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Dr. Charles Rollins Grandy

Elmwood Cemetery
2nd Alley East, Lot 6
3rd Alley East, Lot 46
4th Alley East, Lots 31 & 37
5th Alley East, Lot 46
6th Alley East, Lots 29 & 31
7th Alley East, Lots 30 & 32
8th Alley East, Lot 103
Elmwood Extension, Block 26, Lot 2

Dr. Charles Rollins Grandy was bom in Norfolk, Virginia, April 9, 1871, the eldest son of Cyrus Wiley Grandy, Jr. and Mary P. Selden. [Other siblings included:  William Selden (1869 – 1870); Julia Selden (1873 – 1875); William Boswell Selden (1876 – 1938); Cyrus Wiley Grandy III (1878 – 1955); Mary Selden (1882 - ?). Dr. Charles Rollins Grandy was rather delicate in childhood, but as his father was a man of means, he was not compelled, like many other boys, to do manual labor, and he encountered no great difficulty in obtaining an education. He went to school first at the Norfolk Academy, then to Bellevue High School, and finally, in 1889, to the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1892 with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine. He then spent three years working in the City hospital and Hudson Street hospital, of New York and two years in Germany, doing special pathological work at Freiburg, Frankfort and Berlin.*

In 1898, after full preparation, he began the active work of life in Norfolk as a physician, where he has built up a large practice and won the esteem of the people. He was not content with the ordinary routine work of his profession. Dr. Grandy contributed numerous articles to medical magazines, and made many scientific investigations on malarial fever and performed considerable microscopic work. He was active in improving the hygienic conditions of the state. He was the author of the law organizing the Virginia State Board of Health in the early 1900s, and in January, 1906, he was appointed a member of that body.  In addition, he attempted to get the local state authorities to work against tuberculosis, and organized in Norfolk an anti-tuberculosis league, of which he was Secretary- Treasurer. He was also Chairman of the Virginia Committee of the International Congress on Tuberculosis. He belonged to the Norfolk Medical society, of which he was President in 1900, and held membership in the Seaboard Medical Association, the Medical Society of Virginia, and the American Medical Association. He was a member of the jury of awards of the Jamestown Exposition.**

On January 16, 1901, he married Mabel Dickman, a daughter of Judge J. F. Dickman, of Cleveland, Ohio, ex-chief justice of the supreme court of that state. They had one daughter, Julia Selden Grandy (1903 – 1962), and one son, William Selden Grandy (d. 1967). ***

Generations of Grandys are buried in Elmwood Cemetery with burials ranging from 1868 to 1985.

*The Recording Angel:  News from the Friends of Norfolk’s Historic Cemeteries, Volume 7, Issue 1, May 2008 by Tim Bonney.
**Men of Mark in Virginia, Ideals of American Life:  A Collection of Biographies of the Leading Men in the State, Volume V, by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, 1909.
***The Family Forest Descendants of Lady Beaufort by Bruce Harrison, 2005.
Seldens of Virginia and Allied Families, Volume I, by Mary Selden Kennedy, 1911.


Biographical information provided by Norfolk Bureau of Cemeteries.

Visitor Information

Visitor Hours: Sunrise to Sunset

Office hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM

Free parking inside cemetery.

Admission Cost: Free

Address: 238 E. Princess Anne Road , Norfolk, VA 23510

Official web site for more information: www.norfolk.gov/cemeteries

Norfolk Society for Cemetery Conservation Web Site: www.norfolksocietyforcemeteryconservation.org