W. F. Grierson

W. F. GRIERSON, a gentleman who has been identified with religious work since his arrival in Parsons, Kansas, in 1876, has accomplished much good and done much to elevate the moral standard of the city and county. He is a veteran of the Civil War and is commander of Post No. 81, G. A. R.

Mr. Grierson was born in Lexington, Kentucky, October 10, 1836, and spent his early boyhood in Brown county, Ohio. He attended the Ripley High School and Delaware College, and then for twenty years was engaged as an instructor in schools in the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas. He located in Parsons, December 1, 1876, where he has since resided. He has been in the ministry of the old Christian church for twenty-eight years, and for two years has been connected with the Methodist Episcopal church. For six years, he was state missionary for the Christian church, and was organizer of the first school for negroes, in Parsons.

Mr. Grierson is a son of John Grierson, who during his early life followed teaching and later engaged in farming. John Grierson was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He married Anne Greenhow, by whom he had ten sons and four daughters; nine of his family grew to maturity, and seven are still living. John Grierson died at the age of seventy years, and his wife, at the age of seventy-two years.

The subject of this sketch was united in marriage, in 1865, with Hannah Hiett, of Brown county, Ohio, and they became parents of four children: Ida (Kilmer), a resident of Lincoln, Kansas; Walter A., of Parsons; Anne; and James A., who married Lodema Weaver, by whom he has a son, Harold, and who resides in Parsons, Kansas. W. F. Grierson is a member of the Sons and Daughters of Justice. In politics, he is a Republican, and was justice of the peace from 1891 to 1896. He has served six years on the school board, and has also been a member of the board of health. He is a charter member of Post No. 81, G. A. R., of which he was elected commander in 1900.

Mr. Grierson was the first man to enlist from Brown county, Ohio, when a call for troops was made. He enlisted in Company B, 1st Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., and his first battle was at Bull Run. After the expiration of three months, - his term of enlistment, - he reenlisted in Company B, 33d Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., and served in the Army of the Cumberland. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, Perryville, Richmond Hill, and Chickamauga. At the last named place, he was taken prisoner, and held in captivity for eighteen months and nine days. He was first incarcerated at Libby Prison, and then, at Danville, whence he was removed to Andersonville. Afterward he was taken to various places, in order to prevent his liberation by the Union army.