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- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 16 Jun 1973.
Audra Lee Headrick Brown obituary
- [S118] History of early Sevier County Doctors , Beulah Linn, (www.sevierlibrary.org/genealogy/doc/doc.htm).
Dr. Joe McGahhey was born Mar. 3, 1866 in Rutherford, N.C., near Cherry Mount. He graduated from Chattanooga Medical School in 1905 and his license was registered in 1905 at the Sevier County Court House. He and ten others started a printing press.
Dr. McGahhey married 1 st Maggie Evens and they had two children, Arthur and Clara, After the death of his first wife he married a widow, Jessie Shuck Devall with two children Meda and Audrey. He and his second wife had seven children: Nolene; Marie; McKinley; Mary; Allene; Maggie; Talmadge; Dan.
In 1900 the family moved from Arkansas to Chestnut Hill, and in 1906 to Jefferson City where there were good schools. After they had been there about two years, Dr. McGahhey received a letter from Emerts Cove in Sevier County, asking him to come to the community because Dr. Bradshaw had died and there was great need for a doctor. The following Sunday he got a telephone call saying there were seven wagons in Dandridge ready to move them.
The packing and loading was all done on Sunday night and the family wasonitswayearly the next morning. The Pigeon River had to be forded many times and it took two days to make the trip. Dr. and Mrs. McGahhey and the girls stayed with friends en route, and the boys and wagon drivers camped out. Mr. Springs, who owned and operated a store, rented them a house until the next year when Mr. Headrick built one for them. The older children were sent to Murphy College in Sevierville and the younger ones attended a one-room school taught by a Mr. Price.
After about three years in Emerts Cove, another call came from N iota, Tn. for a doctor as Dr. Buttram was growing old and needed help. Dr. McGahhey practiced in Niotafrom 1912 until May 5,1936, when he was killed in a carwreck while on a call to see a patient. He had given his service unselfishly to the community for so many years that the citizens of Niota helped erect a monument to his memory. The inscription reads: "He who did so much for Humanity".
Information from daughter
Mrs. Allene McGahhey Proffitt
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1866 - 1936 (70 years)