JOHNSON COUNTY, GA - BIOS  John F. Grantham

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Memoirs of Georgia, Vol. II, Atlanta, Georgia, Page 442
Published by the Atlanta Historical Association in 1895


John F. Grantham, farmer, Wrightsville, Johnson Co.,
Ga., son of Owen and Elizabeth (Gaddy) Grantham, was
born in North Carolina, Sept. 1, 1837.  His paternal
grandfather, Josiah Grantham, was a native of England
and emigrated to this country before the revolutionary
war, through which he served as a solider in the
continental army.  He settled in North Carolina, in
which state he married happily and became a man of
property and prominence, and himself and wife lived to
be very old.  His son, Stephen, grandfather of the
subject of this sketch, was born in North Carolina,
June 23, 1790, where he grew to manhood, married and
spent his life, and raised a family of twelve children
of which Owen was the oldest.  Mr. Grantham’s father
(Owen) was born in Robeson County, June 23, 1812, was
raised a farmer and remained one all his life.  He was
twice married - his first wife being Miss Elizabeth
Gaddy, by whom he had four children: John F., the
subject of this sketch; Ann, wife of Elias Mitchell;
S.E., wife of L.R. Daniels, and Catharine Ann, wife of
J.D. Rodgers.  The mother of these died in 1844, and
subsequently he married Miss Abigail Powell, born and
raised in Cumberland County, N.C., by whom he had nine
children, eight of whom reached maturity.  He died June
16, 1882, and himself and wife were members of the
Missionary Baptist Church, in which faith they raised
their children.  Mr. Grantham was raised on the farm,
and after attending the country schools finished his
education at an academy, after which he went to
Louisiana and engaged in planting.  When the War
Between the States began he enlisted (1861) in Company
A, First Mississippi regiment, which became a part of
the western army.  With his command he bore a part in
the battles of Shiloh and Shelbyville, in which last-
named battle he was wounded in the hip by a minie ball,
which he keeps as a memento of perils past.  He served
through the war, but was at home on a leave of absence
at the time of the surrender; his command was at
Nashville.  He returned to his North Carolina home
after the war and resumed farming.  Subsequently he
came to Georgia and settled in Mitchell County, still
pursuing his original occupation.  He remained in
Mitchell County six years, after which he sold out his
turpentine business and moved to Macon, in Bibb County,
Ga., engaging in other business until the present year,
when he moved to Johnson County, again investing in the
turpentine business, which he is now carrying on.  For
twenty years he has been engaged in the turpentine
business, which he has made a splendid success of.  He
is a wide-awake business man, energetic and
enterprising, and takes an interest in everything
calculated to develop the resources of his locality.
Mr. Grantham was married in 1866 to Miss Martha E. -
born in South Carolina - daughter of John R. and Sarah
(Ford) Watson, who bore him eight children: Sarah E.,
Beulah B., Owen W., Alfred P., lawyer; James M.,
druggist, Albany; Lena M., deceased; Virginia M. and
Lillie, deceased.  The mother of these children died in
1883, an exemplary member of the Baptist church, of
which Mr. Grantham is also a communicant.