Birth year could be 1782 or 1784.
A piece of evidence linking Wren Grayson, St., to Joseph Grayson of Marion county, Tenn., and his descendants and other relations lies in an affidavit made by Wren Grayson in 1850 when he filed for bounty land due him for serving in the war of 1812. Part of the document is quoted below, and was obtained from the National Archives, in Washington, D.C.:
"State of Indiana, County of Decatur: On this 2nd day of November 1850 personally appeared before me a Justice of the Peace within and for the county and state aforesaid. Wren Grayson aged sixty year, a resident of the county and state aforesaid who being duly sworn according to law declare that he is the identical Wren Grayson who was a private in the company commanded by Captain James Tunnel in the Tennessee Regiment of Militia commanded by Colonel John Anderson in the war with Great Britain declared by the United States on the 18th day of June, 1812. That he was drafted at Knoxville in Knox county in the State of Tennessee on or about the first of September in the year of our Lord 1814 for the term of six months and continued in actual service in said war for the term of six months and was honorably discharged at Mobile in fort Charlotte, state of Alabama on or about the 20th of March, in the year of our Lord 1815. As will appear by the muster rolls of his company, the said Wren Grayson further states that he has lost his discharge above referred to by putting it in the hands of his brother Joseph Grayson who died shortly afterwards and never returned said discharge to the applicant which discharge is not now to be procured."
(Wren's brother Joseph Grayson died in either 1822 or 1823 as his will was probated in 1823. Wren Grayson left for Scott county Kentucky from Tennessee sometime during the decade 1820-1829. Possibly, he left before Joseph died, thus making it difficult for him to recover the discharge paper.)
-- The text below may have been written by Richard Grayson, but I'm not sure.
A large number of Grayson descendants have been able to trace their ancestry to a Grayson family that migrated from Wilkes Co., NC to various counties in Tennessee between 1790 and 1810. This soon proves to be a dead end as to date no one has been able to establish the origin of the most likely patriarch of the family, a Benjamin Grayson. It is widely believed that this Benjamin Grayson came from Virginia. The problem is that there are several Benjamin Graysons in Virginia and it is not clear which of these, if any, went to North Carolina and Tennessee where there are also multiple Benjamin Graysons. Finally, it is not certain that all of the Graysons of interest are sons of Benjamin; some may be brothers or cousins. In order to resolve this problem we have been attempting to assemble the known information about the various Benjamin Graysons in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The present document summarizes information we have found, much of which has not been widely known to previous researchers of this line. Unfortunately, the results remain inconclusive, though we are able to propose some new theories and clear up some of the mystery. Hopefully, future research will fully resolve the matter.
The puzzle begins in Wilkes Co., NC which was formed from Surry Co., NC in 1777. A Benjamin Grayson entered 400 acres of land adjoining Edmond Tilly in 1779 on Kings Creek on the border with Burke Co., NC. This is the first known mention of a Grayson in Wilkes Co., NC. Shortly thereafter additional Graysons appear in Wilkes Co., NC and various counties in TN. These Graysons include William, John, Benjamin Jr., Joseph, Wren, Nancy and Jesse. Later descendants can be attributed to one of these but none have been traced further back. It seems likely that some and perhaps all of these other Graysons were Benjamins children. To begin with we have used census and poll tax records to determine the probable ages of these early NC/TN Graysons. Originally, individuals between the ages of 21 and 55 paid poll tax in TN. This law was changed in 1801 such that free males over 50 were exempted. The likely ages deduced from poll tax and census data are as follows:
Benjamin Grayson Sr. (on poll tax list 1797&99 -with 1
poll in 1797 and 0 poll in 1799
No record exists for 1798) Born between 1742-1744
William Grayson (1850 Census, Monroe Co.,TN) Born 1767
John Grayson- (first pd poll tax 1789 Wilkes Co., NC) Born June 1767-June 1768
Joseph Grayson-(first pd poll tax 1794 Wilkes Co., NC) Born June 1772-June 1773
Jessee Grayson-(first pd. poll tax 1797 Wilkes Co., NC) Born June 1775-June 1776
Benjamin Grayson, Jr.(first on poll tax-list-1799) Born June 1777-June 1778
Wren Grayson (1850 census- Decatur Co., IN) Born 1782
Nancy Grayson Crouch (1850 census-IN) Born 1782
-- The text below may have been written by Richard Grayson, but I'm not sure.
A large number of Grayson descendants have been able to trace their ancestry to a Grayson family that migrated from Wilkes Co., NC to various counties in Tennessee between 1790 and 1810. This soon proves to be a dead end as to date no one has been able to establish the origin of the most likely patriarch of the family, a Benjamin Grayson. It is widely believed that this Benjamin Grayson came from Virginia. The problem is that there are several Benjamin Graysons in Virginia and it is not clear which of these, if any, went to North Carolina and Tennessee where there are also multiple Benjamin Graysons. Finally, it is not certain that all of the Graysons of interest are sons of Benjamin; some may be brothers or cousins. In order to resolve this problem we have been attempting to assemble the known information about the various Benjamin Graysons in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The present document summarizes information we have found, much of which has not been widely known to previous researchers of this line. Unfortunately, the results remain inconclusive, though we are able to propose some new theories and clear up some of the mystery. Hopefully, future research will fully resolve the matter.
