McGrady Family Info - Carroll Co. VA


Archibald Franklin & Sarah Ann Doyle McGrady
(Parents of Monroe McGrady)Archibald Franklin "Frank" McGrady was born March 15,
1836, the oldest of nine children born out of wedlock to Obedience McGrady.
Frank spent the first few years of his life on Burks Fork Creek in eastern
Grayson County (now Carroll County) before his mother moved her family to Blair,
just northeast of Galax, Va.  He received some schooling in his early years, but
the opportunity for an education was limited. Being the oldest child, he
doubtless felt an obligation to help provide for his family. 

The U.S. census of 1860 listed Frank's vocation as farming and recording his net
worth at about $70. The year 1861 brought with it the start of the American
Civil War. There was no draft that year since neither side expected a long war.
Northern volunteers were called up for ninety days--plenty of time, it was
thought, to crush the "insurrection" in the South.  Southerners were equally
optimistic, anticipating a quick march on Washington to dispose of Lincoln and
"the Black Republicans." 
Enthusiasm for the Confederate cause was running high by mid-summer after a
southern victory at Manassas, near Bull Run Creek. By year's end, 2/3 of the men
in Carroll County of military age had joined the Confederate Army--including
Frank, 25, and his brother, William, 23. Frank enlisted as a corporal at Delp's
Muster Ground in Carroll on July 25, 1861, and was assigned to the 29th Virginia
Infantry, Company C. His regiment received their basic training at Camp
Fulkerson, Abingdon, Va. In December 1861, they were marched into eastern
Kentucky and saw their first action January 10, 1862 at the Battle of Middle
Creek. By the Spring of 1862, it was apparent the War would last much longer
than first anticipated.  

Confederate enlistments were expiring and enthusiasm had dwindled. The Southern
government was forced to pass a conscription act (draft) to maintain their army.
A $50 bonus, called a "bounty," and 30~ay furlough were offered to all who would
voluntarily reenlist. 

Frank enlisted for three more years and when the Army reorganized that spring,
he was elected 2nd Sergeant. Frank's regiment next saw action in Princeton, WV
in May, and then participated in the Kentucky campaign that fall. In December
1862, the 29th was reassigned to eastern Virginia. Reluctant to leave, Frank and
several others of Company C slipped away and headed for home. His service record
lists him AWOL from December 17, 1862 to January 1,1863. 

When he rejoined his regiment, they were stationed at Petersburg, VA for the
winter. He was demoted to private and remained such for the duration of his
enlistment. His regiment was eventually attached to General George Pickett's
division but didn't go to Gettysburg. They remained in Virginia by order of
President Davis. The 29th was sent to eastern Tennessee in September 1863 but
immediately returned to Petersburg. They were called a second time to Tennessee
in October 1863 before returning again to eastern Virginia in January 1864. 

Frank took part in the attack on New Bern, NC in the Spring of '64 hefore
returning once again to Petersburg. His regiment then joined Lee's army for the
battle at Cold Harbor in June. For the rest of 1864 and the first few months of
'65, the 29th occupied an area south of the James River known as Howlett Line.
By the fourth year of the War, the Confederacy was a lost cause. The enlisted
men were half starved, marched to death, and, in the niinds of many, just
waiting to be slaughtered. By the middle of February 1865, Frank had had enough.
On the night of the 13th, he slipped out of camp and made his way toward the
Union line at Bermuda Archibald Franklin McGrady Hundred, twelve miles southeast
of Richmond. 

He surrendered to the union authorities and was turned over to the Provost
Marshall General at City Point, VA. On the 17th of February, Frank's name
appeared on a roll of rebel deserters received at Old Capital Prison in
Washington, D.C. One week later, having signed an oath of allegiance to the
United States, Frank was released and put on a train to Charleston, WV where he
was to remain until the end ofthe War. 

Frank's stay in Charleston only lasted 2 months. The War ended in April and the
way was finally clear for Frank's return home. His mother moved her family from
Blair in the mid~'s, possibly before Frank returned, back to the eastern half of
the eounty. When the 1870 census was taken, they were living on Big Reed Island
Creek, near Frank's uncle, Jackson McGrady. That same year, Frank purchased 70
acres of land from a neighbor, David Rakes, which eventually became the McGrady
homeplace.  In the years that followed, he acquired two adjoixi tracts of land,
making his holdings 127 acres in all. 

