DEATH NOTICES FROM THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE,
NASHVILLE TENNESSEE 1877-1879
By Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 2000ADDENDUM
MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS AND OUACHITA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE(Page 94)
A church newspaper, the MEMPHIS CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE began publication on August 16, 1850; within a year it became the MEMPHIS AND ARKANSAS CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE and by mid-1850s, the MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS AND OUACHITA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE; published in Memphis, Tennessee. It dealt with interests of subscribers in west Tennessee, northern Mississippi and Arkansas. Featured articles dealing with church polity, conference reports, theological issues and a miscellanea of secular concerns such as general news and a wide variety of advertising and formal obituaries.
The newspaper was suspended in 1862-1865 due to the upheaval wrought by the Civil War. Publication began again January 1, 1866. The name of the newspaper was changed in June 1870 to the WESTERN METHODIST. Because of disruption of Memphis commerce due to the yellow fever, the newspaper was moved in the summer of 1879 to Nashville but moved to Little Rock, Arkansas from which it began publication January 1, 1880. This newspaper was suspended in 1882.
The Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, Duke University Library, Durham, North Carolina has several issues of this newspaper for the period when it bore the name MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS AND OUACHITA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. The obituarial abstracts made by the present writer from the Duke issues follow below.
November 13, 1856
Colonel P. W. PORTER died near Memphis, Tenn., November 7, 1856.
Miss NANNY W. "Mitty" ALSTON, sister of John D. Alston, DeSoto Co., Miss., died in his residence, Nov. 6, 1856 in the 15th year of her age.
LUCY P. DAMAN wife of Dr. D. P. Daman born No. Carolina, 1804; migrated to Tenn. with husband; in 1840 to Miss.; died there, at Danville, Oct. 28, 1856; surviving were husband and 5 daughters.
CATHARINE HENRIETTA STANFORD dau of Isaac D. and Mary A. Price, born Lancaster Dist., So. Carolina, Nov. 16, 1830; moved to west Tenn. with parents 1834; to Drew Co., Ark. 1843; married Rev. John B. Stanford, former1y of Ark. Conf., Mar. 28, 1849 and settled in Pine Bluff but moved in July 1853 to Marengo Co., A1a. where she died of pneumonia, October 14, 1856.
November 4, 1858
J. A. J. DOYLE, a steward of Davidson's Chapel, Methodist, died near Memphis, Oct. 19, 1858; born in Fla., 1831; "comparatively a stranger among us"; joined Methodist Church 1856.
MARTHA J. BALL wife of B. F. Ball died Memphis, October 15, 1858.
JOSIAH PRESCOTT 3rd s/o Jedidiah Prescott died Memphis, Oct. 31, 1858 in the 34th year of his age.
Tribute of Respect to BOLING BRANCH who died near Saulsbury, Tenn., Oct. 2, 1858 after a "painful and protracted illness"; by Berlin Masonic Lodge 170, Saulsbury, Tenn., dated October 18, 1858.
(Page 95)
February 24, 1859
ALICE TATE SURATT wife of Rev. S. B. Suratt, dau of William R. and Lucy Ann Tate, born Limestone Co., Ala., Oct. 24, 1830; moved to "near" Memphis 1852; married Dec. 22, 1857 and died in Mansfield, La., January 21, 1859.
Mrs. ALCORN wife of James Alcorn, dau of Capt. James Lusk, So. Carolina, an officer in the American Revolution, died at residence of her son, Col. J. L. Alcorn, Coahoma Co., Miss., Dec. 22, 1858 in her 65th year of age. Born in Union Dist., So. Carolina, 1794. The first wife of James Lusk "was murdered by one of his negro men, soon after the close of the war /and/ in utter abhorrence of the race, rid himself of all his slaves"; second wife was Miss McElwayne. Moved near to Golconda, Ill. and operated a ferry on the Ohio River. /Rid himself of slaves AFTER the war?/
ORRIN DAVID DE SPAIN s/o Rev. John M. De Spain died Miss. Co., Ark., Oct. 23, 1858 in his 23rd year of age.
