Grace Harrison Michel (née Ayscough)

Inherited Mountain River estate in St Catherine, Jamaica, at some point before 1758, when she was still a minor. Listed as a minor until 1763, ie born after 1742. Mountain River was in the hands of mortgagees-in-possession in 1768-1769: subsequently it appears under the same name in St John.

1. Grace Harrison Ayscough married David Robert Michel (q.v.) in Winterbourne-Whitchurch, Dorset, 09/01/1764. They had and a son, Master Robert Michel, baptised in Dewlish, 14/04/1768 and a daughter, Grace Harrison Michel, baptised in Dewlish 29/10/1770. Although the History of Parliament entry for David Robert Michel gives Grace as the daughter of John Ayscough of Jamaica, the wills of Gilbert Ford (q.v.) and of John Ayscough himself show her as the daughter of Thomas Ayscough, John's brother.

See estate information for Mountain River.

1. Familysearch.org batch no. M16021-1. Ancestry.co.uk, England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database online]. CO 142/31. Trevor Burnard, Database of Jamaican inventories, 1674-1784. Walter Augustus Fuertado, Official & Other Personages of Jamaica from 1655 to 1790: To which is Added a Chapter on the Peerage &c., in Jamaica, Comp. from Various Sources (Jamaica, 1896) via http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/bfeurtado01.htm [accessed 28/03/2017] History of Parliament online: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/michel-david-robert-1735-1805 [accessed 12/11/2013]; John Ayscough of St Catherine died in 1763. His estate was valued for probate at £21,915 Jamaican currency and included 321 enslaved people. John Ayscough owned 3935 acres of land in Jamaica in 1754 including 287 acres in St Catherine. He was Member of Assembly for St Catherine in 1757 and 1761; administration of the will of John Ayscough of St Catherine made in 1747 22/02/1768, PROB 11/935/377. Thomas Ayscough owned 2301 acres of land in Jamaica in 1754, including 468 acres in St Catherine. The estate of Thomas Ayscough of St Catherine was probated in 1756 at £8,518 Jamaican currency, including 158 enslaved people. Thomas Ayscough was Member of Assembly for St Catherine in 1742.

We are grateful to Stephen Mallet for his assistance with compiling this entry.