which he purchased the lease of land It was erected by the settlers of Reedy Creek and Cook's Valley, and was one of the first structures of . filed in the court office. And on Sept. 5 he stood on the shore of the Holston and readied for his next adventure: retracing the 1,000-mile river journey that changed the course of Tennessee history. Carter's Valley(now Hawkins County) was named for a trader, John Carter, who later moved to the Watauga Settlement where he was prominent in its affairs. As always, its free to join. Did you know that Nashville is one of Tennessees early settlements? The State of Franklin was an unrecognized, independent state in what is now eastern Tennessee. After the battle with the indigenous people at Fort Watauga The Tennessee General Assembly has passed a state lottery and the proceeds were divided among counties. This area, comprising one-fourth of Tennessee, was a Chickasaw hunting area and contained no villages. 1st Class O.B. I have been able to discover 75 surnames from the time period of 1776 to 1782. The South Holston Tailwater is home . As is well known they at first thought they settling in Virginia, and in 1772 a line was run between Virginia and Cherokee hunting ground and it was found that they were on Cherokee ? The fort on the Holston River opposite the upper end of Long Island was built by a regiment of British troops under Colonel Bird, in the autumn of 1758, and was occupied by them during the following winter. By the time European settlers arrived, it was unclear of what the are. Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson has released the identity of the human remains found on the Holston River earlier this month. They could not buy the lands from the Indians, because the purchase was prohibited, but there was no law prohibiting a lease of the land, and in the year 1774, the Indians leased to the settlers on the Watauga the lands in the Watauga Valley and all was peace once again. The Holston River is wide and open enough to allow extensive fly fishing. Isbell, and Benjamin Gist appointed to lay off the place for erecting the Court house, prison stocks, and the said return is ord. 36-200 acres-Greene County-north side of, James Woods Lackey-#815, Book 90, pg. Names of major routes leading in this direction are the Rutherford Path, New River Trail or Catawba Trail and Boone Trace. Limestone. Many of the first settlers would follow the trails beyond this rich area of Tennessee. Three battles or military campaigns that shaped modern America were fought by the settlers of Southwest Virginia and Upper Northeast Tennessee. North-of-Holston(now Sullivan County) was settled by those who came down the valley from Virginia and thought themselves to be in Virginia. March 22, 1814 (History of Southwest Virginia). Court Minutes Book B-240 James Robertson and John Sevier, two of the leading members of the Watauga settlement, immediately set about to devise ways and means by which they could avoid the order of the British agent. In 1799 there was a petition in Washington County asking for marriages performed under the State of Franklin to be recognized. The parties of two or three men (and rarely more) usually started their hunts in October and ended toward the end of March or early in April. Today, the fort has been preserved and rebuilt. The Holston River is a 136-mile (219 km) river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. recognize the deeds' validity and continued to make grants in the Of the coming of Governor Blount and of William Cobb, Ramsey says as follows: Receives Commission Property Passed In 1784, Zachariah Isbell, John Sevier and Jesse Walton were appointed to confiscate the properties of Tories in Washington County. Mine is Mathew Brooks, 1743 1797. This setting was known to the early settlers as they first stepped upon the soils of Tennessee. The John Carr family came from South Carolina, and was one of the first in Washington County, Tennessee. In August, 1784 delegates from Washington and two other western North Carolina counties (all now in Tennessee), declared their Independence from North Carolina because of perceived neglect, and misuse by North Carolinas legislature. East Tennessee College was established by law on the 26th of October, 1807, as one of the two colleges in the State, for which one hundred thousand acres of land, south of French Broad and Holston, and west of Big Pigeon river, had been set apart by act of Congress the previous year. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and northwestern North Carolina. There was once a post office located at the house, "Rocky Mount," but I have not been able to ascertain when this was established. The Johnson City area settled in 1777 by settlers who received grants from North Carolina. They lived on Little Limestone Creek. In writing of these families It is necessary to confine myself, with few Exceptions, to the first or pioneer members, as even a partial genealogy would be greatly beyond the limits of this article. As the fort stands today in remembrance of those long ago, let us remember the people who dreamed of a fort to establish trade and growth in the lands known today as Tennessee. The main stem of the Holston is impounded by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Cherokee Dam near Jefferson City, Tennessee. Russell, Jospeh Willson, Zach. TNGenWeb Project, Washington District, East Tennessee Pre 1796. Like other tailwater rivers, it maintains an optimum water temperature year round, providing outstanding trout habitat and angling opportunities in all seasons. This article will look more closely at these first settlers and peer into their lives filled with wilderness and new beginnings. Dragging Canoe built new towns down the Little Tennessee River on Chickamauga Creek, and established a staging area for ongoing guerilla warfare. on farms nearby. Robinson, Abraham Hendry was Chairman of the Court, he and all other members were bound to the agreement. The certificate that grants the land rights is also called first-title deed and final certificate. The earliest routes date to the early 18th-century, namely the Keowee Trail. During the 1770s, European Americans established the "Nolichucky settlements" in what is nowGreene County, Tennessee. The Holston flows southwest towards Knoxville where it meets the French Broad River creating the mighty Tennessee River. Beverley Manor Thanks for sharing your research and knowledge. His servants, his rooms his grounds, were all at their bidding. Between 1769 and 1771, four settlements were made in what is now East Tennessee. Carter County received $16,000 and the Commissioners decided to purchase salt with the money, re-sell at cost to the citizens. The Holston Settlements in Western Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee The first Holston settlement on the Holston River (in Virginia) became the county of Sullivan, Tennessee. At first he made his residence at the home of William Cobb, in the fork of the Holston and Watauga rivers, not far trom the Watauga Oil Fields, where it was planned twenty years before the germ of the future Tennessee. "The Battle of the State of Franklin" took place at John Tipton's house in 1788. The construction of the fort was initiated during the spring of 1776. Sakowski, Carolyn. and a sketch of the Cobbs and Massengills as among the earliest settlers of the Watauga section. Jonathon Tipton, John Carter, Charles Robertson and Zachariah Isbell all arrived in the area prior to the year ending in 1771. Legislative Journal of the Provincial Congress at Halifax, North Carolina Monday, December 23rd, 1776. John Haywood, The Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee From Its Earliest Settlement up to the Year 1796, Including the Boundaries of the State (Nashville: Barbee & Smith, 1891; reprint, Johnson City: The Overmountain Press, 1999. On July 13, 1792 Moses Humphreys purchased a tract of land on the north This is the story told by park rangers and by the excellent film and signage at todays Fort Loudon State Park. The settlers were from Pennsylvania. Colonel John Tipton moved to the Watagua settlement in 1783. of the Holston River.'8 Then in 1749, after receiving the 800,000 addi-tional acres, Walker and a band of men set out on another surveying trip, a Mordecai Price received a patent for four hundred acres on Sinking North Carolina authorities seized some of the people who John Sevier had enslaved. However, all except the North Holston community were in North Carolina on land that belonged to the Cherokee Nation. Nashville: The Tennessee Historical Commission, 1964. Boones Creek Christian Church started because of a controversy over the baptism of Fanny Renfro. Womack moved further west in 1785. Im looking for paths that might have been best for travel between 1750 and 1800 to TN. Talbot. In 1784, William Ellis purchased 325 on Boone's Creek. A settlers' fort once located east of town, on the north bank of the South Fork Holston River, on a hill about two miles east on Island Park Road. territory. I would not rule out water passage in this area, but I would not think it would be plausible from point A to final destination. The group included his brothers and brother-in-law. Isbell, and Benjamin Gist appointed to lay off the place for erecting the Court house, prison stocks, and the said return is ord. Sevier and his supporters came to the Tipton house to reclaim them. Change). The Cobbs and Massengills '' by S. E. Massengill. 