MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS
SCRAPBOOK PART VII
By Jonathan K.T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995

(Page 18)

GATES (LOT 32)

LOT 32, GATES

East Side, south to north:

THOMAS M. /McCutchen/ GATES
1838-1922

LAURA M. GATES
1839-1897

In Loving Memory of
FRANCES LEE MOORE
Died May 30, 1890

FRANCES M. MEANS
1895-1961

Little MURRAY /McMILLIN/
1899-1903

ANDREW MURRAY McMILLIN
Born Mar. 3, 1852
Died July 28, 1904
Member of Hickory Camp No. 12
/A Spanish-American War veteran's metal marker is beside this tombstone./

FRANCES LEE MEANS ELSTON
Dec. 27, 1918-Dec. 13, 1978

CHARLES M. GATES
Dec. 21, 1866-June 5, 1953

West Side, south to north:

ERNEST H. MEANS
1888-1933

ERNEST H. MEANS, JR.
1922-1945

THOMAS E. GATES
1877-1918

 

1.
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY, 1899 (Reprint, Wilmington, N.C., 1987), Vol. 10 Extended, pages 497-498:

Lieutenant Thomas M. Gates, of Jackson, was born in Henry county, Tenn., in 1838, son of W. W. Gates, a native of Chesterfield county, Va., who removed to Tennessee in 1824. Mr. Gates enlisted in Company H, Sixth regiment Tennessee infantry, in May, 1861, served under General Polk at Columbus. Ky., and participated in the battle of Shiloh, after which, upon the reorganization of the regiment, he was elected first lieutenant of his company. While the army under Gen. Bragg was encamped at Chattanooga, he was assigned to post duty at Rome, Ga., and was there when the famous raid was made through north Alabama toward Rome by the Federal colonel, Streight. When the daring raider was reported within a day's ride of Rome, Lieutenant Gates called out all citizens to reinforce his small command, and his appeal was answered by the entire population of the place, grandfathers and grandsons taking their places side by side in the ranks. Lieutenant Gates is now a prominent citizen of Jackson, and successful in business as a cotton buyer. He was married September 23, 1863, to Laura Moore, of Rome, Ga., who died December 19, 1897, leaving three surviving children: Anna L., wife of Captain McMillin; Charles M., and Thomas E. A fourth child, Benjamin Hunter, died August 3, 1894.

 

2.
Death certificate, Madison Co., of TOM M. GATES, born Dec. 4, 1838; died August 15, 1922. Son of W. W. Gates and Annie McCutchen.

3.
Robert H. Cartmell "Diary", 21, April-May 1902; Jan.-Dec. 1904; Jan. -June 1905, page 73, July 28, 1904:
"Capt. McMillan /sic/ died this morning. 3:30. had been sick some 2 weeks (flux). aged 50 or more. married a daughter of Tom Gates. born in Madison Co. traveled for some house /business firm/. He was capt. of a co. in Spanish American War."

4.
U.S. Census, June 3, 1880, Jackson, Enumerator's Dist. 101, sheet 5:
Thos. M. Gates, 41, Tn. Cotton Buyer
Laura Gates, wife, 34, Ga.
Anna L. Gates, dau., 15, Ga.
Charles Gates, son, 13, Ga.
Hunter Gates, son, 10, Ga.
Thos. Gates, son, 2, Tn.
Lee Moore, sis-in-law, 32, Ga.

5.
Robert H. Cartmell "Diary", 8, Jan.-Dec. 1890, page 42:
"May 31, 1890. Miss Lee Moore died last night. buried this evening."

 

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6.
U.S. Census, June 2, 3, 1900, Jackson, Enumerator's Dist. 107, sheet 4:
Thos. M. Gates, b. Dec. 1838, Tenn.; widr.
Annie McMillin. dau., b. Nov. 1865, Ga.; 3 children; married 8 years
Charley Gates. son, b. Mar. 1863. Tenn.
Thos M. Gates, Jr., son, b. Jan. 1878, Tenn.
Murray McMillin, s-in-law. b. Feb. 1854, Tenn.
Gates McMillin, grdson. b. June 1891, Tenn.
Francis McMillin, grddau.. b. June 1894, Tenn.
Murray McMillin, grdson., b. Jan. 1900, Tenn.

