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Archiver > GADDIS > 2002-01 > 1010258353


From: "Newell Family" <>
Subject: [GADDIS] Letter From Luman Gaddis
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002 11:23:32 -0800


I don't know if I've ever posted this before (sorry, can't remember) and
don't know if it will help anyone. This is from a letter I received from
Luman L. Gaddis way back in May of 1976 (yes, I've been at this a LONG
time!) It's a good idea to go back through your research every once in a
while because things that didn't seem to connect then, might now! I don't
have Luman's book. Does anyone know if it's still available someplace??

Janet, Gaddis Group #12

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Luman Gaddis' letter (quoted)

I am researching the Gaddis line. It is interesting to note that you have
the same William Gaddis in Randolph County NC that we have. However, I note
some differences in the way that you apparently read the 1850 census than we
did. [I'll go back and look at this again...after 26 years]

We have William and Lucinda (you said Selinda with a question mark) living
in adjacent houses--922 and 923 respectively. The children are the same,
however. We also have a difference in William's age. We have him as 40.
This does bring his age a little more into line with that of Lucinda (I am
willing to concede that they are husband and wife.)

The answer to your question "Do we have any common ancestors?" is that we
undoubtedly do, if you are related to this branch of the Gaddis's. The key
here is that they had a child named Archibald. In all of our research on
the Gaddis, Gaddes and Gattis and all of the other minor variations there is
one common thread that distinguishes my line and that is that each
generation had a child named Archibald. I do not find this thread in any of
the other branches. There was an Archibald in the Rowan-Randolph-Orange
area of North Carolina beginning before 1790. He moved to Georgia between
1818 and 1830. There are three Archibald Gaddis's in Habersham County, GA.
This part of Habersham County became White County in 1857. One of these
Archibald's in my 3rd great-grandfather. He moved to Cherokee County, GA
between 1830 and 1840 and then to Cherokee County, Alabama, in 1851-This
later became Etowah County. He is buried in Hokes Bluff Cemetery, just east
of Gadsden (another variation of our name.)

I have been unable to date to determine whether the Archibald in NC is or
was the progenitor of all of these Archibalds or not. It would not be
uncommon for this to be the case. Just where the William Gaddis that we
both found in Randolph County NC fits in I do not know at this time. That
is the whole trouble with the information on the Gaddis line from 1830 on
back, "How does it all tie together." Several times I have though that I
have the answer, but so far, my theories have not proved out.

I do have one "tidbit" that I turned up on my latest trip to Georgia. Your
reference to a Robert Gaddis of Lawrence, Kansas, reminded me. In the
courthouse of Union County GA, I found a deed whereby John F. and Josie
Gaddis of Rush County, KS, sold land (in GA) to J. G. Balcom of Russell
County, KS on the 12th of January 1889. Gaddis's were early settlers of
Union County, GA.

Regards, Luman L. Gaddis

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