James MCGAVOCK, Sr. was born in 1728 in Antrim, Ireland. He immigrated to America in 1754 and married Mary CLOYD on 20 February in 1760. He died on 22 March 1812 in Wythe County, VA

Affiliations: January 20, 1775. One of 15 to sign a bill decreeing themselves free from British rule. The bill was forwarded to the Continental Congress. It is now the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C.
Justice for Botetourt County, VA 2 March 1770 - 17 July 1771
Justice for Fincastle County, VA December 1770 - 30 April 1773
He was a farmer and a magistrate.

Immigration: 1754 From Ireland to Philadelphia, PA

Property: Max Meadows, Fort Chiswell, VA

Children of James McGavock, Sr. and Mary Cloyd:

David MCGAVOCK

James MCGAVOCK, Jr.

*See below for other children

CHRONICLES OF THE Scotch-Irish Settlement IN VIRGINIA EXTRACTED FROM THE ORIGINAL COURT RECORDS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY 1745-1800
AUGUSTA COUNTY COURT RECORDS. ORDER BOOK No. XIII.
page 158
Page (324) Following recommended as Justices, viz: Mat. Harrison, Wm. Ingles, Wm. Christian, George Mathews, John McClenachan, James Robertson, Stephen Trigg, Wm. Herbert, Philip Love, Anthony Bledsoe, John Bowman, John Thomas, Robert Doage, John Montgomery, Alexr. Thompson, James Craig, Walter Crockett, Andrew Lockridge, Walter Cunningham and James McGavock. The following to be left off, reasons to be given by the Clerk and former order discharged, viz: John Chiswell, John Buchanan, John Wilson, John Archer, John Maxwell, Charles Lewis, Alexr. Boyd.

CHRONICLES OF THE Scotch-Irish Settlement IN VIRGINIA EXTRACTED FROM THE ORIGINAL COURT RECORDS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY 1745-1800
AUGUSTA COUNTY COURT RECORDS. ORDER BOOK No. XXIV.
page 334
James McGavock vs. Marwood Timberlake.--Attachment, 12th September, 1765. Discharge of defendant, December 29, 1764, withdrawn.

CHRONICLES OF THE Scotch-Irish Settlement IN VIRGINIA EXTRACTED FROM THE ORIGINAL COURT RECORDS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY 1745-1800
ABSTRACTS OF WILLS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA. AUGUSTA COUNTY COURT. WILL BOOK NO. 3.
ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
page 77
Page 230.--18th March, 1760. David Cloid's bond (with John Bowyer, James McGavock), as guardian (appointed) to Mary Cloyd, orphan of John Cloyd.