7.
Obit. of Charles M. Gates, THE JACKSON SUN, June 5, 1953:
"Died June 5, aged 86 yrs. Retired from railroad employment in 1947 after 45 yrs. in this work. Not married; left 2 nephews, Gates McMillin of Corinth, Ms.; Charles McMillin of Jackson. Niece, Frances Means and aunt, Miss Callie Gates."

Griffin Funeral Home Burial Reg., 1949-1954, page 514:
Charles Moore Gates, Dec. 21, 1866-June 5, 1953. Son of Thomas McCutchen Gates and Laura Moore.

8.
Obit. of Frances Lee Means Elston, THE JACKSON SUN, Dec. 13, 1978:
"She died today. Wife of Ernest Woodrow Elston. Mother of E. W., Jr., David A., Robert G.; Elizabeth Elston. One grandchild."

9.
Buried in Lot 169, Riverside Cem., with a double tombstone:
CHARLES W. McMILLIN, 1903-1966
JANIE MAYO McMILLIN, 1903-(living)

10.
Many of Charles William McMillin's articles about local history and people and other similar topics, 1943-1962, pasted in a scrapbook he apparently kept is now in the archival collection of the Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison County Library. McMillin was a grandson of Thomas M. Gates.

11.
JACKSON DAILY WEEKLY, Aug. 11, 1893:

MURRAY McMILLAN A Great Cash Shoe House on Liberty Street.         Mack arrived on this mundane sphere in 1852, taking up his first abode three miles south of Pinson, this county. He was educated in the country schools and has worked his way up by his own exertions. He started at the carpenter's trade with his brother Wm. E. McMillan in 1870-74. In 1874 he clerked in a store at Bells and thence went to Memphis, having accepted a traveling position with Menken Bros. He was afterwards connected with the wholesale shoe house of Goodbar & Co., for a term of seven years, indeed, until he opened business here last December. His is a strickly cash shoe house. He has made it a point to tell the truth from start to finish and to represent goods exactly as they are. He deals fairly and squarely with the people and hence his trade has improved from the start. Murray McMillan, as a merchant and a citizen, would be a credit to any community and the WHIG wishes him health, wealth and prosperity because he deserves it.

 

12.
Interview, Jonathan Smith with Lt. Col. Ernest Woodrow Elston, born 1915, Jackson, July 22, 1995:
Ernest Woodrow Elston, b. Oct. 13, 1915, married Frances Lee Means (Dec. 27, 1918-Dec. 13, 1978), May 20, 1942. Their four children: E. W. Elston, Jr., b. Oct. 8, 1943 (father of Sean Michael Elston, b. Nov. 14, 1981); David Andrew Elston, b. April 29, 1945 (father of Amy Elizabeth Elston, b. Dec. 26, 1969; Kelly Rae Elston, b. April 4, 1983; David A. Elston, Jr., b. Sept. 14, 1985); Sarah Elizabeth Elston, b. Oct. 13, 1953, md. Dennis Hailey (mother of Mary Frances Hailey, b. Oct. 13, 1990; Aaron Douglas Hailey, b. April 25, 1992); Robert Graham Elston, b. Aug. 12, 1959, died Aug. 15, 1992, no children. Colonel Elston recalled that Frances L. McMillin had md. Ernest H. Means and had two children: Frances Lee Means and Ernest H. Means, Jr. who died unmarried in a plane crash. Recalled Mrs. Frances M. Means had a brother, Gates McMillin of Corinth, Miss. and a brother, Charles W. McMillin of Jackson; the latter had no children. Colonel McMillin retired Jan. 1967, Lt. Col., Air Force; veteran of WWII and Korea.

13.
Griffin Funeral Home Burial Register, 1944-1949, page 121:
Ernest Harrison Means, Feb. 22, 1922-Mar. 29, 1945. Son of E. H. Means, Sr.-Frances McMillin

 

(Page 20)

14.
Madison Co. Marriage Book K, page 85:
Murray McMillin married Annie Lee Gates, March 25, 1891

15.
U.S. Census, 1910, Jackson. Enum. Dist. 170, sheet 2-B:
Thomas M. Gates, 71, Tenn.
Charles M. Gates, son, 43, Ga.
Thos. E. Gates, son, 32, Tenn.
Annie G. McMillin, dau., 45, Ga.
Thos. G. McMillin, grdson., 17, Tenn.
Frances L. McMillin, grddau., 15?, Tenn.
Charles W. McMillin, grdson, 6, Tenn.

