Person:Felix Grundy (2)

About Felix Grundy

Felix Grundy (September 11, 1777 – December 19, 1840) was a congressman and senator from Tennessee and served as the 13th Attorney General of the United State

Early Life

Born in Berkeley County, Virginia (now Berkeley County, West Virginia), Grundy moved to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and then Kentucky with his parents. He was educated at home and at the Bardstown Academy in Bardstown, Kentucky.[1] He then read law, was admitted to the Kentucky bar, and commenced practice in Springfield, Kentucky, in 1799.

Career

In 1799, he was chosen to represent Washington County at the convention that drafted the second Kentucky Constitution.[1] From 1800 to 1802, he represented Washington County in the Kentucky House of Representatives.[1] He then moved to Nelson County, which he represented in the Kentucky House from 1804 to 1806.[1] On December 10, 1806, he was commissioned an associate justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals.[1] He was elevated to Chief Justice of the court on April 11, 1807.[1] Later that year, he resigned and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he again took up the practice of law.[1]

He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 12th and 13th Congresses and served from March 4, 1811, until his resignation in July 1814.[2]

He then became a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1819 to 1825, and in 1820 was commissioner to settle the boundary line (state line) between Tennessee and Kentucky. He was elected as a Jacksonian in 1829 to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy in the term ending March 4, 1833, caused by the resignation of John H. Eaton to join the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson; reelected in 1832 and served from October 19, 1829, to July 4, 1838, when he resigned to accept a Cabinet position. During this time he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads (21st through 24th Congresses), U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (24th and 25th Congresses).

He entered the Cabinet when he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Martin Van Buren in July 1838. He resigned the post in December 1839, having been elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate on November 19, 1839, to fill the vacancy in the term commencing March 4, 1839, caused by the resignation of Ephraim Foster; the question of his eligibility to election as Senator while holding the office of Attorney General of the United States having been raised, he resigned on December 14, 1839, and was reelected to the Senate the same day, serving from December 14, 1839, until his death in Nashville, a little over a year later. During this stint in the upper house of the U.S. Congress he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Revolutionary Claims in the 26th Congress.

Death

His grave can be found at the Nashville City Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. After his death, four American counties were named in his honor. The four counties are located in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Tennessee.

Grundy Center, Iowa, located in Grundy County, Iowa are both also named in his honor. Grundy Center's annual festival, called "Felix Grundy Days", are held each July, marking the start to the annual Grundy County Fair, located in Grundy Center.

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Felix Grundy (September 11, 1777 – December 19, 1840) was a congressman and senator from Tennessee who also served as the 13th Attorney General of the United States.

Will Transcript

In the name of God, Amen. I, Felix Grundy of the City of Nashville in the State of Tennessee, do make and establish this, my last will and testament, thereby revoking all former wills by me heretofore made. I wish and direct all my just debts to be paid. In the first place, I then give to my beloved wife one third of all my estate, real, personal and mixed, to her and heirs forever. Also the negroes Ambrose & Hannah, also the household and kitchen furniture, and the carriage and horses, which I may own at the time of my death; and in estimating my estate for division the above enumerated property and articles, are not to be taken into the account. As to the other two thirds of my estate, I dispose of the same as follows. The same is to be divided in four parts; my daughters Mariah and Felicia are each to have one fourth. Martha Winder one fourth part. The remaining fourth to be divided between my son James P. Grundy and my grand-daughter Mary Grundy, daughter of John R. Grundy. My son James to have two-thirds and my grandaughter Mary one third of said one-fourth. I further give to my daughter Mariah, the negro girl Caroline, and to my daughter Felicia, the negro girl Mary Jane, which are not to be estimated in the division. In the above disposition of my property, it is not intended that any of the lands I own in partnership with others, should be included. They are of large amounts and they or their proceeds, are to be disposed of as follows: My wife is to have one share, Louisa C. McGavock one share, Eliza B. Mayson one share, Malvina C. Bass one share, Maria G. Grundy one share, Felicia A. Grundy one share, James P. Grundy, one share, Dr. Rawling's children one share, Martha Winder one share. The foregoing devised legacies are to be paid over and secured to the persons entitled, in such way as my Executors may judge best, so that the same may not be unnecessarily wasted and should the children of Dr. Rawlings or the child of John R. Grundy die without children, then, their part is to be equally divided among my heirs. My Executors or either of them are hereby authorized to sell and convey all or any part of my real estate. Any unsettled accounts existing between Randal McGavock, Jacob McGavock, or John M. Bass and myself, at the time of my death, are to be settled by my Executors or either of them, without any responsibility therefor. I hereby nominate and appoint Jacob McGavock and John M. Bass Executors of this will. Felix Grundy. Done at Nashville this 16th day of August 1838. The foregoing is all in my own handwriting, and the erasure in the first page & the interlineation of the words 'one fourth part', were made by me before the execution of this will. Felix Grundy. Acknowledged & published in our presence August 16th, 1838. Andrew Ewing, R.B. Turner