T. G. SHARP died near Tyro, Ark., Feb. 6, 1859; born Morgan Co., Ala., Dec. 17, 1821; joined Methodist Church 1839; surviving were widow and 3 daughters.
ELI LAWLER born No. Carolina, Jan. 2, 1794; died Coahoma Co., Miss., Nov. 2, 1858; married Catharine Baker in Ala. where he had lived since the age of 15 years; moved to Sumter County in 1856.
THOMAS WILSON BREVARD s/o G. W. and Sarah J. Cochran, died Prairie Co., Ark., Jan. 25, 1859 aged 3 months, 19 days.
THEODORE B. AUGUSTUS s/o William and Ann Augustus, died Paducah, Ky., Nov. 26, 1858 aged 10 years, 4 months.
Apri1 27, 1859
Tribute of Respect to BETTIE WOOLDRIDGE and TEXANNA MYERS who died recently by fellow students of Byhalia Female Institute dated April 1, 1859.
C. S. HICKS born Feb. 28, 1828; died Coahoma Co., Miss., Feb. 10, 1859.
ELIZABETH V. ELAM dau of Charles and Margaret Porter, born May 16, 1829; joined Methodist Church 1847; died Panola Co., Miss., Mar. 30, 1859.
Mrs. MARY A. M. STOCKTON born Oct. 1, 1821; dau of Rev. Travis and Louisa N. Owen; married Rev. J. D. Stockton, Oct. 16, 1849; surviving were husband and 2 children.
A. ATKINS died 4 miles from Somerville, Tenn. /no death date given/; lacking only 2 days before his 80th birthday.
ROBERT EATON TOONE s/o George and E. F. Toone died April 13, 1859, Tulip, Dallas Co., Ark., aged nearly 5 years.
May 5, 1859
Tribute of Respect to LANCASTER GLOVER who died Dec. 28, 1858 in his 82nd year of age; by Germantown Masonic Lodge 95, undated.
ELDRIDGE D. ATKINS, Henry Co., Tenn., died April 2, 1859.
Mrs. S. A. COBB wife of Rev. James S. Cobb, Ouachita Conf., died Columbus, Ark. Feb. 9, 1859; born Nov. 5, 1829; married Sept. 6, 1847.
Rev. PLEASANT BRUMMETT died Bradley Co., Ark., April 6, 1879 aged about 40 years.
EMMA E. LINDSAY dau of John R. and Sarah A. Lindsay died Jefferson Co., Ark., Mar. 31, 1859 in the 8th year of her age.
LANCASTER GLOVER born Sussex Co., Va., May 19, 1777; died Shelby Co., Tenn., Dec. 28, 1858; married Elizabeth dau of Charles and Mary Locke, Dec. 24, 1807.
(Page 96)
Mrs. NICHOLAS ANN STAMPS born Lawrenceburg, Tenn., May 1829; dau of Nicholas Perkins of Williamson Co., Tenn.; known as "Dan River Nicholas" and one of fifteen children; raised an orphan in the home of her brother, Colonel G. W. Perkins; married George A. Brinkley, Mar. 1844 and had 3 children; he died; she married Capt. Jerome B. Stamps, Dec. 13, 1855; one son, She professed religion at Big Spring Baptist Campground, Madison Co., Tenn., and joined Methodist Church; died near Collierville, Tenn., April 15, 1859.
ANN J. BELL dau of John and Ann Lloyd born Onslow Co., No. Carolina, Aug. 26, 1818; married William A. Bell, Jan. 19, 1841; moved to Miss. 1843 (Yallabusha Co.); died Mar. 16, 1879. Their son, WILLIAM C. BELL, born Dec. 14, 1844; died Feb. 24, 1859.
MANERVA HUDSON dau of William and Tabitha Hancock born Chesterville /sic/ Dist., So. Carolina, May 14, 1817; married Arther Hudson, Dec. 25, 183l; died Oct. 31, 1858. Their son, JACOB W. HUDSON born Jan. 16, 1854; died Dec. 23, 1858.