In 1876, Frank, in his 40th year and still unmarried, met 19 year old Sarah Ann
Doyle, a Rockingham County, NC native, recently moved to the area. Sarah Ann,
the daughter of an Irish immigrant, had apparently moved to the Fremont section
of Carroll County to live with her half sister, Louisa Alderman. The difference
in Frank and Sarah's ages (21 years) evidently proved no deterrent in their
relationship. On October 1.1, 1876 they were married at Sarah's sister's home by
Elder Mien Thomas. The first of their ten children (all of which lived to
auultho~) was born 9 months later. 

Frank was remembered as being extremely strict and hard on his family (possibly
a bit over zealous). The stigma he had endured throughout his life because of
his mother's unprincipled lifestyle no doubt fueled his desire to see his
children make something of themselves. 

Frank died February 23, 1894, three weeks before his 58th bIrthday. He was the
first of naany in his family to suceumb to pulmonary tuberculosis. He was buried
on the east ridge of his farm in what would become the family cemetery. All ten
children were still at home at the time of Frank's death; the oldest, Jim Frank,
was 16, while the youngest, Emaline, was but 3.


This placed a tremendous burden on Sarah Ann, but the family apparently had
enough to eat and a roof over their head which was about all common folks
expected. 

In August of that same year (1894) Sarah granted a six-year lease to a neighbor,
Elijah Largen, to farm the homeplace with the understanding that he was to build
a house and stable on the property as payment for use of the land. Sarah Ann
survived her husband by 10 years. She died at age 46 (cause of death unknown),
passing away March 6, 1904. 

She was born in Rockingham County, NC, May 22, 1857, to Peter and Bryna Isabelle
Alexander Doyle and apparently came to Carroll County atter the death of her
mother. Sarah was laid to rest in the family cemetery by the side of her
husband. Their ten children were: (1) James Franklin, born July 18, 1877; lived
on and farmed the homeplace; never niarried; Jim Frank died of pneumonia,
February 13, 1938, and was buried in the family cemetery (2) Lily, born February
6, 1879; married James Oliver Reynolds, August 25, 1898, son of Elder Fernanda
Corda & Julia Moles Reynolds; 

Oliver and Lily initially lived on the McGrady homeplace and then near Martin
Church in the Gladesboro community until about 1920 when Oliver's work as a
carpenter and millwright took him to Graysontown in Montgomery County, VA;
Oliver died of pneumonia in 1925 leaving his wife and children in dire
circumstances. 

Lily toiled untold hours to provide meager support for her famiiy; with the help
of friends and relatives, starvation was kept from the door, but their meals
were often scant, and the diet coarse; Lily died June 8, 1961, and was buried in
Highland Memory Gardens, Dublin, VA; 8 children: Earl, Grace, William, Stella,
Manuel, Cosby, Josie, Bonita (3)Napoleon, born July 27, 1880; lived on and
farmed the homeplace all of his life; never married (courted his life away);
"Uncle Pat" died of cancer, January 22, 1959, and was buried in the family
cemetery  (4) MaIliha Jane, born September 14, 1882; married James Ennis Nester,
April 4, 1901, son of John & Nancy Goad Nester; Ennis and Martha Jane lived two
miles east of the McGrady homeplace on Big Reed Island Creek; Martha Jane died
of Th, April 21, 1914, and was buried in the family cemetery; 3 children:
Bessie, Iowa, and May (S) Elizabeth A~Iine, horn September 14, 1882; twin to
Martha Jane; lived at the homeplace; died of TB, January II, 1916, and was
buried in the farmly cemetery; Adeline never married but had one child, Glenn
(died of TB; buried in the family cemetery) (6) Elva Salona "Kate", born March
7, 1884; married Rufus E. Joyce, July 21, 1920, son of James Calvin & Joanna
Dickerson Joyce; Rufus and Kate lived on the Joyce family homeplace on Snake
Creek; Kate died of TB, February 21, 1935, and was buried in the family
cemetery; 3 children: Warren, Shelton, and Annie Lee (7)Nora Savannah, born July
26, 1885; lived at the homeplace; died of a heart attack, February 9, 1938, four
days before the death of her oldest brother, Jim Frank; buried in the family
cemetery; Nora never married but had one child, Nellie (died of a heart attack
in the Catawba Sanitorium; buried in the family cemetery) (8) Wayne, born August
7, 1887; married Nannie Coffee, December 25, 1918, at Tyro River. VA, daughter
of Henry J. & Mildred Dodd Coffee; Wayne and Nannie lived in the Washington D.C.
area; Wayne died October 30, 1974 from a series of strokes; buried at Parklawn
Cemetery, Rockville, MD; 9 Children: Marion, Mary, Roy, Vinton, Herman, Hallie,
Jane, Fred, and Charles (9) Monroe, born March 1, 1889; married Sarah Zola
Joyce, March 18, 1921; 5 children: Hughes, Arvin, Claudie, Belle, and Joseph;
Monroe's second marriage was to Minnie Esther Farris McGrady, November 17, 1951,
daughter of George Washington & Caldona Dalton Farris; Monroe died March 2, 1983
of infirmity of age; (10) Emaline; born December 4,1890; lived at the homeplace;
never married; died February 27, 1913 of TB; buried in the family cemetery.

