From A Biographical History of Central Kansas, Vol. II, p. 761
published by The Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago & New York, 1902

HENRY A. GRANSBURY

   Among the many residents of central Kansas, who are of English descent, none is more highly respected than the venerable Henry A Gransbury, who is living a life of retirement on his farm in Walnut township, Reno county, near Sterling.  Mr Gransbury, who has lived the peaceful life of a farmer, is descended from ancestors who have been soldiers and sailors.  His father, Stephen Gransbury, was born in Kent, England, in 1795, and came to America in 1829, making a nine weeks’ voyage in a schooner, the captain of which was lost and which eventually went to the West Indies.  For nine years Mr Gransbury was a sailor on a British man-of-war.  Stephen Gransbury, father of Stephen Gransbury, and grandfather of Henry A Gransbury, served eighteen years, six months and twenty days as a private in the British army and was never disciplined for insubordination, and after he came to America was very usefully employed in drilling state militia troops in the state of New York.  He came to the United States in 1836, bringing with him his wife, one of his sons and a grandchild.  His wife died in Delhi, New York, in April, 1855, and he died in September, following.  He was born in 1773, his wife in 1775, and he was eighty-two years old at the time of his death, and his wife, eighty.  They reared two sons and three daughters.

   Stephen Gransbury, father of Henry A Gransbury, married Ann Crowhurst, of Kent, England, June 9, 1816.  They had eleven children, of whom they reared seven to years of maturity.  They lost twin sons by death.  Henry A Gransbury, who was born at Courtright Center, Delaware county, New York, December 31, 1829, was the seventh child of his parents and the only one of their sons born in America who is now living.  His brother, John, is a retired fruit grower and lives near Walton, New York.  He had five sons in the Union army during the Civil war and one of them was shot through the head.  Two sons of Oliver Gransbury, another of Mr Gransbury’s brothers, were soldiers in the Civil war also, and when it is stated that John, George and Oliver Gransbury all periled their lives on southern battlefields in defense of the stars and stripes and that Oliver was killed in battle and was buried near where he fell, no room is lift for doubt that members of this family were actuated by patriotic love of country, whether that of their birth or of their adoption.  Stephen Gransbury, Sr, was a British soldier in London when Queen Victoria was crowned, and loyal as he was to the parent country his descendants were no less loyal to America in her time of need.

   Stephen and Ann (Crowhurst) Gransbury were married in 1816.  She died in Delaware county, New York, August 10, 1857; Mr Gransbury in Cattaraugus county, New York, in 1863.  The subject of this sketch was reared to woodland farming in New York state, aiding in the work of clearing land and putting it under cultivation.  He acquired a fair common-school education and when not in school and not needed at home he worked for neighboring farmers.  He was married June 26, 1851, to Julia Ann Bolton, who was born at Trumansburg, Tompkins county, New York, January 20, 1832, a daughter of James S and Lucinda (Williams) Bolton, the latter a native of Colchester, New York.  Of their thirteen children they reared six sons and three daughters to maturity.  Esther Abigail died at the age of twelve years; Alester A died at the age of two years, a few hours after the birth of one of his brothers; Eveline, who married Hiram Heath and lives at Exira, Iowa, has five children; Matilda married David B Cuppy and died November 7, 1888, leaving an only child, Mary A, then an infant, who was adopted by Mr and Mrs Gransbury, who have reared her as their daughter, and whom she assists and comforts in many ways; Freeman L, has a wife and four children and lives in Oklahoma; Washington, also of Oklahoma, has six children; Melinda E married Charles B Deitz, of Kingston, New York, and has seven children; Ida M married Henry A Conklin and lives in Oklahoma; Emma N, who married Joseph Linn and lives in Oklahoma, has four children; Lillie M married Otha Bell and has a little daughter, who is a member of her parents’ household; Addison A died in Walton township, Reno county, Kansas, in 1899, aged thirty-six years, and left four children, who with their mother live at Sterling, Rice county.

   Mr Gransbury is in feeble health and is retired from active life.  His adopted grandchildren worthily repay him and his good wife for the interest they have taken in them, being helpful and inspiring to the highest degree.