THE DESCENDANTS OF MATTHIAS GARRIGUS

by Dorothy Veronica Gargis Foote

     The Gargis family of Northwest Alabama can trace their ancestry to 
William and Nancy Garrigues who first appeared in the area on the 1830
census of Franklin County, Alabama.  In 1850, William and Nancy were 65 
and 50 years of age respectively with the state of birth for both shown as 
North Carolina in the Census.  Their son, Henry Gargis, was born May 17,
1816, according to his tombstone in his private cemetery near Poplar Creek
in Colbert County, Alabama.  The 1850 census lists Tennessee as his 
state of birth.  [[He died April 25, 1886.]]

     Maury County, Tennessee, marriage bonds reveal that William Garragus
married Nancy Carr, May 4, 1815.  Other marriage bonds for Maury County 
before 1830 list Benjamin Garrigus, Jesse Garrigus, John Garrigus and
Susan Garrigas.

     It is clear from a review of the 1790 North Carolina census records 
that all with the Gargis surname in the state are located in Halifax County.
According to Halifax County Deed Records, Mathew (Matthias) Garguus 
bought land in September 1762.  Other transactions aound this period were
witnessed by his wife Sarah.  A February 6, 1772 deed for 134 acres to 
Benja Carpenter identifies Matthew as a tailor.   In addition to bearing 
the mark of his wife Sarah, it is witnessed by Annie Garrigues.  By 1785 
Matthias Garrigues held only 50 acres of land according to the list of 
taxables for Halifax County.  At the same time Job Garrigues makes an 
appearance in the tax records of the county.  Both Job and Matthias are 
listed in the Revolutionary Army account books of North Carolina.  In 
1809 the Committee on Military Land Warrants for North Carolina rejected, 
among others, the claim of Matthias Gargas.

     October 15, 1832, Job Gargis petitioned the Lauderdale, Alabama,
circuit court indicating his age at the time to be about 80 years.  The
petition states that he enlisted for

	three years, sometime in the 1779 or 1780 . . . in Halifax County, 
        North Carolina in . . . the service of the United States in line of 
        the state of North Carolina. . . . His wife having no person to  
        aid her in her domestic evers [sic] became so old and infirm by  
        sickness and the rheumatic pains that she was unable to do anything
	and he was forced to remain by her side and afford to her such
        attentions as her situation absolutely required.  She departed
	this life a few years ago in Halifax County, North Carolina and he
	then set about the procuring of the necessary documents in order 
        to entille [sic] him to a pension.  With his papers he traveled 
        to Washington City on foot . . . .  He then returned to North
        Carolina and it being necessary to procure the deed made by him 
        to John McLemore he procured letters to be written and sent to
        persons in Tennessee . . . . But after waiting a space of time
        and receiving no answer, he again took his staff and bent down 
        with age and infirmity waked to Nashville in the state of Tennessee
        in order to procure it . . .   

     Marriage bonds in North Carolina show that Job Gargess married Susannah
Caton in Wilkes County, March 2, 1820.  [[Because the movements of Job Gargis
follows those of the sons of Matthias Gargis, Job is most likely an older 
son or brother of Matthias]].

     The best analysis points to a movement of the sons of Matthew and 
Sarah Garrigues to middle Tennessee.  According to the 1790 census, there 
were 5 males under 16 in the Mathew Garrigues household.  Those sons 
appear to be William, who moved to what is now Colbert County, Alabama;
Matthias Gargis, Jr., who was in Giles County, Tennessee around 1830;
John Gargis, whose family remained for sometime in Maury County, Tennessee;
Benjamin Gargis [[He moved first to Giles County, Tennessee and then to 
Illinois.  Charles Byford Garrigus, poet-laureate of California, is a
descendant of this Benjamin]]. and Jessee Gargis.

Henry Gargis, the son of William and Nancy Carr Gargis who moved to 
Franklin County, Alabama, married Nancy King.  [[The other known children of
William and Nancy were Lucinda Gargis 1818-1889; Elizabeth Gargis;
James Gargis, b 1834; Margaret Gargis, b 1837.  There were probably     
others]].  Nancy King Gargis' tombstone along side her husband's shows 
she was born October 19, 1815, and died August 5, 1901.  Henry became
a prosperous planter before his death.  In 1981, his home was still 
standing a short distance from his grave in the Gargis cemetery.  His
will, [[written circa 1881]] named a wife and and children.

	John Gargis now deceased who if living would be 45 years of age;
        2. William Gargis aged about 43 years; 3. Meridith [sic] Gargis aged 
        about 41 years; 4. Henry Gargis, Jr., aged about 39 years; 5. 
        Miranda Gargis late wife of William Jones now deceased and if living 
        her age would be about 36 years, 6. King Gargis aged about 30 
        years, 7. Nancy Gargis now the wife of Charles M. Whitlock aged  
        about 25 years. . . .

     Dissatisfied with the conduct of the widow of his John, Julia 
Aycock, he restricted the inheritance of John's family.  The children of
John and Julia A. Gargis were Capitol, Meredith, James A., John Riley, 
Mary Viola, and Francis.  Julia is buried at the Old Bethel Church 
cemetery where the tombstone reads: "Julia A. wife of J. Gargis [born]
February 5, 1834 [died] December 12, 1914, God called her home, he 
thought it best."

     According to the family Bible, James A. Gargis was born March 1865.  In
December 1889, he married Georgiana Luvinia Fore, born 1869, the daughter of
Thomas Esthelbert Fore, a Justice of the Peace.  They had two children,
Ossie and Earl.  After her death, James married on September 20, 1907, 
her younger sister, Cora Etta Fore, twenty years his junior.  Their 
children were James Dow, Tracy Esthelbert, Christine Leetta, and Robert 
Larry.

     Tracy E. Gargis wed on October 2, 1939, Mary Helen Cox, the daughter
of Thomas Reed Cox and Martha Roggenbuck Cox.  They had four children.
Dorothy Veronica [[who wrote this article]] married A. Edward Foote;
Tracy Edmond married Linda Faye Winters; James Michael wed Peggy Villerman,
and Robert Stephen married Diana Joy Britton.

     While there has not been time to adequately research the 
relationship of the North Carolina Gargis family to those in 
Pennsylvania, it appears they are from one and the same heritage.
The PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE (Vol.32, 1908) reports that on July 31, 1746:
 
	Mathew Garrigues, Jr., son of Mathew Garrigues indents himself
	apprentice with consent of his father, to John Garrigues of 
	Philadelphia cooper for fifteen years and nine months from this 
        date, to be taught the trade of a cooper, to read, to write and to
	customary dues.

     There is no doubt from research that the Gargis's of Pennsylvania 
and North Carolina were French Huguenots.  The most famous Huguenot of a 
similar name was Dominique De Gourgues who attacked a force of spaniards 
after they had massacred a French Huguenot colony in Florida in the mid
16th century.

Note: Spelling variations [[i.e., Garrigues, Garrigus, Gargas, Garguus,
Gargis, etc.]] in official records have been maintained in this account.

ALSO NOTE: The material in double brackets has been added for this www
version of the article.

Copyright @ 1982
All Rights Reserved

A. Edward Foote, Chotankers: A Family History, Thornwood Book
Publishers, 1982), pp. 285-87.  Copies of this book are in the Library of
Congress, in the research collection of the New York Public Library,
and in many local, regional, and university libraries in the US.