   Peter & Bryna Isabelle Alexander Doyle (Parents of Sarah Ann Doyle McGrady)

According to the U.S. Census of 1850, Peter Doyle was born in Ireland about the
year 1788. Family tradition says he was one of the two million Irish immigrants
that came to this country during Ireland's potato famine in the mid 1800's. The
famine set off one of the first massive waves of European immigration to North
America. A million people in Ireland died of starvation and disease, while
another 500,000 were evicted by British landlords (Britain imposed martial law
on the Irish, confiscating land and removing the right of the Irish people to
vote). 

"For God's sake, take us out of this poverty," wrote one Irish woman to her
relatives in Canada in 1846. "Don't let us die in the hunger." Early Irish
immigrants discovered the streets of America were not paved with gold. Most were
forced to work as unskilled laborers for little pay. 

When a labor force was sought to build the Chesapeake Canal in Virginia, local
plantation owners were requested to rent their slaves for the task. But the
plantation owners refused, replying "These slaves are too valuable. Hire
Irishmen, instead." 

The 1850 census listed Peter Doyle's occupation as a "ditcher". The marriage
register of Rockingham County, NC (located between Martinsville, VA and
Greensboro, NC) records the issuing of a bond dated May 14, 1850, for the
marriage of Peter Doyle and Briney Alexander. This, however, was not Peter's
first marriage. The 1850 census not only lists Peter, age 62, and his new bride,
Bryna, age 37, but two sons and a daughter as well. 

Whether Peter married in Ireland and brought his first wife with him, or married
after arriving in the U.S. is uncertain; but whatever the case, the 1850 Census
lists North Carolina as the birthplace of his two sons, Rawly, age 7, and
Pickney, age 5, along with his daughter, Mary age 3. Peter and Bryna apparently
had a rough go of it from the start. In October of 1850, indebtedness forced
them to mortgage their 25 acres on Tamblyns Fork Creek. Four months later the
land was sold at auction for $38.54, a little more than half of the $62.12 1/2
they owed. 

Exactly what happened to the Doyle family after the loss of their farm is
unknown. They were overlooked in the 1860 census and county records make no
mention of Peter or his first three children after 1850. It is known that Peter
and Bryna had at least three children of their own; a son James, and a set of
twin girls, Sarah Ann and Obediance, born in 1857. When the 1870 census was
taken, only Bryna and daughter Sarah Ann were listed. Peter had most likely died
by that time and the other children were scattered. Bryna probably died in the
mid 1870's since Sarah Ann left Rockingham County about that time to move to
Carroll County, Va. Bryna had a daughter, Louisa, born about 1836, that had
married a William Solomon and moved to Carroll in the 1850's. Whether or not
Bryna was married when Louisa was born is unclear. Louisa married twice more
after moving to Carroll; to Frederick Alderman in 1869 and William Hall in 1901.
Sarah Ann married Frank McGrady shortly after arriving in Carroll County. Her
twin sister, Obedience, married Frank and Sarah Ann's neighbor, General Lee
Goad, in 1882. Their brother, James Doyle, reportedly married and lived in
Roanoke, VA.

