The Gantts of Virginia The Baltimore Sun 29 Oct 1905

Messrs. Editors:

I have been so much interested in the sketch in the Baltimore Sun of the Gantt lineage and arms, and an so anxious that we Virginia cousins be identified with our kindred of Maryland and elsewhere that I am emboldened to ask that you insert or add to your sketch whatever you may deem proper of the data I herewith send you.

As you see, some parts of the sketch are incomplete, because we could not go back positively further than to Henry Gantt (fifth generation), great-grandfather to the children of my husband, Thomas P. Gantt (seventh generation) son of Dr. John Gantt (sixth generation). We think that Henry Gantt (5th generation) was a son of John Gantt (4th generation) and that Thomas Gantt (3rd generation) was an ancestor. My father-in-law, Dr. John Gantt, was a devout Episcopalian, the bulwark of the Episcopal Church in Scottsville, Albemarle County, VA. And his descendants are of the same faith. Dr. John Gantt’s half brother, Captain Albert Gantt, Confederate States Army, was a Roman Catholic.

This sketch of the Virginia branch of the Gantt family was written by Mrs. Thomas Perkins Gantt and taken mainly from what Mrs. Octavia Bocock (nee Gantt) tells me (Mrs. Thomas P. Gantt) of her ancestors and from Rev. Edgar Wood’s  “History of Albemarle County, Virginia.”

The fine old family residence of the Gantts—Oakwood, in Albemarle County, Virginia—was burned, with all of the old family books, papers, and silver plate, so no authentic record is left. Yet our information is quite direct from lineal descendants, and we believe is correct.

We know our ancestors came from Prince George’s County, Maryland, to Virginia, about 1813, and that from the Valley of Virginia some of the younger members of the family moved to Fairfax County Virginia, and others to Albemarle County, Virginia. The name “Thomas Gantt, 3d” was written in some of the old books, and we think he must have been the father of our great-grandfather, John Gantt, whose generation we will number as the fourth, thus reckoning Thomas 3rd, to have been his father.

Col Henry Gantt (7) colonel of Nineteenth Virginia Regiment, Confederate States Army, says that when he was stationed near the old stonehouse, where a memorable battle took place during the war between the States, that people around spoke to him about my great-grandfather, who built and owned the stonehouse, as though he had just lived there. John Gantt (4) probably returned to his home in Maryland. His son, John Gantt (5), moved from Jefferson County VA and his son Henry moved to Albemarle County VA about 1813 (?). He bought 780 acres of land at Cross Roads, near North Garden, Albemarle County, Virginia, and lived there with his family, until 1830, when he and his wife formally conveyed the entire estate to his son, Dr. John Weems Gantt (6). Henry Gantt (5) then returned to his home in Maryland. He left to his sons Caesar and Albert (6), half-brothers of John (6), his beautiful estate, St. Otis, which lay on the Patuxent River and in whose garden there were oyster beds. In his will he also mentions an immense solid silver water tankard, which he directs shall be sold and the proceeds put in three silver coffee urns, one for each of his three sons. In 1821, it is said, he bought a ticket of the Maryland State Lottery and drew a prize of $40,000. He was married three times—twice to nieces and once to a daughter of “Old Parson Weems,” the writer. The first (?) [sic] wife, Mary (nee Weems) died when her son John (6) was an infant and she was only 20 years of age. John (6) was then taken and raised by his grandfather—probably in Maryland. This Dr. John Weems Gantt was made a magistrate of Albemarle County Virginia in 1830. From that date until 1835 he lived at his estate near North Garden and practiced his profession of medicine. In 1835 he purchased from Charles A. Scott a large tract of land on the James River, just above the mouth of Totier Creek and extending from Scottsville to Warren on James River, a distance of three miles, over which way he had a road bordered with osage orange trees, and from the yard of his residence, Oakwood, he had avenues of trees to various points, as overseer’s house, etc., on his plantation. Dr. John W. Gantt (6) was a man of great liberality, taste and refinement and spent much time in beautifying his home. The yard was “a thing of beauty” with its lovely flowering shrubs and rare trees, 20 of which were evergreen.

Dr. Gantt died and was buried here in 1860, leaving a large property to his widow and children, his youngest son Thomas (7) living and dying and being buried at the old home. But through reverses of fortune and war all is now in the hands of strangers. The Virginia Gantts had relatives in Maryland and the South. Dr. John W. Gantt (6) used to correspond with a Southern cousin—Erasmus Gantt, I think—who lived at a place called Bon Aqua. About 1859, he visited in Prince George’s County Maryland a cousin, Ellen Bowie. In Virginia the Gantts are related to the Bococks, Browns, Boyds, Gibbs, Glovers, Horsleys, Cabells, Haskinses, Perkinses, Pattersons, Lewises, Rogerses, Scotts, and others.

Thomas Gantt 3rd of Maryland married _______ (?) [this is how it appears in the article, presumably indicating that the author doesn’t know this information]; John Gantt (4) of Maryland married Priscilla Waring; Richard Gantt (5) of Maryland married ________(?); Edward Gantt (5) of Maryland married _________ (?); Betsey Gantt (5) of Maryland married the father of Governor Lowe; Henry Gantt (5) of Maryland married first, Mary Weems; second Willia Weems; and third, Nancy Weems—nieces and daughter of “Old Parson Weems,” the writer.

Children of John (4) and Priscilla Waring Gantt were John (6) Gantt married daughter of Judge Hunter of the District of Columbia; Basil Gantt (6) married ______ (?); Margaret Gantt married Capt Dulany, United States Navy; ______ Gantt married Captain Muse, United States Navy, and Mary Gantt married Mr. Richards of Leesburg, Va. [Transcriber’s note: these generation numbers seem off to me; children of John should be generation 5, but 6 is what appears in the article.]

