Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/477

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

In his new home he became a merchant, trading largely in tobacco, and by great industry and the judicious management of his affairs acquired a large estate. He left Westmoreland county about 1715. settling in Dumfries, Prince William county, \'ir- ginia, and engaged extensively in mercantile business and shipping. Benjamin Grayson married at Dumfries a wealthy widow, Mrs. Linton, whose maiden name was Susanna ]\Ionroe, sister of Spence Monroe, of West- moreland county, father of President James Monroe, an ancient and distinguished Scotch family. After his second marriage, to a Mrs. Ewell, he built a residence on a large tract of land that he owned near the Occoquan and Potomac rivers, naming the estate "Belle Air," the name of the former home of his second wife. The residence was a handsome mansion, built in manorial style, with massive carved oaken doors, wainscotted throughout, and with lofty columned front, and there he died in 1757. The first husband of Susanna Monroe was a Mr. Tyler, of the stock of the family of Presi- dent Tyler. The sister of Benjamin Gray- son married a Harrison, a member of the family of that later produced President Har- rison.

Among the children of Benjamin and Sus- anna Grayson was William Grayson, who gained the military rank of colonel in the war of the revolution, a close friend of Gen. George Washington, and elected a member of the first senate of the United States of America to take seat under the newly adopted constitution, but died a few months after taking his seat in that honorable body. On November 11, 1774, a military company <:alled the "Independent Company of Cadets" was formed in Prince William county, Virginia, and William Grayson was ■chosen its captain. Mount Vernon and Dumfries were within easy visiting dis- tance, and in that day there was much social intercourse between the Grayson and Wash- ington families, while, in the diary of (ien- eral \\'ashington, Colonel Grayson is fre- quently mentioned as a guest at Mount Vernon, often joining General Washington. in his favorite recreation of hunting. Colo- nel Graj'son was with General Washing- ton when he crossed to Brooklyn during the action in August, 1776, was afterward .at the battle of White Plains. He was later •one of a commission appointed to confer

with Lord Howe on the subject of the treat- ment and exchange of prisoners of war, and soon after a resolve of congress placed him in an administrative position as com- missioner of the board of war, succeeding Lieutenant Colonel Harrison. Colonel Grayson was elected a member of the Con- federate congress in 1784, and continued in membership therein until the articles ot confederation were superseded by the con- stitution as now in force. On December 24, 1784, the commissioners of the states of Massachusetts and New '^'ork applied to congress for a court to decide certain dis- putes between them as to boundaries, and Colonel Grayson was named by congress as one of the commissioners, his appointment immediately accepted by the contesting states. Colonel Grayson was a member of the Virginia convention called to deliberate upon the adoption of the constitution and although he opposed such action the zeal, ability, patriotism and statesmanship that he had exhibited was such that after the final ratification of that code he was, with Richard Henry Lee, chosen Virginia's rep- resentative in the senate of the United States. He took his seat in the senate. May 21, 1789, and on that day his name was placed on the committee to define the crimes and offences cognizable under the laws of the United States and the penalty due. He died at Dumfries, Virginia, March 12, i/QO, and was buried in the family vault on the Belle Air estate, the residence of his brother, the Rev. Spence Grayson. He mar- ried a sister of General Smallwood, former governor of Maryland.

From such an ancestry is descended John lirady Grayson, of this chronicle, son of George Washington and Mary Elizabeth ( Brady) Grayson, and grandson of Freder- ick William Spence Grayson. His father was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, and now resides at New Baltimore, Virginia. His lifelong occupation has been that of merchant, and in the war between the states he held the rank of sergeant in Company "C," Forty-ninth Regiment Virginia Volun- teer Infantry. Confederate States army, be- ing wounded in the action at Seven Pines. George Washington and Mary Elizabeth (Brady) Grayson had children: George P>ennett, born May 3, 1868; Thomas Keller, born November 3, 1880, married Mary San- ders and is the father of George Wallace