In the mid-1600s, John Tyson traveled from the British Isles to Virginia. Over the next 200 years, his descendents migrated to North Carolina and on to Georgia. Alexander, Clement, and Jehu Tyson and their mother Penelope settled this land in 1853. Their children, including Willie, Joseph T., and Solomon, were born here and helped establish local churches and schools. Descendents of Willie's five children, Oscar, Lizzie T. Gardner, Tom, Fannie T. Payne, and Will D., consider this their ancestral home and return to the Grove each year to renew family ties.