James C. Gaither

James Caldwell Gaither was a prominent citizen in the history of Texas as well as several of the central counties south of Waco. He was a military and political leader who left a very favorable legacy in Texas.

James C. Gaither was born April 12, 1826 in Iredell County, NC, to Forest and Lamira (Caldwell) Gaither. The Gaither family moved progressively westward to Marengo County, AL, in 1836 and then on to Fayette County in Central Texas in 1840. After the outbreak of the Mexican War, Gaither enlisted as a first lieutenant in John C. Hays’ regiment of Texas Cavalry and entered the conflict. The unit was sent to reinforce General Winfield Scott arriving in Mexico just after the fall of Mexico City. Also in Scott’s entourage of junior officers in this campaign were Robert E. Lee, Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, James Longstreet, U.S. Grant and George Meade. Gaither survived the conflict, however his brother Carlos was killed in action. Continue reading →

Lt. Col. Henry Gaither was a Revolutionary War veteran and
became the second commander of Fort Adams, Mississippi Territory.
Lt. Col. Henry Gaither, who commanded Fort Adams in Mississippi Territory, 1801.
The fort was built in 1799 and served as the United States port of entry along the
Mississippi River and a line of defense against the Spanish.
It also hosted the signing of the treaty with the Choctaw Indians for the building
of a road that would later become known as the Natchez Trace.

Jane Gaither Thomas,

the Family Outcast

Jane Gaither was born on the 26th of May, 1823, in Iredel County,
North Carolina. Her father, Forest Gaither, son of Burgess
Gaither, is described as a wealthy plantation owner who was
involved in the loan of a large amount of money, with 40,000
acres of land in Texas as security . When the loan defaulted, he
moved with his family to take it over. Jane was his only
daughter .
Daniel Thomas, Jr. , a part time Methodist minister . His son Daniel
Claiborne Thomas, Sr., is said to have "gone to Texas to see the
Gaither girl and to have married her there" in 1843.
Daniel Clayborne Thomas had a brother, Preston, who went to St.
Louis to see one of the three witnesses to the events involving
Joseph Smith in restoring the Church of Jesus Chris t of Latter
Day Saints. When Oliver Cowdery confirmed the truth of what he
had seen, Preston went to Texas to tell his brother about it and
he also joined the Mormon Church. A few years later , his wife,
Jane, also joined.

Horace Rowan Gaither Jr.

Known as H. Rowan Gaither, was a San Francisco attorney, investment banker, and a powerful administrator at the Ford Foundation. During World War II, he served as assistant director of the Radiation Laboratory at M.I.T. In 1948, he helped found the Rand Corporation and served as a trustee until 1959.

In 1958 and 1959, he served as the 1st Chairman of the MITRE Corporation Board of Trustees. From 1959 through his death, Gaither was a general partner and co-founder of Draper, Gaither & Anderson, one of the first venture capital firms on the west coast of the U.S., together with William H. Draper Jr., a retired Army general and Frederick L. Anderson, a retired Air Force general.

He was hired by Henry Ford II to help set the priorities of the Ford Foundation in 1947, chairing the study committee that wrote the "Report of the Study for the Ford Foundation on Policy and Program." He was later president of the Ford Foundation. He is best remembered today as the author of the controversial 1957 Gaither Report on the vulnerability of American defense. He died in 1961 of lung cancer.

Horace was born 23 Nov 1909 in Natchez, Mississippi to Horace Rowan Gaither (1885-1953) and Marguerite Chamberlin (1887-1937). On 18 Jul 1834 he married Charlotte Cameron Castle, daughter of James Blair Castle and Mila Sanford Van Heusen. He passed away on 13 Apr 1961 in New York City and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland California.

Burgess Sidney Gaither
Burgess Sidney Gaither (March 16, 1807 – February 23, 1892) was a prominent North Carolina politician and attorney who served in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War.

Early life and education
Gaither was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, the son of Burgess Gaither (a longtime member of the North Carolina House of Commons) and Milly Martin. B.S. Gaither attended the University of Georgia, where classmates included Alexander Stephens and Robert Toombs.

Admitted to the bar in 1829, Gaither practiced law and served as clerk of court in Burke County. He was also elected to represent the county in the 1835 convention to revise the North Carolina Constitution.

Political career
A Whig and a supporter of Henry Clay, Gaither was appointed superintendent of the mint at Charlotte in 1841 by President John Tyler.

He was a member of the North Carolina Senate in 1840-41 and again in 1844-45, when he served as President pro tempore. The legislature then elected Gaither to serve as solicitor (district attorney) for the state's seventh judicial district. In 1851 and 1853, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress against maverick Whig Thomas L. Clingman. Gaither supported the Constitutional Union Party in the 1860 presidential election but was a defender of the Southern cause after Abraham Lincoln's inauguration.

He represented the state in the First Confederate Congress and the Second Confederate Congress from 1862 to 1865. After the war, Gaither resumed his law practice and ran two more unsuccessful races for Congress. He died in Morganton shortly before what would have been his 85th birthday.

His home known as the Gaither House at Morganton, North Carolina, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.