Franklin County, North Carolina Genealogy Trails

DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY, Nov. 8, 1891

It is one of the interesting episodes of our American history that the first free and independent State formed among us was organized, not in one of the older colonies, but in what was then a most remote region. It was organized, too, some years before the Declaration of Independence fired the hearts of the colonists and united them in a common purpose to throw off the yoke of allegiance to the British crown.
The great struggle of the Revolution occupies so large a space in our thought of those times that we are in danger of overlooking the movements that were taking place in the newer settlements into which population had even then begun to flow, and into which it continued to flow with ever increasing rapidity while the war was still raging. It is true, moreover, that the character of the people who formed those settlements, the local government which they set up, the foothold which they gained in the territory west of the Appalachians, were essential elements in the foundation of our whole northwest. We possibly might not have possessed the great interior of our country at all, we certainly should not have possessed it so early in our history, had it not been for the sturdy pioneers who made their settlements on the western slopes of the great mountain chain and in the valleys adjacent.
The earliest date that seems to be assigned for the white man's discovery of this part of the country is 1754. In that year, James McBride, with a small company, passed down the Ohio river, landed at the mouth of the Kentucky, and marked a tree with his initials. Daniel Boone is sometimes thought to have made an expedition into this territory in 1760, but the date is doubtful. It is known, however, as certain, that early in June, 1 1769, he came with his companions into the "blue grass" region of Kentucky. His expedition was promoted by Richard Henderson, of North Carolina, who seems to have been something of a speculator, and who availed himself of Boone's knowledge of woodcraft in exploring the country. The first explorers of the region that is now embraced in the State of Kentucky were not able to maintain their hold. The Indians were hostile, and when the war - one of the numerous Indian wars - came to an end in 1774, there were no whites left in Kentucky, nor in what is now middle Tennessee. It may, however, be said in passing, that in March, 1775, Boone succeeded in establishing the first settlement in Kentucky that had the elements of permanency. This was at the town which perpetuates the hardy woodsman's name - Boons borough.
The impulse to settlement in the region west of the mountains came, in part at least, through the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, in which the Six Nations agreed to surrender to the English all the lands lying between the Ohio and the Tennessee, which then was called the Cherokee. An old proclamation of the British king had forbidden such settlements, but the colonists were ready to make the treaty a pretext for disregarding the prohibition, and to push into the country, which, after all, was debatable territory. It is not known who were the aboriginal dwellers in this region, the Six Nations claiming it by the right of conquest. By the time the pioneers came to settle in it, it had ceased to be, perhaps it never had been, the settled residence of the more modern aboriginal tribes. The valley in which the early settlements were made lay directly in the track of the Indian marauding parties. It was in the line of the great "War trace," over which the Algonquians from the north and the Appalachians from the south, passed back and forth in their wars. It is no wonder that the region received its fateful designation of "the dark and bloody ground."
The first permanent settlers of what is now the eastern part of Tennessee, came to that region late in 1768 and early in 1769. They made their homes upon the Way-taiga. The territory was supposed at first to belong to Virginia, but was found, when the lines were run, to belong to North Carolina. The great mountain wall, however, shut it off largely from the latter colony, while the water courses through the valleys brought it into more easy communication with the former. It was natural, then, that the first settlers of the territory should come thither from Virginia rather than from North Carolina. Some of them came from Pennsylvania and Maryland, and there was in them a large strain of Scotch-Irish blood, enough to give a decided tone to the increasing population. These men were substantial and intelligent, and their wives were like unto them. The women, as well as the men, fronted danger without flinching. It was true of them - if not in the very infancy of their settlement, at least before many years had passed - that ' ' the church, the school house and the college grew up with the log-cabins, and the classics were taught where glass windows were unknown, and books were carried in bags upon pack-horses."
