William Grinstead 
      Sex: M
Individual Information 
     Birth Date: Appr 1790 - Virginia
    Christening: 
          Death: Abt 1817 - Barren Co., Kentucky
         Burial: 
 Cause of Death:
Parents 
         Father: Jesse Grinstead (Bef 1765-1820/1830)
         Mother: Lucy Deeds (Abt 1760-      ) 1
Spouses and Children 
1. *Lucy Grinstead (Abt 1794 - Abt 1817)
       Marriage: 24 Dec 1810 - Barren Co., Kentucky 2 3 4 5
       Children:
                1. Jesse Grinstead (Abt 1816-Abt 1845)
Notes
General:
WHO IS HIS FATHER?

The marriage records of Barren Co., Kentucky indicate that Lucy Grinstead married William Grinstead December 24, 1810. Who are they? WGFA (The William Grinstead Family in America, page 13) hypothesizes that Lucy is a daughter of Jesse and William is William Warren, a son of David. An argument in favor of this hypothesis is that Jesse's wife is also named Lucy. This hypothesis, however, has serious defects. Since David married September 4, 1793, his eldest child would be at most 16 1/2 years old in December 1810. A girl might marry at 16 1/2, but 16 1/2 is extremely young for a man. Another defect in the hypothesis is that David did not make the migration from Virginia to Kentucky until about 1818. Note also that William Warren Grinstead is a grandson of David, not a son.

We have an 1810 census entry for all of the Grinsteads who came to Kentucky, except for David. The official enumeration day of the 1810 census was 6 August 1810. All questions asked were supposed to refer to that date. The enumeration was to be completed within nine months, but the due date was extended by law to ten months.

The marriage took place in December 1810. Based on the policy stated above both bride and groom should have been counted in the household of their parents. Only Jesse has an available slot for the groom, given that we have eliminated David. Hence we say that William is Jesse's son. Only Jesse has a slot for the bride, and since he cannot also be the bride's father, we would say that Lucy is David's daughter. Remember, however, that David is still in Virginia in 1810.

One suspects that the above policy was routinely ignored, and it may be that the census was taken after December 24, 1810. In this case it is fully plausible that both bride and groom were living in Jesse Grinstead's household when the census was taken and that they were both counted there. Lucy could then be the daughter of Richard or James or David, but James and David are still in Virginia in 1810. That leaves Richard as the most likely father of Lucy.

Although 'Lucy' is a very natural name for a daughter of Jesse since her mother's name is Lucy, it would not be strange for Richard to name a daughter for his brother's wife. In fact two of Richard's brothers had a wife named Lucy. Note that James's son William named one of his daughters Lucy.

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. David Grinstead is in the Warren Co. tax list for the first time in 1818, and he is never in Barren Co.

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.

There is no reason to think that William's middle name was Warren. There was a William Warren Grinstead. He was Bartholomew's son and was born in about 1821.
picture

Sources

1 Maridell Fisher Fryar, http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com db: williamgrinstead.

2 "Kentucky, U.S., Compiled Marriages 1802 - 1850," Repository: http://www.ancestry.com.

3 "Familysearch.org," "Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2QD-MMYZ), William Grinstead and Susie Grinstead, 24 Dec 1810; citing Marriage, , Barren, Kentucky; FHL microfilm 209,748.

4 "Familysearch.org," "Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2Q8-11KR), William Grinstead and Lucy Grinstead, 24 Dec 1810; citing Marriage, , Barren, Kentucky; FHL microfilm 209,747.

5 "Familysearch.org," "Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2QD-MGG9), William Grinstead and Lucy Grinstead, 24 Dec 1810; citing Marriage, Glasgow, Barren, Kentucky; FHL microfilm 209,767.

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