Although there is not a “known” authoritative source that can be used to document Aaron Grier’s exact date of birth, available information suggests that he was very likely born in the 1750s. At least one direct descendant, Margaret Emily Daughtry (Mrs. Jose Rollin de la Torre Bueno), in her Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) application papers, provided “ca. 1757” as the birthdate of her ancestor. Given the fact that Aaron Grier married Jane Gibson in 1778, “ca. 1757” seems to be a reasonable approximation of his date of birth.

In his will, which was made in Warren County, Ga., on September 16, 1824 (and probated just over one month later), Aaron Grier named the following children: Kathrine Findley, Elizabeth, Robert, Aaron W., and Thomas Grier. Also named in the will were two grandchildren, Aaron G. Stephens and Alexander Stephens, sons of Aaron Grier’s deceased daughter, Margaret Grier (Mrs. Andrew Baskins Stephens). Alexander Hamilton Stephens, son of Margaret Grier Stephens, became the Vice President of the Confederacy and a Governor of Georgia.

Robert Grier (d.1848), brother of Margaret Grier Stephens (d.1812), is remembered as a talented astronomer and founder of Grier's Almanac. Another brother, Aaron W. Grier (d.1864), a military general and participant in the “parlor talk” interview mentioned below, was instrumental in the upbringing of his famous nephew, Alexander Stephens.

It is quite possible that Aaron Grier (d.1824), the primary subject of this profile, was buried in the Grier Cemetery near Sharon, Ga. (Taliaferro County), where Gen. Aaron W. Grier, his son, is buried. Gen. Grier’s obituary, which appeared in the January 27, 1864, issue of The Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, Ga.), indicated that he died in Taliaferro County on January 14th, “at his residence near Maytown.”

Despite conflicting information in various sources that address the origins of Aaron Grier’s father, Robert (d.1801), an exceptionally strong case for Robert Grier's having come from Ireland to Colonial America (and for the certainty of his ancestors having come from Scotland to Ireland) can be based on a somewhat curious document that was prepared, apparently, by Alexander H. Stephens at his home in Crawfordville, Ga., "Liberty Hall." Recorded under the title "Scenes & Parlor Talk at Liberty Hall" and dated December 28, 1860, this eight-page manuscript takes the form of a question-and-answer session held primarily between Alexander H. Stephens and his mother's brother, Aaron W. Grier. (Again, Gen. Aaron W. Grier was the son of Aaron Grier and the grandson of Robert Grier, the immigrant). Also present in the parlor were Perry Grier and his wife, Amanda.

During the exchange, A.H. Stephens asked his uncle about the Christian name of his (Gen. Grier’s) grandfather Grier, who brought his family from Pennsylvania to Georgia, and Gen. Grier gave the following response: "Robert. He came from Ireland." When A.H. Stephens asked: “What part of Ireland did [the Griers] come from when they came to this country?” Gen. Grier replied: "From the County of Donegal, parish of near [Malin] Head, in the north of Ireland. I have often heard my mother [Jane Gibson Grier] speak(?) of [Malin] Head. She was born near that, and that place is about forty miles from the Island of Ila [sic] in Scotland where the Grier family came originally from."

References in this same exchange to the state of Pennsylvania are of great significance, with Gen. Grier’s response concerning his father’s birth in Lancaster County (not York), Pa., being one of the most noteworthy: “[My father, Aaron] was born in Lancaster, about three miles from the Susquehanna River. It is near York, but he was born on the Lancaster side of the river.” Gen. Grier also stated that his parents were cousins, making a specific reference to the fact that his mother, Jane Gibson (Mrs. Aaron Grier), was the daughter of a woman whose maiden name was “Grier.” (Gen. Grier added that his mother was born in Ireland “and came to this country when she was eleven years old.”) In speaking about his parents, Gen. Grier alluded to events associated with the year of their marriage and recalled, incorrectly, that it took place in 1777. (Court records indicate that they were married in the following year, on October 7, 1778, in Baltimore, Md.)