       Obedience McGrady Jenkins (Mother of Archibald Franklin McGrady)
In writing a narrative on the life of anyone, an effort should always be made to
be as charitable as possible without ignoring the facts. The case of Obedience
McGrady presents an interesting challenge in that respect. A woman that has nine
children out of wedlock by at least 3 or 4 different men could hardly be
considered a promoter of virtue and integrity; and yet, for all her faults it
appears that Obedience was well liked by most who knew her. Carroll County
lawyer and historian John Alderman recalls overhearing a conversation between
his aunt, Roxina Alderman Hurst and Obedience's second son, William, in which
William expressed much regret over his mother's moral neglect. 

Mrs. Hurst attempted to console William by reminding him that his mother had
been a good friend and neighbor to all around her. She had served the community
as a nurse and midwife, and, according the Mrs. Hurst, could have been elected
to public office if she had ran. King Solomon said many years ago that a
neighbor "that is near" is better than a brother "far off" (Prov. 27:10), and
that would have applied to Obedience McGrady as much as anyone.  According to
family researchers, Obedience was born May 5, 1813 at Oldtown, Grayson County,
VA. Whether the 1813 birth date is correct or not is uncertain since the dates
Obedience gave didn't match it. In the 1850 & 60 censuses, she gave her age as
35 and 45 respectively, placing her date of birth at about 1815; when she
married in September 1879, she gave her age as 61, making her birth date 1818;
less than a year later, in the census of 1880, her age was listed as 63, which
would place her birth date at 1817. Apparently she really didn't know when she
was born or didn't care to tell, one. Obedience is thought to be the youngest of
four children born to William and Lucy Spence McGrady. 

Practically nothing is known about her father except his name. William McGrady
supposedly left his wife and children shortly after Obedience was born. Her
mother, Lucy, eventually moved the family (which included three children born
out of wedlock after her husband left) to the eastern edge of Grayson County on
Burks Fork Creek where many of her Spence relatives were then living.
Obedience's first child, Archibald Franklin, was born in 1836. 

It appears she had at least four more children, possibly five, before leaving
the Burks Fork area in the 1840's to move across the county to Blair (present
day Cliftview community, northeast of Galax). Her next five children were;
William Carter; born 1838; Eliza Jane, born 1840; Granville, born 1842; Julian,
born 1844; Mary Ann, born 1848.  Her family experienced some extremely lean
times while living on Burks Fork. In the summer of 1844, they lived for two
weeks on blackberries picked in the field each day and without the help of a
neighbor, George Alderman (grandfather of John Alderman), would have starved
out. 

Since Obedience was illiterate and had a sizable family to provide for, it seems
most likely an offer of work precipitated her move across the county. Her second
son, William, stayed behind, remaining on Burks Fork with relatives. The 1850
census found Obedience and her children living at Blair on the property of a Mr.
Obediah Leonard. Mr. Leonard was an older man and possibly had hired Obedience
to care for he and his wife. After his death in 1852, his personal property was
sold at auction in May of that same year (Carroll County Will Book No.1). 

The record shows Obedience purchasing several items sold that day: churn, 25
cents; tub, .6V4; kettle, .25; pot, .25; smoothing iron, .40; knives, .16; wool
cards, .15; 2 crocks, .25; bucket, .6'A. Obedience's three oldest sons, Frank,
William, and Granville, along with her son-in-law, Archibald Hawks, all served
in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865). All four
lived to return home. Granville went west after the war, staying some twenty-
five years before returning to Carroll County to marry in 1892. Obedience's last
three children were born while she lived at Blair; Emaline, born 1852; Samuel
born 1853, 'died of scarlet fever at age 3; George Washington, born 1862. 

She resided in the Blair community somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20
years before moving back to the eastern part of Carroll County in the mid-I
860's. When the 1870 census was taken, it appears she was living on Big Reed
Island Creek near Crooked Oak. Obedience finally married in 1879. On September
18, at the home of her nephew, Richard McGrady, she wed Johnson Jenkins, age 74,
a widower and blacksmith by trade, son of Gentry and Susanna Hamblin Jenkins.
They resided at Johnson's home in the Silverleaf section of Carroll County, just
off present day route #660. 

