THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Some Early
Settlers Named Gaddis and the Gaddistown District
If we could
see the past, then of course it would look different.
For there was a time when every man was a
part of his mother,. . .and. . . part of his grandparents.
If you could see humanity spread out in time,
as God sees it, it would look like one single growing thing…rather like
a very
complicated tree. Every individual would
appear connected to every other.” -C. S.
Lewis (1898-1963)
The famous English theologian
and apologist, C. S. Lewis, whom
I have quoted here, had the right idea when he stated that humanity is
“like a
very complicated tree,” and that “every individual…(is) connected to
every
other.” In our eagerness to find out
about the past, we are searching for that giant tree, and our
connectedness. I enjoy looking at the
names listed in the
1834 Union County census when the county was brand new, just becoming
established, two years after its organization.
I am fascinated by names of people who made up the early
settlers,
learned by noting names in that census.
And that is how I came to the name Gaddis for a brief look. They left behind a place named for them,
Gaddistown, the southwestern-most district in the County, surrounded by
In 1834 there were five Gaddis
households listed in the census, with a total of twenty-four people
bearing
that family name—thirteen males and eleven females.
Since only heads-of-households and number in
the family unit were listed in 1834, we learn that these Gaddis men
were early
settlers in the county: Linsey Gaddis (3
males, 2 females), Iredell Gaddis (1 male, 2 females), James Gaddis,
Sr. (3
males, 2 females), James Gaddis, Jr. (4 males, 2 females), and Lewis
Gaddis (2
males, 3 females).
By 1840, the Gaddis households in that
year’s census had increased to nine, with household populations giving
a total
of 30 males and 28 females with the Gaddis last name.
Those listed were as follows: John
Gaddis (4 m. 3 f.), Iredell Gaddis (2 m.
3 f.), Lewis Gaddis (2 m. 4 f.), James Gaddis (6 m., 1 f.), Drury
Gaddis (4 m.
1 f.), another Drury Gaddis (3 m. 5 f.), William Gaddis (1 m. 2 f.),
George
Gaddis (5 m., 3 f.) and Emry (sic) Gaddis (2 m. 4 f).
By 1850, interestingly, only three
Gaddis families were listed (one spelled Gettis). By
that census, we have names and ages
listed, and the state the head of household migrated from.
Susan Gaddis, age 47, lived in
household 85, with children Susan,
14, Allen, 12, and Matilda 8. In the
household with Susan Gaddis were two with the last name of Black, their
given
names Iven, age 19 and John, age 23. In the Gettis (sic) household
numbered by
the census taker 917, were M. M., age
31, and his wife, Lucila, age 25, both born in North Carolina, and an
elder
lady, Elenor, age 70 (maybe M. M.’s mother?),
all born in North Carolina. The
third Gaddis, (in household #
969) was Lewis, age 47, born in North
Carolina, his wife, Margaret, age 43, born in South Carolina, and these
children: Eline, age 20, born in SC, and
Elizann, 18, Allen, 14, Elvira, 12, Margaret, 10, Perlina, 8, and
Archibald, 5
(the last six born in Georgia). In
doing some Gaddis family research elsewhere, I found a bit of
information that
stated that many of the Gaddis families, living close to Lumpkin
County, moved
on over to that county and were involved in the later “gold rush” there. This I have not authenticated.
Either some Gaddis families were missed in
the 1850 census, or they had migrated to another county by that time.
We can assume that Gaddistown District
was named for James Gaddis (Sr. or Jr.), Linsey
Gaddis, Iredell Gaddis, or Lewis Gaddis,
the first families of the Gaddis name that settled
The name Gaddis (spelled in many
ways—Gettis, Geddes, Gadice, Gattis) is a Scots-Irish name, a
habitational or
place name. In
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail [email protected];
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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