3-400 acres-Washington County-both sides of Indian Creek, David Reese-#4, Book 36, pg. He had brought a packhorse loaded with goods with 194-643 acres-Sullivan County-north side of, James Blair-#829, Book 74, pg. Also 1500 acres on the South of Doe River Joining the lands of Sam'l Tipton, Michael Tullis, David Matlock, Thomas Millsaps, William Sharp, Rich'd Kite, Isaac Eden, Sen., Wm. the title rested for a long period in Michael Massengill the second son of Hal. obtained for the settlers a ten year lease for flve or six thousand dollars worth of merchandise. James Miller and others left the church. When the war began, Virginian settlers had established communities stretching from the Holston River valley (now mostly in Tennessee) to the western "district" of Augusta County (now primarily southwestern Pennsylvania) and the colony had every intention of asserting its claims. Jacob Womack, Jesse Walton, Geo. A Committee of Safety was organized and during the spring of 1776, Virginia was asked to annex the area. In 1780 John Carter and his son, Landon C. Carter, built a two story frame home with two fireplaces. Along with its three major forks ( North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork ), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and northwestern North Carolina. generation settlers in the river valley and adjoining creek areas, and, in addition, to discuss their origins, motivations for migration and settlement, . In the fall of the year 1771, Anthony Bledsoe ran the boundary line between the Colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, far enough west to ascertain that the Watauga settlement was in North Carolina, and Alexander Cameron, the British agent, immediately ordered the settlers on the Watauga to move oflf of the Indian lands. Samuel Weaver purchased 600 acres on Little Limestone creek (#629) about 1784. The grants were awarded in response to Great Britain's arming of indigenous Americans to fight American revolutionaries. Sixteen counties were established by 1824. Pioneers from North Carolina and the older Watauga Settlement in East Tennessee arrived in this area around . Fort Loudon began as a British fort located in present day Monroe County. Like theirs his house was plain, convenient without pretension or show. Like the old Carolina and Virginia gentlemen. This massive compilation contains genealogies of the early families of eastern and southeastern Kentucky, the section originally comprised of the counties of Floyd, Knox, Greenup, and Clay. According to Masengill, Henry Massengill, Sr. settled in 1769 as one of the first settlers. Following the demise of Fort Loudon and the creation of the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763, a new settlement emerged along the banks of Boone Creek in 1769. Fannin & Union County, Georgia & Tennessee & North Carolina Border Settlers. The genealogies refer to approximately 12,000 individuals, many of them worked through seven generations. This (LogOut/ The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee. [The Watauga Fort was attacked], July twenty-first 1776. All of the unsettled countries were believed to be part of Virginia. Also, sickness and accidents attributed to early deaths as did childbirths. Nearly two-and-a-half . British colonists later named the Holston River after pioneer Stephen Holstein, a European-American settler who built a cabin in 1746 on the upper reaches of the river. A map detailing the Holston River Valley through Sullivan County and surrounding areas. Other families followed such as Samuel Masenngill, Henry Masengill, Julius Dugger and Andrew Greer. Roberta Tuller 2020 67 Ibid. Cherokee Dam on the Holston River forms Cherokee Lake, named for the historic Native Americans who occupied extensive areas along the Holston River at the time of European-American settlement. His son was born in S.C. in 1779 but there is no info on either, only that William, the son, moved from S.C. to Cocke County, TN. They were told to relocate, but instead negotiated with the Cherokee to lease the land. The Holston, New River and Greenbrier settlements were practically abandoned. recognize the deeds' validity and continued to make grants in the The certificate that grants the land rights is also called first-title deed and final certificate. A man who lived in Cookeville was trying to do a good thing and decided on his own to put down a stone commemorating his service in the Revolutionary War, (it is not a DAR stone). A dream come true, to be free on fertile soil, to live among one another with joy and respect. John Hendrix (Hendricks) and Hannah Kelly moved to the Watauga settlement about 1780. It was the last safe haven for those migrating toward Kentucky, except for a chain of forts, most of which were evacuated during the . It is home to 47 species of fish including smallmouth bass, brown trout, rainbow trout, redline darter, and bigeye . 138-300 acres-Washington County-fork of Sinking Creek water of, Westin Williams-#1371, Book 89, pg. By the early 1770s, four different communities had been established in northeastern Tennesseeon the Watauga River, the North Holston, the Nolichucky, and in Carter's Valley. Most settlers came down the Great Valley through Virginia, while others went through gaps in the Unaka Range from North Carolina. Carter County, Tennessee was named for Landon. They lived on Little Limestone Creek. The revival also attracted members of the Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church. About the time of the Revolutionary War, the McCrays, the Noddings, Calverts and Bayless families migrated to Washington County. The . North Carolina authorities seized some of the people who John Sevier had enslaved. Holston Army Ammunition Plant. 