May 26, 1859
AMANDA M. WHITEHERST 3rd and youngest dau of Henry and Permelia Whiteherst, born Franklin Co., Tenn., Dec. 31, 1828; moved with grandmother, Sarah King, uncle and two sisters to Holly Springs, Miss. in Jan. 1840; moved to Pontotoc Co., Miss. with sister and brother-in-law, James Thomas in Jan. 1848; married B. F. Chapman of Newberry Dist., So. Carolina, Dec. 8, 1850; died Nov. 23, 1858; surviving were husband and two daughters, one aged 7 years, one aged 2 years.
WILSON HENDRICKS died McNairy Co., Tenn., Apr. 9, 1859 in the 49th year of his age; joined Methodist Church in Guilford Co., No. Carolina.
JAMES ANDREW PARTIN born Mar. 29, 1836; died Memphis, Tenn., May 5, 1859.
SARAH B. BROOKS wife of William J. Brooks, born Morgan Co., Ga., Oct. 7, 1819; married August 10, 1832; died Jan. 28, 1859; surviving were husband and 5 children.
MARY E. TALLEY aged 14 years, l month and 13 days died April 8, 1859.
ELI SMITH died Jefferson Co., Ark., Jan. 1859 aged "near" fifty years.
June 9, 1859
JAMES DAVIS AIKEN s/o Thomas H. and Nancy M. Aiken born Dyer Co., Tenn., July 4, 1856; died April 13, 1859.
WILLIE PRICE s/o T. H. W. and M. R. Price died near Casscoe, Ark., May 10, 1859 aged 8 months.
MITTIE GORIN child of Dr. H. H. and E. A. Gorin, born Oct. 14, 1846; died Opelika, Miss., May 20, 1859.
Miss PELINA WHITLOCK died Gibson Co., Tenn., Nov. 4, 1858 in her 21st year; born DeKalb Co., Tenn.
JOHN R. GRAVES born Abbeville Dist., So. Carolina, Sept. 3, 1791; died Madison Co., Tenn., May 22, 1859; moved with parents to middle Tenn. 1804; married Agness Noe, Sept. 1811; moved to Madison Co. 20/30 years ago; baptized July 22, 1811; surviving were widow and 8 children.
ANNIE WILLIAMS wife of C. H. Williams, Memphis lawyer, died in Memphis suburb, May 23, 1859.
Major ROBERT H. WALL born Richmond Co., Ark., Aug. 26, 1802; died Marshall Co., Miss., Apr. 22, 1859; married Martha A. Pegues, Feb. 23, 1832.
July 11, 1861
H. A. GWYN died near Saulsbury, Tenn., June 16, 1861 at residence of father-in-law, James Dickinson.
(Page 97)
SAMUEL HENRY HAYES s/o Archer and Mary A. Hayes, born Mar. 26, 1858; died Apr. 22, 1861. Princeton, Ark.
LOUISA N. SHEARMAN wife of Dr. George W. Shearman, dau of Jonathan and Elizabeth Hardin, born July 30, 1840; died June 13, 1861.
ABIE P. KELLEY dau of James and Alice J. (deceased) Kelly, born Cheraw, So. Carolina; died near Byhalia, Miss., June 22, 1861.
Tribute of Respect to FREDERICK COGHILL who died recently; by official members of Hernando, Miss. Methodist Church dated June 25, 1861.
May 19, 1853
LEONIDAS BAKER s/o Enoch D. and Elizabeth Baker, born Aug. 1839; died April 19, 1853. Dresden, Tennessee.
Miss ONEY C. SIMPSON died April 11, 1853 in residence of her uncle, Rev. A. Davis, Haywood Co., Tenn. She was in her 19th year of age.
MARTHA JANE McGUYER dau of Joseph and Sarah Simpson, died in Richwoods, Izard Co., Ark., September 19, 1852; family recently moved there from Tenn.