16.
Griffin Funeral Home Burial Reg., 1939-1944, page 14:
Annie Gates McMillan, Nov. 3, 1864-Aug. 15, 1939, dau. of Thomas Gates and Annie Laura Moore. Buried Riverside /She is buried in Lot 169, beside her son, Charles W. McMillin, with only an uninscribed stone./

16.
Interview, Jonathan Smith with Mrs. Janie (Mayo) McMillin, widow of Charles W. McMi1lin, July 24, 1995, Jackson, Tenn. She stated that she was born May 20, 1903; married C. W. M., April 24, 1925; he was born Oct. 1, 1903; died Jan. 3, 1966. No children. She was a daughter of William Montgomery Mayo and Annie Corinne (Murrell) Mayo. That, Thomas Gates McMillin, her husband's bro., was first married to Alice Bigelow and had one child, a daughter, now deceased, who left children.

17.
THE JACKSON SUN, August 15, 1939:

Mrs. McMillin Passes Away At Local Hospital Member of Pioneer Jackson Family Be Buried At Riverside Tomorrow         Mrs. Annie Gates McMillin, wife of the late Andrew Murray McMillin, member of a pioneer Jackson family and one of this city's best known and most greatly loved women, passed away this afternoon at 1 o'clock at the Fitts-White Clinic from complications arising from a fall she suffered some nine weeks ago.         Mrs. McMillin was born in Jackson November 3, 1864, the daughter of the late Captain Thomas Gates and Annie Laura Moore Gates and made her home in Jackson throughout her life. She was the possessor of one of the finest contralto voices ever heard in this section and before she quit singing in public, her voice was enjoyed by hundreds and was the source of joy and comfort to many in times of pleasure and of sadness.         Mrs. McMillin gave freely of her talent and for many years was the leading contralto of the first Baptist Church. She was a life-long member of the First Baptist Church and was active in the work of the church. She was also a member of several patriotic and civic organizations and was widely known for her splendid disposition.         About nine weeks ago Mrs. McMillin suffered a fall at her residence on East Lafayette street from which she never recovered. She was carried to the Fitts-White Clinic and then removed to her home, but several days ago her condition became such that she was again brought to the clinic. During the past two days her condition had been such that small hope for her recovery was entertained. Mrs. McMillin is survived by two sons, Gates McMillin and Charles McMillin, both of Jackson, and a daughter, Mrs. Frances Means, also of this city, and a brother, Charles M. Gates of Jackson. Three grandchildren also survive.         The remains were carried to the Griffin Funeral Home where they will be until the funeral Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 o'clock in the chapel. The services will be conducted by Dr. John Jeter Hurt, president of Union University, and the interment will follow in the family lot in Riverside cemetery.         The following will serve as pall-bearers: Active – Falls Neill, W. M. Mayo, Dr. S. M. Herron, Will Holland, Dr. W. T. Fitts and Dr. Jere L. Crook. Honorary – J. E. Springbet, Dr. J. M Glenn, Jesse Thompson, Dr. J. T. Herron, Dr. Judson Kimbrough, Dr. R. A. Kimbrough, A. M. Allen, Harry Gates, Will Caldwell, J. N. Fits, and T. L Taylor.

 

18.
The Griffin Funeral Home furnished birth and death dates of Frances Lee McMillin Means from their records:
July 6, 1895-May 10, 1961.

19.
Madison Co. Marriage Book 5, page 490:
E. H. Means married to Francis L. McMillin, December 20, 1916.

20.
From article written by T. M. Gates, appearing in the JACKSON SUN, Jan. 24, 1915. (Thomas Gates Historical Articles, c. 1915. Newspaper clippings from Edward Moseley in the possession of Wallace Moseley, Plano, Tex. Photocopies on file in the Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison Co. Library, courtesy of Mr. John R. (Ricky) Long, III of Jackson, Tennessee:

The Writer's Birth         There is a spot three miles from Spring Creek that is very dear to the writer. Long years ago on December 8, 1835, a marriage was performed in the two-story frame house on the road known as the Cold Water Inn. It was a stage stand where fresh horses were kept harnessed ready for the incoming coach. The writer's grandfather, Col. Wm. McCutchen, occupied this inn. On the night of December 8, 1835, my father led my mother to the altar and she became his wife. A few years later a baby boy was born. This little baby's life hung on a tender thread for three long years or more. Constant watching of a sweet young mother at times seemed to be all in vain. At last a remedy was found and the child grew fast and strong and is now in his seventy-seventh year writing history for the readers of The Sun. My readers must pardon this allusion to my early life, but upon this old house coming so vividly to my mind I could not refrain.

