ARRIS THOMAS (TOM) McCALL
Arris Thomas (Tom) was the son of Hugh Lawson & Mary Ann (Polly) Kemp McCall.
His grandfather was Arris McCall who died before 1850. Arris Thomas was born
Feb. 15, 1865, Arris Thomas died July 20, 1911
Tom married Octavia Searcy Dec. 19, 1887. The daughter of James S. and Martha Frances Jones Sircy.
Octavia was born May 15, 1871 and died on August 09, 1956.
They are buried in the McCall Cemetery with his parents on Griggs Lane in Kempville. The old home place.
Arris Thomas and Octavia had the following children:
Lillie Mai McCall b.July 05, 1889 m. Mack Henry Holleman b. Nov. 07, 1884
Lillie died July 20, 1963 and Mack died January 06, 1967. They are buried in
Crestview Memorial Gardens, Gallatin, Tennessee
Selton Clarence McCall b. September 08, 1892 m. Pearl Good or Goad b.July 09, 1897.
Selton died June 30, 1934 and Pearl July 02, 1947 and are buried in the McCall cemetery
on the Roger Kemp farm off Griggs Lane in Kempville. Smith Co.
Nellie Ethel McCall was b.April 01, 1899 and m. Carcie Allen Kemp b. May 29, 1894.
They were married in her mother's home March 18, 1914, by Rev. T.W. Matthews. Nell
and Carcie had three sons, Bluford Arris, Glen Allen and Harris Dale Kemp. Nell remarried
to E.T. Best July 02, 1942 and Carcie remarried to Evelyn Perdue August 15, 1942. No issue
to either second marriages. Carcie, Glen & Harris are buried in the Defeated Creek Memorial
Gardens Cemetery in Defeated. Bluford is buried in Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Richmond,
Virginia. Nell is buried with E.T. Best in the National Cemetery on Gallatin Road in Nashville.
Hugh H. McCall b. December 06, 1906 married Nannie Bell Craighead, b. January 1909.
They had a son, Prentice Gordon McCall, born January 21, 1925. Nannie Bell McCall died in
September of 1925 & little Prentice Gordon McCall died June 17, 1932. Mother and child are
buried in the Lankford Cemetery in Defeated, Tennessee. Hugh then married Beatrice Chaffin
and they had a son Bobby Hugh McCall. Hugh died at the age of 83 in April 1990. Hugh,
Beatrice, and Bobby are buried in the Defeated Creek Memorial Gardens in Defeated.
Tom And Octavia Sircy Mccall's Family 1896
Octavia wrote on the back of this photo that this picture was taken in 1896. She referred
to herself as "Octy" and to her husband as "Tom"...this photo of Tom Mcall was the one
copied in charcoal that is in the beginning of this page. This shows how he really looked.
On the left is their first born Lillie, she was 7 years old, Tom was 31, Selton was 4, and
"Octy" was 25. This photo taken before births of Nellie in 1899 & Hugh in 1906. William
Layton Kemp Jr., Tom's mother's first cousin, married them in his home Dec. 29, 1887.
This marriage of 24 years ended with Tom's death, at age 46, of lip cancer.
Tom And Octavia Sircy Mccall's Family 1914
back row l-r Henry "Mac" & Lillie Mai McCall Holleman, Selton (holding baby)
& Pearl G. McCall, Carcie Allen & Nell McCall Kemp (newlyweds)
front row l-r Ailene, Fred & Norman Holleman, Octavia Sircy McCall and
Hugh H. McCall. Kempville, Tennessee 1914
In 1920 she married a widower, William Addison Lankford, & found
happiness once again after a widowhood of nine years.
To us children, she was "Mammy". A most colorful personality. What I learned about life,
While these little sayings seemed funny to me as a child, as an adult I realized
Octavia and Judith Gayle Kemp - 1943
Judith Gayle Kemp (Holley) is the Great Grandaughter of Octavia Searcy McCall Lankford.
I learned from Mammy. My first memory of her was around the age of two, sitting straddled
on her lap facing her as she stuck out her bottom false teeth and quickly retracted them,
it was pure magic to me. The gold wedding band she wears in this photo, she willed to me.
I remember her saying (as she held it up), "this ring is to go to Judith Gayle (she always
called me by my full name), but first it goes to Nell." Nell was her youngest daughter and
my paternal grand-mother. A few weeks later she passed away and when my grandmother died
in 1970 it came to me, as she had instructed. By wearing this simple gold band, for the
last 34 years, I have felt Mammy has been with me as I put to use her lessons on life.
I have always tried to never lay down with dogs, because Mammy said I would get up with
fleas. Then there was the one about a goose and a gander, her favorite.
how they applied to life and how wise a great-grandmother I had.