The “parlor talk” artifact is housed in the archives of Manhattanville College (Purchase, N.Y.).

Unfortunately, this antebellum document does not include information about the mother of Aaron Grier (d.1824). Over the years, researchers have tried to draw conclusions about seemingly incongruous references to women with names (and perhaps in combination) “Elizabeth,” “Catherine,” and “Jeannie” (or “Jennie”). Moreover, surnames “McMurray” and “Burns” have been associated with Robert Grier’s first wife—or first two wives. In truth, an entire article could be devoted to the parsing of names, dates, places, and related possibilities, where Robert Grier’s wives are concerned—and there had been two, if not three, by the time of his death in 1801. Was Jeannie Burns, mentioned in several accounts, a widow whom Robert Grier married in Scotland or Ireland and brought to Pennsylvania? And was she also known as “Catherine McMurray” before her marriage to Mr. Burns? Or were there two women—Jeannie Burns and Catherine McMurray—who married Robert Grier before he married his last wife, Mary Caldwell Davis, the widow of John Davis? And what about Elizabeth? Is it possible that she was named “Elizabeth Jane” (or “Jean”) and known by some as “Jeannie” (or “Jennie”)?

Not to be dismissed—and this point I underscore with great emphasis—is the distinct possibility that there were two men named “Robert Grier” (or “Greer”) in mid-18th-century Pennsylvania who lived in close proximity to each other. In fact, Robert M. Torrence, whose “Robert Grier (Greer), From Ireland to Pennsylvania – Georgia” (published in Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families, Vol. I), begins his article with these words (making a direct reference to the title of his article): “For clarification, it should be noted that the above Robert Greer, of Quaker descent in Ireland, is not to be confused with Robert Grier, of the City of York, Pennsylvania, who was a brother of Colonel David Grier, an entirely different branch.” Whether Robert Torrence was correct or not in his attempt at describing two such men with the details that he supplied, even the suggestion that there were two adult males with the same name in the same area of Pennsylvania at roughly the same time—Robert Grier and Robert Greer—is well worth noting.

Indeed, there were many Griers/Greers living in Pennsylvania in the early 18th century, and intermarriage among members of certain families over the generations was a common practice. The result, of course, is an even more difficult task for those who would like to establish clean and clear links between individuals in these various branches of the family.

For those interested in available substantial proof, the only first-hand account of a direct connection between one of “my” Robert Grier’s wives and one of his children—at least as far as I know—is the entry that appears in the Holy Bible that belonged to Robert Grier (d.1822), who was a son of Robert Grier (d.1801) and a brother of Aaron Grier (d.1824). Among the handwritten notes is the one that concerns the death of the mother of Robert Grier (d.1822), who was also the wife of Robert Grier (d.1801): “Elizabeth my Mother Died Sunday October 27th 1776.” There is also a similar entry related to Robert Grier’s death, which occurred almost a full 25 years after the death in 1776 of Elizabeth, his wife: “Robert Grier my father Died Sunday 8th of March 1801.”

With DNA testing—along with exhaustive research in church and court records in Scotland, Ireland, and parts of the East Coast of the United States—it is possible that some of the questions regarding the wives of Robert Grier could be answered somewhat definitively. At this time, though, confusion over the names (and number) of wives is too great and widespread to dispel in this short overview.

Lois Johnson (Mrs. Boyce McLaughlin Grier), of Athens, Ga., with whom I corresponded in the 1970s, was one of the most astute and persistent authorities—certainly in the 20th century—on the history of the Robert Grier family that produced Aaron Grier (d.1824) and others. She, too, was aware of discrepancies, but she chose to use only the name “Elizabeth” for the mother of Robert Grier’s children who came to Georgia from Pennsylvania: Robert (d.1822), Aaron (d.1824), Moses (d.1837), Thomas (d.1816), Elizabeth (d.1821), and Jane Sr. (d.1819). These same children (“4 sons and 2 daughters”) are cited—though not by name—in Wilkes County, Ga., records that include a land grant of 450 acres (on a branch “below Beaver Dam”), which was issued to Robert Grier of Pennsylvania in 1773.

