John Graves of Colchis

Resident slave-owner of Jamaica, dead by 1773.

1. LBS has not itself researched the Graves Underhill family, but genealogical material in The Graves Family Newsletter suggests that John Graves (c. 1718-1773) and Bathsua nee Herring had Samuel Graves and Bathshua Graves, that in the next generation Thomas Underhill (c. 1746-1785) and Bathshua Graves (c. 1748-1791) had children including John Graves Underhill (c. 1769-1818); Oliver Herring Underhill (c. 1769-1808); Milborough Graves Underhill (1774-1848); and Thomas Samuel Underhill (1786-1839), and that Mary Graves Underhill (b. 1805) was the daughter of Oliver Herring Underhill.

2. The will of John Graves of Trelawny Esquire was proved in Jamaica 30/10/1773.

There are two John Graves in the Jamaican Quit Rent books of 1754. One as the owner of 240 acres of land in St Elizabeth. The other as the owner of 400 acres of land in Westmoreland. It's not clear if either or both are the same person as John Graves of Colchis, 'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

1. 'Descendants of John F. Graves of Jamaica', The Graves Family Newsletter June 1999 Vol. 12 No. 129 pp. 55-57.

2. LOS 41.

We are grateful to Daniel Livesay for his assistance with this entry.