Henry W. Grantland
Cotton business
Notes:
• He was probably the nephew on the Thomas B. Grantland listed here. - Editor's Note
• Married 1.) Maria F. Owen Jan. 29, 1857 in Madison County, Alabama. 2.) Lizzie P. Edwards April 5, 1860 in Madison County Alabama. - MCRC
• "Two Henry W. Grantlands were born and lived in the 1800s in southwestern Madison County. One was born in 1832, whereas the other was born around 1858. The older Henry married first to Maria F. Owen, a daughter of Thomas J. and Mary E. Jamar Owen. Maria died in 1859. The next year Henry married Elizabeth P. Edwards, and the 1870 census shows them living in an area served by the Triana post office. The 1920 census of Nashville showed Henry (age 87) with his wife (age 74) and daughter Beulah as a widow at age 59. Henry died in Nashville in 1926. Beulah was the mother of Henry Grantland Rice, who was the first to apply the famous title "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" to Notre Dame football. He was the foremost sportswriter and sportscaster in America until his death in New York in 1954. He was likewise the namesake of the college national championship game as the Grantland Rice Bowl, which awarded the Grantland Rice Trophy annually.
The other Henry W. Grantland of early Madison County was identified as a son of John R. Grantland in the 1850 census. John was a son of William and Susanna Draper Grantland, as was the older Henry. John was their fourth child, born in 1814 Virginia. John's brother Henry was their eleventh child. The younger Henry was living with a wife and child across the river in Morgan County in 1880. In 1838 his father John married Harriet Looney, a daughter of John Warren Looney, son of Revolutionary War patriot Absolom Looney who died in Madison County. In 1853 John married Hardenia Cleveland, a daughter of Oliver F. Cleveland. She was the mother of the younger Henry Grantland and two daughters who married into the local Arnett family. Harriet Amanda Grantland married Albert R. Arnett, son of William Cole Arnett and Minerva J. Campbell. Harriet's sister Susan C. Grantland married Pembroke Ward Arnett Jr., a grandson of James A. Arnett who lived near Dr. George R. Sullivan in Madison and for whom Madison's Arnett Street is probably named Data found on Ancestry.com for Henry W. Grantland shows that his family bloodline links to a number of notables in history. These include the wife of President James Monroe and "Bess", the wife of President Harry Truman. There are also links to the wife of President Woodrow Wilson, as well as to Mr. Wilson himself and to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. The local Grantlands are even connected to Dr. Wernher von Braun (Father of the U.S. space program) and to John Glenn, the third American (and later the oldest) to fly in space. There are links to Norman Rockwell, Mae West, Walt Disney, Stephen Crane, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.
However, perhaps the most intriguing historical connection of the Grantlands is to John Billington (1580-1630), passenger on the famous voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 that established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. He had eleven wives that produced 31 children, and it was noted that he had two "other children". Billington was in frequent trouble with his fellow colonists, having fled England to avoid creditors and being notorious for a foul mouth. After a violent argument over hunting rights, Billington was reported to have waylaid, shot and killed fellow colonist John Newcomen. He became the first Englishman to be convicted of murder in the new country that became the United States, and he was hanged on September 30, 1630 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. In addition to the Grantland descendants, President James Garfield was a descendant of John Billington, according to data posted in the on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia and other internet sources. Some descendants claim that Billington was "railroaded" by an embryonic justice system on circumstantial evidence before the railroad was invented. Primarily though, the Grantland history and connections are to prominent people who have shaped the United States throughout its generations. " - Vintage Vignette
• The 1875 map shows that H. W. Grantland became the owner of Hughy Smith's lands where the cemeteries are located. He obtained the land through his father-in-law, William B. Edwards, who purchased the Hughy Smith plantation at public auction on the Madison County courthouse steps around 1860. Henry Grantland married Lizzie (Elizabeth) P. Edwards in Madison County on April 5, 1860. She was given the Smith Plantation lands by her father William and mother Martha on February 28, 1874, according to Madison County Deed Book WW, page 574. The contents of the Grantland family file at the Heritage Room of the Huntsville - Madison County Public Library show that Henry W. Grantland was the 11th child of William and Susan Draper Grantland. The information in the file was contributed by (Mrs. R. K.) Clifford Sharp Coffee of 807 Pine Drive, Box 509, Jacksonville, AL 36265. That information shows that Henry W. Grantland was born August 5, 1832. He died February 17, 1926, and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1882 Henry Grantland deeded his lands in Madison County to his children: Beulah G. Rice, Mary Grantland, Harry Grantland, and Lizzie Grantland - per Madison County Deed Book GGG, pages 353 - 354.