The puzzle begins in Wilkes Co., NC which was formed from Surry Co., NC in 1777. A Benjamin Grayson entered 400 acres of land adjoining Edmond Tilly in 1779 on Kings Creek on the border with Burke Co., NC. This is the first known mention of a Grayson in Wilkes Co., NC. Shortly thereafter additional Graysons appear in Wilkes Co., NC and various counties in TN. These Graysons include William, John, Benjamin Jr., Joseph, Wren, Nancy and Jesse. Later descendants can be attributed to one of these but none have been traced further back. It seems likely that some and perhaps all of these other Graysons were Benjamins children. To begin with we have used census and poll tax records to determine the probable ages of these early NC/TN Graysons. Originally, individuals between the ages of 21 and 55 paid poll tax in TN. This law was changed in 1801 such that free males over 50 were exempted. The likely ages deduced from poll tax and census data are as follows:
Benjamin Grayson Sr. (on poll tax list 1797&99 -with 1
poll in 1797 and 0 poll in 1799
No record exists for 1798) Born between 1742-1744
William Grayson (1850 Census, Monroe Co.,TN) Born 1767
John Grayson- (first pd poll tax 1789 Wilkes Co., NC) Born June 1767-June 1768
Joseph Grayson-(first pd poll tax 1794 Wilkes Co., NC) Born June 1772-June 1773
Jessee Grayson-(first pd. poll tax 1797 Wilkes Co., NC) Born June 1775-June 1776
Benjamin Grayson, Jr.(first on poll tax-list-1799) Born June 1777-June 1778
Wren Grayson (1850 census- Decatur Co., IN) Born 1782
Nancy Grayson Crouch (1850 census-IN) Born 1782
"I was born in Scott County, Kentucky on the second day of November, 1805. My father's name was Wren Grayson and my mother's maiden name was Betsy Owens".
"I have six brothers and one sister; brother Lewis died in childhood and another, Henry, died after raising a large family. My other brothers are Wren and Sanford Grayson of Decatur County and Joseph and Benjamin Grayson of Tipton County, Indiana, all men of honest repute among those who know them. My only and beloved sister is Mrs. Nancy Hamilton, widow of William Hamilton of Decatur County".
In 1807, when I was two years of age, my parents moved to Tennessee and settled in Bledsoe County. There I almost grew to manhood and was familiar with the scenes and incidents attendant upon those early times, in adventures with Indians and wild animals in the Sequatchie Valley and upon the Cumberland Mountains".
"I was always physically strong, healthy, and hearty. At the age of seventeen, at a religious meeting held at the house of Richard Stone, I began to be conscious about my condition as a sinner. Mrs. Stone had been converted to God, embraced the faith of the Cumberland Presbyterians, a very earnest set of Christian people".
"Mr. Stone, as soon as he had found peace, constantly appealed to his friends and neighbors to `flee from the wrath to come.' While listening to him I was deeply convicted, felt very bad indeed, and was glad when the meeting closed, remarking as I left that they would not get me back there again. But the spirit of the Lord had taken strong upon me, and I realized the necessity of yielding to the call of my Master, and led by his help, to a new and better life." (Copied from the Madison Courier, February 1, 1882; "an autobiography of the deceased written by him some years ago and carefully placed away by him".)
Records have not yet been found in Bledsoe County of the Wren Grayson family, so nothing more is known of these early years than the above. It is surmised that the family left Tennessee before John was 21, because he said "There I almost grew to manhood". If by that, he meant he left at the age of 20, then the Wren Grayson family left Bledsoe County in 1825.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74536636/john-wren-grayson
We are called upon to chronicle the death of another venerable pioneer--Mrs. Permelia Grayson, widow of the late John Grayson. Her death occurred at the home of her son in law, Mr. Sewell Loyd, on Broadway, at 6:00 o'clock this morning. She had been a sufferer for about one year with debility and a pulmonary affection, and her illness was rendered the more distressing by the illness and death of her life companion which occurred two weeks ago; yet she was patient in her sufferings, and calmly resigned the world to join her beloved husband who recently passed to the other shore.
They trod life's journey together for so many years, sharing with each other the joys and vicissitudes which fall the lot of man and wife and, at a ripe old age, after lives well spent, they sleep peacefully beside each other under the friendly sod of the valley.
Mrs. Grayson was born in Scott county, Kentucky, in 1806, and hence was in the 76th year of her age. Her maiden name was Cummins, she being a daughter of Major Andrew C. Cummins, who distinguished himself in the War of 1812. She was married to John Grayson in 1829, and removed with him to this state in 183_?. The biographical sketch of Mr. Grayson "The Old Sexton" published in these columns two weeks ago, forms, in a great measure the biography of the one whose death we are now recording.