My People

My People
My matched set of grandchildren - Oliver and Cosette

Monday, June 18, 2012

My Forefathers

The Four Forefathers... my grandfather, C.B. Pennington, my great-grandfather, William Judson Pennington, my great-great-grandfather, John Pennington and my great-great-great-grandfather, Samuel Pennington


This was supposed to be a Father's Day post but it took for-blooming-ever to put it together and then I found the story about the murder of Rebecca Cornell and I HAD to share that first. (see previous entry) These names may not mean much to you (or you might find a common ancestor, how fun would that be?!) but I think it's fun to see how the list grows - even though I'm missing some of the names in the last group.  I think it's particularly interesting to see how many of my forefathers were from New Jersey, although our contact with that side of the family was absolutely non-existent so other than liking Bruce Springsteen and having a few friends from there... I'm no Jersey Girl. I do have a few ancestors who lived, at least for a time, in Canada, eh. I haven't been able to confirm the line that goes through the mother of my Steel Magnolias, however, although I found photos of the people that I *think* are her ancestors and she looks just like them.

At any rate... even though this just looks like a long list of names... I think it demonstrates how vast and diverse just ONE person can be!

Father
My dad is Jim Gant, born in 1949 Georgia

Grandfathers
Bruce Gant, 1924-2000  born in New Jersey, died in Illinois.(I never met him)
C.B. Pennington 1908-1978 born in Kentucky, died in Georgia
He died when I was ten. I loved him dearly and still remember how he smelled: like sweat, cigarettes and earth.

Great-Grandfathers
Theodore S. Gant 1884-1951  born and died in New Jersey
Charles Pelham Ward 1870-1939 born and died in Georgia
He was a doctor and had an office in the Flatiron Building in Atlanta. My grandmother was 16 when he died.
William Judson Pennington 1878-1962 born in Missouri, died in Arkansas
Luther Vaden Jackson 1881-1966 born in Mississippi, died (I think) in Tennessee

Great-Great-Grandfathers
Elias M. Gant 1843-1919 born and died in New Jersey
Roland Eli Shafto 1865-1937 born and died in New Jersey
William Cleveland Ward 1834-1906 born and died in Georgia
George W. Bulloch 1849- ? - Georgia
John Pennington 1857-1945 born in Missouri, died in Oklahoma
Ezra S Clow  1840-1918 born in Ontario, Canada died in  Tulsa, Oklahoma
Samuel D Jackson 1854-1935 born in Mississippi
Thomas Alexander Ray 1852-1922 born and died in Mississippi

Great-Great-Great Grandfathers
Esek Gant 1809-1888 born and died in New Jersey
John Harvey 1823-1905 born and died in New Jersey
John Ely Shafto 1828-1890 born and died in New Jersey
George P Donahay 1833-1917 born and died in New Jersey
Comfort I Ward 1798-1876 born in Massachusetts
Moseley Peyton Hawes 1816-1898 born and died in Georgia
Cordy Bullock 1809-1860 born and died in Georgia
David Neal Maddux 1813-1894 born and died in Georgia
Samuel Pennington 1828-1914 born in Kentucky, died in Missouri
Zachariah W McCubbin 1814-1864 born in Kentucky, died in Missouri
Abraham H. Clow 1820-1896 born in Ontario, Canada, died in Minnesota
William R. Worden 1824-1864 born in Albany, NY
(unsure about Samuel Jackson's father)
John Henry Nazary 1815-1877 born in Virginia, died in Mississippi
William Guy Ray 1810-1864 born in South Carolina, died in Mississippi
Daniel Alderman 1814-1893

Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfathers
Israel Gant 1738-1818 born and died in New Jersey
John Clayton 1774-1845 born and died in New Jersey
Jacob Harvey 1800-1860 born and died in New Jersey
John Van Note 1787-1870 born and died in New Jersey
John B Shafto 1803-1858 born and died in New Jersey
Throckmorton Allaire 1809-1866 born in New York City, died in New Jersey
James Donahay 1813-1880 born and died in New Jersey
James Luker 1789-1872 born and died in New Jersey
Uriah Ward 1769-1848 born and died in Massachusetts
John Cleveland 1762-1820 born and died in Connecticut
Peyton Hawes 1775-1833 born in Virginia, died in Georgia
Thomas Dallas, Sr. 1776-1840 born in Virginia, died in Georgia
Hardeman Bullock 1780-1850 born in North Carolina
Enoch Combs 1782-1838 born and died in Georgia
Thomas Maddux 1767-1848 born in Virginia, died in Georgia
John M. Glaze 1795-1856 born and died in Georgia
(Samuel Pennington's father is unknown but believe to be Enoch Smith)
James Walls 1799-1850
James P. McCubbin 1789-1850 born in North Carolina, died in Missouri
Tscharner Degraffenreid 1799-1880 born in Virginia, died in Missouri
Peter Clow 1788-1869 born in Quebec, Canada, died in Minnesota
Simon Mott 1776-1835 born in New York, died in Ontario, Canada
John I. Peet 1772-1860 born in New York City, died in Pennsylvania
William Bartlett Ray 1773-1824 born in North Carolina, died in Alabama
Christopher Lowery 1780-1853 born in North Carolina, died in Mississippi
John Alderman, Jr 1780-1824



3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Heather, we both descend from Esek Gant...I believe that makes us distant cousins. He was my 3rd Great Grandfather.

Heather said...

So happy to hear from you! I think that would make us 5th cousins. I have never met any of my Gant ancestors as my grandfather was estranged from the family when my dad was very young. Which of Esek's children was your ancestor?

Marjory Thrash said...

We are relatives, and I have photos of your Great-Grandfather Luther Jackson and Great-Grandmother Mary Alice Jackson on my Ancestry.com tree.

Luther and his brother Abb Jackson married sisters, Mary Alice and Alma Ray. The girls' father T.A. Ray's farm was next door to the Jackson farm in the Midway Community of Leake County, MS. TA Ray was a founder of Midway Baptist Church, and many of his children (including his daughters) were founding members. Midway Baptist Church, which was built on land donated by TA Ray, has the graves of babies born to Luther and Mary Alice; she had many still born and/or children that died within days of the birth. My mother always suspected Mary Alice had diabetes.
I am the grand-daughter of Rosa, the youngest daughter. I have very clear memories of Uncle Luther and Mary Alice visiting Midway and staying with Uncle Abb and Aunt Alma. I went with Luther and Abb to see the remains of the original family log cabin, which was falling in at that time (this would have been around 1962 or so).

The Jacksons and Rays and Aldermans (TA Ray's wife was an Alderman) were firm friends, since that part of Leake County was settle by them (TA Ray and D. Alderman staked claims on the land). TA Ray's land is now owned by a lumber company, but the Jackson land is still being farmed by other Jacksons (probably a brother of Luther and Abb).