Henry W. Grantland married first Marie / Maria F. Owen(s) on February 3, 1857 (per Madison County Marriage Book 4B, page 211), when he was about 25 and she was 19 years old. Maria's age is stated from the data in the 1850 Madison County census, where she was listed as 12 years old in the household of her father Thomas J. Owens (39, b. VA) and his wife Mary E. [Jamar] (37, b. VA). Apparently Maria died soon after the marriage, as Henry married Lizzie P. Edward[s] on April 10, 1860, per Madison County Marriage Book 4B, page 395. Lizzie was shown in the 1850 census as age 7 in the household of her parents, William B. & Martha Edwards. In the 1860 Madison County census Lizzie is found as Elizabeth P. "Grantlin" (19, b. AL) with her husband Henry W. "Grantlin" (26, b. AL). Both were living with her parents -- the household of William B. Edwards (56, b. VA) and his wife Martha (56, b. NC) and child Mary A. Edwards (12, b. AL). Later, a daughter of Henry W. Grantland and his wife Lizzie P. Edwards, L. P. Grantland (Lizzie P. "junior"?), married D. J. Smith on January 18, 1883, per Madison County Marriage Book 12, page 470.
Lizzie and Henry had 4 children: (1) Beulah Grantland, who married Bolling Rice; (2) Harry Grantland, who never married; (3) Lizzie Grantland (no information - except the assumption that this is the L. P. Grantland who married D. J. Smith in 1883); and Harry Grantland (per Madison County Deed Book GGG, pages 353-354). Another assumption from the Madison County marriage records is that the grandfather of Henry W. Grantland might have been Thomas B. Grantland, who married Ann E. Powell in Madison County on December 24, 1816. (This assumption requires the deduction that Ann was not Thomas' first wife or the grandmother of Henry, who was born in 1832.) Ann was the daughter of Peyton Powell, who lived in the SW/4 of Section 27, Township 2 South, Range 1 West. This is in the area north of Bob Wade Lane and east of Pulaski Pike.
Henry Grantland's daughter Beulah, who married Bolling Rice had 3 children: (1) Grantland Rice, who married Katherine Hollis and had children Florence Rice and Grantland Rice, Jr.; (2) Bolling Rice (no further info); and (3) John Rice (no further info). The family of J. P. & Annie Rice is shown in the 1880 census in Murfreesboro, TN, with children in the household that included B. H. Rice and Beulah at age 19. Beulah was incorrectly identified as a daughter, when in fact she was a daughter-in-law, married to son Bolling H. Rice. Within a few months of the census, a son was born to Bolling and Beulah Grantland Rice, the later-to-be famous sportswriter, Grantland Rice. Grantland Rice married Katherine Hollis and went on to become the first celebrated sportswriter in America. He was responsible for the immortalization of the "Four Horsemen" of Notre Dame's football heydays, and he covered the "Golden Age of Sport" in the 1920s. Grantland Rice spent his early days in Nashville (where Henry W. Grantland died in 1926) and Atlanta, but his most famous years were spent in New York. He counted among his personal friends the most famous of American sports players of the time, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Jack Dempsey, and Babe Didrikson. Grantland was personally expert in a dozen sports and became a columnist, a poet, a magazine writer, an author of several books, a film producer, a war veteran, and a family man, in addition to being a top sports writer for newspapers like the NY Times Herald. Grantland Rice is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York.
