Gable Family of the South
-The Valentine Puzzle: Analysis and Hypothesis

Statement of the Problem

The first few generations of descendants of John Gable, the Gable who immigrated to Saxe-Gotha Township in the Colony of South Carolina in the 1740s, contain multiple individuals referred to as "Valentine Gable." The natural difficulty in separately identifying these individuals seems to be further confused by the fact that (i) at least some of the Valentines have an additional given name as well, and (ii) in some contexts the individuals are referred to in records only by that second given name, without including "Valentine."

I have seen one source indicating that in German Protestant families it was not uncommon to apply a saint-name [e. g., Valentine] to a newborn in addition to a second given name. In fact, all of the children in a family might be given a single saint-name! Hopeless confusion was then avoided by using only the second given name in conversations within the family.

Whether because of such multiple naming or for some other reason, I am having a great deal of trouble sorting out the early Valentines in the Gable family. There seem to be particular difficulties with respect to two couples who were roughly contemporaneous: (i) Valentine and Martha [or Eva] (____) Gable, and (ii) Valentine and Anne Syrene (Harmon) Gable. (The first Valentine seems not to be mentioned in Zelma Price's well-known account of the early Gable family, while the latter is identified by Price as a son of John Henry [sic] Gable, the Saxe-Gotha immigrant. The relationship of these two Valentines has not been established, and (because of that German naming custom referred to above) the possibility exists that they may have been brothers despite the similarity of their names.

I have tentatively concluded that Price has unwittingly confused the children of these two Valentine Gable families. Below is a worksheet that I have developed in order to contrast three accounts of Valentine Gable families; I would appreciate any help that anyone can give in reconciling the apparent discrepancies disclosed and suggested by the data.

Source I Children of Valentine [d. 1834]* and Martha Gable [d. 1857] as stated in Saxe-Gotha, A Genealogical History of Lexington County, v. 3, bk. 3, p. 102 citing The Lexington Flag, 29 Oct. 1857	Source II Children of Valentine and Eva Gable as stated in Memorandum prepared by Emma Pamelia Elizabeth (Gable) Tillery (b. 1836, d. 1932)	Source III Children of Valentine [b. 1759] and Anne Syrene (Harmon) Gable as stated in Z. W. Price, Of Whom I Came . . ["The Gable Volume"]
John Gable	John Gable	John Gable b. c. 1786, Orangeburg Dist., d. after 1854, Habersham County, GA, m. c. 1816, Pendleton Dist., SC, Mary Betterton
Frederick Gable	Fredrick Gable	--
Jacob Gable resident, 1834, Calhoun County, MS	Jacob Gable	Jacob Gable b. 27 July 1793, Orangeburg Dist.,SC, d. 19 Nov. 1872, Calhoun County, MS, m. 7 Feb. 1820, Lexington Dist., SC, Dorothea Oswalt
Christian Gable resident, 1834, Calhoun County, MS	Christian Gable	Christian Gable b. 12 Feb. 1797, Orangeburg Dist., SC, d. 5 June 1882, Calhoun County, MS, m. 12 Dec. 1818, Newberry Dist., SC, Mary Magdalene Rish
David Gable	David Gable b. 15 May 1802 m. Nancy Lightner d. 12 Nov. 1886	David Gable b. c. 1808, Lexington Dist., SC
Joseph Gable resident, 1834, Calhoun County, MS	Joseph Gable	Joseph Gable b. 1806, Lexington Dist., SC m. SC, Mary ___, resided, 1860, Calhoun Co., MS
Margaret Gable m. Jacob Hook	Peggy Gable m. Hook	--
Catherine Gable m. Conrad Shull	Calie Gable m. Shull	Hannah Catherine Gable b. Orangeburg Dist. m. Zimmerman
Eve Margaret Gable m. John P. Thompson	Eva Gable m. Thompson	--
Nancy Gable m. David Roof	Nancy Gable m. Roof	--
Sarah Gable m. Adam Younginer	Sarah Gable m. Younger	Sarah Loduska Gable b. Orangeburg Dist.
Elizabeth Gable m. Johann Inginer	Betsy Gable m. Inginer	--
Susannah Gable m. Jacob Sox	Susan Gable m. Sox	--
George Gable d. outside SC bef. 1834, children: Rudolph, Charles, George, Joseph, Eliza, Louisa	George Gable	--
Martha Gable m. Jesse Sox d. bef. 1834, children: Margaret, Jane, Rebecca, Paul, Lemuel	Martha Gable m. Sox	Martha Priscilla Gable b. 6 Jan 1811, Lexington Dist., SC m. 7 Mar. 1837, Tuscaloosa Co., AL, John C. Green
--	Henry Gable	Henry Gable b. Orangeburg Dist.
--	Valentine Gable	--
--	Adam Gable	--
--	Lenor Gable	--
--	Barbara Gable	--
--	--	Oswalt Gable b. Orangeburg Dist.
--	--	Harmon Gable b. Orangeburg Dist.
--	--	Wesley Gable b. Orangeburg Dist.
--	--	Levi Gable b. c. 1795, Orangeburg Dist., settled Anderson County, SC
--	--	Synthia Minerva Gable b. c. 1799, Orangeburg Dist., m. 21 Feb. 1825, Tuscaloosa Co., AL, John E. Spencer
--	--	Mary Jane "Martha" Gable b. 25 Nov. 1800, Orangeburg, SC, d. 17 Jan. 1858, Calhoun Co., MS, m. 21 Oct. 1820, Lexington Dist., SC, John Betterton
--	--	Noah Gable b. c. 1802, Orangeburg Dist.