 

21.
National Archives, Washington, D.C.: Compiled Military Service Record, Confederate for Thomas M. Gates. Microcopy 268, Roll 140. He enlisted in Co. H, 6th Tenn. Inf. CSA, May 15, 1861; was in Battle of Shiloh, April 1862; commissioned 1st Lt., May 6, 1862; served on detached duty much of time after Jan. 6, 1863. His brother, John Ward Gates, enlisted at the same time in the same unit; was honorably discharged August 8, 1861. Their brother, James C. Gates, enlisted in this unit, Aug. 1863; taken prisoner at Chickamauga; released in June 1865, having been at POW Camp Point Lookout, Md.

 

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22.
OUR COUNTRY COUSINS, an article written by Thomas M. Gates (1838-1922), which appeared in THE JACKSON SUN, March 1915. (Thomas Gates Historical Articles, c. 1915. Newspaper clippings from Edward Moseley in the possession of Wallace Moseley, Plano, Texas. Photocopies on file in the Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison County Library, courtesy of Mr. John R. (Ricky) Long, III, of Jackson.)

. . . we will leave Jackson by what is known as Poplar Street /Airways Blvd./. Alexandria will be our first stop which at this moment is in sight. Where the residence occupied by Superintendent /S. A. /Robert/s/ of the experiment station stands at this time a two-room log house stood there in 1818. The log house fronted south and was well daubed with mud and two dirt and stick chimneys were on the east and west of the house. Near this log house was a shed which was used as a blacksmith and wagon shop. Governor Blount*. . . sent a man by the name of /Adam Rankin/ Alexander to what is now called West Tennessee to take charge of the land office, to issue grants to land seekers. . . . Alexander floated down the Cumberland river and after reaching the mouth of the Forked Deer River, poled his way up /to the Jackson area/ in a keel boat. This settlement was called Alexandria, which was a strong competitor for the county seat of Madison county in 1822. On the first ballot of the commissioners two votes each for Alexandria and the Butler farm were cast and one vote for Golden station. . . . The citizens of our beautiful city of Jackson are indebted to the late Mr. James McKnight who, on the second ballot, voted for the Butler farm /which placed the county seat on the latter place/. *Governor Joseph McMinn

 

The location of the superintendent's residence on the grounds of the West Tennessee Experiment Station is shown on the plat map on this page, with a hand pointing to it. This residence was built in 1914 and while it has been improved from time to time remains the same building and on the same site as it was in 1914 and 1915. (See, A HISTORY OF THE TENNESSEE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, by Thomas J. Whatley, Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service, 1994, page 19.)

Adam Rankin Alexander (1781-1848) was commissioned Principal Surveyor/ Surveyor General of the Surveyor's District 10 in West Tennessee in December 1819. Early in 1820 Alexander went out to the new district to organize his own land district. He settled in what became Madison County, Tennessee in 1821. The commissioners or justices of the peace met and organized this county in Alexander's "office" on December 17, 1821, and the county court sessions were held there from then and through June 1822. The county seat was permanently established on the Butler and Shannon farms, which village was known as Alexandria until an act of the Tennessee legislature, August 17, 1822 re-named it Jackson. (For more about this matter and A. R. Alexander, see ADAM RANKIN ALEXANDER, by Jonathan K. T. Smith, Jackson, 1992.)

There are numerous references to the general location of Alexander's Land Office. Appearing in the WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, April 20, 1872, "The Country We Live In," by Ezekial B. Mason:

The first Land Office that was opened in the 'country we live in' was opened in December 1820 by Adam R. Alexander, one and one-half miles northwest from where the city of Jackson now stands.

