Family of John Graves
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JOHN GRAVES (THOMAS, JOHN, THOMAS, THOMAS) was born 1715 in Virginia, and died Bef. 18 Jan 1792 in North Carolina, Caswell Co. He married (1) ANNE HERDON Abt. 1738 in Virginia, King & Queens Co. He married (2) ISABELLA LEA Abt. 1745 in Virginia, King & Queens Co, daughter of JAMES LEA and ANNIE TOLBERT. She was born Abt. 1744 in North Carolina, Caswell Co, and died Aft. 1774 in North Carolina.
In the year 1753 or 1754 John Graves, his wife and 4 children, moved from Spotslyvania Co., Va., to that sparsley settled area of Orange Co., NC., which in 1777 became Caswell Co. His sister Elenor, husband Thomas Kimbrough and family, moved there about the same time.
John Graves was born about 1715. He was the eldest son and heir-at-law of Thomas and Anne Graves, who died in 1768 and 1782 respectively, in St. George Parish, Spotsylvania Co., Va. Settlement of the estate of Thomas Graves legatees: Sons John, Thomas, Rice, David, Richard, Soloman, William, Robert; Mary Campbell; Sons-in law Thomas Kimbrough, Col. William Pettus, William Lea, Thomas Pulliam,, John Spencer.
Land was acquired by John Graves in Orange Co., NC.: 630 acres by deed from Hugh Dobbin; early grants of 21 acres on Ready Fork, 394 acres on County Line Creek, and 457 acres on County Line. Later Grants in Caswell Co. were made to him. Mrs Chales Iverson Graves, whose husband was a great-grandson of John Graves, stated that John Graves' "home was on the eminence quite near the public road leading from Greensboro to Milton, NC."
Name of the first wife of John Graves is not known. His oldest children were Thomas, d. before 1800; James, d. unmarried by January 1790; Ann married Barlett Yancey, Sr.; and John Herndon Graves. After John Graves Married Isabella Lea, they had the following children: Mary, m. John Kerr; Barzailli; Soloman, Azariah; and Isabelle who m. Thomas Slade. This Differentiation as to the mothers of the children is based on the painstaking study by Dr. John Goodwin Herndon, which provides inferential but conclusive proof that Isabella Lea, who married John Graves Sr., was not old enough to have been the mother of his older children. She was born after 1737 as the birth of her eldest sister, Nancy, was 1737. Isabella Lea would have been only 8 or 9 years older than John Herndon Graves, her stepson, who was born in 1746. Isabella Lea was the Daughter of James and Ann (Herndon) Lea.
John Graves Sr. has been confused with John Herndon Graves as being the representative in the House of Commons in the NC State Assembly, 1788-1791-1792, and a member of the state conventions to consider the Federal Constitution in 1788 and 1789 as a representative from Caswell Co. That John Graves Sr. was infirm in 1790 can be dedused from the fact that he did not appear in the Caswell Co. Court in Jan 1790 when the will of his son James Graves was "proved in Open Court by the Oath of arzillia Graves, a subscribing witness, also Asarias Graves esquire made Oath that the believed that John Graves Sen. was concurring evidence to said Will at the time of Executing the same." Also, John Graves Sr. was dead by Jan of 1792.
Exact date of John Graves Sr. death is not known, however, Administration Bond was filed with Caswell Co. Court Jan. 18, 1792, Appointing Azariah Graves and Soloman Graves as executors of thair fathers estate. The May 30, 1892 Court "Ordered that Administration of the Estate of John Graves, Dec., be granted to John & Thamoas Graves jointly with their brothers Soloman & Azariah Graves, who qualified accordingly." Inventory of personal estate of John Graves appears in Caswell Co., NC Rec. Will B, Pg 459, and states: "This may certify that the above mention part of said estate has been divided agreeable to all our satisfactions." Legatees were: Isabell Graves, Azariah, Thomas and Barzillzi Graves, John Kerr, Ann Yancey, John Graves, Thomas Slade, and Solomon Graves.
That John Graves was of strong character and leadership is reflected in his sons. they were prominent in their communities and state. Daughters married men who also had an important part in the history of North Carolina.
The ancestry of John Graves, Sr. our subject, can be traced to Capt. Thomas Graves, who came from England with the Second Supply in 1608, to Jamestown, Virginia. He was one of the charter members and stockholders of the Virginia Company of London, formed to make the first English settlement in North America. He was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1619, the first Legislative assembly in the Colony.
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