Francis Gaines [4028]

  General Notes:

A marker for Francis Gaines, a Revolutionary soldier, was dedicated in the Francis Gaines Cemetery in Elbert County, Ga., on May 1.

Francis Gaines was born in 1759 in Albemarle County, Va., a direct descendant of Sir John Gaines, who came from Brecon, Wales, to America about 1606. Francis Gaines served as an officer in the Revolution.

In 1792 Francis Gaines married Judy Lively and moved from Virginia to Georgia by way of an Indian trail which later became U.S. 29. He was granted 1,200 acres of land for his war service.

The pine log Gaines home, hewn with axes, was located on the west side of Rock Branch. There was a large spring north of the house. His slave quarters were across Rock Branch from his house.

Gaines drew land in several land lotteries, then bought and sold other lands after moving to Georgia. He was not an educated man; he could not even write his name. He was, however, a smart business man and eventually owned many wheat and corn mills on Coldwater Creek and Pickens Creek.

Some of the original land grant is still in the Gaines family, never sold or traded outside the family. Francis Gaines was a generous person, however, and gave some of the land to various churches.

Francis Gaines died in 1825, and his will was recorded in Elbert County. He willed all his assets to his wife for her lifetime except for his shotgun, which he willed to his oldest son.

Excerpt from an article in the Salibury Post of Rowan County, North Carolina, July 19, 1999 by Franklin Scarborough.

Francis married Judy "Judith" Lively [150] [MRIN: 116], daughter of William Lively [4] and Unknown, about 1780 in Albemarle County, Virginia. (Judy "Judith" Lively [150] was born in 1764 in Albemarle County, Virginia and died in 1825 in Elbert County, Georgia.)