If it were me the first thing I would do would be to purchase a sub to Essex Archives so you can view the wills of James Grout 1733 and of Philip Grout 1717. Even if they are unhelpful in not naming people, I am sure they are for your relatives of one sort or another, so the money won't be completely wasted and they have the potential to sort things out for you!
I've not used the Essex Archives site myself, but others here have. Here's EAs page about subscribing:
https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.u...onservice.aspx
Paying a subscription on Essex Archives Online allows the user unlimited access to images of Essex parish registers, wills and electoral registers for the length of the subscription period. Images of parish registers, wills and electoral registers are available by subscription only, so you should register so you can save your search results and then subscribe when you have a good enough list to make it worthwhile.
I tried searching just the word Grout and there's loads of stuff! (including more who lived in Braughing and other nearby places in Herts).
If you have any questions about using the site and/or getting the most out of it, it might be best to start a new thread for that - I'm sure someone will be able to help.
