Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Granbery Family Papers, 1781-1927. Accession 22402. Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift, 1 June 1945, of J. H. Granbery.

Biographical Information

John Granbery was born 7 October 1759 in Nansemond County, Virginia. He was educated in Scotland and returned to Virginia after 1777. In 1786, he bought two tracts of land in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia, from Honore Giroud; one tract had originally been granted to John Tyler, the other to Giroud. Granbery moved from Nansemond County to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1789 and became a shipowner and businessman. He married Susanna Butterfield Stowe (1772-1852) of Bermuda 23 September 1789 and they had 11 children. Granbery was lost at sea sometime after 20 August 1815. The 10th child of John and Susanna Granbery was Henry Augustus Thaddeus Granbery, who was born 24 March 1808 in Norfolk, Virginia. Granbery had a plantation in Norfolk County, Virginia, and was a partner in a tobacco business within the city. In 1835 Granbery moved his family to Alabama, but quickly returned to Norfolk. He then moved to New York, New York, in 1841. Granbery was a founder of the American, or "Know Nothing" party which existed in the 1850s. He married Prudence Nimmo (d. 1903) and they had 9 children. Granbery died 14 February 1904 in New York City, and is buried in Ceder Grove cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1781-1927, of the Granbery family of Norfolk, Virginia, and New York, New York, concerning real property in Braxton County, West Virginia and consisting of land office treasury warrants, surveys, deeds, letters, and maps.