Since 1954 (the year of his death) the Grantland Rice Trophy has been awarded annually to the National Championship Team by the Football Writers Association of America. While Grantland Rice himself was never a resident of Madison County, Alabama, his roots on his mother's side ran deep here, specifically on the land that became Redstone Arsenal. Indeed, his first name memorialized his mother's maiden surname, perpetuating the legacy of his maternal grandfather, Henry W. Grantland, a plantation owner of the Redstone Arsenal lands. It is possible that Grantland Rice himself, at some point in his life, may have visited the old cemeteries on his grandfather's homeplace. Grantland Rice may have been an infant in the arms of his mother Beulah, attending the funeral and visiting the gravesite of his grandmother Lizzie P., the wife of Henry W. Grantland, on the arsenal or in the nearby area. It would certainly be logical that before he deeded it to his children, Henry buried his wife on the land of Hughy Smith that she was given by her parents. Of course, her death date is not known to this researcher as of this writing, but according to land records, she was living in 1874 and deceased by 1882.
The ideally appealing scenario is that Henry was so despondent over the loss of his wife that he passed the land to his children and then left the area that reminded him of her so much, living thereafter with his daughter Beulah G. Rice and his grandson Grantland Rice in Tennessee. However, the reality of life rarely meets the ideal, so the 1920 census records were examined. In 1920 Henry Grantland was living in Nashville (Davidson County), appearing in the census in Enumeration District 41, page 5-A. His age was shown as 87, born in Alabama, with father born in England and mother born in Virginia. He had remarried to a woman simply listed by the census enumerator as 'Mrs. H. W. Grantland'. An unmarried daughter named May, age 47, was also in the household, as was Beulah Rice, shown as a 'stepdaughter'. Obviously, the stepdaughter was actually May, and the daughter was Beulah, considering that the relationships were supposed to be given to the listed head of household, Henry Grantland. Beulah was listed as a widow, so Bolling Rice (father of Grantland Rice) had apparently passed away.
Meanwhile, Beulah's son Grantland Rice had moved to New York, having begun his career in Nashville and Atlanta. The 1920 census shows Henry Grantland Rice as age 38, living in Manhattan, Enumeration District 940, page 6-A. His wife is Katherine H. (age 36, GA-GA-GA), and they have one daughter (Florence D., 12, OH-TN-GA) listed with them. That tells us that Grantland and his wife must have been in Ohio around 1908, long enough for daughter Florence to be born there, so his career may well have involved a time in Cleveland or some other city of Ohio.
The detailed, supporting records for all of the above were digitally photographed, and the images are included on the CD-ROMs provided to the Army offices. The research has shown that another obscure cemetery without markers can tie Madison County to someone of national prominence, with reference to Grantland Rice. In fact, all of Hughy Smith's children married well and were prominent citizens of their day. It would seem that he provided very well for his family, but nobody in his family provided an appropriate monument for Hughy's grave - at least, if they did, then it has not remained in place through the years. Now only the isolated stone-covered grave with no name bears witness to this pioneer of arsenal lands." - Redstone
• "After the Civil War, Triana suffered the same fate as the rest of the towns in Madison County. Their slaves taken away from them and their lands devastated, they had to make a new beginning. As previously mentioned, Col. Edmund Toney, youngest of the three pioneer brothers, with his keen judgment and foresight managed to salvage enough money to go into the mercantile business. He later took in as a partner, Mr. Henry Grantland, grandfather of Grantland Rice, the poet and dean of sport writers. In a book recently published by Grantland Rice-The Tumult and the Shouting-he mentions an incident in his grandfather's life which turned out to be the foundation of a large fortune which he eventually made in the cotton business in Nashville, Tennessee. At his death he was reputed to be a millionaire.
