MAJOR H. AND CHARLOTTE CORLISS GABEL

 

Major H.(Harrelson?) Gabel/Gabell married Charlotte Marie Corliss about 1854 in Vermont and later lived in Lawrence and Maury Counties, Tennessee.

Major H., born 15 April 1817 in Alabama, was the son of Barnabas (1789-1865) Gabel and Sarah Ann Choate (1796-1844). Barnabas, born of German parents in Pennsylvania, married Sarah Ann, reportedly full or half-Cherokee from North Carolina, on 20 June 1816. Sarah was the daughter of Valentine Choate. Barnabas lived in Alabama and finally settled permanently in Lawrence Co., TN, near Tidwell Hollow. Major H. had four brothers, Elias P., Thomas Israel, John D., and James Edward. When Sarah died on 2 October 1844, Barnabas married Sarah Crawley. During the last months of the Civil War, Barnabas was followed from Columbia, after selling crops, by thieves who wanted the gold he had received in payment. When he reached his home, he quickly buried the money and, when he wouldn't disclose the hiding place, was tied to his horse and dragged almost to death. He never recovered consciousness and died a few months later, unable to reveal to his family where the gold was buried.

Lottie was born about 1835, probably in Vermont. Her parents (by hypothesis) were Joseph and Charlotte (York) Corliss. Lottie descended from George Corliss of Exeter, Devonshire, England, who settled in Haverhill, MA in the mid-1600s. The Hannah Dustin Memorial statue, which stands north of Concord, N.H. is dedicated to the bravery of Hannah Dustin, Mary Corliss Neff, Lottie's 3rd great-aunt and daughter of George, and a young man, Samuel Lennardson, who boldly escaped their capture by Indians three hundred years ago, on 15 March 1697.

Family legend states that Lottie was heir to Corliss Machinery fortunes and her prominent New England family was very unhappy when she chose to marry Major, a "half-breed, country bumpkin from Tennessee," 12 years her senior. Lottie had seen Major, "riding so straight and tall on his black horse" down her street and declared that "he was the man she was going to marry." She did, and was disinherited.

Major had been taught blacksmithing and steam engine repair by his father and was expected to continue in these trades and in farming his father's land, but Major was an adventurer and not content to stay at home. His travels took him all the way to Cuba and up the eastern coast by tramp steamer to Maine. His last jaunt had taken him to Vermont, where he met Lottie. When Barnabas died, Major came home, and his brothers split up their parcels of land (Major had been left out of Barnabas' will) to give him a share. He stayed in Lawrence County for some time, but by the time of his death on 2 October 1899, he was living in Kettle Mills. Censuses show him there as early as 1870.

Major and Lottie had two sons, George and John Calhoun, and three daughters, Sarah Ellen, Emma, and Mattie Brown. He and Lottie are buried in Old Well Cemetery, just over the Maury line in Hickman County..

Contributor: Audrey J. Massey