Biography: Aaron Absolom Gambill born January 17, 1865 – photograph

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AARON ABSOLOM GAMBILL

BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY

(1865 -1933)

Jefferson County, Alabama

Aaron A. Gambill was a street tax and license collector of Birmingham, Alabama. He was born at Farmington, Tennessee, Jan. 17, 1865, the son of Aaron and Nancy (Reeves) Gambill, both natives of Tennessee.

His father Aaron Gambill was a farmer. He was a Confederate soldier in the Civil war. Aaron and Nancy Gambill had seven children and A. A. Gambill was the fourth in age. He was reared on the farm, and educated at the Normal school at Farmington, Tennessee. He spent about five years in Jonesboro, Arkansas in the mercantile business.

In 1891 he moved to Birmingham, Alabama where he has almost continuously been an officer of the city. He served as a policeman, as street tax collector, then as street and poll tax collector, and then street, poll tax and license collector. He held the last position until the poll tax became a voluntary act for the suffrage qualification under the new Constitution of Alabama and was taken from the city authorities and placed in the hands of county tax collectors. He served in this position for many years, and was elected successively by the mayors and boards of aldermen.

Mr. Gambill was an efficient officer and increased the collections from $65,000 to $165,000 per annum by 1904. He was one of the officers who attended strictly to business and took a great interest in the progress of the city.

He was a member of the Woodmen of the World. He organized, with a capital of $50,000, a large livery company, known as the Palace Livery company and became president and treasurer. He built one of the finest stables in the South. He later became involved in the Real Estate business in Jefferson County, Alabama.

Mr. Gambill married Dec. 17, 1891, Nora Elizabeth Brown (b. 1870 – d. Nov. 8, 1943) of Fayetteville, Tennessee. She was the daughter of David P. and Tennessee (Harrell) Brown of Bedford, Tennessee.

Aaron and Nora had two known children:

1. Lawson E. Gambill
2. Florence E. Gambill (b. 1898) married Robert Silk Ketchum (b. Sep. 25, 1893- d. Mar. 1978)

Aaron Absolom Gambill died Feb. 16, 1933, in Homewood, Jefferson County, Alabama. Nora Elizabeth (Brown) Gambill died Nov. 8, 1943, in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama.

SOURCES

1. Notable men of Alabama By Joel Campbell DuBose 1904
2. 1930 Jefferson County, Alabama census
3. Alabama, Deaths and Burials Index 1881-1974

ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Exploration: Lost & Forgotten Stories is a collection of lost and forgotten stories about the people who discovered and initially settled in Alabama.

Some stories include:

• The true story of the first Mardi Gras in America and where it took place
• The Mississippi Bubble Burst – how it affected the settlers
• Did you know that many people devoted to the Crown settled in Alabama –
• Sophia McGillivray- what she did when she was nine months pregnant
• Alabama had its first Interstate in the early days of settlement

About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey

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