Graydon, William

Biography

William was the son of Alexander Graydon [c. 1708-1761], subject of a portrait by Feke (1966.13.2), and his second wife, née Rachel Marks [d. 1807]. The elder Graydon was educated in Ireland to be an Anglican minister. He came to the American colonies in 1730, and settled in Philadelphia, where he became a successful merchant. William and his wife Eleanor had at least seven children: Andrew [d. 1851], Alexander, Henry M. [d. 1900], William [d. 1899], Rachel, Eleanor, and Theodosa. William's brother Alexander, Jr. fought in the Revolutionary War and spent eight months as prisoner of the British on Long Island. An account of his mother's visit to him during his imprisonment is given in Ellet 1818 (see references). Alexander, Jr. married firstly a Miss Wood of Berks County, in 1778, and secondly Theodosia Pettit, in 1799; he had no children. About 1760, the elder Alexander Graydon built a house in Bristol, PA, where he died in March of the following year. [Compiled from sources and references recorded on CMS]

Bibliography

1818

Ellet, Elizabeth F. The Women of the American Revolution. New York, second edition, 1818:237+

1846

Graydon, Alexander, Jr. Memoirs of his Own Time. Philadelphia, 1846 [reprinted as Alexander Graydon's Memoirs of his Own Time, John Stockton Little, ed., New York Times and Arno Press, 1969]

1995

Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 102-104 [on Alexander Graydon's portrait]

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