Runnels County Pioneers
Nathan Worley Grant

Nathan Worley Grant was born December 11, 1831 in Tennessee. He was a son of William Calloway Grant. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1851. Gold had been discovered in Australia so he decided to go there to try his luck. Apparently he did find gold since he circumnavigated the earth after leaving Australia in 1855. He toured all the principal cities of Europe. He returned to Tennessee where he worked at his profession of surveying and civil engineering. Next N. W. Grant moved to Missouri and then to Collin County, Texas, about 1857. Then he moved to Limestone County, Texas where he taught school. There he married Josephine Elizabeth Tipton, daugher of Jacob and Martha (Henry) Tipton; she was born in 1841 in Tennessee near Knoxville.

When the Civil War broke out, N. W. Grant helped form and became a member of Terry's Texas Rangers which was formed in Limestone County, Texas. He participated in the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Battle of Chickamauga. He received a medical discharge.

In 1869 he moved to Johnson County, Texas, and shortly after 1880 he moved to Nolan County, Texas.

Nathan Worley Grant died August 16, 1883 in Nolan County, Texas. He was buried in a marked grave which bears the Masonic Emblem in Bluff Creek Cemetery, Nolan County, Texas. His wife died in 1909 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Ballinger, Texas.

Their children were:

1. John Henry Grant; born September 17, 1862; married Jennie Grady.

2. Katherine Josephine Grant; born March 28, 1864; married (1) Jeff Scoggins; married (2) George A. Harrell.

3. William Calloway Grant; born April 14, 1870; married Birdie Henderson.

4. Martha Olivia Grant; born September 17, 1872; married John H. Kipp.

5. Mary Ellen Grant; born August 30, 1874; died November 16, 1959; buried Evergreen Cemetery, Ballinger, Texas; married March 24, 1902, Runnels County, Texas; James Edward Brewer; born March 21, 1871; died February 16, 1954.

6. Charles Tipton Grant; born August 30, 1874; married September 29, 1901, Runnels County, Texas; Mattie Curry.

7. Beatrice Lurette Grant; born August 24, 1878; married October 27, 1901, Runnels County, Texas; Asa Devereau Cordill. (Reference: Mrs. Asa D. Cordill, 401 Ninth Street, Ballinger, Texas 76821)

Jenkins, Frank D., ed. Runnels County Pioneers. Ballinger, TX: The Ballinger Bicentennial Commission, 1975.

 

---