IS 88 YEARS OLD

Mrs. Susie Hargis, of near Lafayette, one of the older women of this county, celebrated the 88th anniversary of her birth on Saturday, Oct. 20th, having been born here in Macon County on Oct. 20, 1868, the daughter of William Mitchell and Sarah Jane Cox Gammon. The big dinner was delayed until Sunday, October 21st, with the following present: George Gammon and family, of Bowling Green, Ky., Jesse Gammon, of Route one, Dixon Springs, Tenn., Mr. & Mrs Raymond Bilbrey, also of Bowling Green; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sircy, of Hartsville, Tenn., Mr. and Mrs. Earl Shrum, of Beech Bottom, this county; and Allen Willis, Haley Bransford, and Mrs. William Gammon and seven children, all this group being from Lafayette. The big dinner was spread at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oakley Sexton, on Route four, Lafayette, with whom "Aunt Susie" as she is familiarly known, lives.

Mrs. Hargis is a widow, her husband, the late Frank Hargis having died in 1913. She has a fair knowledge of her ancestors back through a number of years. Her grandfather was Thomas Gammon, who married Mary Parker more than a hundred years ago. Thomas Gammon was the son of Jeremiah Gammon, born in Virginia in 1793, supposedly in Pittsylvania County. He married Susannah Lovelady, born in South Carolina two years after her husband, being blind in her later years. It is not definitely known to the writer as to the exact year of the coming of the Gammon family to North Middle Tennessee. However, there are indications that the famiy first settled in White County, Tenn., about 60 miles south of Lafayette, in which county the Rev. Jeff Gammon, a Baptist minister of other years, was born.

In the census of 1850 Jerry Gammon, as he was familiarly known, lived on Dixon's Creek abot 15 miles southeast of Lafayette. The census records for 1850 list him as "Jerk" Gammon, which should have been written "Jerry." The near neighbors of the Jerry Gammon family 106 years ago were William A. Garrett, Mary Hammack, born in Virginia in 1770; William Gammon, but we do not know positively the connection but perphaps we could learn by searching through some more of our old records; and John Robinson, born in Virginia in 1772.

Members of Jerry Gammon family living in 1850 were: His wife, above mentioned as having been born in South Carolina in 1795; James R. Gammon, 19, and born in Tennessee; Leroy C. Gammon, born in Tennessee in 1834; Sarah Gammon, born in Tennessee in 1827; and Lethy Ray, born in North Caronlina in 1780.

On the same page from which these old records are taken is the name of Johnson Anderson, who lived in that day and time on Scanty Branch of Dixon Creek not far from the old Jerry Gammon home. Johnson married a sister to our great-grandfather, Major Gregory, whose name was Delilah, supposed from the woman who betrayed Sampson into the hands of the Philistines, as you read in the Bible.

Johnson Anderson was born in Virginia in 1798. His wife was born in 1792, in Chatham County, North Carolina. Other members of the family in 1850 were: Burton Anderson, born in 1830 in Tennessee; John G. Anderson, born in Tennessee in 1820, Sarah Anderson, born in Tennessee in 1823; Daniel J. Anderson, born in Tennessee in 1843, Mary A. Anderson, born in Tennessee in 1845, Emily I. Anderson, born in Tennessee in 1846. Lucinda Anderson, born in Tennessee in 1848; and Louisa M. Anderson, two months old and also born in Tennessee. Later investigation indicates that the last seven names were those of a family next door to Johnson Ansderson.

It is our wish to publish additional information about the Gammon family as it becomes available. In the meantime if any members of the Gammon or Anderson families are interested in the history of these early Middle Tennessee families, please write us and let us know of your desire for additional information.