A codicil to the last will and testament of Felix Grundy, made and executed on the 16th day of August 1838 of which said this is declared to be a part. I revoke so much of my last will & testament aforesaid, as give to my son James P. Grundy, an estate in fee in the property devised and bequeathed to him in said last will and I do hereby give the two-thirds of the fourth share given him in said will, together with one share of the partnership lands, spoken of in said will to the children of James P. Grundy, which he may now or hereafter have born to him, to be equally divided between them, - share and share alike, at the time when the children shall have attained the age of twenty-one, & that the interest and profit shall in the mean time, be devoted to the support and education of said children. I revoke so much of my said last will and testament, as goes to my daughter, Maria, an estate in fee, in the fourth part of the two thirds of my estate bequeathed to my children; also the bequest to her of the negro girl Caroline; and I hereby declare it as my will, that the while of said property just spoken of, shall go and belong to the said Maria for her separate use and maintenence, and at her death, to be equally divided between her children, share and share alike. I revoke so much of my said last will and testament as gives my daughter Felicia an estate in fee in the fourth part of the two-thirds of my estate, bequeathed to my children, also the interest given her in the partnership lands, & in the negro girl Mary Jane, and I hereby give all of said property just spoken of, to my Executors named in my said last will, to have and to hold for the sole use and benefit of said full power and authority to dispose of the same by her will. Item. As a further provision for the benefit of my wife, I here direct that the negroes, stock, etc. which I own in conjunction with Jacob McGavock and John M. Bass on the plantation in Arkansas, shall be sold to said Bass & McGavock, if they wish to purchase them at the valuation, & in order to effect this they are to have said property at whatever valuation shall be fixed upon by two disinterested men, one of them to be chosen by said Bass & McGavock, and the other by Mrs. Grundy. But if said Bass & McGavock do not purchase said property, it may then be sold by my Executors at the best price they can get, and the proceeds arising from the sale in either event, shall be loaned out at interest, by my Executors, and the dividend annually paid over to my wife, during her life and after her death, the principal to be divided into four equal parts, one of which is to go to the children of James P. Grundy, and my grand-daughter in the proportion mentioned in the will: the second to Maria for her separate use as aforesaid, and at her death to her children. The third to my Executors for the benefit of my daughter Felicia, and subject also to her appointment at her death, above provided; the fourth to my daughter Martha Winder her heirs, &c. Item. I give to my wife the negro boy Abram, the child of Hannah, to her absolutely. Item. In regard to my partnership Lands, or the proceeds arising from them, spoken of in my will, I will that said proceeds shall be given to my daughters for their sole and separate use and benefits is alive, or their children, if dead; when the same are realized, with the exception of the shares given to Mr. Rawling's children and James' children, which last mentioned shall go and be held as devised to Rawling's children, in the will and upon the trusts to James' children, in the first item of the codicil. The words "and my grand-daughter in the proportion mentioned in the will", and words "Rawlings" in two places interlined before signed. In testimony of all which I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this 11th day of December, 1840. Felix Grundy (Seal). Edwin H. Ewing, Andrew Ewing.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

   the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

   Felix Grundy (September 11, 1777 – December 19, 1840) was a congressman and senator from Tennessee who also served as the 13th Attorney General of the United States.

2.   RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project.

   https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=firefly&id=I539