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas
MISSISSIPPI COUNTY–LOCATION, BOUNDARY, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.–THE EXPEDITION OF DE SOTO INTO MISSISSIPPI COUNTY–TOWNS–SETTLEMENTS BY LOCAL NAMES–SEORET SOCIETIES–MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE COUNTY–THE UPRISING OF THE COLORED PEOPLE–OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY–PUBLIC BUILDINGS–POPULATION–LOCAL STATISTICS–COUNTY ORGANIZATION–LEVIES–SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES–SELECTED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
page 529530531
Dr. F. G. McGavock, proprietor of the McGavock plantation, and whose postoffice is in the southern part of Mississippi County, is one of those rare characters now so seldom met. A real Southern gentleman, in his veins flows the best blood of America, and of this the Doctor is justly proud. His mother was the daughter of Felix Grundy, of Nashville, Tenn., who was contemporary with Andrew Jackson. Mr. Grundy, in company with his two sons-in-law, Jacob McGavock (father of the subject of this sketch) and John M. Bass, all of Nashville, made large purchases of land in the southern part of Mississippi County, Ark., about the year 1833, on which they opened [p.529] up large plantations with slave labor. At the same time they held their residence in Nashville, where Dr. F. G. McGavock was born in the year 1832. James McGavock, the great-great-grandfather of the Doctor, came from County Antrim, Ireland, in 1728, and settled in Rockbridge County, Va., where he became acquainted with Miss Mary Cloyd, daughter of David Cloyd, to whom he was married in 1760. They then moved to Wythe County, Va., where they raised a large family, and became very wealthy in the course of time. His son, Hugh McGavock, was proprietor of the Max Meadows estate, which is still in the family. Here was born Jacob McGavock, the father of the Doctor, in 1790. At the age of twenty-two he went to Nashville, Tenn., acting as deputy in the circuit clerk's office for a few years, when he was appointed United States circuit clerk, which position he held until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he acted in the same capacity for the Confederacy. When the Federal troops took Nashville, Mr. McGavock was arrested for high treason, but was released on the evidence of Judge Catron, then of the Supreme Court of the United States, who testified that Mr. McGavock had turned his books over to the United States intact, having hidden them in his cellar, while other clerks allowed their books and records to be destroyed. Mr. McGavock was married to Miss Louisa C. Grundy, who was about ten years his junior, and both lived to a ripe old age, dying in Nashville, Tenn., within one year of each other, he at the age of ninety-one years, and she at the age of eighty-one. They reared seven children, all of whom have had large interests in Mississippi County. Armie, wife of Judge Henry Dickenson, inherited the plantation known as the Dickenson Mills; it is now owned by Jacob McGavock Dickenson, her son, a rising young lawyer of Nashville, Tenn. Col. Randall W. McGavock was killed at the head of his regiment at Raymond, Miss., in the Confederate cause; he was a graduate of the University of Nashville. Sallie, wife of Prof. J. B. Lindsley, of Nashville, was given a large estate near Pecan Point, which is now owned by her son, J. McGavock Lindsley, who resides in Nashville, but spends part of his time on the estate. Ed. J. McGavock [see portrait and sketch]. F. G., the subject of this sketch [see portrait]. John J., of Fayetteville, Ark., who recently disposed of a large estate in the county. Mary, wife of James Todd, of Louisville, Ky., owns 3,000 acres of the McGavock estate at the foot of Island 35, opposite Pecan Point. Dr. F. G. McGavock graduated from the University at Chapel Hill, N. C., and also from the University of Nashville. Shortly after graduating Dr. McGavock married Miss Mary M. Bostick, daughter of John Bostick, of Triune, Tenn. On her marriage she came in possession of a large number of slaves, whom the Doctor used in opening up the Shawnee Village estate, consisting of 1,800 acres of woodland, on the ground that the noted outlaw, John A. Merrill, made famous by making it his stronghold. Previous to that it had been the camp of the Shawnee Indians, and there now stands on this estate one of the largest mounds in the county, which contains bones and pottery of a race apparently superior to and antedating the Indians. In plowing and digging on this place the remains of what appears to have been a brick pavement are found. In some instances large pieces of well-preserved brick, which had been buried for ages, have been brought to the surface. This is all within a square of about twelve acres, around which, on three sides, is a well-defined ridge. There were about three acres cleared at the time the Doctor took hold, and in 1880 he made his only living daughter a present of the estate, with over 700 acres under a fine state of cultivation. The Doctor made his home in Triune, Tenn., in summer, until after the death of his wife, which occurred at the Gayosa House, in Memphis, the day the Federal gun-boats were fighting in front of that city. He was at her bedside when he was made prisoner, but was given permission to attend his dead. He took his two little daughters to Nashville, after which he returned to his plantation. About this