James Branch LeGrand

b. circa 1811
  • James Branch LeGrand was born circa 1811 in Mt Gilead, Montgomery County, North Carolina.
  • William Coleson Norwood and Elizabeth Wade LeGrand appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in San Augustine County, Texas, and also Connecticut-born farmer John See.. Other members of the household included James Branch LeGrand, Hampton L. Norwood, Thomas Butler Norwood, James LeGrand Norwood, Eliza Jane Norwood, Adeline America Norwood, Sarah Osborne Norwood, Edwin Oswald Norwood and Edwin Oswald LeGrand.
  • Research Note: Frequently seen but unsourced death information -- 20 October 1855, San Augustine, Texas.
  • In a letter to her uncle John Brown LeGrand on 31 January 1859, Mary Jane LeGrand Wood wrote: ". . . When we first moved to this state I wrote to uncle Edwin, received one letter from him in which he promised me he would make me a visit. I looked for him until we heard of his death 6 years ago. I wrote to Uncle E. twice after the reception of his letter but heard no more from him. It seems to me I wrote to you also, am not certain tho. Tell Uncle E. he has treated me badly not to visit or write either. He must now make amends and come to see me. . . . Am glad my informant was mistaken about Uncle E. I suppose he had heard there was a LeGrand dead and took it for granted it was him as he had not known him. Did Uncle James have a family? Who did Aunt Sallie's daughters marry? I do wish some of you would visit me. I am so anxious to see and know some of my own kin. Give much love to them all, and tell them to write. I would gladly receive a letter from any of them. Uncle Henry Wade is the only one of my fathers family I remember ever to have seen, he was at my house in Ala. after I was married. Did he have a family? He told me he married a widow lady, who had a daughter as large as myself. I never knew whether he was in earnest or not. Do you ever hear from him? Has my other Uncle Wade a family? Please write about them. I have long wanted to know my kin. . . ."
         It is an educated guess that the Wade "uncles" Mary Jane mentions actually were step-brothers of her father, sons of Andrew Wade by an earlier marriage.
  • The following is from a letter of James L. Beverly of Wadesboro, North Carolina, written on April 12, 1891, copied in longhand by Aunt Margaret in 1902. "Jane Green Paul married William C. LeGrand on March 10, 1829. They lived near Wadesboro, North Carolina. His brother Edwin O. LeGrand married and moved to Texas. The girls all married. James and John LeGrand were last heard from just before the late war. They were quite thrifty old bachelors, owning valuable mill property and a large whiskey distillery in Burk[e] County, North Carolina. When John LeGrand died he left his children well, but William C. was fond of high life and after he married, went through all his property. They lived with Duncan McRee, his wife's cousin, and his wife in the same house. William failed in business and sold his land to the McRees. He taught school for a while. There is no stain on the character of any of the LeGrands. They are very fine people."
         Quoted from Helen Johnstone Rose's book Our Family History: Johnstone, LeGrand, MacGillivray, Maclaren (1981), kindly shared by her nephew John B. Johnstone.
  • In a letter to her cousin Lizzie Leigh Wood James written about 1933, Margaret LeGrand Johnstone Philbrick wrote: "A letter from A. Lyttle of Wadesboro Oct 13, 1858, says that Wm C. LeGrand's father lived in the fork of the Rocky River and the Pedee, and that a Lyttle once owned part of the same land. John LeGrand the father of Wm C. had Edwin O., William C., James, and John, sons – Mrs. Hall & perhaps other daughters. Buck LeGrand (Homer), James L. & Hampton LeGrand were brothers of John. Mrs. Hall lived in Fayetteville N.C."
  • Last Edited: 8 Aug 2014