ELIZABETH GLOVER died April 30, 1853 in the 63rd year of her age; eldest dau of Charles and Polly Locke and wife of Lancaster Glover. Born in Va., April 2, 1792 and later migrated with parents to middle Tenn.; married in 1807; moved to west Tenn. in 1821 and in 1826 moved to Miss. and in 1846 moved to Shelby Co., Tenn. where she died. Joined Methodist Church in 1818. Submitted by her child, C. C. Glover. "Oh, what language can express the deep toned grief of one who has lost his mother!"
Tribute of Respect for Rev. BENJAMIN H. HUBBARD of the Memphis Conference died May 2, 1853; by order of Jackson Division of S. of T. (Sons of Temperance), Thomas H. Newbern, David J. Meriwether and Lewis M. Brown, committee) dated May 3, 1853.
July 21, 1853
Tribute of Respect to WILLIAM BARRINGTON, s/o James and Martha Barrington, born in Bedford Co., Tenn.; joined Methodist Church at age 19 years; died June 10, 1853, leaving his widow and several children; by 3rd Quarterly Con., Bentonville Circuit (Elm Springs), Arkansas undated.
SARAH ANN ELMORE wife of J. W. Elmore, dau of E. W. and Elizabeth Lynch, born in 1823, Lauderdale Co., Ala.; converted at Park's campground, Carroll Co., Tenn. 1840 and joined the Methodist Church at Beaver campground in 1841. She died in Camden, Benton Co., Tenn., June 22, 1853.
MARGARET F. JACKSON wife of George B. Jackson, died near Spring Hill, Miss. in 30th year of her age /date not given/; born in Va. and moved "to the West" in the fall of 1849; surviving were husband and "little boy." From Salem, Miss. dated July 1853.
PETER CARTWRIGHT died in residence of his mother, Haywood Co., Tenn., June 10, 1853; a "young man."
JESSE H. COBB, JR. s/o Jesse B. Cobb died in Tippah Co., Miss., May 24, 1853 aged 3 years, 6 months and 16 days.
(Page 98)
October 28, 1858
MARTHA ANN HILLIARD dau of the late John and Mary D. Craig and wife of E. W. Hilliard, died in Memphis, October 16, 1858. Born Orange Co., No. Carolina, Feb. 3, 18O9; at early age moved with parents to Lauderdale Co., Ala.; converted March 17, 1839 in Athens, Ala. and joined Methodist Church. "She has left a disconsolate husband and four children to mourn their loss."
May 26, 1859
ANDERSON WILLIAMS died March 14, 1859 in Madison Co., Tenn., two miles south-west of Mason's Grove; joined Methodist Church in 1838.
AMANDA M. WHITEHERST third and youngest dau of Henry and Permelia Whiteherst, born Franklin Co., Tenn., Dec. 31, 1828 and died November 23, 1857; moved with grandmother, Sarah King, uncle and two sisters to Holly Sprs., Miss. in January 1840; Jan. 1848 moved with brother-in-law, James S. Thomas, and family to Pontotoc Co., Miss.; married B. F. Chapman, from Newberry Dist., So. Carolina, December 8, 1850; surviving were husband and two daughters, aged seven and two years old.
WILSON HENDRICKS died in McNairy Co., Tenn., April 9, 1859 in the 49th year of his age, of typhoid fever; joined Methodist Church in Guilford Co., N.C. Submitted by R. S. Swift, Pleasant Retreat, Henderson Co., Tenn.
JAMES ANDREW PARTIN died in Memphis, Tenn., May 5, 1859; born March 29, 1836 "and lived most of his life in the service of the wicked one."
SARAH B. BROOKS wife of William J. Brooks, born Morgan Co., Ga., August 12, 1828; joined Methodist Church 1842; died Jan. 28, 1859.
Miss MARY E. TALLEY, aged 14 years, l month and 13 days, died April 18, 1859.
