List Members: A few weeks ago, there was a query on this list about a hanging in Richmond. I have had some recent information passed on to me about this that I will share. The party that was hung was a James Gant Sr. There is an entry in The Cemetery Records of Bedford County, Tennessee on page 186. He is buried in the Gant Cemetery that is located about 1 mile South of Blue Stocking Hollow Road Off Petersburg Highway. When the information for compiling the cemetery book was put together, the stone read: James Gant, Sr.; Born December 31, 1783; Murdered July 27, 185- (gone) & Elizabeth Gant; Born October 20, 1787; Died June 4, 1869. It is my understanding that there was a monument there at one time that explained the circumstances of this incident, but it has since been destroyed and I am assuming that this cemetery has been abandoned. Bobby Prosser prossergenealogy@comcast.net

James Armstrong Gant was an older brother of my ggggrandfather Jesse Bobo Gant. I came across the tombstone inscription in the book on Bedford County cemeteries and tried to find out what had happened. What little information I could find came from a researcher who later helped to write the book on the descendants of John Gant of Virginia. According to him, there was a shootout between James Gant and two men whose last name was Shearin. James Gant was killed as a result. It must have been something of a family squabble because one of his daughters was married to Mathew Shearin. In this small Gant Cemetery you will find the Shearin name mentioned as well. What caused the quarrel, I don't know. I don't think that he is the same one that was hanged at Richmond. I could be wrong but I'm basing my comments on what I was told by the researcher together with other information I have come across in various books about Bedford County. Sylvia Gant