The Grimball Family

Note: In some cases this family is referred to in records as the “Grimble” family, not “Grimball” family. It is the same family.

PAUL GRIMBALL was an English merchant of wealth. Just where he lived in that country we have been unable to learn. He married Mary Stoney in England and several, if not all of their children were born there before they embarked for America.

In the beginning of European settlement of the Carolinas, that area< like Maryland, was under a Proprietary Government. In ] 663 King Charles II gave this vast territory to a number of his friends (known as Proprietors) in consideration of their loyalty to him when a fugitive. The list of Proprietors continually changed as the charter members sold their interests to others. On April 10, 1681, Lord Shaftesbury and two others of the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas addressed a communication to the Governor and Council, containing among other things, a commission to grant 3,000 acres of land to “Mr. Paul Grimball, merchant, bound for Ashley River to settle there.”

Paul Grimball reached Charleston in February, 1682, but did not settle on Ashley River, though he may have owned land there. The records show that a warrant for land on Cooper River was issued to him in March, 1683. In about 1683, Paul settled permanently on Edisto Island, in Colleton County, where he built a commodious home. This so-called island is formed by the north and south branches of the Edisto River and the Atlantic Ocean, and is thirty miles southwest of Charleston, or, as the town was then designated, Charles Town. From the time of his arrival until his death, Paul was an outstanding leader in the affairs of the colonial government of South Caro­lina. Although he had been in the colony but fourteen years at the time of his death, he held practically every position in its government, except that of governor, and he acted in that capacity at times.

Paul Grimball died prior to February 20, 1696 and was buried on Edisto Island. He bequeathed a ring to Governor Archdale as a token of respect. This was known as a “mourning ring.” The giving of such rings was customary in those days. Mary Stoney died prior to 1720. Paul and Mary had five children, the youngest of whom was Thomas Grimball.

THOMAS GRIMBALL, probably born in England. Prior to 1707, Thomas married Elizabeth Adams, daughter of William Adams. After the death of Elizabeth, he married Sarah, widow of William Pert. Thomas Grimball and Elizabeth Adams had four children, one of whom was Paul Grimball II.

PAUL GRIMBALL, II, born on Edisto Island about 1700. He lived all of his life on this island which had belonged to his grandfather. It was the same place that the Spanish Buccaneers had raided nearly half a century before. Paul was a prosperous planter. He was married three times. His third wife was Mary Samms and of this marriage four children were born, one of whom was John Grimball.

JOHN GRIMBALL, born on Edisto Island about 1747; the great-grandson of Paul Grimball, original owner of Edisto Island. John was a participant in the American Revolution. In 1772, he married Elizabeth Robert, daughter of Jacques Robert and Sarah Jaudon Robert, and great-granddaughter of Rev. Pierre Robert, the first Huguenot minister in South Carolina. Elizabeth was a sister of Captain Peter Robert, who married Annie Grimball, sister of our John Grimball. John Grimball was a planter of St. Luke’s Parish. His plantation was in Beaufort District, near the Savannah River, where he had moved with other members of the Robert and Grimball families. He was evidently a man of considerable means as in November of that year he furnished bond for ten thousand pounds. In 1778, he is recorded as a planter of St. Peter’s Parish, just north of St. Luke’s, and located in the famous Black Swamp, where he assisted in establishing the town of Robertville. John Grimball died there about 1785. In January, 1786, his widow married Rev. Alexander H. Scott, and sometime after 1800, they moved to that part of Mississippi now known as Wilkinson County. After the death of her second husband, Elizabeth went to Cheneyville, Louisiana, and lived with her eldest son, Paul Grimball III. She died in 1818. John Grimball and Elizabeth Robert had three children, the eldest of whom was Paul Grimball, III.

PAUL GRIMBALL, III, probably born in St. Luke’s Parish, Beaufort District, South Carolina, October 11, 1773. He was the first of the Grimball family to come to Louisiana, and also one of the pioneers of Bayou Boeuf country, near Cheneyville, in Rapides Parish. He left South Carolina (living at that time in St. Peter’s Parish) about 1806, with members of the Robert and Grimball families. It is said there were 97 persons in the expedition. Traveling overland in ox wagons, they made their way to the Tennessee River. There they built flat-boats and floated down this stream to the Ohio, then to the Mississippi and on down that great river to Ft. Adams, where they landed and went a short distance inland and established the town of Woodville, Mississippi. With Paul Grimball, III, were his mother and her second husband, the Rev. Alexander H. Scott, and their children. After liv­ing several years at Woodville, Paul Grimball, III, crossed the Mississippi River with his family and settled on Bayou Boeuf. Paul Grimball married Esther Jaudon in St. Peter’s Parish, South Carolina, on November 30, 1797. She was born in South Carolina on July 12, 1777, daughter of Paul Jaudon and Martha Guerin, of Prince George Parish, South Carolina. Paul Grim-ball’s maternal grandmother was Sarah Jaudon Robert. Thus he and his wife were fifth cousins. Paul Grimball died at his home near Cheneyville on April 23, 1841, and Esther died on October 22, 1822. Both were buried in the old Cheneyville graveyard, where a suitable monument marks their resting place. Paul Grimball and Esther Jaudon Grimball had nine children, among whom was Sarah Robert Grimball.

SARAH ROBERT GRIMBALL, born October 5, 1805, in St. Peter’s Parish, Beaufort District, South Carolina. She came to Woodville, Missis­sippi, area with her parents when an infant and moved with them to Rapides Parish, Louisiana. Sarah Robert Grimball married Dr. Jesse Durastus Wright in Rapides Parish on May 17, 1821. He was the son of Benjamin Wright, III, and Hester Chapman Wright of Connecticut. Sarah Robert Grimball died in 1881 at her home near Cheneyville, Louisiana.

The Grimball family thus merges into the Wright family.