Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/402

 GRAYSON

GREATOREX

dynamite giin; gigantic revolving wheels which were placed on exhibition in Paris, Vienna, Madrid, Rome. Blackpool, London and other cities; an atrial torpedo; a cable system of torpe- does; and a railway carriage heater. In 1899 he invented the Graydon improved tiubine engines, which he claimed to be able to propel a ship across the Atlantic in three days, with a speed of forty knots an hour. In 1900 he was in Europe engaged in developing these inventions.

GRAYSON, William, governor of Maryland, was born. in Queen Anne coimty, Md., in 1786. He was a planter and Democratic politician, serv- ing in both houses of the Maryland legislature. In the constitutional convention of 1836-38 he was largely instrumental in obtaining the liberal instrument as adopted. He was governor of the state, 1839-43, and then retired to private life. He dieil in Queen Anne county, Md., July 9, 1868.

QRAYSON, William, senator, was bora in Prince William county, Va., about 1740; son of the Rev. Spencer Gray.son. He entered the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania July 28, 17.58, but did not graduate. He was sent to England and was grad- uated at Oxford and .studied law at the Temple .rij7;~ inns, London. ^55^ yt»,-. "■ < >ri his return to

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army he appointed Gi-ayson his aide-de-camp, Aug. 24, 1776. He was given command of a Vir- ginia regiment in January, 1777. and was espe- cially commended for his bravery in the battle of Monmouth in 1778. The Continental congress made him a commissioner to treat with Sir Wil- liam Howe on exchange of prisoners in the winter of 1777-78, and a commissioner of the board of war, 1780-81. He served as a delegate from Vir- ginia to the Continental congress, 1784-87; was a member of the Virginia convention of 1788 on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and in that convention with Patrick Henry opposed its adoption. He was married to Eleanor Smallwood. He was a U.S. senator from Virginia in the 1st congress, 1789-90. He died in Dumfries, Va., March 13, 1790.

QRAYSON, William John, representative, was born in Beaufort. S.C, Nov. 10, 1788. He was graduated at the College of Charleston in 1809, studied law and practised in Beaufort county. He was appointed a commissioner in equity ; was a representative in the state legisla- ture, 1813 ; a state senator, 1831 ; a representative

in the 23d and 24th congresses, 1833-37; and col- lector of the U.S. customs at Charleston, S.C, by appointment of President Taylor, 1849-.53. He was married to Sarah Matilda Somarstall, and their son, William John (1819-1861), was a lawyer and planter. His open letter, written to Gov. W. B. Seabrook in ISoO in which he deprecated the se- cession movement, was extensively published. He contributed to the Southern Bevicw and pub- lished; The Hireling and Slave, a poem (1854)-, Ohicora (1856) ; Life of James Lewis Fetigru (1866^. He died in Newberry, S.C, Oct. 14, 1863.

QREATOREX, Eliza, painter, was born in Manor Hamilton, Ireland, Dec. 2.5, 1819; daughter of the Rev. James Calcott Pratt. She removed to the United States in 1840 and was married in 1849 to Henry Wellington Greatorex, an English mu- sician. After her marriage she studied painting and etching in America and Euroi^e. She visited England in 18.57; Paris, France, 1861-63; and Germany and Italy, 1870-73. She first applied herself to landscape painting and subsequently took up pen-and-ink work and etching. Her paintings include: Bloomingdale (1808); Chateau of ^fllhlme Oliffe (1869); Xormandy {1ii>i2) ; The Home of Louis Philippe in Moomingdale (1884) and Bloomingdale, St. Patil's and North Dutch churches, painted on panels taken fi-omSt Paul's and North Dutch churches (1876). She illus- trated with pen-and-ink sketches The Homes of Oher-Ammergau (Munich, 1872) ; Summer Etchings in Colorado (1873); Etchings in Nuremberg (1875), and Old New Yoj'k from the Battery to Bloom- ingdale (1876), with an historical description of the localities pictured, written by her sister, Mrs. Matilda P. Despard. Her large pen-and-ink sketch of Dilrer's Home in Ntirnbcrg is in the Vatican, Rome, and her Old New Y^ork sketches were exhibited in Philadelphia, 1876. She was elected an associate of the National academy of design in 1868 and a member of the Artists' fund societ.y. She died in Paris, France, Feb. 9, 1897.

GREATOREX, Henry Wellington, musician, was born in Burton-on-Trent. England, in 1816. His father was organist of Westminster Abbey and conductor of the " concerts of ancient music. ' ' The son immigrated to America in 1839 and be- came well-known as a teacher of sacred music, organist, and singer in oratorios in New York city. He was organist of Calvary P.E. church and for some years of Trinity chapel, where he con- ducted a choir of boys and men. He published Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Chants, An- thems and Sentences (18.51). He was married in 1849 to Eliza, daughter of the Rev. James Calcott Pratt, and their two daughtei'S, Kathlene Ho- nora and Elizabeth Eleanor, became well known as artists and book illustrators. Mr. Greatorex died in Charleston, S.C, in September, 1858.