'When the Civil War started he had six bales of cotton which he stored in a large cave on the property where the store of Toney and Grantland was located. The Yankee invaders never found the cotton, and after the war he was able to sell it for $ 1,000 per bale. [With] The $6,000 realized for the sale of the cotton (and this was quite a fortune in those days immediately after the war), he went to Nashville and engaged in the cotton business.'" - Lyle
• "Cemeteries of Redstone Arsenal: Smith Cemetery 72-2 Summary Report, 20 Meanwhile, Beulah's son Grantland Rice had moved to New York, having begun his career in Nashville and Atlanta. The 1920 census shows Henry Grantland Rice as age 38, living in Manhattan, Enumeration District 940, page 6-A. His wife is Katherine H. (age 36, GA-GA-GA), and they have one daughter (Florence D., 12, OH-TN-GA) listed with them. That tells us that Grantland and his wife must have been in Ohio around 1908, long enough for daughter Florence to be born there, so his career may well have involved a time in Cleveland or some other city of Ohio.
The detailed, supporting records for all of the above were digitally photographed, and the images are included on the CD-ROMs provided to the Army offices. The research has shown that another obscure cemetery without markers can tie Madison County to someone of national prominence, with reference to Grantland Rice. In fact, all of Hughy Smith's children married well and were prominent citizens of their day. It would seem that he provided very well for his family, but nobody in his family provided an appropriate monument for Hughy's grave - at least, if they did, then it has not remained in place through the years. Now only the isolated stone-covered grave with no name bears witness to this pioneer of arsenal lands." - Redstone
Related Links:
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Lyle
• Redstone
• Vintage Vignette
| Born: | August 5, 1832, Madison County, Alabama |
| Died: | February 17, 1926, Nashville, Tennessee |
| Buried: | Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee |
Notes:
• He was probably the nephew on the Thomas B. Grantland listed here. - Editor's Note
• Married 1.) Maria F. Owen Jan. 29, 1857 in Madison County, Alabama. 2.) Lizzie P. Edwards April 5, 1860 in Madison County Alabama. - MCRC
• "Two Henry W. Grantlands were born and lived in the 1800s in southwestern Madison County. One was born in 1832, whereas the other was born around 1858. The older Henry married first to Maria F. Owen, a daughter of Thomas J. and Mary E. Jamar Owen. Maria died in 1859. The next year Henry married Elizabeth P. Edwards, and the 1870 census shows them living in an area served by the Triana post office. The 1920 census of Nashville showed Henry (age 87) with his wife (age 74) and daughter Beulah as a widow at age 59. Henry died in Nashville in 1926. Beulah was the mother of Henry Grantland Rice, who was the first to apply the famous title "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" to Notre Dame football. He was the foremost sportswriter and sportscaster in America until his death in New York in 1954. He was likewise the namesake of the college national championship game as the Grantland Rice Bowl, which awarded the Grantland Rice Trophy annually.
The other Henry W. Grantland of early Madison County was identified as a son of John R. Grantland in the 1850 census. John was a son of William and Susanna Draper Grantland, as was the older Henry. John was their fourth child, born in 1814 Virginia. John's brother Henry was their eleventh child. The younger Henry was living with a wife and child across the river in Morgan County in 1880. In 1838 his father John married Harriet Looney, a daughter of John Warren Looney, son of Revolutionary War patriot Absolom Looney who died in Madison County. In 1853 John married Hardenia Cleveland, a daughter of Oliver F. Cleveland. She was the mother of the younger Henry Grantland and two daughters who married into the local Arnett family. Harriet Amanda Grantland married Albert R. Arnett, son of William Cole Arnett and Minerva J. Campbell. Harriet's sister Susan C. Grantland married Pembroke Ward Arnett Jr., a grandson of James A. Arnett who lived near Dr. George R. Sullivan in Madison and for whom Madison's Arnett Street is probably named Data found on Ancestry.com for Henry W. Grantland shows that his family bloodline links to a number of notables in history. These include the wife of President James Monroe and "Bess", the wife of President Harry Truman. There are also links to the wife of President Woodrow Wilson, as well as to Mr. Wilson himself and to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. The local Grantlands are even connected to Dr. Wernher von Braun (Father of the U.S. space program) and to John Glenn, the third American (and later the oldest) to fly in space. There are links to Norman Rockwell, Mae West, Walt Disney, Stephen Crane, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.