"By request, I chronicle the death of ELI SMITH, Esq., who died in January 1859 aged near fifty years, at his residence in Dorysaw township, Jefferson County, Arkansas, of pneumonia." (David Flinn)
October 8, 1868
NANCY JANE KERR dau of Francis B. and Ann R. Kerr, born Fayette Co., Tenn., Dec. 18, 1839; died of consumption, Sept. 1, 1868; buried in Dancyville, Tenn. cemetery.
Miss MARY M. McCRARY born Madison Co., Ala., June 8, 1828; married Matthew McCrary, Feb. 3, 1848; joined Methodist Church 1852; died August 1, 1868.
B. F. DILWORTH died July 21, 1868 near Corinth, Miss.; surviving were widow and three sons.
REBECCA FANNY SMITH dau of T. J. and R. F. Smith died in Fayette Co., Tenn., Sept. 14, 1868 aged fourteen months and one day old.
May 1, 1869
Dr. W. G. L. RICE died near Durhamville, Tenn., Feb. 25, 1869, oldest s/o Shadrach and Louisa E. Rice. Born Georgetown, So. Carolina, Oct. 28, 1829; moved to Tenn. with his parents in 1837; surviving were widow and 7 children.
MIDDLETON WESTBROOK born Chester Dist., So. Carolina, Aug. 20, 1807; died in Aberdeen, Miss., Jan. 18, 1869; married twice; to Mary D. Jackson, Nov. 25, 1830; to Mrs. P. A. Walter, Nov. 13, 1849.
Tribute of Respect to BENJAMIN L. HALLER who died in Ark. Co., Ark., Oct. 20, 1868; offered by R. H. Herndon.
THOMPSON WRIGHT s/o John and Sarah Wright, born Humphreys Co., Tenn., Mar. 8, 1827; moved to Green Co., Ark. where he died Feb. 28, 1869; surviving were two orphan children.
(Page 99)
Apri1 10, 1869
MARTHA J. WALL wife of Maj. A. M. Wall, dau of George D. and Susan Randle, born April 8, 1820; died near Caledonia, Tenn., Feb. 24, 1869; a mother also.
Rev. HENRY Y. GARRISON born Allen Co., Ky., Jan. 22, 1818; died Phillips Co., Ark., Dec. 8, 1868; moved with family to Morgan Co., Ala. about 1831; joined Methodist Church 1837; licensed to preach, Methodist Church, 1842 and served in Tenn. Conf. but transferred to Ala. Conf.; located for two years and resumed active ministry in two years, in Ark. Conf.; married Jane Alexander of Lincoln Co., Tenn., 1848 and she died in 1850; married Eliza Beale of Madison Co., Ala., 1854; surviving were widow, a child, an aged mother.
"Sister" WILKS wife of W. S. Wilks, formerly of Sumner Co., Tenn. but last of Haywood Co., Tenn. died Feb. 26, 1869; born Nov. 10, 1811.
S. V. BERRY dau of Rev. M. T. Berry, formerly of the Tenn. Conf., born April 5, 1844 and died near Dyer, Tenn., Nov. 6, 1868; joined Methodist church 1856.
July 24, 1869
SAMUEL HUNSAKER born Muhlenburg Co., Ky., June 26, 1798; married Elizabeth Lovelace, Butler Co., Ky., April 29, 1822; moved to McCracken Co., Ky., Oct. 1, 1822 and lived there until his death except for eighteen months; died July 9, 1869. Surviving were widow and five children; member of Freemasonry.
The one issue of the WESTERN METHODIST kept in the Archives and Special Collections of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. contains the following obituaries:
June 17, 1876
ESTHER W. HATCHETT born So. Carolina, 1820; moved with parents to west Tenn.; married E. G. Hatchett, 1841; died Clinton, Ark., April 10, 1876 in residence of son-in-law, James H. Fraser. Surviving were a son and two daughters, as her husband and two children had predeceased her.
RANSFORD F. HARDING born Ala., April 17, 1818; died April 28, 1876, pneumonia; married Miss Garrison and had 7 children; married the widow Durham who survived him along with 6 children. Lee Co., Ark.