After her husband's death in October 1888, Obedience spent her last days at the
home of her daughter, Emaline Kemp. She died there June 6, 1900, and was buried
on her son William's homeplace, in the Will McGrady cemetery. Her nine children
were: (1) ArchibaId Franklin, Born March 15, 1836, married Sarah Ann Doyle,
October 11, 1876, daughter of Peter and Bryna Alexander Doyle; died February 23,
1894 of TB. (2) William Carter; born February 9, 1838; enlisted in the
Confederate Army, May 29, 1861; assigned to the 45th Virginia Infantry, Company
1; promoted to Captain in 1862; married Lenorah Sutphin, April 24, 1866,
daughter of Hendrick L. & Huldah Turman Sutphin; William was a farmer and
surveyor; died February 2, 1929; buried in the Will McGrady Cemetery; 14
children: Laura M., married James Anderson Mabry; John Cabel, married Maggie
Shepherd; Alvis Lee (Abner), married Sallie Anderson; Mahulda E., married
Thompson E. Harris; Lucy Haver, married Newton Nicewander; Cora A., married Wise
Martin; Tobitha E., died at age 5; Stephen C., died in infancy; Charlotte
Florence, married Elbert Everett Mabry; Elcanon Clinton (Cain), married Lizzie
Scales; Eliza C., died in infancy; William E., died at age 5; Christopher
M.,married Linnie Scales; Beacher D., died in infancy (3) Eliza Jane, born
January 1840; married Francis Jones, September 5, 1865, in Surry County, NC;
Francis and Eliza lived in the Stuarts Creek section of Surry Co.; 6 children:
julia Ann, Robert M., Blanch G., Larma B., Eliza, and Waller R.; Francis Jones
had 3 children by 'a previous marriage; Martha, Mary, and William (4) Granville,
born January 10, 1842; enlisted in the Confederate Army March 5, 1862; assigned
to the 29th Virginia Infantry, Company C & F; wounded in action at Drewry's
Bluff'; married Jestin Henley, January 20, 1892, daughter of Lewis & Susan
Horton Henley; Granville was 25 years older than his wife; they lived south of
Hillsville in the present day Sunnyside community; Granville died December 7,
1913; buried in the Henley Cemetery; children: Hattie, married D. Philip Goad;
Haver Ellen, married Dixie Lee Bolt; Hulda, married Burtron Alderman; Harley,
married Abbie Worrell; Ellis, married Golda Webb; 2nd marriage, Lettie Alderman
Horton; several other children dying in infancy (5) Julian (Julia Ann), born
1844; married Archibald Henderson Hawks, son of Thomas & Susan Stewart Hawks;
Archibald and Julian most likely married in Carroll County in 1860; they moved
from Carroll to Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia in the early 1870's; Jul
ian died April 11, 1900 (age 56) of spinal meningitis; she and Archibald were
both buried in the She Iburne Cemetery in Pennington Gap; 9 children: Fannie
j.,married J. M. Baumgardner; Mary Emiline, married Elbert Marion Smyth; Andrew
Guy, married Lillie C. Overton; Orville Monroe, married Laura Amanda Clemmons;
Newell Emmett, married Mollie Haburne; 2nd marriage, Dolly Farley; Laura Alice,
married David Whitaker Smyth; Floyd Saunders, married Zella Blanche Moyers;
Crockett, married Mary Wynn; 2nd marriage, Dolly Farley; Dora, died in infancy
(7 mo.) (6) Mary Ann, born December 25, 1848; married William Leander Hurst, May
23, 1867, son of Franklin & Charity Montgomery Hurst; died September 20, 1932;
buried in the Hurst Cemetery; 5 children: Columbus, married ___Craig; Francis
Marion, died at 16; Lillie V., married Thomas Jefferson Bolt; Laura E., married
Jessie Franklin Gardner; Phillip, married Louinda Hundley (7) Emaline, born May
20, 1851; married James Benjamin (Ben) Kemp, March 23, 1871, son of William L. &
Lamina Sutphin Kemp; Ben and Emaline lived just off present day route #660 near
Burks Fork Creek; Emaline died April 25, 1929; buried in the Kemp Cemetery; 7
children: William Albert, married Catherine Elizabeth Harris; David Lee, married
Arminda Bell Turman; 2nd marriage, Myrtle  ?; Laura A.,married Cabel Tilden
Marshall; Stephen A. Douglas, married Lula Justin Cain; Martha Jane, married
Robert B. Duncan; Samuel Dexter (Deck), married Hattie Florence Turman; Cora
Lillian, married Budd Sutphin (8) Samuel, born 1853; died December 20, 1856 of
scarlet fever (9) George Washington, born 1862; married Sarah Jane Hardy,
November 9, 1880, daughter of Henry & Jestin Jennings Hardy; died 1897; buried
at the homeplace on Dog Ridge in Carroll County; 7 children: Dora E., married
Epp Williams; Granville Everett (Ebb), married Mellie Burnett; Henry Arthur,
married Gertrude Lindsey; 2nd marriage, Stella Alice Worrell; George Washington
(Wash), married Ada Montgomery; 2nd marriage in West Virginia; Isaac B. (Ike),
married Rosa  ?; Mary E., died in infancy; Luke, married Ola Lewis William &
Lucy Spence McGrady (Parents of Obedience McGrady Jenkins) William McGrady - Who
was that masked man? It's doubtftil the truth about William McGrady will ever be
known. A lack of documented information has left researchers in the dark for
several generations now. As far as is known, the only place his name has ever
been found is on the marriage license of his daughter, Obedience McGrady
Jenkins. A mixture of family tradition and speculation has produced a variety of
William McGrady stories. One account has William immigrating to the U.S. from
Ireland with two of his brothers. After arriving at Port of Boston, Mass., they
separated; one remained in the north, one went west, and one traveled south.
Another version has one brother settling in North Carolina, one in the west, and
William in Grayson Co., Virginia. 

