Alexander Graydon and Theodosia Pettit

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Husband Alexander Graydon ^{1 2}

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           Born: 10 Apr 1752 - Bristol, Bucks Co, PA 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 2 May 1818 1
         Buried: 

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         Father: Alexander Graydon (1714-1761) 1 3 4
         Mother: Rachel Marks (      -1807) 3 4

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       Marriage: 

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   Other Spouse: [Unk] Wood (      -      ) 5

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Wife Theodosia Pettit ^{2 5}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt 1836
         Buried: 

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         Father: Col. Charles Pettit (Abt 1736-1806) 2 5
         Mother: 

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Children

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• They had no children.

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General Notes: Husband - Alexander Graydon

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At the age of six years he was sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the care of his maternal grandfather, and put to the school of David James Dove, an Englishman, and much celebrated in his day as a teacher. He was afterwards entered at the academy, later the University of Pennsylvania, where he was placed in charge of the Rev. Mr. Kinnesley, teacher of English and Professor of Oratory. In 1761 he entered the Latin school of John Beverage. At the age of sixteen he left college, and some eighteen months after commenced the study of law with his uncle, Edward Biddle, Esq., of Philadelphia. In 1773 he was, on account of impaired health, sent by the latter to York, to the care of Samuel Johnson, prothonotary of the county and a lawyer of some prominence, where he remained about six months, when he returned to his home at Philadelphia. The study of law was continued, at the suggestion of his uncle, with James Allen, second son of William Allen, then chief justice of Pennsylvania. About the time when he should have been admitted to the bar the war of the Revolution opened, and, imbued with the military ardor and patriotic spirit of the hour, he received the appointment and was commissioned captain Jan. 5, 1776, of Col. John Shee's (Third Pennsylvania) battalion. Of his services, his being taken prisoner at the capture of Fort Washington, on the Hudson, Nov. 16, 1776, and of his being released on parole, we can only refer to his "Memoirs." He was exchanged in April, 1778. Having lost his rank by reason of his capture and parole, he did not again enter the service. His mother having removed to Reading during the occupancy of Philadelphia by the British, thither Alexander went, and being admitted to the bar of Berks County, began the practice of his profession. Upon the organization of the new county of Dauphin in 1785, through the influence of Gen. Mifflin, Mr. Graydon was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania prothonotary of the county. He removed there, and performed the duties of his office in a manner alike creditable to himself and advantageous to the public.
During the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794, when Gen. Washington reached Harrisburg, the address of the burgesses was from the facile pen of Mr. Graydon, while upon the accession of John Adams to the Presidency, the letter of the citizens of the county to that functionary shows his elegant diction. Upon the election of Governor Thomas McKean, he was suddenly displaced from office. He then retired to a small farm near the borough, where he continued to reside until the year 1816, when he removed to Philadelphia with the intention of engaging in literary pursuits, and, with a view to the increase of a very restricted income, of entering upon the business of a publisher. Ere he could mature the plans, however, he yielded to the mandate which all must obey, and closed this life on the 2d day of May, 1818.

He was ardently attached to literature and to literary pursuits. He was a frequent contributor to the Portfolio in its palmiest days of popularity and influence. These contributions, which, for the most part, were modestly denominated "Notes of a Desultory Reader," contain his opinions of the authors whose works he had read, accompanied with occasional critiques upon their style, and all invariably written in a strain of candor and ease, affording indubitable evidence of the elevation and purity of his own sentiments, and of an enlarged, well-disciplined, and highly-cultivated mind. These articles, with others written from time to time for the press, of which a memoranda list is in existence, deserve to be collected in a volume and printed. In 1811 he published at Harrisburg "Memoirs of a Life chiefly passed in Pennsylvania within the last Sixty Years, with Occasional Remarks upon the General Occurrences, Character, and Spirit of that Eventful Period." In 1822, John Galt, of Edinburgh, well known for his valuable contributions to English literature, caused its republication in that city, to which he prefixed a dedication to the American envoy then resident near the Court of St. James. In this dedication he says of the "Memoirs:" "It is remarkable that a production so rich in the various excellences of style, description, and impartiality should not have been known to the collectors of American books in this country, especially as it is, perhaps, the best personal narrative that has yet appeared relative to the history of that great conflict which terminated in establishing the independence of the United States. The candor with respect to public occurrences which it displays, the views of manners in Pennsylvania prior to the memorable era of 1776, and the incidental sketches of historical characters with which it is enriched cannot fail to render the volume a valuable addition to the stock of general knowledge, and will probably obtain for the author no mean place among those who have added permanent lustre to the English language." In 1846, John S. Littell, of Philadelphia, edited the work, with notes, index, etc., which was printed in an octavo of five hundred pages, changing the title to "Memoirs of His Own Times, with Reminiscences of the Men and Events of the Revolution," by Alexander Graydon. Of this edition many copies were issued, and it too has become rare. [HDC 1883, 497]

1 William Henry Egle, History of the County of Dauphin in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 496.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 521.

3 Wm. H. Egle, Historical Register: Notes and Queries, Historical and Genealogical (Harrisburg, PA: Lane S. Hart, Publisher, 1884), Pg 46.

4 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Company, Publishers, 1896), Pg 167.

5 William Henry Egle, History of the County of Dauphin in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 497.