* Owned at his death 150 acres on Bear Creek waters of Saluda River.


Analysis and Hypothesis

Source I reflects the legal documents filed in 1834 in connection with the sale of 150 acres of real property on Bear Creek owned by Valentine Gable at the time of his death and thereafter enjoyed by his widow Martha (____) Gable until her death. Subject to errors in transcription, the documents are an authoritive contemporary legal record; Accordingly, persons named in it can be accepted as children (or spouses and children of the children, as the case may be) of the Valentine Gable who married Martha (____) Gable and died 1834. Of course, the possibility exists that this Valentine Gable may have also had other children who died before him without heirs and therefore might not have been mentioned in the court record cited.

Source II is also a persuasive document, although less authoritative than Source I. Emma Pamela Elizabeth (Gable) Tillery is recording the names and, in some cases, birthdates of her grandparents, uncles and aunts. Of course, in preparing her list of uncles and aunts she was presumably relying upon her memory, perhaps aided by reference to a family Bible or other records; the possibility of error is therefore introduced. However, it is unlikely that any names are included of persons who are not in fact aunts or uncles (aside from possible adoptions). On the other hand, names of one or more uncles and aunts might be omitted. Moreover, she might have used family names that do not reflect an individual's full legal name.

Every individual in Source I also appears in Source II. The correlation of data between Source I and Source II makes it clear that each source is describing the same nuclear family, despite the fact that Valentine Gable's spouse is referred to in Source I as Martha and in Source II as Eva. The difference in the name of the spouse could reflect either (i) the use of Eva as a familiar name for Martha or, more likely, (ii) a remarriage of Valentine to Martha after Eva's death. The existence of 20 documented children would certainly seem to bespeak a second wife.

Five individuals named in Source II do not appear in Source I, namely, Henry, Valentine, Adam, Lenor, Barbara. These may perhaps be explained by either the "double name" possibility discussed above, or by the possibility of those individuals having died (without wife or children) prior to the legal proceeding that occasioned Source I. In other words, Source I and Source II are generally consistent with each other and their differences can presumably be explained and reconciled.

Source III purports to list the children of Valentine Gable (the son of John Henry [sic] Gable) and his wife Anne Syrene Harmon, apparently a couple separate and distinct from Valentine and Martha/Eva (____) Gable. However, in Source III there has been either a confusion of children with those of Valentine and Martha/Eva Gable, or a confusion of information about those children. This seems particularly clear with respect to Jacob, Christian and Joseph Gable. The authoritative court records of Source I show that three individuals of those names who were children of Valentine and Martha/Eva Gable had migrated to Calhoun County, MS; it seems entirely unlikely that three others of the same names--children of Valentine and Anne Syrene (Harmon) Gable--migrated there also.

Therefore, those Gables who are descended from the Calhoun County, MS, brothers would appear to be descendants of Valentine and Martha/Eva Gable, not Valentine and Anne Syrene (Harmon) Gable. The possibility also exists that the David Gable of Source III reflects a confused connection, although the 1808 birthdate (if correct) would indicate a second David Gable.

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See: Karen Hines responds, 8 August 1999

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