My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM J. GRANNIS, A. M., principal of the preparatory school of the Cumberland University, was born April 24, 1823, in Morristown, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. He was educated in the Jefferson County Institute at Watertown, N. Y., and the State Normal School at Albany, N. Y., graduating from the latter in 1847. He began his first work in teaching November 29, 1841, and afterward followed that occupation in Chaumont, N. Y., and the following year was elected principal of the graded school at Cape Vincent, being also superintendent of the town schools, which position he held four years. In 1852 he came to Wilson County, Tenn., having been chosen principal English teacher of the preparatory school of Cumberland University. Owing to the war the school was suspended in 1862, and Prof. Grannis was given a clerkship in the quartermaster’s department of the Union Army, stationed at Nashville, holding the position until 1866, when he was appointed as deputy internal revenue collector of the Fifth District of Tennessee. In 1873 he resigned, having previously been elected principal of the preparatory school of Cumberland University, and was at once elected to his former position, thus forcibly illustrating his ability as an educator and a disciplinarian. Previous to the war the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by the Cumberland University, which demonstrates how high a position he held in the estimation of the faculty and board of trustees. In October, 1849, he was united in marriage to Lucy A. Gates, born in Oneida, N. Y., in September, 1829, daughter of Eliphas and Lucy Gates. Prof, and Mrs. Grannis are the parents of the following family: Herbert W., who is assistant teacher in the preparatory school of the university; Hattie, who is music teacher in the girls’ department, and Henry. Prof. Grannis and family are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. His parents, John and Marian (Dunlap) Grannis, were natives of Oneida County and Schoharie County, N. Y., born in 1798 and 1802, respectively. The father was a farmer, and always made “York State” his home. He was married three times, and was the father of two children. He died in 1877 and the mother in 1846.