Elizabeth Grinstead
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: in (Henrico Co., Virginia) Christening: Death: After 1791 Burial: Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: John Grinstead (1718-1791) Mother: Elizabeth ( -Bef 1791)
Notes
General:
WGFA:
The William Grinstead Family in America (Gorrell Shumaker and John L. N. Grinstead, April 1974) considers Elizabeth to be a daughter of John Grinstead (1718-1791):
pg 12: "Elizabeth Grinstead married Isaac Phillips 12-12-1807."
pg 147: "Elizabeth was born in Henrico Co., VA. She and Isaac were married in Henrico County. It is said that they came to Kentucky."
COMMENT:
John Grinstead's 1791 will names 7 sons and 3 daughters. The order of the sons is roughly consistent with the order of their marriage dates (in the case of the older sons estimates based on the birth year of the first child). The sons are probably listed in the will in descending order of birth year.
John Grinstead, the fourth son in the list, was born in about 1756 (in his 2 Nov 1818 application for a pension, he is said to be 62), and his brother Richard was born before 1755 according to the 1800 census. If the brothers are in chronological order in the will and were born at 2-year intervals, the eldest (Jesse) was born in about 1750.
The will names three daughters, Milly, Mary, and Elizabeth, in that order. Mary is not controversial. She married Shelton Evans in 1794 in Louisa Co., Virginia and they moved to Illinois. An Elizabeth Grinstead married Isaac Phillips 12 Dec 1807 in Henrico Co., and a Mildred Grinstead married Ezekiel Smith 18 Feb 1811 in Louisa Co. The William Grinstead Family in America states that Elizabeth and Mildred are the daughters of John Grinstead mentioned in his 1791 will.
The 1810 census indicates that Elizabeth, the wife of Isaac Philips, was born no earlier than 1785. Her age in 1830 indicates that she was born between 1780 and 1790. In 1850 she is 68, indicating that she was born in 1782.
Mildred's 1811 marriage record states that she is under 21 years of age. Hence, she was born in 1790 or later. In 1850 she is 54, indicating that she was born in 1796.
All of the other children of John Grinstead (1718-1791) were born before 1765 based on later censuses. Thus, there is a gap of at least 17 years between their births and that of Elizabeth. In 1782 her father would have been 64. If John Grinstead's oldest child had been born in 1754, the mother would have borne children over a period of 28 years. That is very unlikely. If the oldest child had been born in 1750, the period would be 32 years (extremely unlikely). The father's age and the 17-year (or longer) gap are also improbable. There is nothing in the 1791 will to indicate that Elizabeth (or Mildren) was a minor.
That Mildred, born in 1790 or later, is a child of John Grinstead is even more implausible.
It is possible to trace Mildred's husband, Ezekiel Smith, in the census. In 1820 he is in Barren Co., Kentucky, in 1830 in Warren Co. close to Bartholomew and Thomas Grinstead, in 1840 in Warren Co., and in 1850 and in 1860 in Polk Co., Missouri where his wife Mildred is 54 and 68 years old respectively. So, she was born 1792--1796.
David Grinstead and Nancy Ann Warren are plausible parents for Mildred. They were married in Louisa Co. in 1793. If Mildred had been born in 1795, she would have been 16 when she married in 1811. David is still in Louisa Co. in 1811. 1795 is a bit of a tight squeeze between 1794 for her older sister Lucy and 1796 for her younger brother Bartholomew, but none of these dates are firm. They are all conjectural.
All of John's sons except Phillip are old enough to be the father of Elizabeth. We can eliminate some of them. Richard has another daughter named Betsey, a common nickname for Elizabeth. David and William married in the 1790s, long after Elizabeth's birth in about 1782. John had left Henrico Co. and was in Louisa Co. by the early 1790s.
James is the most probable father for Elizabeth. He is easily old enough. We don't have a marriage date for him. Apart from Elizabeth, his oldest known child is his son James, born in 1790. The principal evidence in favor of James is that in 1807 he is the only Grinstead in the Henrico Co. personal property tax list. Elizabeth married Isaac Phillips 12 Dec 1807 in Henrico Co. Jesse is in the Henrico Co. tax list for the last time in 1805.
We don't know when Elizabeth the daughter of John Grinstead (1718-1791) was born or what happened to her. She is in the sequence Milly, Mary, Elizabeth in her father's will. She may be the youngest child.
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