“Jane Jr.,” a second daughter with the name “Jane,” is mentioned in Robert Grier’s nuncupative will, which was made in Greene County, Ga., in 1800. Jane Jr. was the daughter of Robert Grier and his last wife, Mary, who is also named in the will.

Mrs. Grier’s meticulously transcribed notes from the Holy Bible of Robert Grier (d.1822) have been invaluable to students of Grier research. Her work can be found in the holdings of the York County (Pa.) Heritage Trust and, specifically, in the Genealogical Report for the Historical Society of York County (Vol. XVIII).

In short, there are two “beyond-a-doubt” wives of the Robert Grier (father of Aaron Grier, grandfather of Gen. Aaron Grier, and great-grandfather of Alexander Stephens) who came from Pennsylvania to Georgia in the 18th century: Elizabeth (named in her son’s Holy Bible) and Mary (named in Robert Grier’s nuncupative will), whom Robert married after Elizabeth’s death in 1776.

While the identities of Robert Grier’s wives are researched more thoroughly, I would like to add here that almanac founder Robert Grier (d.1848), son of Jane and Aaron Grier, is associated in various sources with an uncle named Andrew Burns (or Burnes), who taught school in Greensboro, Ga. If there was such a “blood” uncle, then one would almost necessarily be forced to conclude that Robert Grier’s wife who was the mother of Aaron of this sketch (and grandmother of Robert Grier of almanac fame) was either a Burns at birth or a Burns widow at the time of her marriage to Robert Grier (d.1801). To my knowledge, solid proof of the Burns connection has not been established, despite appearances of the Burns name in certain “print” and online sources. However, oral tradition, as well as related published accounts in 20th-century sources, could eventually lead to thoroughly convincing sources of data. There is no doubt that important clues to the interrelatedness of these families can be found in such court documents as the 1797 Greene County, Ga., probate records that involve the James Davis estate and legal participation of Robert Grier and Andrew Burns, Jr.

Confusion over relationships in the Grier family surfaced on the printed page even as early as 1928, when T.G. Macfie’s History of South Liberty Presbyterian Church, Sharon, Georgia, was published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of this congregation. Even though available evidence points to a kinship of some kind between the descendants of Robert Grier (the European immigrant who, with his wife and children, left Pennsylvania in the 1770s to claim land in Georgia) and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Grier (who was born in Pennsylvania in 1794), it is certain that Justice Grier was not the brother of Margaret Grier Stephens (mother of Alexander H. Stephens). The claim of this close connection, which must have been the result of a misunderstanding on the part of Mr. Macfie, appears this way in the narrative: “One of [Alexander H. Stephens’s] mother’s brothers was a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington…. Another, Robert Grier, the original compiler of Grier’s Almanac which still has a large circulation, was an astronomer as well as a planter and his astronomical work at home on his plantation near the church had a high reputation, and the third, Aaron Grier, whose plantation was on the road between Sharon and Raytown, was a general in the Indian wars and in the Mexican war of 1846 and a man of deservedly great influence in the state.”

Among the errata that were added by hand to the copy of Macfie’s church history that is housed in the library collection of Duke University (and which has been digitized for use online) is this note: “In Sandberg’s Life of Lincoln (Vol. II, p. 202) a letter from Lincoln to A.H. Stephens is given in which Lincoln refers to ‘Your Uncle Justice Grier of the Supreme Court.’ It appears, however, that Mr. Justice Grier was the second cousin, not the uncle, of Stephens.”

There are other mistakes in Macfie’s discussion of the Griers—mistakes that were not addressed in his post-publication errata. Even so, there is also good information in his work.

Ultimately, in research related to the Griers, as well as all other families, very little reporting of genealogical conclusions can be accepted without a great deal of skepticism and the willingness to understand that the “goodness” of information depends on the level of authority associated with its source. This is especially true in the freewheeling Age of Electronic Information, which makes the broad dissemination of sometimes highly questionable data easier than ever before to find. - Roger Harris (a Grier descendant)