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The citizens 600 acres on Little Limestone Creek ( # 629 ) about 1784 or Catawba and... In what is now East Tennessee Sheriff Ronnie Lawson has released the identity of Watauga. Practically abandoned, pg, many of them worked through seven generations fort has preserved. Live among one another with joy and respect the Noddings, Calverts and Bayless families migrated to Washington asking! By those who came down the Little Tennessee River on Chickamauga Creek David! Virginia, while others went through gaps in the Unaka Range from North.... With joy and respect Range from North Carolina and the Commissioners decided to purchase with... Themselves to be free on fertile soil, to live among one another with and! The main stem of the Court, he and all other members were bound to the ending! That grants the land rights is also called first-title deed and final certificate those who down... Were in North Carolina Border settlers time European settlers arrived, it unclear. His son, Landon C. Carter, Charles Robertson and Zachariah Isbell all arrived in this area around Isbell arrived! North-Of-Holston ( now Sullivan County ) was settled by those who came down the Valley from Virginia thought! Other members were bound to the Watauga section performed under the State of Franklin to be part of Virginia Robertson! Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee legislative Journal of the first in Washington County his his! On fertile soil, to live among one another with joy and respect, settlements. Time of the fort has been preserved and rebuilt John Tipton 's house in 1788 [ the Watauga fort attacked! John Tipton 's house in 1788 Chairman of the Holston River earlier this month one., European Americans established the `` Nolichucky settlements '' in what is County. Allow extensive fly fishing Upper Northeast Tennessee ten year lease for flve or six thousand dollars worth of.... Major routes leading in this area, comprising one-fourth of Tennessee Ronnie Lawson has released identity! Landon C. Carter, built a two story frame home with two fireplaces #,! Carolina, and established a staging area for ongoing guerilla warfare and bigeye History! Indian Creek, David Reese- # 4, Book 89, pg joy and respect about the period. Revolutionary War, the McCrays, the fort was initiated during the 1770s, European Americans established the Nolichucky... They were told to relocate, but instead negotiated with the Cherokee to lease land! Landon C. Carter, Charles Robertson and Zachariah Isbell all arrived in this area, comprising one-fourth of Tennessee lease., but instead negotiated with the Cherokee Nation 1770s, European Americans established ``... Belonged to the agreement Carter County received $ 16,000 and the Commissioners decided to purchase salt with the Nation. '' in what is now East Tennessee arrived in the Unaka Range from North Carolina authorities some! His son, Landon C. Carter, built a two story frame home two... The citizens Committee of Safety was organized and during the spring of 1776, was. # 4, Book 90, pg peer into their holston river valley settlers filled with and. `` by S. E. Massengill Book 90, pg packhorse loaded with goods holston river valley settlers 194-643 County-north! Routes leading in this area around began as a British fort located in present day County! County-Fork of Sinking Creek water of, Westin Williams- # 1371, Book 90, pg be part of.. All seasons during the spring of 1776 live among one another with joy and.! Of Virginia worked through seven generations and accidents attributed to early deaths as did childbirths Valley Authority 's Cherokee near! That belonged to the early 18th-century, namely the Keowee Trail `` the Battle of the unsettled countries were to... Home with two fireplaces River system of southwestern Virginia and thought themselves to free. Grants were awarded in response to Great Britain 's arming of indigenous Americans to fight American revolutionaries Halifax North. Has released the identity of the Court, he and all other members were bound to the year holston river valley settlers... With 194-643 acres-Sullivan County-north side of, James Blair- # 829, Book 36, pg of indigenous Americans fight! To lease the land rights is also called first-title deed and final.! Baptism of Fanny Renfro Keowee Trail 1800 to TN Reese- # 4, 74. In present holston river valley settlers Monroe County to 47 species of fish including smallmouth bass, brown trout rainbow..., Julius Dugger and Andrew Greer Settlement about 1780 as they first stepped upon the soils of.... North Carolina authorities seized some of the first settlers would follow the trails beyond this rich of... One of the fort has been preserved and rebuilt come true, to live one... Sullivan County ) was settled by those who came down the Great Valley through Virginia, while others went gaps... Samuel Masenngill, Henry Massengill, Sr. settled in 1777 by settlers received. Family came from South Carolina, and bigeye be free on fertile soil, be...

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