However, perhaps the most intriguing historical connection of the Grantlands is to John Billington (1580-1630), passenger on the famous voyage of the Mayflower in 1620 that established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. He had eleven wives that produced 31 children, and it was noted that he had two "other children". Billington was in frequent trouble with his fellow colonists, having fled England to avoid creditors and being notorious for a foul mouth. After a violent argument over hunting rights, Billington was reported to have waylaid, shot and killed fellow colonist John Newcomen. He became the first Englishman to be convicted of murder in the new country that became the United States, and he was hanged on September 30, 1630 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. In addition to the Grantland descendants, President James Garfield was a descendant of John Billington, according to data posted in the on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia and other internet sources. Some descendants claim that Billington was "railroaded" by an embryonic justice system on circumstantial evidence before the railroad was invented. Primarily though, the Grantland history and connections are to prominent people who have shaped the United States throughout its generations. " - Vintage Vignette
• The 1875 map shows that H. W. Grantland became the owner of Hughy Smith's lands where the cemeteries are located. He obtained the land through his father-in-law, William B. Edwards, who purchased the Hughy Smith plantation at public auction on the Madison County courthouse steps around 1860. Henry Grantland married Lizzie (Elizabeth) P. Edwards in Madison County on April 5, 1860. She was given the Smith Plantation lands by her father William and mother Martha on February 28, 1874, according to Madison County Deed Book WW, page 574. The contents of the Grantland family file at the Heritage Room of the Huntsville - Madison County Public Library show that Henry W. Grantland was the 11th child of William and Susan Draper Grantland. The information in the file was contributed by (Mrs. R. K.) Clifford Sharp Coffee of 807 Pine Drive, Box 509, Jacksonville, AL 36265. That information shows that Henry W. Grantland was born August 5, 1832. He died February 17, 1926, and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1882 Henry Grantland deeded his lands in Madison County to his children: Beulah G. Rice, Mary Grantland, Harry Grantland, and Lizzie Grantland - per Madison County Deed Book GGG, pages 353 - 354.
Henry W. Grantland married first Marie / Maria F. Owen(s) on February 3, 1857 (per Madison County Marriage Book 4B, page 211), when he was about 25 and she was 19 years old. Maria's age is stated from the data in the 1850 Madison County census, where she was listed as 12 years old in the household of her father Thomas J. Owens (39, b. VA) and his wife Mary E. [Jamar] (37, b. VA). Apparently Maria died soon after the marriage, as Henry married Lizzie P. Edward[s] on April 10, 1860, per Madison County Marriage Book 4B, page 395. Lizzie was shown in the 1850 census as age 7 in the household of her parents, William B. & Martha Edwards. In the 1860 Madison County census Lizzie is found as Elizabeth P. "Grantlin" (19, b. AL) with her husband Henry W. "Grantlin" (26, b. AL). Both were living with her parents -- the household of William B. Edwards (56, b. VA) and his wife Martha (56, b. NC) and child Mary A. Edwards (12, b. AL). Later, a daughter of Henry W. Grantland and his wife Lizzie P. Edwards, L. P. Grantland (Lizzie P. "junior"?), married D. J. Smith on January 18, 1883, per Madison County Marriage Book 12, page 470.
Lizzie and Henry had 4 children: (1) Beulah Grantland, who married Bolling Rice; (2) Harry Grantland, who never married; (3) Lizzie Grantland (no information - except the assumption that this is the L. P. Grantland who married D. J. Smith in 1883); and Harry Grantland (per Madison County Deed Book GGG, pages 353-354). Another assumption from the Madison County marriage records is that the grandfather of Henry W. Grantland might have been Thomas B. Grantland, who married Ann E. Powell in Madison County on December 24, 1816. (This assumption requires the deduction that Ann was not Thomas' first wife or the grandmother of Henry, who was born in 1832.) Ann was the daughter of Peyton Powell, who lived in the SW/4 of Section 27, Township 2 South, Range 1 West. This is in the area north of Bob Wade Lane and east of Pulaski Pike.
