Kitty’s great-great-grandfather was Bryan Grimes, a locally well-known Confederate general. The farm on which Grimes was born fell into disrepair in recent years. Eddie Smith, a local boat company executive, bought the farm and has restored it. For the first public viewing of the house March 19, he invited the Grimes family to hold its reunion there and tour the home and grounds. These photos are from the event.

Bryan Grimes' ancestors migrated from England in 1660 and settled in Virginia. William Grimes and his wife Anne had one son named Demsie Grimes. Their son moved to North Carolina about 1760 and married Penelope Coffield. He settled first in Edgecombe County then Pitt County where he bought several farms along the Tar River which he combined into a large plantation called Avon. His son, William, later purchased several farms a few miles below Avon. He consolidated these into a large plantation he called Grimesland. William built the Grimesland Plantation house around 1790. It eventually became the property of his son, Bryan, who had a son, also named Bryan, born in 1828. Bryan (Sr.) gave this property to Bryan in 1849 where he lived until his murder in 1880. The Grimes family would continue to reside at the home through the early 1930s.

The Grimes family had a considerable impact on North Carolina history. Demsie Grimes served as Justice of the Peace for Edgecombe County in 1763. William Grimes represented Pitt County in the House of Commons 1793-1794. Bryan Grimes was a member of the state convention of 1860 and later would become a major general in the confederate army. J. Bryan Grimes served as Secretary of State from 1901 to 1923.

Here are photos of the reunion.