Wednesday, May 23, 2012

An Afternoon with a Real Son of a Confederate Veteran

Had the pleasure this week of meeting Henry Gober of Millbrook AL, a Real Son of Confederate Veteran Lisbon Failes Gober and, a member of the Prattville Dragoons, SCV Camp 1524.  Past Commander Wyatt Willis arranged for our meeting at Mr.Gober's home which he had built when he was a general contractor and has lived in for the past 29 years or so.  Lisbon Failes Gober is buried at the Rocky Mount cemetery nearby in Prattville.  It was an enjoyable hour spent chatting with Mr.Gober on the front porch of his home, enjoying the cool breeze blown up by some afternoon thunderstorms and which stiffened the Confederate Battle Flag which proudly flew on a pole in his front yard.  He related that things have changed very much in his years and that his home was the only one in the vicinity when he built it and is now surrounded by a neighborhood off Main Street in Millbrook.  The Gobers along with the Cobbs and McQueens owned many of the acres of land which now has been developed as the Prattville High Point shopping centers, hotels, restaurants and the Robert Trent Jones golf courses and turned Prattville into a tourist and shopping destination. He expressed concern over the current White House administration as most of us do.  Very small world twofold.  It winds up that Mr.Gober considers Dave Thomas of Millbrook his very best friend and I had actually rented Mr.Thomas' mother-in-law cottage for a year or two prior to building my home.  Their land actually adjoins each other.   Also, in researching my ancestry for the Sons of Confederate Veterans I had Googled one of my great great great grandfathers, Elijah Hunt, who my Grandmother Essie Rhodes had briefly mentioned in her memoirs. Winds up he had a fascinating history as a Private in Company B of the 15th Georgia Infantry under General Benning's Brigade, the namesake for the U.S. Army Fort Benning in Columbus GA and saw combat at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Chickamauga - watch for a future post with more information.  So, in my research, I found that Elijah Hunt was married to Mahala Harris Neal who was the great grand-daughter of William Gober I who emigrated from England in the 1700s and lived in Virginia and North Carolina.  William Gober I is also the great great great great grandfather of Henry Gober of Millbrook AL.  Small world indeed.

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