Some have held to the belief that William was a descendent of the McGradys from
Virginia, his family moving to North Carolina, where William was born, raised,
and married. Tax and census records indicate there were McGradys in Virginia and
North Carolina, as well as Pennsylvania and Kentucky in the middle and late
1700's, but exactly where William may have fit into the picture is uncertain at
best. 

The U.S. Census of 1880 lists Virginia as the birthplace of both of Obedience
McGrady Jenkins' parents; but then again, anyone familiar with old census
records knows that much of the information recorded in early censuses was
incorrect. What does appear certain is that William McGrady married Lucy Spence,
believed to be the niece of Burwell Spence, a Revolutionary War veteran born in
Bedford Co., Va., circa 1763. The official record of their marriage has
apparently been lost, but if tradition is correct, they were probably married
about the year 1807. Family researchers have concluded that William and Lucy had
4 daughters; Dorcas, Mary Ann, Nancy and Obedience. Of the 4, only Obedience is
well documented. (I) Dorcas, born circa 1808, Oldtown, Grayson Co., Va.; married
and moved to Kentucky (2) Mary Ann, born circa 1810, Oldtown; went to Kentucky
w)th Dorcas; died circa 1885 (3) Nancy, born circa 1811, Oldtown; married Thomas
Day, Dec. 9, 1830, son of seph & Rhoda Cock Day; Thomas and Nancy most likely
lived on Burks Fork Creek in what is now Carroll Co.; Nancy was a member of New
Hope Primitive Baptist Church; ~he was granted a letter of dismission from the
church in April 1838 and apparently moved away; many of Thomas and Nancy's
descendants have been found in Kentucky (4) Obedience, born circa 1815, Oldtown;
married Johnson Jenkins, September 18, 1879; died June 6, 1900. 

