First Row: William, Isabelle, Charles, Arce and Ida Jamison
Second Row: Jo, Virgie, Etta Kate

 

WILLIAM HAGY GRUBB

William Hagy Grubb was born on January 10,1842. He was the eighth child of Andrew and Elizabeth Grubbe. William was probably born on the Grubb home place near Abingdon in Washington County Virginia. He possibly could be named for a paternal uncle. It is believed that Andrew Grubbe had an older brother named William. William's middle name is Hagy, which is his mother's maiden name.
William's father died in 1858 as the result of a fall from a tree. William was not yet 17 at the time. His older brothers and sisters had already married and left the farm except for Patterson. His younger sister Eliza was also still at the home place. County records show that William reported his father's death and the cause of death. William also provided information on Andrew's father and it is from this death record that we have come to trace the Grubb family beyond Andrew. William did know that his grandfather's name was Nicholas. There is no mention of Andrew's mother's name, therefore William may not have known her name. Both of William's paternal grandparents had died before William was born.
William attended school for a period of time in Ft. Blackmore, Scott County Virginia. We have evidence of this in a letter that William wrote to his brother Patterson. In the letter, William makes mention of a school exposition to be held soon in which he was to make a speech. In the letter he also mentions visiting Natural Tunnel in Rye Cove, Scott County. The letter is dated July 8 with no year annotated. It could have been 1859. The letter makes no mention of his father who died in 1858, but he does mention his mother. On the 1860 census William is enumerated in Washington County. This would lead us to believe that the year could possibly be 1859. During this period of schooling he possibly was living with his older brother Jacob, who was a blacksmith at the time in Scott County. Any particulars of the type of schooling are not known.
The 1860 census shows him living at home with his mother Elizabeth, his younger sister Eliza and his uncle Patterson Grubb. The census shows that William and Eliza had attended school within the past year. Patterson was farming the home place. Martin, an older brother was living and farming nearby with his family. William's older sisters, Mary Ann Thayer and Elizabeth J. Arnett and their families also lived nearby according to the census.
William was a harness and saddle maker. It is not known how he learned this trade. He kept records of his harness and saddle transactions, the earliest of which that can be documented is in 1868. In one entry in his records, William records that he has agreed to work for one year for S.W. Carnerhess, presumably to make harnesses and saddles. He would be paid 200 dollars, board and washing for the year's work. The date of this entry is January 24,1870. The journal shows that he worked through August of that year but the records for the other half of the year do not appear. Maybe William cut the agreement short by 6 months so that he could marry Isabella Logan in August of that year.
William also operated a store of some sort. The earliest evidence of the store operation is in a letter from a tax assessor concerning tax on the sell of manufactured tobacco as a retail tobacco dealer. The tax amounted to $1670. The letter goes on to state that if William wanted to sell leaf tobacco at his store he would have to take out a license. The letter is dated December 1870.
Records of the store transactions were kept in small notebooks,listing the customer's name,what was purchased and the price along with some dates of purchase. Some of the customers worked off their debts by helping with harvesting and other work. A barter system was also used. These records span 1874-1879. Some typical transactions were:

ITEM                            COST
                 $
1 GALLON BRANDY 4.00
1/2 GALLON BRANDY 1.50
1 QUART BRANDY 1.00
4 LB. BACON            .40
9 1/2 LB. MUTTON .72
20 LB. SALT            .40
1/2 GALLON HONEY .50
1 BUSHEL WHEAT 1.00
1 BUSHEL CORN .50
3 ½ LB. BUTTER .45
4 LB. TOBACCO           .50
11 LB. PORK           1.10

One item of interest found in the records are personal notes sent to William from customers asking for a specific quantity and type of brandy. It is believed that William made the brandy himself.
Over the years William bought land, adding to the stake he inherited from his parents. He bought out most of his siblings' land inheritances and added land from purchases with others:

-1867, Patterson,Eliza and William buy Jacob Grubb's(brother) and James Thayer's (brother in law) interest in the Andrew Grubbe estate for $535.

-1872, William buys Abner and Eliza Grubb Meadow's interest in the Andrew Grubbe estate for $360.

