Grimes, Bryan, 1828-1880

Bryan Grimes (1828-1880), the son of Bryan Grimes Sr. and Nancy Grist, was a cotton planter of Pitt County, N.C., and a Confederate Army officer. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1848, and the following year, his father gave him the family plantation Grimesland in Pitt County, N.C., along with approximately 100 slaves. Bryan Grimes lived the life of a successful agriculturist until the eve of the Civil War in 1861. He then attended North Carolina's state convention and took a stand as a firm secessionist, signing North Carolina's Ordinance of Secession. He went on to become a major in the 4th Regiment of North Carolina State Troops, turning down appointments of higher rank in order to gain what he deemed was needed experience. He fought for the Confederate cause from May 1861 until the war's end, working his way through the ranks as colonel, brigadier commander, brigadier general, and major general, taking active roles in well-known battles, such as the Battle of First Manassas, the Battle of Seven Pines, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. His fighting ended at Appomattox Courthouse when General Lee ordered him to fall back in preparation for the Confederate surrender.

Grimes returned to Grimesland and worked as a planter until he was killed in August 1880 by an unknown assassin on his way home from a trip. Grimes married his first wife, Elizabeth Hilliard Davis, in 1851. They were the parents of Bryan, who died in infancy; Bettie; Nancy; and Bryan (1860-1920). Elizabeth Hilliard Davis died in 1857, and Grimes married Charlotte Emily Bryan (1840-1920) in 1863. They were the parents of Bryan, who died in infancy; Alston; John Bryan (1868-1923); Charlotte Bryan; Mary Bryan; Susan Penelope; William Demsie; George Frederick; Junius Daniel; and Theodora Bryan.

Charlotte Emily Bryan Grimes (1840-1920), daughter of Honorable John H. Bryan and Mary Williams Shepard, attended school both at Saint Mary's and at Mrs. Carpenter's School in Philadelphia. She spent the winters of 1863-1864 and 1864-1865 with her husband in the camps of the Army of Northern Virginia. She also served as president of both the Ladies Memorial Association of Beaufort County and the Pamlico Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy of Washington, N.C., and as honorary president of the North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

John Bryan Grimes (1868-1923) studied at the University of North Carolina, 1882-1885, before attending Bryant and Stratton Business College in Baltimore, Md. He served as North Carolina secretary of state on the Democratic platform from 1901 to 1923. During this time, he was well-known as a cultural leader and historian and catalogued thousands of historical documents. He served as member and chair of the North Carolina Historical Commission, president of the North Carolina Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was a member of the American Historical Association. He was also a member of the State Board of Agriculture, 1899-1900, Farmers' Alliance of North Carolina, the North Carolina Agricultural Society, the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union, and the State Grange, and was one of the organizers of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina, of which he later became president. Other memberships included the University of North Carolina board of trustees, the executive committee of the North Carolina Council of Defense, president of the Scottish Society of America, Masons, Knights of Pythias, and Junior Order of United American Mechanics. In 1894, he married Mary Octavia Laughinghouse, daughter of Captain Joseph John and Eliza O'Hagan Laughinghouse, and with her had one daughter, Helen Elise. After Mary's death in December 1899, Grimes married her sister Elizabeth Laughinghouse in February 1904, and with her had John Bryan Jr., Charles O'Hagan, and Alston.