Bio: J. S. Gamblin, Caddo Parish La
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville,  1890

Submitted by: Suzanne Shoemaker
sueshoe@hotmail.com




**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************
 

J. S. Gamblin, a brief sketch of whose life now claims attention from the
reader, is a prosperous planter and merchant in Ward 7, Caddo Parish, La.,
and has, by means of his won natural ability and energy, won for himself
success in the mercantile works.  More and more, as the country grows
older, it is proven that what is commonly called "self-made" men are, in
the long run, those who receive the largest portion of the "goods the gods
provide."  Mr. Gamblin made his first appearance in this work in the year
1839, his birth occurring in Harrison County, Tex.  His parents, Thomas and
Martha A. (Scogin) Gamblin, were born in North Carolina about 1809, and
South Carolina in 1815, respectively.  They were married in the State of
Alabama, moving from there to Mississippi, from there to Arkansas, and
thence to Texas, and finally returning to Louisiana, settled in Caddo
Parish.  During the gold excitement in California the father went out to
that section of the country, where he remained two years.  He died in 1850,
and his widow passed to her final resting place in December of 1887. at the
home of her son, John.  The father was engaged in agricultural pursuits and
was of English descent, being the son of John Gamblin, who came from
England to Alabama.  The mother's family was also English, her father
coming from that country and settling in North Carolina, and afterward in
Caddo Parish, where he died in 1841.  John Gamblin is the youngest of the
three sons and two daughters born to his parents, and was reared from
infancy on the plantation in Caddo, receiving a good education at this
place and at Marshall, Tex.  In 1862 he served a short while in the
Louisiana Infantry, and in the same year was married to Miss Elizabeth
Sophia, daughter of Josiah and Mary C. Guill, natives of Virginia and
Tennessee, respectively.  They were married in Wilson County, Tenn., going
from there to Sumter County, Ala., and, in the year 1848, came to Caddo
Parish, where Mr. Guill died in 1875.  Mrs. Guill is still living.  Both of
them belonged to the Methodist Church, and Mr. Guill served in the Indian
War.  His father, Josiah Guill, was a native of Virginia, served in the War
of 1812, and died in Wilson County, Tenn.  His grandfather, John Guill, was
a native of England, leaving that country at the age of fourteen, and upon
reaching the United States was bound out to the highest bidder, serving
until he reached his majority for a saddle, bridle and $100.  He died in
Virginia.  Mrs. Gamblin, wife of John Gamblin, was born in Sumter, Ala., in
1845.  To their union were born four sons and six daughters, all of whom
are now living at home.  Mr. Gamblin lived two years in Upshur County,
Tex., and since has made his home in Caddo Parish, living since 1873 on his
present plantation, which is situated about seven miles west of Shreveport,
and comprises about 189 acres of valuable land.  For several years he was
postmaster of the post office at Rose Hill.  He is a member of the A. F. &
A. M., Land Mark Lodge, No. 214, and was for a time junior warden of his
lodge.  Mr. Gamblin's grandfather, John Scogin, fought for the freedom of
the American colonies, and his own brother fought on the opposited side.
Mr. Gamblin's grandmother, Mary Scogin (nee Lang), was born in England, but
came with her parents and brothers and sisters to the United States many
years ago.  She was married in South Carolina on January 31, 1808, and died
in Caddo Parish in 1839, at the age of fifty-four.  Mrs. Gamblin's maternal
grandmother, Charity (Oxford) Ligon, was born in North Carolina and died in
Wilson County, Tenn., about 1833.  She was of Scotch-Irish descent.  Mrs.
Gamblin's paternal grandmother, Margaret (Hughes) Guill, spent all her life
in Virginia.  Thus it is seen that this family is connected on both sides
with the oldest and most cultured families in the South, and they are
worthy representatives of their talented ancestors.