time the people of the vicinity organized what was known as the Shawnee Legal Association, to protect themselves against outlaws and guerrillas. The Doctor was made leader and judge, and received the endorsement of [p.530] Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, in command of the Sixteenth Army Corps, at Memphis, and also of the Confederate general, Sterling Price. Vested with this authority the Doctor compelled every man to either join the conclave or get out of the neighborhood. Where a capital offense was committed the culprit was secured and turned over to either the Confederate or Federal authorities, according to circumstances. For theft or other petty offenses, horsewhipping and an order to leave the county were deemed sufficient. If the culprit failed to leave, however, it generally went hard with him when caught again. During the war Dr. McGavock demonstrated the fact that cotton could be successfully cultivated with white labor, and that even delicate women could be brought from an entirely different climate to successfully work in the cotton-field without injury to their health. The negroes were freed and scattered; white men would be conscripted by the Confederate troops; cotton was in demand and brought from 70 to 90 cents per pound. The Doctor went to New York, where he engaged sixty-five Irish girls at Castle Garden, from fourteen to forty-five years of age, and with these made a contract for one year at $20 per month each, and board. Without experience, but with a little showing, these girls made a crop for the Doctor on which he cleared $45,000, after paying all expenses, and allowing rent for the land. He was watchful in regard to their health and comfort, and the large dining-room was presided over by a corps of waiters who served meals prepared by the best skilled cooks and bakers to be found. A barrel of whisky, in which a few ounces of quinine were dissolved, was issued to them at the rate of three drinks of two drams each, at intervals during the day. The Doctor always had a hospital with a skilled nurse, but it was very seldom used, as very little sickness prevailed during the two years of their stay, and but one death occurred. These girls worked on the Pecan Point plantation, and during this time the Doctor paid the expenses of a Catholic priest to come and attend to their spiritual welfare, all being members of that church. A few years later he secured fifty-five German men from Castle Garden, and employed them successfully for one year on his Nodena plantation; but the best hands he ever worked were eighteen Chinamen, just from China, whom he secured in Chicago. These he employed on the Shawnee Village place, but they, like the others he imported, were enticed away by ill-advisers or friends. In 1879 Dr. McGavock moved to his present place, known as “McGavock” (the governor having so named the postoffice), which at that time was but a wilderness. It is now one of the finest plantations in the county, with about 640 acres under cultivation. Here the Doctor used both white and colored labor, and thinks the white can stand the climate and work as well as the negro. Since moving to McGavock the Doctor has abandoned the practice of medicine, which at one time was very extensive. He goes now only when called by another physician in consultation. When first coming to Mississippi County he established a nursery for the culture of fruits and flowers, exper**** menting with almost all the varieties from the leading nurseries of the East and North. He has successfully raised apples, peaches, plums, pears, apricots, nectarines, cherries, figs, almonds, English walnuts, filberts, and small fruits, and grapes of every known variety. For bees he thinks this is a perfect paradise, as all the flora of the woods are honey-bearing. He has raised within the county the following crops: Grass and vegetables, oats, rye, wheat, millet, buckwheat, tobacco, peanuts, white and sweet potatoes, clover, timothy, and all garden produce, with perfect success. The Doctor is now interesting himself in the improvement of the cattle of his district, having recently imported a fine Jersey bull from England, and now has about 100 head of the finest Jersey cows in the State. His daughter, Monoah, is the wife of William S. Bransford, of Nashville, Tenn., where they now reside. Mrs. Bransford is the owner of the Shawnee Village plantation. They have two bright little girls–Bessie and Louise. In 1881 Dr. McGavock was elected to represent the county in the State legislature, which he did to the satisfaction of his constituents and the State, but, owing to his home interests, he refused to accept the second term. He is a member of the Odd Fellows [p.531] and of the Masons; also of the Knights of Honor, of Frenchman's Bayou, where McGavock Lodge was named in his honor. Heis a man who has made fortunes, at one time being worth as much as $1,000,000. But wealth to him is but a means, and not an end, so he lavishes it as freely as he makes it. His hospitality is unbounded; all are welcome. To his equals he is courteous, to his inferiors kind, and all receive that consideration due their station. Being a man of decided views and of an active temperament, he often shows his roughest side out, while those who know him best are his best friends. As he is probably better known than any man in the county, he has a host of friends, and can be classed as the most remarkable man in Mississippi County.

