia Ann died about 1900.

15. Peter Renfro, b. July 6, 1845 - no other record available.

Note: From the family Bible record of Melissa Keaton Grimes, dated 1854. Furnished by her granddaughter Lucille Grimes Nease of Plainview, Texas.