Graydon, Julia

Biography

Julia, the daughter of Henry Murray Graydon [d. 1900] and his wife Sarah, was a descendant of Alexander Graydon [c. 1708-1761], subject of a portrait by Feke (1966.13.2). Alexander Graydon was educated in Ireland to be an Anglican minister. He came to the American colonies in 1730, and settled in Philadelphia, where he became a successful merchant. He and his second wife, née Rachel Marks [d. 1807], had two children, Alexander, Jr. [1752-1818], who fought in the Revolutionary War and spent eight months as prisoner of the British on Long Island, and William [Julia's grandfather, 1759-1840]. An account of Rachel Graydon's visit to her son during his imprisonment is given in Ellet 1818 (see references). Julia's estate was sold at her Harrisburg residence on 28 October 1954. The sale included the portrait of her great-grandfather Alexander Graydon.[Compiled from sources and references recorded on CMS]

Bibliography

1818

Ellet, Elizabeth F. The Women of the American Revolution. New York, second edition, 1818:237+

1846

Graydon, Alexander, Jr. Memoirs of his Own Time. Philadelphia, 1846 [reprinted as Alexander Graydon's Memoirs of his Own Time, John Stockton Little, ed., New York Times and Arno Press, 1969]

1995

Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 102-104 [on Alexander Graydon's portrait]

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