Freestone County, Texas
Biographies 



Dr. Thomas Blackmon Grayson 

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Freestone Co. TX - Bio for Dr. Thomas Blackmon Grayson


Book - Biographical Sketches from Limestone, Freestone, and Leon Counties,
Texas.  Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1893.  p. 96.

    "T. B. GRAYSON, M. D., the second oldest practicing physician in Freestone
    County, was born in Wilcox County, Alabama, the son of Dr. S. G. and
    CAROLINE (BLACKMON) GRAYSON, natives of South Carolina and Kentucky,
    respectively, who married in Alabama.
    Dr. S. G. GRAYSON was a graduate of the medical school in Kentucky, and
    began to practice medicine when the state was still a Territory and Indians
    more numerous than the white men.  He retired from the practice of medicine
    many years previous to his death - the
latter occurring in this state.  He came here in 1853 from Alabama, and died in
this county in 1871.   During his long life he was also engaged in farming, but
took little interest in political matters, beyond voting for the Democratic
candiates.  The Grayson family had came to America from Scotland, before the
Revolutionary War, settling in Virginia, later moving to Kentucky, where Dr. S.
G. Grayson was born, in the same county as were Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson
Davis. 
   Dr. Grayson and his wife were the parents of ten children, seven of whom
   grew to maturity:  WILLIAM, deceased, was an attorney at Fairfield, and
   served as Judge of this county;  Dr. T. B., our subject;  ELIZABETH,
   deceased; HARRIET, wife of WILLIAM CLEVELAND; MARY, decased, wife of Judge
   L. D. BRADLEY of the Thirteenth District, and was Judge at the time of his
   death;  VIRGINIA, deceased; CAROLINA, her twin sister, married D.C.
   WEATHERFORD; CHARLES, of Leon County;  ROBERT, of Leon County, and ALICE,
   deceased, wife of JUDGE O. C. KIRVEN.  Mrs. Grayson died in 1862, greatly
   lamented by all.
     T. B. GRAYSON received his primary education in the common schools of
     Alabama, finishing a higher course at the University of Alabama.  At the
     age of nineteen, he entered the Department of Medicine at Tulane
     University in New Orleans, graduating there in the
class of 1854-'55.  He opened his office at Fairfield May 1, 1855, and
practiced there until 1872, when he moved to his present location.  He still
has an extensive practice, covering the greater portion of Freestone County.
In the latter part of 1862, Dr. Grayson entered the Confederate service in
Charles Pyron's regiment of cavalry, staying only a short time, as he was
ordered by General Walker to join Walker's Legion as surgeon.  He was stationed
at Houston and Galveston until the end of the war, returning home to the
practice of medicine.  He has been very successful and is one of the most
highly regarded men in this portion of the state.
     The Doctor had cultivated about 100 acres of land prior to the War and was
     partner in a drug store in Fairfield.  For many years he was a member of
     the Medicial Examing Board of the county, and during the time the doctors
     had a medical board, took a great interest in it.
 In 1856 he was married to Miss CAROLINE McARTHUR, of Alabama, a daughter of
 JOHN and CHRISTIAN (GORDON) McARTHUR, natives of Scotland and North Carolina.
 Dr. and Mrs. Grayson are parents of nine children:  ARTHUR, deceased;  WILLIAM
 S., of Navarro County; MARY, wife of JOHN ROBINSON; MARY K., wife of C. J.
 McCONNICO; BERTIE, wife of W. Y. GLASS; MARTHA R., wife of M. M. BONHAM; JOHN
 E.; CHARLES B. and CORA B.  Dr. Grayson is a member of the Birdston Lodge, No
 333, A.F. and A.M., of which he was a charter member, and for many years a
 member of Fairfield Lodge, No. 104.  He has served there as W. M. and was
 appointed W. M. of Birdston Lodge.  He is also a member of R.A.M., Fairfield
 Lodge No. 42 and was a member of I.O.O.F., Eudora Lodge No 42, which no longer
 exists.  He is prominent in the County Grange."