Grayson, William J. (William John), 1788-1863

William John Grayson was born in Beaufort, South Carolina on November 12, 1788. Grayson pursued his primary education in several northern schools and graduated from South Carolina College at Columbia in 1809. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1822, and began practice in Beaufort, S.C. He was elected as a member of the State house of representatives, 1813-1815 and 1822-1825 and served in the State senate from 1826-1831. He was then elected commissioner in equity for Beaufort District in 1831 and resigned from the senate. The next year he was elected as a Nullifier to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1833-March 3, 1837). He was appointed collector of customs at Charleston from August 9, 1841, to March 3, 1837). He was appointed collector of customs at Charleston from August 9, 1841, to March 19, 1853, after which he retired to his plantation. He was a frequent contributor to the "Southern Quarterly Review." Grayson died in Newberry, S.C., on October 4, 1863 and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S.C.

Author of The Hireling and the Slave (1855); native of Beaufort District, S.C.