Author: J.Y. Joyner Library

John Bryan Grimes, the second of nine children born to Major General 
Bryan Grimes and Charlotte Emily Bryan, grew up on the family 
plantation, Grimesland, in Pitt County. 

He began his education at several North Carolina private schools, 
including Trinity School at Chocowinity. Grimes studied at the 
University of North Carolina (1882-1885) before completing his 
education at Bryant and Stratton Business College in Baltimore. 

An active farmer, he served as president of the North Carolina Tobacco 
Growers Association and in 1899 was appointed to the North Carolina 
Board of Agriculture. He held the position of North Carolina Secretary 
of State from 1901 until his death in 1923. During this time, Grimes 
expressed an active interest in North Carolina history as a member of 
the North Carolina Historical Commission and in other ways. 

In 1894 Grimes married Mary Octavia Laughinghouse, daughter of Joseph 
John and Eliza O'Hagan Laughinghouse, who lived on an adjoining 
plantation, Oakland. Mary Octavia (May) Grimes died on December 2, 
1899, leaving her husband with one daughter, Helen Elise.

Grimes married Elizabeth Laughinghouse, May's sister, on February 3, 
1904. For additional information, see sketch of J. Bryan Grimes in 
Ashe's Biographical History of North Carolina, VI, [262]-266 and in 
Powell's Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, II, 376. 





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