James (23 Sep 1784-10 Oct 1855) — m. Mary Ann “Polly” Grisham on 31 Oct 1815
Martha (26 Dec 1786-13 Sep 1849) — m. Michael Thompson Grisham on 1 Feb 1815
Anna (~1788-18xx) — m. Benjamin Watkins on 29 Aug 1804
Mary Jane “Polly” (26 Aug 1792-~1840) — m. John Thompson Grisham on 20 Sep 1815
John, Jr. (~1800-????)
others?
Branches of the Corbet (or Corbett, or Corbitt) family tell stories of John being born in Ireland, deliberately getting himself transported to the New World about 1764 by vandalizing a hedge or garden belonging to a nobleman, and fighting in the Revolutionary War. Attempts to trace this story lead instead to a record of a prisoner from Middlesex County, England named John Corbet who was deported to the colonies for stealing two pairs of trousers from the craftsman for whom he was working as a journeyman. Whether or not he took part in the war is unclear. It seems very likely that the John Corbet who came to Tennessee was this man, but it would be hard to prove.
I have nothing about Elizabeth but her name, and even that might have been spelled Read or Reade.
John and Elizabeth married about 1784. One ancestry.com thread says they married in Pennsylvania, and also that John was born 22 Oct 1746. Their daughter Martha was born in Blount County, Tennessee, just south of Knoxville. They settled in Jefferson County, just northeast of Blount County. The ancestry.com thread claims they bought a farm in Dandridge in 1797, the year before John’s death.
John died in 1798 in Dandridge, Jefferson County. Elizabeth reportedly died there as well about 1815.
Three of the children married members of the Grisham family, who were also Clark ancestors, around the time their mother died.
James has his own entry in the family tree.
Martha married Michael Thompson Grisham (1 Nov 1788-3 Jun 1851), a veteran of the War of 1812, on 1 Feb 1815 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Their children:
John Calvin (21 Nov 1815-27 Jul 1892) — m. Nancy Jane Wheeler about 1847
Thompson B. (11 Mar 1817-28 Jan 1877) — m. Mary Ann “Polly” Wheeler on 12 Feb 1835
Livinah Jane (24 Jan 1819-5 Nov 1878) — never married
Eliza Anne (25 Dec 1821-6 Jan 1822)
Joseph E. (4 Jan 1823-5 Jan 1859)
Mary Catherine (30 Apr 1824-Sep 1899)
James Perry (11 Sep 1826-19 Nov 1881) — m. Mary Jane Brown about 1850
Michael Houston (21 Oct 1828-10 Mar 1910) — m. Rebecca Wheeler on 5 Jan 1854
In 1818, Michael bought 57 acres of land from his father. Four years later, he sold it to his younger brother Joseph. In 1830, the family were living in McMinn County, Tennessee. In 1840 they were in Clark County, Illinois, and in the 1840s they moved to Dade County, Missouri. Martha died there in 1849. She’s buried in Sinking Creek Cemetery, Everton, Dade County. Michael died two years later, and is buried with her.
Anna married Benjamin Watkins in 1804 in Jefferson County. Haven’t found her after that. The 1830 census of Williams County, Tennessee (south of Nashville) showed a Benjamin Watkins in his sixties, with a wife in her forties and six children, so that might have been them but there’s no solid proof.
Polly married John Thompson Grisham (9 Sep 1791-1873) on 20 Sep 1815, after her older sister’s wedding but before her brother’s. There are records of ten children:
Joseph Van (4 Jun 1816-1 Apr 1889) — m. Polly A. Harkrider in 1834; m. Mary Ann Wheeler in 184x
Elizabeth Ann (28 Feb 1818-16 Jun 1889)
Francis David Marion (2 Aug 1820-2 Dec 1873) — m. Rhoda Isham on 7 Oct 1839
John P./M. (14 Oct 1822-20 Jan 1901) — m. Mary ???
Mary M. (~1825-????)
Martha Louisa (4 Feb 1825-7 Apr 1865) — m. William Green Jameson on 10 Mar 1844
Benjamin A. (25 Aug 1827-????) — m. Elizabeth ??? about 1850 in KY
Mary Jane “Jenny” (24 Feb 1830-15 Jan 1902) — m. James Monroe Kirby on 18 Aug 1850
Jasper (27 Nov 1836-????)
William Daniel (9 Sep 1837-12 Apr 1900) — m. Mary Ann Witt on 18 Oct 1863
Polly died about 1840 in McMinn County, Tennessee. I think John married Nancy McRary on 25 May 1848 in McMinn County, Tennessee, and later moved to Dade County, Missouri, the same place as his brother Michael and Polly’s sister Martha. When John’s and Polly’s daughter married in 1850, it was in Dade County; and a man with information matching John’s and a wife named Nancy (65, born in Virginia) was in the 1860 census of Morgan Township, Dade County. There’s information that John died in 1873, but no details.
Note that the Mary Ann Wheeler who married son Joseph is not the same Mary Ann Wheeler who married his cousin Thompson Grisham.
Haven’t been able to trace John.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Corbett-779 -- the man, the legend
http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/corbett/962/ -- the legend again
https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.northam.usa.states.tennessee.counties.jefferson/177.223/mb.ashx -- The legend, yet again
https://www.geni.com/people/John-Corbett/3920325290990024974 -- the legend, downsized
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X8YN-V49 -- 1804 wedding of Anna
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X8YJ-96B -- 1815 wedding of Polly; go to image 96, entry #1207
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNDV-DMV -- 1848 wedding of prob. Polly’s husband John Grisham
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89958419/martha-grisham -- 1849 grave of Martha
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDZ4-52X -- 1850 census, Martha’s family
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHZY-CQ5 -- 1860 census, prob. Polly’s husband John Grisham
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHZY-CGT -- 1860 census, Polly’s daughter Mary Jane
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4DB-B5B -- 1870 census, Polly’s daughter Mary Jane
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4D1-W55 -- 1870 census, Martha’s son Michael
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M66Y-KCL -- 1880 census, Polly’s daughter Mary Jane
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3C8-WTH -- 1900 census, Polly’s daughter Mary Jane