Samuel Johnson Gambill

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Samuel Johnson Gambill was born December 27, 1811, died on November 2, 1889, and is buried in the Gambill Family Cemetery on Gambill Creek Road in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

He was named for his grandfather, Captain Samuel Johnson, who was wounded at the Battle of King's Mountain during the Revolutionary War.

Samuel J. Gambill was a member of Company J, North Carolina Volunteers, who participated in the Indian Removal of 1838.

He married Elizabeth Shumate on January 24, 1841. Their children were: Polly Gambill Johnson, William Bourne Gambill, Chloe Ann Gambill Johnson, John S. Gambill, Marcus Scott Gambill, Bynum E. Gambill, and Martha E. Gambill.

Walnut Grove

Walnut Grove is a (very) small community about twenty miles north of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountain, many of the earlier residents moved back and forth across the Blue Ridge from Ashe and Alleghany Counties in NC, as well as communities in southwest Virginia.

Walnut Grove has a rich farming heritage, but following World War II, families began moving closer to town for manufacturing jobs. Since then, the community has changed. There are fewer farms (except for several large chicken farms) and the area has mostly family homes, vacation homes and hunting cabins.

Both of my in-laws grew up in this community, as did their parents and their grandparents. My in-laws attended the same church and the same two-room elementary school. They knew many of the same folks, and several of their family branches are intertwined, so "community" genealogy is almost a necessity there.

My in-laws are among those who moved a little closer to town, and my husband didn't grow up in the community. But he spent a lot of time with his grandparents, and his parents continued to make the short drive to worship at the church they grew up in.

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And although we live thirty miles from the church, my husband and I continue to attend there, as well.