Henry Grantland's daughter Beulah, who married Bolling Rice had 3 children: (1) Grantland Rice, who married Katherine Hollis and had children Florence Rice and Grantland Rice, Jr.; (2) Bolling Rice (no further info); and (3) John Rice (no further info). The family of J. P. & Annie Rice is shown in the 1880 census in Murfreesboro, TN, with children in the household that included B. H. Rice and Beulah at age 19. Beulah was incorrectly identified as a daughter, when in fact she was a daughter-in-law, married to son Bolling H. Rice. Within a few months of the census, a son was born to Bolling and Beulah Grantland Rice, the later-to-be famous sportswriter, Grantland Rice. Grantland Rice married Katherine Hollis and went on to become the first celebrated sportswriter in America. He was responsible for the immortalization of the "Four Horsemen" of Notre Dame's football heydays, and he covered the "Golden Age of Sport" in the 1920s. Grantland Rice spent his early days in Nashville (where Henry W. Grantland died in 1926) and Atlanta, but his most famous years were spent in New York. He counted among his personal friends the most famous of American sports players of the time, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Jack Dempsey, and Babe Didrikson. Grantland was personally expert in a dozen sports and became a columnist, a poet, a magazine writer, an author of several books, a film producer, a war veteran, and a family man, in addition to being a top sports writer for newspapers like the NY Times Herald. Grantland Rice is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York.
Since 1954 (the year of his death) the Grantland Rice Trophy has been awarded annually to the National Championship Team by the Football Writers Association of America. While Grantland Rice himself was never a resident of Madison County, Alabama, his roots on his mother's side ran deep here, specifically on the land that became Redstone Arsenal. Indeed, his first name memorialized his mother's maiden surname, perpetuating the legacy of his maternal grandfather, Henry W. Grantland, a plantation owner of the Redstone Arsenal lands. It is possible that Grantland Rice himself, at some point in his life, may have visited the old cemeteries on his grandfather's homeplace. Grantland Rice may have been an infant in the arms of his mother Beulah, attending the funeral and visiting the gravesite of his grandmother Lizzie P., the wife of Henry W. Grantland, on the arsenal or in the nearby area. It would certainly be logical that before he deeded it to his children, Henry buried his wife on the land of Hughy Smith that she was given by her parents. Of course, her death date is not known to this researcher as of this writing, but according to land records, she was living in 1874 and deceased by 1882.
The ideally appealing scenario is that Henry was so despondent over the loss of his wife that he passed the land to his children and then left the area that reminded him of her so much, living thereafter with his daughter Beulah G. Rice and his grandson Grantland Rice in Tennessee. However, the reality of life rarely meets the ideal, so the 1920 census records were examined. In 1920 Henry Grantland was living in Nashville (Davidson County), appearing in the census in Enumeration District 41, page 5-A. His age was shown as 87, born in Alabama, with father born in England and mother born in Virginia. He had remarried to a woman simply listed by the census enumerator as 'Mrs. H. W. Grantland'. An unmarried daughter named May, age 47, was also in the household, as was Beulah Rice, shown as a 'stepdaughter'. Obviously, the stepdaughter was actually May, and the daughter was Beulah, considering that the relationships were supposed to be given to the listed head of household, Henry Grantland. Beulah was listed as a widow, so Bolling Rice (father of Grantland Rice) had apparently passed away.
Meanwhile, Beulah's son Grantland Rice had moved to New York, having begun his career in Nashville and Atlanta. The 1920 census shows Henry Grantland Rice as age 38, living in Manhattan, Enumeration District 940, page 6-A. His wife is Katherine H. (age 36, GA-GA-GA), and they have one daughter (Florence D., 12, OH-TN-GA) listed with them. That tells us that Grantland and his wife must have been in Ohio around 1908, long enough for daughter Florence to be born there, so his career may well have involved a time in Cleveland or some other city of Ohio.
