Jesse Grinstead 
      Sex: M
Individual Information 
     Birth Date: Abt 1816 - Kentucky
    Christening: 
          Death: Abt 1845 - (Hart Co., Kentucky)
         Burial: 
 Cause of Death:
Parents 
         Father: William Grinstead (1790-Abt 1817)
         Mother: Lucy Grinstead (Abt 1794-Abt 1817)
Spouses and Children 
1. *Malinda Staples (Abt 1812 - After 1860)
       Marriage: Abt 1837 - (Hart Co., Kentucky)
Notes
General:
CENSUS:

<pre>1840 Hart Co., Kentucky
Jesse Grinstead 10001 -- 10001; 1 in manufactures and trades; no slaves
male female
1 < 5 1
5-10
10-15
15-20
1 20-30 1
30-40
40-50 </pre>

<pre>1850 Hart Co., Kentucky; Sept 11; pg 533
1190/1222
Malinda Grinstead 38 F Va $--
Amanda J. " 12 F S Ky
Robert " 10 M S Ky
Thomas " 8 M S Ky
Mary E. " 6 F
Mary Staples 60 F Wd Va </pre>

She is not in the Slave Schedule.

<pre>1860 Hart Co., Kentucky, District No 1, p.o. Bear Wallow; June 23; pg 37
268/263
M. Grinstead 48 FW Va $250 Seamstress
Thomas " 17 MW Ky
Mary E. " 16 FW Ky
Mary Staples 71 FW Va </pre>

She is not in the Slave Schedule.


TWO JESSE GRINSTEADS:

There are two separate and distinct Jesse Grinsteads born in about 1816 in Kentucky, and the wife of each of them is named Malinda.

The adult life of Jesse Boles Grinstead is amply documented. In the 1840 census he is in Macoupin Co., Illinois. He married Malinda Hendricks there 5 Apr 1838. By 1850 he is in Polk Co., Iowa, where he remains. In the census he consistently says that he was born in Kentucky in 1816. The birth year on his tombstone is 1816.

So who were his parents? The standard story, which can be found in The William Grinstead Family in America, is that he is the son of Jesse Grinstead and Anna M. Gadberry, who were married in Barren Co., Kentucky 20 Jul 1814. They were married for only a short period of time. Jesse's estate was inventoried in April 1816. Anna bought items at the estate sale, so we know that she did not die at the same time as Jesse. She cannot be found in the 1820 census. She may have died or she may have remarried. In the absence of a marriage record, there is no way to find her. If she had remarried in Barren Co., there would probably be a record of it, but there are no marriage records for Hart Co. in that period.

Jesse and Anna were married long enough to have one child, and that child could have been Jesse Boles Grinstead. The place and date of his birth are a good fit. There is, however, ambiguity. There are two separate and distinct Jesse Grinsteads born in about 1816 in Kentucky, and the wife of each of them is named Malinda.

In the 1840 census in Hart Co., Kentucky Jesse Grinstead is 20-30 and has a wife 20-30 and 2 children <5, a boy and a girl. In 1850 Malinda Grinstead is the head of household in a census entry in Hart Co. She has 4 children -- 2 born before 1840 and two after. The youngest is six, suggesting that her husband died in about 1845. Malinda is still in Hart Co. in 1860.

So who is this Jesse Grinstead in Hart Co. in 1840? He has to be accounted for. Somebody has to be his father. Jesse married to Anna Gadberry was probably a son of old Jesse Grinstead married to Lucy Deeds, who moved to Hart Co. from Barren Co. in about 1818. The Jesse Grinstead in Hart Co. in 1840 is the right age and is in exactly the right place to be the child that Jesse and Anna may have had before he died. He is a more probable candidate for that child than is Jesse Boles Grinstead. All we know about Jesse Boles Grinstead is that he was born somewhere in Kentucky in 1816.

It is instructive to look for men named Grinstead in Kentucky who have a male child less than 10 years old in 1820. In 1820 there are 3 Grinsteads in Kentucky apart from the 8 related men in Barren, Warren, and Hart counties. Only one of the three has a son less than 10. He is Robert Grinstead of Fayette Co. Of the 8 Grinstead men in Barren, Warren, and Hart counties five have sons less than 10. Those sons can be accounted for, but there is another Grinstead who never appears in the census. William Grinstead married Lucy Grinstead 24 Dec 1810 in Barren Co. I have argued that this William is a son of Jesse and that Lucy is a daughter of Richard.

William is in the Barren Co. tax list for the first time in 1812, and he is there until 1817. He is commonly close to Jesse, Sr. and/or Jesse, Jr. After 1817 William is not in the Barren Co. tax list, and his wife Lucy is never in the list. Neither William nor Lucy is in the 1820 census. Presumably they died, probably in some epidemic. They were married long enough to have had a small number of children. Either of the two Jesse Grinsteads born in 1816 could be their son. Since there is an established story that Jesse Boles Grinstead is the son of Jesse Grinstead and Anna Gadberry, it will be convenient to assign the other Jesse Grinstead to William and Lucy.

The William Grinstead Family in America mistakenly says that Lucy is a daughter of Jesse and that William is a son of David and that his full name is William Warren. In fact, William Warren Grinstead is a different person. He is a son of David's son Bartholomew.

In the 1820 census there are 2 boys < 10 and 1 girl < 10 in the household of Jesse Grinstead and Lucy Deeds. They are too old to have young children. Those children can reasonably be the son of Jesse and Anna Gadberry (Jesse Boles Grinstead) and a son and daughter of William and Lucy (Jesse Grinstead in Hart Co. in 1840). One or the other of the two Jesses remains in the household of old Lucy Grinstead in 1830.

I am not aware of any documentary evidence that would clarify which Jesse belongs to which set of parents.
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