JOHN P. McGAW was born in Carroll County, Miss., May 15, 1860, to John R. and Martha A. (Booths) McGaw, natives of South Carolina and Mississippi, and of Irish and English descent, respectively. John R., at the age of thirteen, moved with his parents to Mississippi, where he was afterward married, and where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1871. He then came to Webster County, Ky., where he bought a farm, on which he resided until his death, in 1878. He served for some two years in one of the Mississippi regiments, Confederate service, during the late civil war, participating in several of the leading battles. He was, at the time of his death, a magistrate. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. John P. McGaw still resides on the home place with his mother, and now owns part of the farm. He has held the position of school trustee, and is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is yet unmarried, and in politics, is a Democrat.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 1038.