 

THE JACKSON SUN, July 7, 1875. Statement by General Alexander W. Campbell:

The office in which the first court of the county was held, was situated about two miles west of Jackson, near the Indian mounds on the land which belongs to the family of the Late John W. Campbell and northeast of the ford on the Forked Dear River which was then known as Roberson's Ferry. This ford is about two hundred and fifty yards below Campbell's bridge.

Campbell's bridge is the Location of the bridge crossing the river where Old Highway 70 or the Westover Road turns south off Airways Blvd.

"History of Madison County, Tennessee," by J. G. Cisco. THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, Volume 7, no. 4 (October 1902), page 334:

Its next settlement was about two miles west of Jackson, now known as the McClanahan farm, and not far from an old ford on the Forked Deer river. That ford was at the bend of the river and about two hundred yards below the present bridge on Campbell's levee road. There are some old Log cabins now standing near the place where the settlement was made and near them, at the base of a hill, is a fine spring. . . . The settlement in question was made by Adam R. Alexander. . . . This was in the year 1820. The place where Mr. Alexander settled was called Alexandria. It was the seat of government for the county until 1822, when the present site was selected.

 

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23.
THE APPEAL-AVALANCHE, Memphis, Tenn., March 26, 1891:

MARRIED IN JACKSON MR. MURRAY McMILLIN AND MISS ANNIE E. GATES A Number of Memphis Society Leaders Attended the Wedding – It Was a Brilliant Affair – The Happy Couple "At Home" to Their Friends.         One of the most brilliant weddings of the season took place yesterday at 3:30 o'clock at Jackson, when Mr. Murray McMillin, of this city, and Miss Annie E. Gates, of Jackson, were united in marriage in the First Presbyterian church, Rev. H. W. Tribble officiating.         A special train left here at 10 o'clock yesterday morning bearing the bridegroom and the following guests: Miss Annie Stratton, Miss Lillian Stratton Miss Mamie Goodbar, Mr. William Goodbar Mr. T. A. Divine, Mr. T. A. Wright Gen. S. T. Carnes, Mrs. S. T. Carnes Col Hugh Petitt, Mrs. Hugh Pettit Col. Taylor, Mrs. Taylor Maj L. F. Peters, Mrs. L. F. Peters Mr. R. B. Armour, Mrs. R. B. Armour Col. Kellar Anderson, Mrs. Kellar Anderson Mr. Thomas G. Boggs, Mrs. Thomas G. Boggs Mr. W. A. Gage, Mrs. W. A. Gage Mr. A. H. Kortrecht, Mrs. A. H. Kortrecht Mr. Ed Harrris, Dr. E. M. Willett Dr. J. E. Black         When the train reached Jackson the passengers were met by carriages and conveyed to Robinson's hotel, where they were elegantly entertained by the bridegroom's Jackson attendants, Messrs. Charles and Hunter Gates, brothers of the Bride, Dr. Deupree, Mr. J. B. Sullivan and Mr. W. B. Robinson. At the appointed hour carriages were called and took the wedding guests to the church.         Splendid decorations had been arranged in honor of the event. The organ, which is to the left of the altar, was wreathed with green and profusely festooned with roses. Directly over the altar was a canopy of Virginia cedar reaching to the ceiling and stretching to the walls. Here, too, roses were used in abundance. The altar was covered with pink overlaid with green and flowers. Back of this stood a tall burning lamp, half covered by a pink shade. The wedding party entered in the following order:         Dr. Deupree and Mr. J. B. Sullivan entered in the right aisle; Mr. Charles Gates and Mr. T. A.. Wright the left aisle; Mr. T. A. Divine and Mr. Hunter Gates, right; Mr. W. B. Robinson and Mr. William Goodbar, left; and the bride and bridegroom on the right, and stood midway the semicircle that was formed in front of the altar. Rev. H. W. Tribble met the contracting parties at the altar, and in a brief but impressive ceremony pronounced them husband and wife.         The wedding party went direct from the church to the train, and in two hours and fifteen minutes the 86 miles had been covered and the party was safe in Memphis. It was a right jolly party that came flying over the rails at such a rate of speed, and the time did not appear half as long to them as it really was.         Mr. and Mrs. McMillin are at home to their friends at the residence of Dr. Willett, on Adams Street.         The bride is a charming young lady and is warmly welcomed to her new home by a host of friends. Mr. McMillin is a well-known business man.

 

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