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.

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.

Beal J Gaither Jr

Born in Tennessee to Colonel Beale J. Gaither, Sr and Mary "Polly" (Rogers) on Aug 22,1834. He married Adaline Frances Clark in 1861. They had 5 children: James Jefferson, John Simpson, Ransom W., Eli Wayland, and Ruth Elizabeth [Darnell]. Captain, Co. D, 27th Arkansas Infantry, February 15, 1862. POW, Carroll County, AR April 4, 1863. Exchanged July 24, 1863. Promoted Major, April 21, 1863; Colonel, November 27, 1863. Unit consolidated with 28th Arkansas Infantry in spring 1864 with Gaither as Lt. Colonel. Paroled June 8, 1865.

Moved to Oregon 1887 as Indian agent for Silitz Reservation. He was Silitz Indian Agent in 1889, then again 1894-1898.

Parents:

  Beale J. Gaither (1790 - 1863)

  Mary Rogers Gaither (1792 - 1876)

 Spouse:

  Adaline Frances Clark Gaither (1839 - 1917)

 Children:

  James J Gaither (1861 - 1943)

  John Simpson Gaither (1867 - 1946)

  Ransom W. Gaither (1870 - 1872 

  Eli W. Gaither (1873 - 1953)

Beal J Gaither

Beal J Gaither was born in Rowan Co. North Carolina to Benjamin and Rachel Elizabeth (Walker) Gaither on Sep 10, 1790. Married on Aug 26, 1811, to Mary "Polly" Rogers (b. Sep. 6, 1790). They had 12 children. He was a Colonel in the War of 1812. Believed to have died in battle during the Civil War. Gaither Township, Boone County, Arkansas named after Col. Beale Gaither after he settled in the area in 1832.

 Parents:

  Benjamin Gaither (1752 - 1802)  Elizabeth (Rachel) Watkins Gaither (1750 - 1810)

 Spouse:

  Mary Rogers Gaither (1792 - 1876)

Nathaniel Gaither Jr.

Nathaniel Gaither Jr. b: 1 Jan 1835 d: 19 Dec 1894 Adair County, Kentucky, attorney, statesman, and soldier. Adair County native. Son of Nathaniel Gaither and Martha Morrison Gaither. Married to Susan Shelby Magoffin Gaither on September 25, 1861. Resident of Adair County in 1850. Household owned eighteen enslaved persons in Adair County in 1850. Admitted to the bar in Adair County. School commissioner and county attorney. Member of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 1859 to 1861. Attorney in Adair County in 1860. Secretary of state of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from October 2, 1861, to August 18, 1862. Served in the 6th Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (C.S.A.) as a private.

Dr. Abner Gaither died in Shelbyville, Bedford Co Tn. of the cholera, also very young. The cholera epidemic hit the area and most well people left the area, he sent his two young sons, Silas T. & Ebbinezer (Ebb) with his parents, Rezin & Tabitha Jabobs Gaither back to Marshall Co. Ky. He stayed to help the suffering people until he contracted the disease himself. He is on the list of a minister who said a prayer over the mass grave as they were being buried.