MARY J. THOMPSON wife of Rev. J. T. Thompson, born No. Carolina, Feb. 5, 1833; moved to Madison Co., Tenn.; married Feb. 1852 and moved to Greene Co., Ark. in Dec. 1870 where she died April 11, 1876.
Colonel ELIAS JENKINS, native of Wilson Co., Tenn., died near Aberdeen, Miss., Mar. 31, 1876 in the 74th year of his age; married Jane Keesee, Dec. 22, 1831 and moved from Tuscaloosa, Ala. to Choctaw Co., Miss. where he farmed; married Sue McNamora, 1852; located at Aberdeen in 1871.
NANNIE W. HATCH dau of Charles and Elizabeth Smith born Rockingham Co., No. Carolina, May 13, 1839; died May 6, 1876; surviving were 5 children.
ANASTATIA SHIELD wife of Robert A. Shield and dau of James and Penelope B. Parker born LaGrange, Ala., Nov. 23, 1827; died Panola Co., Miss., May 11, 1876; married Nov. 12, 1850; joined Methodist Church 1848.
JOHN C. WADSWORTH born Moore Co., So. Carolina, July 6, 1802; died near Byhalia, Miss., April 18, 1876; married W. P. Ingram 1836 who survived her along with 4 children.
SARAH P. GRIFFITH born Nov. 27, 1841; joined Methodist Church Sept. 1856; died May 25, 1876; surviving were husband and children.
ELIZABETH TURBEVILLE born Humphreys Co., Tenn., Feb. 15, 1845; married Charles Porter 1869; died Desha Co., Ark., May 24, 1876; joined Baptist church 1873.
(Page 100)
Referred from page 23, obituary of JOHN McGAVOCK. From THE HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENN., by W. W. Clayton (Nashville, 1880):
Page 425
DAVID McGAVOCK
David McGavock was one of the early settlers of Nashville. He was a son of James McGavock, Sr., of Rockbridge Co., Va., where he was born the 6th of February, 1763. When it became known in Southwestern Virginia that the new and desirable lands in the Cumberland Valley were open for settlement, and that Robertson, Donelson, Rains, and their associates had established their little colony at Nashborough, the young men of that region who were ambitious and had their fortunes to make hastened away over the mountains and joined the colonists at their new settlement.
David McGavock, who had just become of age, made his appearance in Nashville, in 1785-86, and located and purchased for his father and himself two thousand two hundred and forty acres of land, situated on both sides of the Cumberland River north of the bluff. All that part of the city known as North Nashville stands on one of their tracts, and that known as North Edgefield stands on another. The lands selected by him show that he was an excellent judge of them, and the plats and charts executed by his own hand, which are still extant, show that he was an accurate and experienced surveyor.
After he had purchased his lands, the next thing necessary was to bring them under cultivation, for he had come to establish for himself a home in the new country, and not as a mere adventurer or speculator. At Freeland’s Station, now known as McGavock’s Spring, in the middle of his father’s nine hundred and forty acre tract, he built him a cabin, and, with all the laboring force he could command, proceeded to make arrangements for putting in a crop. He took the lead of all the settlers in agriculture, so that, as the historian of Nashville says in 1792, a large crop of corn was raised by him, which sold at a very high price. He had joined the colony work, and had brought with him from Virginia not only the means of purchasing the choicest lands, but he had brought his axe, his hoe, and his mattock, with which to make the wilderness blossom as the rose.
He made annual visits to his Virginia home between the seasons of harvest and planting, and it was on one of these occasions, in 1789, that he married Elizabeth McDowell, a lady belonging to a prominent and influential family of his native town. They had been neighbors and friends from childhood, and their married life was prosperous and happy. He had not yet fully prepared his new home in the Cumberland Valley for her reception, nor was it yet considered a safe or comfortable residence for women and children on the defenseless frontier. It was therefore the better part of wisdom for him to leave his wife at home with their parents, while he spent nearly the whole of every year at Nashville, cutting away the cane and clearing up his fields. It was not till 1795, after the birth of his sons James, John, and Francis that he moved his family from the old home at May Meadows, where the ancestral hamlet still stands near the railway station, off over the Cumberland Mountains to their new and well-arranged abiding-place in the Far West.
