Grindell Family History

  This project traces the ancestry of Conrad's mother's mother, who was born Mary Margaret (or maybe Margaret Mary) Grindell. Conrad and those who have helped him have accumulated records, pictures and stories, and Conrad finished a book in 1998 which incorporated everything that had been collected by then. New material has been discovered recently, which we are currently adding to the project, starting with our updated version of the Sarah Ann Grindall story.

  Margaret Grindell, was born in Cumberland, MD, in 1879. Her father was George Washington Grindell, born in Baltimore, MD, about 1845, and her mother was Ellen B. (for Bridget?) Shearan, born in Mount Savage, MD, in 1856. Not too much is known about George W. Grindell's ancestry, but that didn't stop Conrad from throwing a lot of speculation into his book. In the case of Ellen B. Shearan, at least we were able to determine who her parents were—Michael Shearan and Bridget Reynolds, both of whom were born in Ireland and came to America in the mid-19th century. Michael was killed in a railroad accident in 1857, and Bridget married again in 1859 to Andrew Whelan (or Whalen) in Pittsburgh, PA. So this Whelan family is included in the project. And Ellen's sister Mary Shearan married Thomas McGovern, probably in Pittsburgh, around 1879, and this McGovern family is included in the project too. We don't know the names of the parents of Bridget Reynolds and Michael Shearan, and we don't know where in Ireland they came from. If you have any information on this, or on the ancestry of George W. Grindell, or any records, pictures or stories concerning any of the people mentioned here, then we hope to hear from you. Contact Conrad at cwterrill@comcast.net.

                 + ?
           + George W. Grindell (~1846-1898)
           |     + Sarah Ann Grindall (~1823-1898)
           |
     M. Margaret Grindell (1879-1967)
           |
           |     + Michael Shearan(~1822-1857)
           + Ellen B. Shearan (~1856-1936)
                 + Bridget Reynolds (~1829-(1880-1900))

A History of the George and Ellen Grindell Family of Cumberland, Maryland, by Conrad W. Terrill, 1998 (PDF, 121 pp., 18.2 MB)

An updated version of the story of Sarah Ann Grindall, Conrad Terrill, 2023

A "records history" for Sarah Ann Grindall, Conrad Terrill, 2023
  (A list of records pertaining to Sarah Ann Grindall, in chronological order)

John Fleet Purcell records history, up to 1879, Conrad Terrill, 2023
  (A records history of Sarah's third husband, covering the period of time prior to his marrying Sarah, with a bit of follow-up on his children.)

John F. Purcell's Civil War Pension File (PDF, 49 MB), scanned by C. Terrill, 2023
  (This National Archives and Records Administration file includes John's invalid pension and Sarah's widow's pension records.)