Individual Details

Michael was baptized as Johan Michael Crantzdorf. His parents were Johann Nichel/Michel and Barbara Crantzdorf. Johan Nichel and his brother said to have arrived in Philadelphia PA aboard the "Thistle" on 19 Sep 1738. The brothers boarded the ship at Rotterdam, Holland and traveled first to Plymouth, England. Johan migrated from Pennsylvania to Virginia and then to North Carolina.
[Note: I cannot find proof of Crantzdorf arrival. In Passenger lists of the Thistle which arrived 19 Sep 1738, from Rotterdam by way of Plymouth, Capt. John Wilson, there was no name which could be imagined as Crantzdorf. Also on the Thistle of Philadelphia which arrived 28 Oct 1738, Capt George Houston, from Rotterdam by way of Cowes, there was no name which could be imagined as Crantzdorf.]


Some sources give his death as 1790 in Carter or Washington Co TN where some of his children had gone, others state he died in NC in Burke Co. His estate records are said to be in Washington Co TN.

According to THE HISTORY OF CATAWBA CO NC, published 1954, p.124
Michael was a planter who bought land in May 1773, near Newton NC. This was Tryon Co, cut off into Lincoln Co in 1779 and fell into Catawba Co when it was formed in 1842. In the adjacent county of Burke, Michael Grindstaff applied for the following land grants:
11 Oct 1783 - 300 acres
11 Oct 1783 - an additional 200 acres. Entry #1860 on 29 Dec 1778. On the west side of Clarks Little River
7 Oct 1787 - 200 acres.

Likely Michael died in 1789 in Washington Co TN.

A Tennessee Taxables List, 1790, Washington Co. shows Catherine Grindstaff, widow of Michael Grindstaff, Sr]

Michael and Catrin are said to have had four sons, two daughters. [ I suspect all birth dates as being guestimates. All four of the sons served in the Revolution from North Carolina; Jacob's birth in 1766 seems a bit late to me and makes the children spread out quite far....or the first two children were not born as early. Certainly Catherine's birth is early.]

TENNESSEE SMITHOLOGY, Appendix II, Grandstaff/Grindstaff Excursus. provided by Mrs. Gladys Burns of Phoenix, Arizona. Four of the Grindstaff brothers were Revolutionary soldiers in North Carolina - Nicholas, Isaac, Michael and Jacob. A grandson, Jacob Gabbard, stated in his Revolutionary pension that Michael Grindstaff of Burke Co NC was his grandfather.

Ancestry family tree:
Grindstaff Genealogy
Dietrich Crantzdorf (b. probably before 1650, d. after 1714)
DIETRICH CRANTZDORF WAS PROBABLY THE FATHER OF THE FOUR SONS LISTED BELOW:
1. Johannes Crantzdorf
2. Phillipp Crantzdorf
3. Johann Nichel Crantzdorf
4. Johann Bartholomaeus Crantzdorf
CHILDREN OF JOHANN NICHEL AND BARBARA CRANTZDORF
1. Anna Catherine Crantzdorf (baptized in the Reformed Church about July 10, 1715)
2. Anna Rosina Crantzdorf (baptized in the Reformed Church at the end of July 1719)
3. Johann Michael Crantzdorf (baptized in the Catholic Church on October 3, 1728)
Johann Michael Crantzdorf / Gransdorff / Grindstaff married Catherine ___ , probably in York County, Pennsylvania. Michael Grindstaff, planter, purchased land in Tryon County, North Carolina in May 1773. This land was cut off into Lincoln County in 1799 and into Catawba County in 1842. The 1790 census of Burke County, NC lists Michael Grindstaff with one male under 16, one male over 16, and 4 females.
CHILDREN OF JOHANN MICHAEL AND CATHERINE GRINDSTAFF
1. Susanna Grindstaff m. Joseph Rainbolt
2. Catherine Grindstaff
3. Nicholas Grindstaff (b. @1748)
4. Isaac Grindstaff (b. before 1754)
5. Michael Grindstaff (b. January 5, 1754 in Lancaster County, PA. Died about 1833 in Indiana)
6. Adam Grindstaff (b. @1760. Died in 1781 in a military hospital of wounds received during the
Revolutionary War)
7. Jacob Grindstaff (b. @1765. Died December 25, 1844 in Washington County, Kentucky)

Birth	Ca 1718	Hornbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Christen	3 Oct 1728	Hornbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Death	1790	Carter County, Tennessee
Marriage		Catrin [Grindstaff]

Spouse	Catrin [Grindstaff] ( - )
Child	Susannah GRINDSTAFF (1736 - 1800)
Child	CATHERINE GRINDSTAFF (1740 - 1764)
Child	Nicholas GRINDSTAFF (1746 - 1794)
Child	Isaac GRINDSTAFF (1754 - 1825)
Child	Michael GRINDSTAFF Jr. (1759 - 1820)
Child	Adam GRINDSTAFF (1760 - 1781)
Child	Jacob GRINDSTAFF (1766 - 1844)

Father	Johann Nichel Crantzdorf (1690 - )
Mother	Barbara [Crantzdorf] ( - )
Sibling	Anna Rosina Crantzdorf ( - )
Sibling	Anna Catherina Crantzdorf ( - )