Thanks for posting the informaton from the the old Henry Co. Registers. In all my years of research (since 1970) I have never seen this information about John Chambers. All I ever had on him was his marriage date to Elizabeth Gilmore and his death date of May 3, 1835 both of which are in the Gilmore Bible. I wondered how he died so young. My grandmother did not know anything about his death. She only knew he was Elizabeth's husband. Of course, his death occurred so many years before she was born that I guess that was old news by the time she came along. This is the kind of information I enjoy knowing about my ancestors - What the dash represents between the birth and death date! Fascinating that he died from a dose of "a lotion of yellow jessamine taken by mistake." Of course, I had to find out exactly what yellow jessamine was. The name of the plant is called the Carolina Jasmine. It has fragrant, yellow, funnel shaped flowers. The roots yield a poisonous drug called gelsemium. It is a sedative and was used to treat malaria, rheumatism, neuralgia, and fevers. It is rarely used now as an overdose can be fatal. The Register stated he died from the poisonous effect of a "lotion" taken by mistake. I wonder if the root was used back then to make some kind of lotion that one rubbed on oneself maybe for rheumatism and he drank it by accident. Interesting information - Thanks.
MaryAnn Caldbeck

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