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas
MISSISSIPPI COUNTY–LOCATION, BOUNDARY, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.–THE EXPEDITION OF DE SOTO INTO MISSISSIPPI COUNTY–TOWNS–SETTLEMENTS BY LOCAL NAMES–SEORET SOCIETIES–MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE COUNTY–THE UPRISING OF THE COLORED PEOPLE–OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY–PUBLIC BUILDINGS–POPULATION–LOCAL STATISTICS–COUNTY ORGANIZATION–LEVIES–SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES–SELECTED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

John Harding McGavock (deceased). A glance at the genealogy of Mr. McGavock's family will show that both his paternal and maternal ancestors have been extensive real estate owners, and great men of prominence. The McGavocks are of Scotch-Irish descent, and came to America before the Revolutionary War, settling in Virginia. About 1796, one of them, David, having married a Miss McDowel, moved with his family to Davidson County, Tenn., and purchased a large tract of land, upon a part of which the city of Nashville now stands. One of his sons, Frank Preston McGavock, married a Miss Amanda Harding, a daughter of John Harding, and a sister of Gen. William G. Harding, the owner of “Belle Meade,” a noted stock farm near Nashville. This couple became the parents of John Harding, the subject of this sketch. He was reared in Nashville and educated in the State College in that city, receiving a diploma signed by Gen. Andrew Jackson and other notables of the State. After graduating in Nashville he went to Harvard, where he again received a diploma signed by Edward Everett, Greenleaf, Kent, and others. Upon his return to his home, his grandfather Harding, who some years before had come down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in a skiff, and had made large purchases in Mississippi County, induced him to leave Nashville, and try the wilds of Arkansas. After this, although still claiming Nashville as his home, he spent a part of each year in Mississippi County, adding by purchase and entry to the already valuable tract given him by his grandfather, dividing his time between business and bear-hunting, in both of which he was eminently successful. In 1853 he married Miss Georgia Moore, a daughter of Joseph ****. Moore, of Columbus, Miss., she being a young lady of culture and refinement, and of one of the first families of the State. He died in 1861, just at the outbreak of the Civil War, at his father's house, near Nashville. Of the four children born to him, only one remains, Mrs. Sue McGavock Grider, wife of Henry Grider. After the death of J. H. McGavock, his widow married, in 1868, William A. Erwin, of Jackson, Miss., he belonging to a prominent family of that State, and who died in 1882, leaving one daughter, Georgia, now at school. Mrs. Erwin makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Grider, at the old homestead “Sans-Souci,” near Osceola, Ark. During the Civil War the house was used by Gen. Pope as a hospital, the yard as a cemetery; though, since, the bodies have been removed and placed in a National cemetery, The fleet when it first came down the river to attack Fort Pillow, which is a few miles below Sans-Souci, was anchored in the river opposite the house. This house, which was built by John H. McGavock, has a broad piazza, 12×74 feet in front, the pillars of which are of swamp cypress, in their natural state, except having the bark stripped off, and being painted. They are fluted in the most beautiful and artistic manner, having the appearance of the work of a skillful artist, and are the admiration of every beholder. Mrs. Grider preserves as an heirloom the cradle in which all of her mother's children and her own have been rocked. This is a turtle shell, measuring four feet two and one-half inches by three feet seven inches, polished and varnished on the outside, and mounted upon rockers of mahogany, and wadded and lined on the inside with quilted blue satin. The turtle was caught by Mr. McGavock, out of the Mississippi River at his own landing.

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas
MISSISSIPPI COUNTY–LOCATION, BOUNDARY, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.–THE EXPEDITION OF DE SOTO INTO MISSISSIPPI COUNTY–TOWNS–SETTLEMENTS BY LOCAL NAMES–SEORET SOCIETIES–MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE COUNTY–THE UPRISING OF THE COLORED PEOPLE–OFFICERS OF THE COUNTY–PUBLIC BUILDINGS–POPULATION–LOCAL STATISTICS–COUNTY ORGANIZATION–LEVIES–SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES–SELECTED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
page 532
Frank Young McGavock. For many years, or since locating in this county, Mr. McGavock has [p.532] enjoyed the reputation of being not only a substantial and progressive farmer, but an intelligent and thoroughly-posted man in all public affairs. He has always been noted for honorable, upright dealing, and has kept the name he bears, which has descended to him from a long line of illustrious and honored ancestry, pure in the sight of God and man. The first of the family of whom we have any knowledge was the father (name unknown) of James McGavock, who belonged to a wealthy family of Ireland, and who came to America in 1728, settling in the State of Virginia, where he took a prominent part in the Revolutionary War, being a soldier in the Colonial army. James McGavock was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1720, and accompanied his father to Virginia, being married in that State about 1760 to Miss Mary Cloyd, of Rockbridge County, that State. Their son Hugh was the original owner of “Max Meadows,” one of the finest estates of the “Old Dominion,” which is still in possession of the McGavock family. His son, Jacob, the grandfather of our immediate subject, was born on that farm in 1790, and in 1812 went to Nashville, Tenn., being appointed a short time afterward to the position of United States circuit clerk, which position he held until after the Rebellion. He was a very successful financier, and in company with his father-inlaw, Felix Grundy, and his brother-in-law, J. M. Bass, all wealthy residents of Nashville, he came to Mississippi County, Ark., about the year 1832, where he purchased tracts of land many thousands of acres in extent. He afterward bought out the others' interest, and subsequently a large portion of his fine estate fell to the late Edward J. McGavock, a sketch of whom appears in this work. The latter died in 1881, and his wife in 1861. Frank Young McGavock was but two years old at the time of his mother's death, and from that period until the close of the war he made his home with his maternal aunt, Mrs. Laura Whitfield, whose husband was the eldest son of ex-Gov. Whitfield, of Mississippi, and here he continued to make his home until the close of the war, when he was put in charge of his grandfather, Jacob McGavock, of Nashville, Tenn., with whom he remained until eighteen years of age. His maternal grandfather was Frank Young, of Columbus, Miss., who was a leading man of his day. Mr. McGavock, our subject, was given every advantage for acquiring a good education, and was graduated from the Nashville University, at which institution his father had been educated, and of which his grandfather and great-grandfather were among the founders; and after leaving college he entered the wholesale grocery business at Memphis, Tenn., continuing until he was twenty-five years of age. At that time he was married to Miss Theresa E. Perkins, a daughter of Samuel and Theresa (Ewin) Perkins, of Franklin, Tenn., and after their marriage they resided in that place one year, then coming to their present fine estate, the McGavock plantation, which adjoins Pecan Point. Here they have a very pleasant home, and are the parents of one child, a bright little daughter, named Theresa P., in whom all their affections and hopes are centered. Mr. McGavock belongs to the only family of his name and generation living in Mississippi County.