-1877, William buys from Robert and Mary Louisa Grubb Logan,and Elizabeth Hiskel Grubb their interest in the Martin Hagy Grubb estate for $106

-1879, William buys Patterson F. Grubb's(Martin Grubb's son) interest in Andrew Grubbe's estate,gained through his father

-1882, William buys from Caroline K. Grubb her interest in the lands of her grandfather,Andrew D. Grubbe for $53 being 1/4 of 15 acres

-1882, William buys Elizabeth Grubb Garner's interest in the Andrew Grubbe estate for $100.

-1883, William buys from Samuel Ford and Emiline (Garner) for $150 their interest in lands belonging to Jane Garner deceased,1/2 part,52 acres

-1883, William buys land from Milton m. Garner for $150(his 1/3 share of real estate of the late Jane garner)

-1886, William buys 39 acres from James W. Campbell and Margaret for $391

-1892, William buys 7 acres from M.H. Honaker and Laura Honaker for $79.50

-1896, William buys 13 acres from James W. Campbell and Margaret for $180

-1896, William buys 6 1/10 acres from Aaron H. Maiden and Sarah,for $90

-1898, William and K.W. Grubb buy 8 28/100 acres from P.J. Reynolds and Catherine for $124.24

-1901, William buys K.W. Grubb's interest in jointly held land formally belonging to P.J. Reynolds and Catherine,$80

-1902, William buys Patterson F. Grubb's interest in the estate of Andrew D. Grubbe,$1000

-1915, William buys from Aaron H. Maiden and Sarah 2 parcels of land for $30

 

William and Isabelle may have been known to their family and friends as Bill and Belle. This is derived from Will Wiley Grubb's recollection of "uncle Bill" and "aunt Belle". Dr. King Jamison (Ida Grubb Jamison's son) also refers to them as Bill and Belle.
From William's store records we know that he sold brandy from his store. Will Wiley remembers his mother recalling the time that uncle Bill's still was washed away, presumably by a rising creek. Dr. Jamison's recollection of this event is similar but with a different twist. According to Dr. Jamison, William was a very religious man. In light of this, William had the biggest still in the valley. As often occurred, there was a revival being held in the area of the valley. One of the focal points of the revival was prayer to get rid of the stills in the area. Soon after the revival there was a storm that washed out William's competition at Blackwell Chapel, but William's still survived.
William apparently liked to imbibe in the product of his still. Dr. Jamison recalls one particular day when William had probably partaken too much of the brandy. William found Belle milking a cow. William felt that she should not be involved in this task for whatever reason and became perturbed. Apparently Belle continued to milk the cow. William then went and got a gun and shot and killed the cow while belle was still milking. The cow fell on Belle but presumably no serious injury occurred. Dr. Jamison said this event was quite the talk in the valley.
William had some kind of affliction, which affected his leg. Apparently this affliction occurred early in his life and remained with him until his death. In the letter that William wrote to his brother Patterson while William was at school in Scott County, he mentions that he is "still" walking with crutches. There is one picture of William with Belle in which he has a cane at his side. Dr. Jamison refers to William's affliction as white swelling or TB of the foot. Dr. Jamison mentions that at one time William used a "Long John Silver" type of cane and could leap 10 feet using the cane as a pivot point.
William and Isabella had 9 children, the births of which span from 1871 to 1891:

GRANDVILLE PATTERSON 1871-1952
EDWARD JACOP 1873-1930
KING WILLIAM 1876-1902
IDA JOSEPHINE 1878-1937
VIRGINIA BELLE 1880-1942
ETTA LOUISIANNA 1882-1939
CLEVELAND ALDERSON 1884-1947
MARY ELIZA KATHERINE 1887-1964
CHARLES WESLEY CARR 1891-1977

William and Isabella moved from the farm to live in Abingdon, very close to the courthouse, after all their children had married. William died January 7,1922. He left the family farm to his wife Isabella and his youngest son C.W.C. Grubb. Isabella died August 8,1928. William and Isabella and their third son, King William Grubb are buried at Sinking Spring Cemetery in Abingdon. King William was originally buried in the old Grubb Cemetery on the Grubb home place.

Submitted by: Mike Freeman