CSA 2-H, 10¢ Hoyer bottom sheet margin single (bit of staining) tied CALHOUN Ga. JUL circular datestamp on cover to Rev. Z.M. McGhee, Zion Hill, Tenn. Spectacular stamp. Ex Judd according to album page but without his usual pencil notes on verso. $1,500.

Zerah Marian McGhee (1835-1920) was reared on his father’s farm. His calling was to the Christian faith as a Cumberland Presbyterian Minister. He organized churches in northwestern Georgia and southeast Tennessee. During the first part of the Civil War between the States he was a student in Ewing and Jefferson College near Knoxville. Soon after the fall of Fort Donaldson, the school had to close, which deprived him of completing college. He joined the Georgia Presbytery, a candidate for the ministry in 1860, and on April 6, 1861, was licensed to preach. In October 1862, he was ordained to the whole work of the ministry. He was a vigorous writer and a strong speaker.