A NATIONAL REGISTER OF THE SOCIETY SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
page 950
RANDAL M. EWING, Williamson County, Tenn. (13383). Son of Andrew B. and Eliza (McGavock) Ewing; grandson of Hugh McGavock, Captain Virginia troops; great-grandson of James McGavock, Signer of Fincastle Declaration of Rights. [p.950]

Tyree and Waller ancestors and Their Kin
Entries: 8025 Updated: Sat Mar 2 12:03:05 2002
Contact: Judy T. Bean <judybean@mindspring.com>

ID: I2842
Name: James McGavock
Sex: M
Birth: 1728

Marriage 1 Mary "Sallie" Cloyd b: 14 MAR 1740/41 in New Castle, DE
Married: 20 FEB 1760
Children
Mary McGavock
Cynthia McGavock
Hugh McGavock
David McGavock
James McGavock
Randall McGavock
Margaret McGavock
Elizabeth McGavock
Joseph McGavock
Sally McGavock

Wilson Family Tree
Entries: 3578 Updated: Sun Jan 13 05:25:29 2002
Contact: barbara miroslaw <coleslaw@wctc.net>

ID: I85857797
Name: James MCGAVOCK
Given Name: James
Surname: McGavock
Sex: M
Birth: 1 Apr 1786 in Max Meadows, VA (Wythe Co.) 1

Father: Hugh MCGAVOCK b: 25 Sep 1761 in Max Meadows, VA (Wythe Co.)
Mother: Nancy KENT b: Abt. 1764 in Edgehill, Montgomery Co., VA

Sources:
Author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Title: International Geneological Index
Repository:

h11231
Entries: 1262 Updated: Sat Aug 25 19:45:52 2001
Contact: Unknown <hammondfinancial@bellsouth.net>

ID: I224
Name: James MCGAVOCK
Sex: M
Note:
James McGavock landed at Philadelphia about 1754-55 and sought a
business in farming. He purchased a wagon & team, and for a time, was
engaged in carrying provisions for the Army under General Braddock
during the Revolutionary War.
His home in Ireland was called "Carnton", and his son, Randal,
built Carnton located in Williamson Co., TN, near Franklin, TN.
1
Birth: 1728 in Antrim County, Ireland; near Glenarm
Death: 1812
Baptism: Presbyterian
Immigration: abt 1754 Augusta Co., VA

Marriage 1 Mary CLOYD b: 14 Mar 1741
Married: 1760
Children
Hugh, Sr. MCGAVOCK b: 25 Sep 1761 in Rockbridge Co., VA
Randal MCGAVOCK b: 1766

Sources:
Abbrev: Personal papers of Anne Beasley Johnson, verified
Title: Personal papers of Anne Beasley Johnson, verified by Izora Johnson
Moore.