The detailed, supporting records for all of the above were digitally photographed, and the images are included on the CD-ROMs provided to the Army offices. The research has shown that another obscure cemetery without markers can tie Madison County to someone of national prominence, with reference to Grantland Rice. In fact, all of Hughy Smith's children married well and were prominent citizens of their day. It would seem that he provided very well for his family, but nobody in his family provided an appropriate monument for Hughy's grave - at least, if they did, then it has not remained in place through the years. Now only the isolated stone-covered grave with no name bears witness to this pioneer of arsenal lands." - Redstone
• "After the Civil War, Triana suffered the same fate as the rest of the towns in Madison County. Their slaves taken away from them and their lands devastated, they had to make a new beginning. As previously mentioned, Col. Edmund Toney, youngest of the three pioneer brothers, with his keen judgment and foresight managed to salvage enough money to go into the mercantile business. He later took in as a partner, Mr. Henry Grantland, grandfather of Grantland Rice, the poet and dean of sport writers. In a book recently published by Grantland Rice-The Tumult and the Shouting-he mentions an incident in his grandfather's life which turned out to be the foundation of a large fortune which he eventually made in the cotton business in Nashville, Tennessee. At his death he was reputed to be a millionaire.
'When the Civil War started he had six bales of cotton which he stored in a large cave on the property where the store of Toney and Grantland was located. The Yankee invaders never found the cotton, and after the war he was able to sell it for $ 1,000 per bale. [With] The $6,000 realized for the sale of the cotton (and this was quite a fortune in those days immediately after the war), he went to Nashville and engaged in the cotton business.'" - Lyle
• "Cemeteries of Redstone Arsenal: Smith Cemetery 72-2 Summary Report, 20 Meanwhile, Beulah's son Grantland Rice had moved to New York, having begun his career in Nashville and Atlanta. The 1920 census shows Henry Grantland Rice as age 38, living in Manhattan, Enumeration District 940, page 6-A. His wife is Katherine H. (age 36, GA-GA-GA), and they have one daughter (Florence D., 12, OH-TN-GA) listed with them. That tells us that Grantland and his wife must have been in Ohio around 1908, long enough for daughter Florence to be born there, so his career may well have involved a time in Cleveland or some other city of Ohio.
The detailed, supporting records for all of the above were digitally photographed, and the images are included on the CD-ROMs provided to the Army offices. The research has shown that another obscure cemetery without markers can tie Madison County to someone of national prominence, with reference to Grantland Rice. In fact, all of Hughy Smith's children married well and were prominent citizens of their day. It would seem that he provided very well for his family, but nobody in his family provided an appropriate monument for Hughy's grave - at least, if they did, then it has not remained in place through the years. Now only the isolated stone-covered grave with no name bears witness to this pioneer of arsenal lands." - Redstone
Related Links:
• Ancestry.com - Page owned by troybramlett5 and can be viewed only with an Ancestry.com paid subscription. (Originally found at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/11700523/person/-416306174.)
• Haroer - How You Played the Game: The Life of Grantland Rice by William Arthur Harper, 1999. The book about Grantland Rice includes the story of his grandfather, Henry W. Grantland. References to him are scattered through the book, but chapter two focuses on his stories.
• Lyle - Article titled "History of Triana" by Charles Dillard Lyle for the Historic Huntsville Quarterly, Vol. XXIII, #2, Summer, 1997, Historic Huntsville Foundation, page 122.
• MCRC - Madison County Records Center, marriage
• Redstone - Cemeteries of Redstone Arsenal: Smith Cemetery 72-2 Summary Report, prepared by John P. Rankin, September 7, 2002; revised September 19, 2005, pages 17 -20.
• RootsWeb - Page presented by Phyllis J. K.
• Vintage Vignette - Henry W. Grantland, A Vintage Vignette by John Rankin, August 26, 2008.
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Lyle
• Redstone
• Vintage Vignette