My Genealogy Hound

Frank Young McGavock. For many years, or since locating in this county, Mr. McGavock has enjoyed the reputation of being not only a substantial and progressive farmer, but an intelligent and thoroughly-posted man in all public affairs. He has always been noted for honorable, upright dealing, and has kept the name he bears, which has descended to him from a long line of illustrious and honored ancestry, pure in the sight of God and man. The first of the family of whom we have any knowledge was the father (name unknown) of James McGavock, who belonged to a wealthy family of Ireland, and who came to America in 1728, settling in the State of Virginia, where he took a prominent part in the Revolutionary War, being a soldier in the Colonial army. James McGavock was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1720, and accompanied his father to Virginia, being married in that State about 1760 to Miss Mary Cloyd, of Rockbridge County, that State. Their son Hugh was the original owner of “Max Meadows,” one of the finest estates of the “Old Dominion,” which is still in possession of the McGavock family. His son, Jacob, the grandfather of our immediate subject, was born on that farm in 1790, and in 1812 went to Nashville, Tenn., being appointed a short time afterward to the position of United States circuit clerk, which position he held until after the Rebellion. He was a very successful financier, and in company with his father-in-law, Felix Grundy, and his brother-in-law, J. M. Bass, all wealthy residents of Nashville, he came to Mississippi County, Ark., about the year 1832, where he purchased tracts of land many thousands of acres in extent. He afterward bought out the others’ interest, and subsequently a large portion of his fine estate fell to the late Edward J. McGavock, a sketch of whom appears in this work. The latter died in 1881, and his wife in 1861. Frank Young McGavock was but two years old at the time of his mother’s death, and from that period until the close of the war he made his home with his maternal aunt, Mrs. Laura Whitfield, whose husband was the eldest son of ex-Gov.Whitfield, of Mississippi, and here he continued to make his home until the close of the war, when he was put in charge of his grandfather, Jacob McGavock, of Nashville, Tenn., with whom he remained until eighteen years of age. His maternal grandfather was Frank Young, of Columbus, Miss., who was a leading man of his day. Mr. McGavock, our subject, was given every advantage for acquiring a good education, and was graduated from the Nashville University, at which institution his father had been educated, and of which his grandfather and great-grandfather were among the founders; and after leaving college he entered the wholesale grocery business at Memphis, Tenn., continuing until he was twenty-five years of age. At that time he was married to Miss Theresa E. Perkins, a daughter of Samuel and Theresa (Ewin) Perkins, of Franklin, Tenn., and after their marriage they resided in that place one year, then coming to their present fine estate, the McGavock plantation, which adjoins Pecan Point. Here they have a very pleasant home, and are the parents of one child, a bright little daughter, named Theresa P., in whom all their affections and hopes are centered. Mr. Mc Gavock belongs to the only family of his name and generation living in Mississippi County.