University of Virginia Library

Mr. John Grymes was the grandfather of Mrs. General Nelson, of York, and
of Mrs. Susan Burwell, first wife of Colonel Nathaniel Burwell, of Carter Hall,
Clarke county, Virginia, all now deceased.

In connection with this epitaph on Major John Grymes, who appears to have
been highly esteemed in Church and State, we give the following account of the
family, which is taken from tradition, the vestry-records, and some registries of
baptisms and marriages. It is believed that Thomas Grymes, who was a lieutenant-general
in the army of Cromwell, was the father of the first Grymes who came to
Virginia; that his son was well pleased to come to Virginia after the fall of Cromwell
and the restoration of monarchy, and there is a tradition that he even made
some change in his name when coming to this loyal Colony. The son's name was
John, who appears on the vestry-book as one of the vestry in 1694. He and Anne
his wife were sponsors to a child of the Rev. Mr. Gray, the minister in 1695 and
1696. They lived in Middlesex, near to Piankatank, at a place called Grymesby
to this day. Their tombstones still lie in an open field, upon the ground, and the
plougshare sometimes passes over them. Although the family has long since parted
with the place, I am happy to say that it is in contemplation to remove the monuments
to the old churchyard, where so many of their descendants are buried.
This John Grymes continued to act as vestryman until 1708, when he withdrew,—no
doubt from old age or infirmity, as he died not long after. His son John, whose
epitaph we have given, was born in 1693, and became a vestryman in 1711, when
only eighteen years of age, and continued to be such until his death in 1748,—thirtyseven
years. Whether the first John Grymes had other children besides the second
John does not certainly appear; but from a baptismal registry we think it probable
he had a son named Charles, as one of that name had a child baptized in 1734.

The second John and Lucy his wife had the following children between 1720 and
1733:—Lucy, Philip, Charles, (who died early,) Benjamin, Sarah, Charles, Ludwell.
Of these, Lucy married Carter Burwell, of The Grove, near Williamsburg; Philip
married Mary Randolph, daughter of Mr. John Randolph, of Williamsburg, in 1742;
and Benjamin married Miss Fitzhugh, sister of William Fitzhugh, of Chatham, near
Fredericksburg. Lucy was the mother of Mr. Nathaniel Burwell, of The Grove,
who afterward moved to Frederick.

Philip was the father of Lucy, John, (who died early,) Philip Ludwell, John
Randolph, Charles, Benjamin, Susannah, Mary, Peyton, and Betty. Lucy married
General Thomas Nelson; Philip Ludwell married, first, a Miss Randolph, daughter
of John Randolph who went to England, but had no children, then Miss Wormley,
by whom he had Mrs. Sayres and others. John Randolph Grymes followed Mr.
John Randolph to England and there married his daughter. Of Charles we know
nothing certain. Benjamin married Miss Robinson, of King William, and had numerous
children, (names of all not known,) of whom only Peyton Grymes, of Orange,
and one sister, survive. Betty married Dr. Pope. Susannah, Mr. Nathaniel
Burwell, of The Grove, and afterward of Frederick. Mary married Mr. Robert
Nelson, of Malvern Hill, brother of General Nelson. Benjamin, the son of the
second John Grymes, and who married Miss Fitzhugh, settled near Fredericksburg
and had large iron-works. He was the father of Mrs. Colonel Meade, of Frederick,
and of Captain Benjamin Grymes, of King George, by his first wife; and, by a second,
of Ludwell Grymes, Charles Grymes, Randolph Grymes, Mrs. Wedderburne, and
Mrs. Dudley.

The following is also worthy of insertion:—

"Here lyeth the body of Lucy Berkliey, who departed this life ye 16th day of December,
1716, in ye 33d year of her Age, after she had been married 12 years and
15 days. She left behind her 5 children, viz.: 2 Boys and 3 Girls. I shall not
pretend to give her full character: it would take too much room for a Gravestone:
shall only say she never neglected her duty to her Creator in Publick or Private,
she was Charitable to the Poor, a Kind Mistress, an Indulgent Mother, and Obedient
Wife. She never in all the time she lived with her husband gave him so much as
once cause to be displeased with her."—Copied from a tombstone at Barn Elm,
Middlesex.