Children of Henry (5) and _______ Weems Gantt were Mary Gantt (6) married Mr. Towson; Willia Gantt(6) married Dr. Thornton; John Weems Gantt (6) married Sarah Perkins, daughter of Price Perkins of Buckingham County, Virginia; Caesar Gantt (6) married Rosa Pruess, daughter of Polish nobleman; Albert Gantt (6). These were not all children of the same wife.

Albert Gantt (6) son of Henry (5) married first Mary Jefferson, grandniece of Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, and married, second, the widow of C. A. Butler (nee Barrow) of Hertford NC. Two daughters, Eva and Rosa, were issue of the first marriage and one son and one daughter by the second, both of whom live in Norfolk with their mother.

Eva Gantt married Mr. Durrette of Albemarle County, Virginia. They have several children, a daughter having married a Mr. Morgan, an Englishman.

Dr. John Weems Gantt (6) and Sarah Perkins Gantt had issue—several daughters who lived to be grown but died unmarried. Besides these, Willia Gantt (7) married Mr. Mitchell of Washington DC; Mary Gantt (?) married Zack Lewis of Albemarle County, Virginia; Emma Gantt (7) married Chapman Glover, a farmer of Buckingham County , Virginia; Octavia Gantt (7) married Nicholas Bocock, a lawyer of Buckingham County, Virginia; Henry Gantt (7) married first Tempe Eppes, daughter of Dr. Eppes of Buckingham County, Virginia, and second, Lela Boyd; Thomas Gantt (7) married first Lizzie Scott, daughter of Dr. Scott of Albemarle County and second Ann Maria Horsley, daughter of Dr. Horsley of Nelson County, Virginia.

Zack R. Lewis and his wife, Mary, nee Gantt, had issue, Howell Lewis, unmarried; William Lewis, married Fannie Scott, daughter of Charles Scott of Albemarle County, Virginia; Zack Lewis married Nannie Scott, daughter of Charles Scott of Albemarle County; John Lewis married Mary Patterson, daughter of Capt. Camm Patterson of Buckingham County, Virginia; Henry Lewis married Ella Patterson, daughter of Capt. Camm Patterson; Mary Lewis married twice: Douglas Patterson, son of Capt. Patterson and Mr. Anderson of Lexington, Va. ; Sallie Lewis married Wingfield Brown (now of Montana); Wilhelmina Lewis, married Virginius Johns of Portsmouth Va.

William and Fannie Lewis had issue 10 children: Charles, John, Zack, Daniel, Edward, Howell, Lizzie, Mary, Nannie, and William.

Henry and Ella Lewis had issue one son: Henry.

Wingfield and Sallie Brown had issue, four children: Sons—Wingfield and Lewis; daughters—Mary and Sallie.

Chapman and Emma (Gantt) Glover had issue, Price Glover, married Minnie Swope, daughter of Dr. Swope of Buckingham County, Virginia; Henry Glover married Jeanette Horsley, daughter of John Horsley of Buckingham County.

John Glover (8) married Bessie Rogers, daughter of Lawyer Rogers of Buckingham County. Had issue, infant son, John Glover, Jr. Samuel Glover (8) unmarried; Perkins Glover (8) M.D. unmarried; Mary Glover (8) unmarried; Fannie married Wylie Haskins of Buckingham County, Virginia. Had issue six children: Hallie (9), Emma, Mary, Fannie, John and Eliza. Nicholas and Octavia (Gantt) Bocock had issue: Rosa Bocock (8) married Henry Gibbs of Pennsylvania. They had issue three children—Elizabeth (9), Rosa and John (Gibbs). Sallie Bocock (8) married Sam Bondurant of Buckingham County Virginia. John Bocock married in California. Henry Gantt, colonel Nineteenth Virginia Regiment, Confederate States Army, married Patty Eppes, daughter of Dr. Eppes of Buckingham County. Col. Henry Gantt and his wife had issue two daughters, Tempe and Sallie. Both died as minors. Price Gantt (7) son of John and S. G. married twice—first, Pompe Eppes (daughter of Dr. Eppes); second, Lila Boyd (daughter of ______ Boyd, of Nelson County Virginia.) No issue by the first marriage. Price Perkins Gantt (7) the above and Lila Boyd, his wife had issue two sons and three daughters—Price (8), Jr.; Lewis, Juliet, Maria, Kate—all of them minors.

Thomas Perkins Gantt, youngest son of Dr. Joseph [sic] W. and Sarah Perkins Gantt, was twice married and left children by both marriages. Thomas P. Gantt (7) served in the war between the States first as noncommissioned captain (Virginia Military Institute Cadets) and later in 1864-65 served under Col. John S. Mosby. Thomas P. Gantt (7) married first, Lizzie Scott, daughter of Charles Scott of Albemarle County. They had issue: Pocahantas (8) Bolling, Sallie Perkins, John Weems, and Emma (8) Langhorne who married James Andrews, son of Dr. Andrews of Nelson County Virginia. Thomas P. Gantt married second Ann Maria Horsley, daughter of Dr. Horsley of Nelson County Virginia. They had issue two sons, William A. Horsley Gantt and Henry Perkins Gantt, both minors.

Transcribed by Anne Scrivener Agee 24 April 2000

Transcriber’s Note: 1850 Census of Albemarle County VA shows John W. Gantt, age 52 Sarah Gantt, age 42 Wilhelmina Gantt, age 25 Fanny Gantt, age 20 Price Gantt, age 19 Thomas Gantt, age 16 Simms [?] Gantt, age 10 Octavia Gantt, age 7 Henry Gantt, age 5

Also Albert W. Gantt, age 22 Eliza A. Gantt, age 20 Henry Gantt, age 2 In HH Robert L. Jefferson