He had erected what was considered a palatial residence on the frontier—a frame house with glass windows, with iron trimmings for the doors and with wide, spacious porches on either side—within a few yards of an unfailing spring of water. And there the little family began their home-life on the frontier. It was but a few years, however, before he was enabled to build a nice brick house near the spot, the largest and most convenient in the settlement at that time, and which is still standing near the cotton- factory in North Nashville. There he reared a large and respectable family becoming identified with the city, county, and State in all their interests for more than half a century and there he died on the 7th of August, 1835.
Two of the children of David McGavock and Elizabeth McDowell died in infancy; the survivors, six sons and a daughter—all of whom have now passed away to the better world—were among the most thrifty and enterprising people of the county. James and John, who were the two eldest, married sisters, the daughters of Mr. Kent, of Wythe Co., Va., and inherited in equal shares one of the quarter-sections located by their father north of the river. Francis McGavock, who married the daughter of John Harding, settled upon a fine estate on Richland Creek, near Nashville, and enjoyed a long and happy life there. Randall McGavock married and moved to Louisiana, where he reared a highly respectable family, some of whom returned to the ancestral home in Virginia and some to Tennessee. Lysander McGavock, who married Elizabeth Crockett, of Virginia, settled in early life on a thousand productive acres near Brentwood, in Williamson County, where his children still reside in the delightful home left them by their parents. Hugh and Sally, the two younger children, were twins. The former inherited many of the noble qualities of his father; the latter married Joseph L. Ewing, who for many years was a leading man in his section of the county, enjoying in a large degree the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens.
Later in life David McGavock married the widow Hubbell as his second wife, by whom he had two children, one of whom died young. The other was Dr. David McGavock, who inherited from his father the family mansion, and occupied it until his death in 1865.
These were the children of David McGavock, who, respectively, have many descendants in the city and county. For the last thirty-two years of his life he was register of the land-office, to whom he was elected by the Legislature, and the books so long kept by his own hand bear witness that he was a man of method and a most faithful public servant. Nor had his education been neglected. His father, James McGavock Sr., who was born in the county of Antrim, Ireland, in 1728, and came to this country when a young man, had married, in 1760, Mary Cloyd, a daughter of David Cloyd, of Rockbridge Co., Va., and had been altogether the architect of his own fortune. He was qualified therefore, to give his son David the most useful of lessons and to teach him how to work his way onward and upward, as he had done himself, by constant diligence and uniform integrity in all his dealings with his fellow-men. And right well did the dutiful son profit by these lessons. His father had no doubt advised him to make a comfortable home in the Cumberland Valley before he removed his young wife and children to the then Far West. At all events, he labored with persistence and energy to this end, visiting his old home in Virginia once a year, and foregoing the happiness of constant companionship with his wife and children that he might lay the foundation of future competency, perchance of fortune and better prepare his new home for the reception of her who was to be its mistress. About six years he labored in this way, and then, when all was in readiness, removed his little family to a home which proved one of comfort and happiness for the future, and in later life one of affluence. David McGavock was a fair specimen of the best young men from Virginia and North Carolina who laid the foundation on which rests the superstructure of Tennessee and its beautiful capital, and none among the solid old pioneers left a fairer name or a better heritage to their descendants than did he to his numerous and influential posterity.
Randall McGavock, the fourth son of James McGavock, Sr., was the assistant of his brother David in locating the early lands, and his deputy in the land-office. He was mayor of Nashville in 1824, and afterwards clerk of the Circuit Court of Davidson County and of the Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals, after which he removed to Williamson County and settled on his vast tract of excellent land near Franklin, now owned and occupied by his son, Col. John McGavock, where he died at a ripe old age in 1854. He was a citizen of high character and of unquestionable integrity, and, though spending all the latter part of his long and useful life in Williamson, he was still much devoted to Davidson County.
Return to Contents