Mary Maxwell Griggs

Mary Maxwell Griggs

• Father: Henry Griggs b. 18 December 1793, d. 27 December 1871
• Mother: Ann G. Sturdivant b. 26 October 1798, d. 1868

• Mary Maxwell Griggs was born on 10 July 1826 in Sparta, Hancock County, Georgia.
• Her name was recorded as Mary Maxwell by some researchers.
• She married Joseph B. Thorp on 3 September 1846 in Hancock County, Georgia.
• Henry Griggs and Ann G. Sturdivant appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Grimes County, Texas. Other members of the household included Mary Maxwell Griggs, John William Griggs, Francis Marion Griggs, Martha Ann Elizabeth Griggs, Joseph B. Thorp, Joseph Paul Thorp, Henry R. Thorp and James Kelly Markey. Also in the household was Georgia-born farmer A. William Jackson, age 27.
• Mary Maxwell Griggs became a widow at the 30 November 1850 death of her husband Joseph B. Thorp.
• She married James Kelly Markey on 30 August 1855 in Grimes County, Texas.
• The following appeared on 5 September 1855 in a Texas Baptist newspaper: (Married) On the 30th, at the residence of Henry Griggs, Esq., by the Honorable George M. Patrick, Mr. James K. Markey to Mrs. Mary M. Thorp, all of Grimes County.
• James Kelly Markey and Mary Maxwell Griggs appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Plantersville, Grimes County, Texas. Other members of the household included Judith A. Markey, James O. Markey, Mary Markey, Joseph Paul Thorp and Henry R. Thorp. Also in the household were two adolescent schoolboys and laborer George Dennis, apparently a widower, and his five children.
• James Kelly Markey and Mary Maxwell Griggs appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Navasota PO, Grimes County, Texas. Other members of the household included Mary Markey and Elizabeth Joseph Markey. Also in the household were two domestic servants. Mother Mary is identified as Matilda Markee, and daughter Elizabeth as Emma.
• Mary Maxwell Griggs became a widow at the 17 October 1886 death of her husband James Kelly Markey.
• Mary Maxwell Griggs died on 28 August 1907 at age 81.
• She was interred at Plantersville Cemetery, Plantersville, Grimes County, Texas.
• Research Note: James Kelly Markey's wife Mary Maxwell Griggs, a daughter of Henry Griggs, whose sister Linnah was the wife of Evelina's father's brother Lewis Bryant Barnes. Another brother of Evelina's father William and Lewis Bryant Barnes was Thomas Barnes, whose son James W. Barnes in Grimes County served with the Texas Home Guard as commander of the 5th Texas Brigade District. Also note that the Markey school was established on donated land - 10 acres each by 3 people, one of whom was Dr. James L. Mitchell, father of William Barnes Wood's wife Josie and grandfather of Campbell Wood's wife Nannie.

• Last Edited: 5 Sep 2012