Individual Details

Gannum's date of birth is a month before his parent's marriage. Possibly the year of one of these is wrong. It is also possible he is place in the wrong McBee family.

Probably the Gainum McBee, age 20, living in the household of Green Palmer, 1850, Claiborne Co. TN

Gannum is said to have married Mary Emaline Woods on 16 Oct 1851 in Claiborne Co. Her Bible said to give his full name as Gaynum Cox McBee and date of birth as 20 Mar 1829.
The family has said to have gone to Missouri soon after Gannum and Mary married; they had three children there who did not survive - by 1860 they had returned to Tennessee.

One Family tradition states that he was killed during the Battle of Chattanooga, Civil War. That Battle was fought Nov 23-25, 1863. Another says that he died near the end of the war; he took ill near Chattanooga while moving his horses and died there. He may have raised horses and they were said to have been taken and his business destroyed by the Union Army.

There are two Gainum/Gannum McBees born approximately the same year, 1829 - they were second cousins. Still a third Gainum McBee, lived in Knox Co TN and was born in 1840, son of Gainum C. & Sarah; he was another second cousin. Any of these three could have served in the Civil War. One of these is surely the Ganum C. McBee, private of 1st Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry who signed the Oath of Allegiance at Chattanooga on 3 Jun 1865. The card states "Roll of Rebel Deserters and voluntarily surrendered prisoners of war who took the Oath of Allegiance at Chattanooga". Ganum C. McBee gave his residence as Knox County, TN; he had dark complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, and was 6' tall. [Found on Fold3.com.]
A look at the 1st Regt reveals that at least two of the companies, F and L, were organized in Claiborne Co, neither of which has an existing muster roll. Several of the other companies were organized in Knox Co.
The other Gainums born 1829 & 1840, were not known to have had the middle initial and this record does place a Gainum McBee at Chattanooga near the end of the war. However, the youngest apparently did not marry until after the War and would have been a single man and apparently lived in Knox Co his entire life.

1860 Union Co TN, p. 440b, living next to Robert McBee's children is
G. C. McBee, age 30, and Mary age 28.
Note: Robert probably was his uncle; he also had a son named Gainum, but he was about age 22 and Robert's son is probably listed as a student in Claiborne Co in 1860, age 20.

1870 Union Co TN
Hh 77. Mary McBee age 38. Mary A. 9, Sarah E. 7, Ganum C. 5.
Sarah Pary, age 18.
Mary is living two doors from her brother John Woods - an Andrew Pary age 21, lives with John.


1880 Union Co TN, District 11
Hh 109 Mary McBee, age 47. Sarah E. age 16, daughter. Ganum C. 14, son. John E. age 5, son. [This youngest child is obviously not a child of Gannum - some say possibly a son of Andrew Perry although the name has come down in the family as Peters/Peterson.] Next door is Andrew Perry age 30 and his wife is Mary J. age 22. They have children - Matty E age 4 and Henry M. age 1.

Birth	20 Mar 1829	Tennessee
Marriage	14 Oct 1851	Claiborne County, Tennessee - Mary Emaline Woods
Death	Bet 1860 and 1870

Spouse	Mary Emaline Woods (1832 - 1911)
Child	Nancy C. McBee (1852 - 1853)
Child	William M. McBee (1854 - 1855)
Child	Margaret P. McBee (1856 - 1857)
Child	Mary A. McBee (1861 - )
Child	Sarah Emmeline McBee (1863 - )
Child	Gainum George Cox McBee (1865 - 1949)
Child	John Esco McBee (1875 - )

Father	William Pryor McBee (1803 - )
Mother	Nancy Dyer (1810 - )
Sibling	Elmira McBee (1831 - )
Sibling	Tabitha McBee (1835 - )
Sibling	William McBee (1836 - )
Sibling	Susanna McBee (1838 - )
Sibling	Anderson McBee (1839 - )
Sibling	Harriet E. McBee (1841 - )
Sibling	Winny McBee (1843 - )
Sibling	Doctor Cardon McBee (1844 - )
Sibling	John H. McBee (1846 - )
Sibling	Sarah M. McBee (1848 - )
Sibling	John H. McBee (1849 - )