This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: foxfndr Surnames: Griffin Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.griffin/6783/mb.ashx Message Board Post: William Griffin b. abt 1750-60, ____________ d. aft 1814, ____________ married: ______________________ ________________ b. ____________________ d. ____________________ children: Spencer, Thomas, William, Jacob, John, Dillie, Elizabeth 1778: Washington Co., Tn., Military issue Land Grant for 104 acres on south side of Roan Creek, adjoining Edward Switians. Entry date 12-28-1778. Register date 10-23-1782. Grant #20. Issued By N.C. 1779: Washington Co., Tn., Military issue Land Grant for 200 acres on Roan Creek, adjoining Jacob Heathericks. Entry date, 1-1-1779. Register date 4-27-1793. Grant # 1610. Issued by N.C. 1782: Washington Co., Tn., Land Grant #26 registered. 1782: Davidson Co., Tn., Military Issue Land Grant for 640 acres on the Little Harpeth River. Issued by N.C. 1783: Davidson Co., Tn., Land Grant # 73 registered. 1790: Washington Co., Tn., Land Grant # 924 registered. 1798: Juror in the case of the State VS Acklin & Hunt in Jefferson County, Tn. 8-2-1798. 1802: William testifies that he holds nothing that belongs to Isaac Wright, Nor does he know of anyone who does. Jefferson Co., Tn. 7-22-1802. 1803: William on jury duty, Jefferson Co., Tn. 1-1803. 1803: William on jury duty, Jefferson Co., Tn. 1-1803. 1803: William on jury duty, Jefferson Co., Tn. 1-1803. 1803: William to help prepare work on the road near his property at the Mouth of Copeland Creek, Jefferson Co., Tn. 7-1803. 1804: William on jury duty, Jefferson Co., Tn., 10-1804. 1804: William on jury duty, Jefferson Co., Tn., 10-1804. 1804: William on jury duty, Jefferson Co., Tn., 10-1804. 1804: William and others appointed see if the road running through George Graham's property can be connected to the Mill. Jefferson Co., Tn. 10-1804. 1806: Court case of William Griffin VS Chas Surley. Court allows that Surley owes Griffin $17. Jefferson County, Tn. 7-1806. 1806: Court orders Chas Surley to turn over to William Griffin, 528 pounds of picked cotton, 49 yards of tow linen, 2 trunks of goods and clothing, one sword, 62 œ pounds of cotton seed and some books to pay debt owed by court order. Jefferson Co., Tn. 7-22-1806. 1806: William Griffin & Hugh Kirkland appear in Court by the Governors Commission,to take the oath of office to be Justices of the Peace. 10-21-1806. 1809: Jefferson Co., Tn., Military issue Land Grant for 171.25 acres in the East Division of Jefferson Co. Book 1, page 443. 1809: Jefferson Co., Tn., Military issue Land Grant for 123 acres in the East Division of Jefferson Co. Book 1, page 444. 1814: William Griffin is bondsman for the marriage of Thomas Griffin and Edy Sharp. Jefferson Co., Tn. 1-12-1814. The William Griffin listed in the early records cannot be the same William Griffin in the later records. The land grants tell us this. They are Military Bounty Land Grants in Tennessee, this means the recipients had to have completed at least two years of service in a North Carolina regiment for the Continental Line in service of the Revolutionary War. Most but not all of these men fought in a North Carolina Regiment. The first of these were in the upper east Tennessee areas of Washington, Carter, Sullivan counties and as more grants were given the land extended west. The earliest one for William is in 1778. William's Grants were issued by the State of North Carolina. The Rev War went from 1775-1781, with the treaty signed in 1783. With the grant being issued in 1778 this grant would have been for early service in the war or possibly for service in the French and Indian Wars. 1778 was the first year the lands in what is now Tennessee opened up. The Land Grant Office was in Washington Co., Tn., the county was formed in 1777 and the office opened in 1778. This is the basic facts for Military Bounty Land Grant. There are two exceptions to these Grants, the one in Davidson Co., Tn. is an example of one. It is a Preemption Warrant, meaning that the recipient had a grant for the land (usually 640 acres) because they lived there before the district was formed. Davidson Co. was formed in 1810. The other was to purchase a grant from someone else or the government. This would explain the multiple grants. There was a lot of buying and selling of these grants. Also if you served longer you received more grants. So the same person having multiple grants in multiple areas was very common. This would explain why William had grants scattered over such a vast area. (I had one ancestor that had thousands of acres in every county of East Tennessee and several in Middle and West Tennessee) The grants would be acquired early on. The grant was usually held and not registered until the area where the land was became a district. For example: if your grant, issued in 1778 was for 100 acres in what is now Franklin Co., Tn. In 1778 Franklin Co. did not exist. So the grant might not be registered for years, in some cases decades. That is why you can find children of the grant recipients register grants years after the original recipient has died. The list of children is based on the next group of Griffin's (age group) found in the areas where the grants were located, but is by no means proven or complete. This is all the info I have collected on William to date. If anyone has more to add please contact me at foxfndr@aol.com. Thank you, Todd Layman Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.