Samuel Gann of Winchester Va Family

From Dorretta Moore, R 4, Box 305K, Blanchard, OK 73010 (405)392-5046. 7/7/96

On one occasion when James Madison went to Taney County to see Manda, he arrived a bit earlier than was expected. Manda had her sleeves rolled up and in the process of making pies. On seeing James arriving Charlotte, Manda's mother, said to her, "You get those sleeves rolled down." James rode his horse to Taney County and brought Manda back to Dallas County on horse-back. They settled on a farm about four miles east of Charity, MO where they reared their family and lived out their lives together. The family is listed on the 1880 Federal census, Washington, Dallas Co., Missouri, 10-24-1-36: James M. 20, Mandy E. 19, James H. 3, T. M. (son) 8/12, all born in Missouri.

My Childhood Memories by Dorretta Moore. One quality of their children (my grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles) that I remember most of all is that they always had time for everyone, from the very young to the very old. This gave me (a young child) a feeling of being important and worthwhile. I did not realize it at the time, but they were helping build the base from which I would build my life. they would not allow me to misbehave, but were always loving and cheerful and passing on the good, respectable values which their parents had taught them and by which they lived their lives. The "building blocks" of life were important to them and they did the best they could to always pass them along to me and all other Gann children.

Always teaching the importance of right from wrong, God and country and family, they taught the importance of respecting your elders in that they were more knowledgeable and were the people from whom you, as a child, could learn and grow into adulthood.

All of the Gann adults I remember as a very young child, as well as all the other "older" relatives and non-relatives I knew, were of this nature. Honesty and integrity were all-important in an individual's life. Without these two qualities, trust of an individual would be missing and would effect one's relationships with family and strangers alike.

I miss all of them so very much--to be able to tell them "thank you" and how important in my life their "teachings" were would be wonderful. I remember the children of Jim and Mandy Gann as being extraordinary individuals to whom family values was not just a description, but a way of life. To say they were special people would be an understatement.

1860 Dallas Co., Mo census.