According to family tradition, William and Lucy's relationship was shortAived.
William supposedly left Lucy (for reasons unknown ) and later married an Indian.
Sometime after their separation, Lucy entered into a common law union with a man
named John Hale, by whom she had her last 3 children, Jackson, John, and
Virginia. Admittedly, such allegations cannot be verified beyond all doubt, but
the evidence certainly is suggestive. Consider: Lucy's oldest son, Jackson, was
quoted as saying that John Hale was indeed his father; the minister's return on
John McGrady's second marriage (1853) states that his mother's name was Lucy
McGrady but the name of his father was not known ( the return was submitted by
Lucy's pastor, Elder William Lawson ); Lucy's youngest child, Virginia, was born
in 1822; two years after the 1820 census had listed Lucy as the head of her
household, indicating the absence of a husband. The following excerpts were
taken from a letter dated July 24, 1979, written by Parley P. Huff, a great-
grandson of Jackson McGrady:  Shortly before my mother died in May 1911, she
visited with many of her McGrady relatives and gathered all the information she
could get from them. At that time her father, Andrew Jackson McGrady (Jackson
McGrady's son) and most of his brothers were still living which gave her access
to people who had family bibles and were old enough to know many family
traditions. My two sisters, Nora and Annie, compiled the data my mother
collected and also collected more by corresponding with relatives and
descendants of the McGradys... concerning the father of John McGrady, I can only
answer by pointing out that Jackson McGrady said his father was John Hale and he
[Jacksonj was about a year older than John jMcGrady]. . .since John Hale and
Lucy Spence were apparently never legally married.. the mother gave all of her
children the surname McGrady." 

Regardless of what Lucy may have been guilty of, we feel certain her sins were
all forgiven. In August 1835, she was received by experience into the fellowship
of New Hope Primitive Baptist Church and some years later was a charter member
of Laurel Fork Primitive Baptist Church, organized in 1846. Apparently Lucy left
Oldtown (West of present day Galax) in the early 1830's, moving to a tract of
land owned by her near kinsman, Burwell Spence, on Burks Fork Creek near the
Floyd County line (which was the general vicinity of New Hope Church). She moved
again in the 1840's, probably about the time Laurel Fork Church was organized,
settling just west of the meeting house. Lucy's name last appeared in the 1860
census. 

It is believed she died about the year 1865 and possibly was buried in the
Spence Cemetery, .5 mile northwest of Laurel Fork Church. Lucy's last 3 children
were: (5) Jackson, born August 13, 1819, Oldtown, Grayson Co., Va.; married
Sarah Watson, Nov.26, 1839; 2 children; John P., died in the Civil War; Louisa,
married Major Thomas Webb; Jackson's second marriage was to Hannah Thompson
Cock, Feb. 1, 1846, daughter of Nathaniel & Hannah Buchanan Thompson, widow of
James Cock; 8 Children; James W., married Annie Marshall; Sarah Jane, married
Jehue Scott; Andrew Jackson, married Rebecca Ann Cruise; Richard T., married
Dorinda Goad; Allen T., married Nancy Webb; Joseph Jefferson, married Rachel L.
Hardy; Lucy F., died in infancy; Ruth A., died in infancy; Jackson lived just
east of Big Reed Island Creek on the south side of present day U.S. Route 58;
member of Laurel Fork Primitive Baptist Church; died April 4, 1893 and was most
likely buried in the McGrady-Thomas Cemetery near his home. (6)John, born circa
1820; the minister's return on John's second marriage lists Ashe Co., NC as his
place of birth buj~the 1850 & 60 censuses list his birthplace as Virginia;
married Olive Pratt, Dec.13, 1841, daughter of Jessie Pratt; 2 children; Sarah
Ann, married Silas Spence; Ira J., married Sarah J. Thomas; John's second
marriage was to Frances Marshall, Oct.23, 1853, daughter of Elijah & Susanah
Stanley Marshall; 6 children; Valaria, married Herbert Mars~all; William
Preston, married Laura G. ~w&ds; Martha Jane, married Caleb Bowman; Ennis,
married Letitia Moles; JoIm Dixie, married Rhoda Ann Jk)wman; Lucy F., married
Brazilla Bolt; John enlisted in the Confederate Army, Nov.15, 1863; he was
captured at the battle of Piedmont, June 5, l864 and died while a prisoner of
war at Camp Morton, Indiana, Dec. 23,1864. John was buried in Green Lawn
Cemetery, grave NO.1217, but later moved to Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis,
IN (7) Virginia Jane, born 1822, Oldtown; married Isaac Mabry, April 13, 1848,
son of Charles & Sarah Mabry; Jane's only child, Annice, was born out of
wedlock; Annice McGrady married Jonathan Dalton; Jane died Dec.16, 1907

Submitted by Gordon Williams <gordonwilliamsgso@hotmail.com>

****************************************************************

USGENWEB NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied
for personal use only.

****************************************************************