Email From Ray ray riley@ncsu.edu to HUNSUCKER-L@rootsweb.com
Email Dated June 9, 2000

Hello All,

I had planned to send this to someone researching Isaac Grindstaff but
decided that there was enough interest on this board to share it with
everyone.  This is taken directly from the "Toe River Heritage, NC,
Volume 1, 1994".  This history covers the present NC counties of Avery,
Mitchell and Yancey. As a short lead in, Isaac Grindstaff was a son of
Micheal Grindstaff Sr and a brother to the Michael Grindstaff that moved
to Kentucky.  Isaac Grindstaff moved to the Cain Creek Settlement on Toe
River in far western Burke County, NC with the Huntsuckers in 1798 and
remained there until his death between 1820 and 1830.  Many of his
descendants still live in and around Bakersville, NC.  The name is very
common on store fronts and appears on numerous rural mail boxes.  There
are several genealogies presented in the book by living descendants.
The best one for our purposes was number 373 which was presented by
Margaret Heinek, 7091 East Park Lane, New Carlisle, Indiana.  Here is
the portion that pertains up through Isaac and his family although the
complete genealogy covers up to the present.

373 Grindstaff (Grandstaff)

My Grindstaff ancestors were Germans from the southwest section of the
Palatinate.  Church records of Hornbach and Rimschweiler list at least
some of the sons and daughters of the ancestral family, that of Dietrich
Cransdorf (Kmatzdorf) who was born before 1650 and dead before 1714.  As
was often the case with immigrants whose names were unusual or difficult
to pronounce, this family name was modified and simplified, resulting
generally in Grindstaff.  They likely were unable to read or write and
thus could not check the correctness of the name when it was entered in
documents.

The children of Dietrich Crantsdorf included at least the following:
1. Johannes, who married Anna Dorothea ______.

2. Phillip, who married Magdalina Gros (ca 1713).

3. Johann Bartholomaeus, who married Maria Magdelena Husessier.  His
family, as well as that of his brother Johann Nichol, with their wives
and families, arrived on the ship Thistle at Philadelphia, PA., on Sept.
9, 1738.  He died prior to Sept. 17, 1752, in York Co., PA.  Wife Maria
was still living.  One of her sons Adam, was the administrator of the
estate.

4. Johann Nichol, form whom I am descended, was born in Germany about
1688 and married Barbara ______ in Hornbach in Oct. or Nov. of 1714.
Their children were: (a) Anna Catharine, baptized ca. 7/10/1715; (b)
Anna Rosina, baptized at the end of July, 1719; (c)Johann Michael,
baptized on 10/31/1728.  The last of these hereafter referred to as
Michael, was my ancestor.  He m. Catharine ______, probably in York Co.,
PA.  By May of 1773, he had purchased land in Tryon Co., NC.

The children of Michael and Catharine were: (1) Susannah, who m. Joseph
Rainbolt; (2) Catharine who m. Michael Gabbard (Revolutionary War
Soldier); (3) Nicholas (b. Prior to 1745), who m. Catharine ______ and
moved to the Watauga Settlement (present Carter Co., Tenn) about 1787
[for his line see NICK GRINDSTAFF; also see EZEKIEL AND SUSANNAH
GRINDSTAFF GARLAND]; (4) Isaac (b before 1754), who may have married
twice (names unknown) and moved to the Watauga Settlement about 1787
then back to Burke by 1790 (see below); (5) Michael (1/5/1754 -
?/?/1833), who moved to the Watauga Settlement, then to Knox Co., Ky.,
and who died in Indiana), wife unknown; (6) Jacob (1765-1844; died in
Ky.), who m. Susannah Newton; (7) Adam (ba 1760), who m Jane _____ (and
he may be the Adam who died in the Camden Hospital during the
Revolutionary War).

Members of this family had settled in Burke Co., NC, as early as 1760.
The information is contained in the Revolutionary War Service record of
Jacob Gabbard who states the he is the grandson of Michael Grindstaff
(through his daughter Catharine).  Jacob was born in 1760 in Lincoln
Co., and while residing Burke Co. he enlisted in 1780.

The following sons of Michael and Catherine Grindstaff also served in
the Revolution, their records being filed either in North Carolina or in
Kentucky: Nicholas, Isaac, Michael, Jacob, and Adam.  Of these, Isaac
was my ancestor.  As a result of his service, he was granted land in
Tennessee and is attested as a resident there in a tax list of 1787
(Washington Co., the parent of Carter Co.).  He is to be found in the
Burke Co., NC, census of 1790-1820.  These records suggest that he had 7
children, all by his first wife.  The 1810 census reveals a younger
(second) wife.

According to Walter Greene of Mitchell Co., the pioneer Grindstaff farm
consisted of 600 acres in the Wing Area of Present Mitchell Co.

The children of Isaac and the first wife (name unknown) are: (1) a male
born about 1778;  (2) Isaac Jr. (b 6/14/1779), m Sally Hart and Prudence
Ledford (see 1860 Yancey Census # 348); (3) Sally (b 1782) m. George
Hunsaker; (4) Mary (b 1785), m. Lawrence Effler; (5) Margaret/Jane (b
1787), m. Reuben Woody (Moody?); (6) Henry (b 1789), m Cynthia Penland
[see LEDFORD HISTORY at #10]; (7) Arbella (b 179?), m. Stephen Pitman;
(8) Female m. Lawrence Effler (husband of # 4) was born about 1787 in
Prussia (Germany) to Michael Effler.

(End of Margaret Heinek genealogy)

The genealogy continues on and traces her heritage to the present.  This
would seem to answer a lot of questions about where the Cransdor
(Grindstaff) family came from and gives the tie in to Isaac Grindstaff.
For the parts of the genealogy with which I am familiar, I am for the
most part in agreement with the content and would suspect that the
remaider is basically reliable. 

I suspect that there were numerous Grindstaff, Gabbard and Huntsucker
marriages, a few of which we do know, and many of which we will never
know.  For example, the Jane ___ who married the Adam Grindstaff that
died at the Camden Hospital during the Revolution is living next to the
Huntsuckers in 1790 indicating that she may be a Huntsucker.  Margaret
the widow of the George Huntsucker who died in Burke County, NC in 1777
may very well be a Grindstaff since Michael Grindstaff is one of the
Administrators but there is no feasible way to prove the assumption.
There is big gap in infomation on the Grindstaff, Gabbard and Huntsucker
families between about 1755 and 1770 that would be nice to fill in.
That should be enough for now.

Ray

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