The Watauga and Holston, as has been said, were more easily reached from Virginia than from North Carolina, but the unsettled and unsatisfactory condition of affairs in the latter colony, was a reason for the continual emigration thence to the settlements west of the mountains. The notorious William Tryon was then Governor of North Carolina, and his administration was a series of tyrannies. But the people were as resolute against British rule as their brethren in the more northern colonies. They would not permit a sheet of the hated stamped paper to be landed, and it was in North Carolina that the Mecklenburg Declaration was promulgated, antedating the more famous one adopted in Philadelphia. There were many liberty loving and sturdy men that went from North Carolina -largely from its western counties - to the Watauga, and they contributed their proportion to the character of the settlement. The fact that, as always in new settlements, there were some lawless and irresponsible individuals among them, does not derogate from the credit which, as a whole, they deserve. The majority of them went to find a refuge from foreign tyranny. It was natural that matters in these infant settlements should be in a more or less chaotic condition. The earliest settlers, as has been mentioned, supposed themselves to be within the jurisdiction of Virginia, while, as was found in 1771, they were within the boundaries of North Carolina. They were, therefore, not under the laws of the Old Dominion, nor could they look to its government to guarantee their rights against the Indians. The mountain wall made it impracticable to look for help to North Carolina, even had there been any hope of a just government at the hands of such a man as Tryon. The general claim to the land had been acquired, of course, under the treaty of Fort Stanwix, and there had been some further adjustment of boundaries. But the titles were, after all, precarious ; and between "tomahawk rights," "cabin rights," and the lawlessness of some, who, in these days, we would call "claim-jumpers" - men who enforced their demands by giving "laced jackets" with "a few good hickories' those who opposed them - there was no end to the confusion. Add to this the trouble made by the mere adventurers who drifted into the settlements, because either they had been thrust out from the older communities, or had floated thence as scum floats on a current. Add still further the perils which continually menaced the settlers at the hands of hostile and faithless Indians, and it will be seen that some strong and wise measures were necessary to preserve the existence and insure the prosperity of the settlements.
But the Watauga pioneers were equal to the emergency. They were not hampered by traditions nor bound by theories. They seem to have had an abundance of good common sense. They saw that in their condition of isolation from the rest of the people, they must depend upon themselves. It would not do to let matters drift ; they must have a government of some sort, both for protection from without, and to keep equity within. A convention was called early in the spring of 1772, and it was -decided to adopt written articles of agreement by which their conduct should be governed. This agreement was entitled " Articles of the Watauga Association. " It is notable that it was not only the first written constitution adopted west of the mountains, but was also the first adopted by a community of American-born freeman. Watauga, in point of fact, heads the list of the republics which have made these United States so great a nation. Its people "never acknowledged British rule, and never required British protection."
The articles of the Association provided for a representative assembly of thirteen members, which was duly elected at a general convention. The assembly chose five persons as a committee or court to carry on both the judicial and executive functions of the miniature government. Prominent among these men were James Robertson and John Sevier, who, differing widely in natural gifts and attainments, were each of conspicuous service to their fellow settlers, and, indeed, in no small degree to the country at large. Sevier afterward became the first governor of Tennessee, when that commonwealth was founded. The system of government which these men and their compatriots formed, was simple and practical. They regarded the essence as of more importance than the forms of law. Justice was speedy, for we read that a horse-thief was arrested on Monday, tried on Wednesday, and hung on Friday, of the same week, in the course of regular judicial process.
Besides thus in an emphatic and summary way keeping the peace within itself, the Watauga government was efficient in protecting its people from the ravages of the Indians, and also in securing to them titles to the lands they occupied. The personal influence of James Robertson, his skillful and courageous negotiations with the Indians -among whom he sometimes went alone - were of great value in protecting the settlements from hostilities ; but when hostilities did come, with such men as he and Sevier as leaders, the people were able on the whole to defend themselves. Negotiations in regard to land titles seem, however, to have occupied almost as large a place as hostilities in the history of the infant republic. Richard Henderson, who has been mentioned as backing Daniel Boone in his explorations, formed a company for the further development of the country, and by fair and open negotiation with the Cherokees, at Watauga, in the autumn of 1774, made a treaty by which two deeds were secured, giving title to much and valuable land. These instruments, called the Path Deed and the Great Deed, gave title respectively to lands on the Holston and on the Ohio. Both Virginia and North Carolina claimed the benefit of these cessions, but the " Henderson Grants" seem to have held as the basis of title in spite of the opposition of the older colonies. The Watauga Association, holding its lands under a lease of eight years, obtained them in fee by the payment of "the sum of two thousand pounds, lawful money of Great Britain," to O-con-os-to-ta, "Chief Warrior and first Representative of the Cherokees." The patents to individual settlers of the lands thus secured seem to have held.
The government thus formed and thus administered, continued for six years. While it lasted, the region controlled by the Watauga Association was the best governed part of North Carolina. The Association was not in revolt against the Colony from which some of its people had come. It was simply the expression of the need the settlers felt for self-protection. During the latter part of this time, however, there seems to have been a partial assumption of the government by North Carolina. This came about naturally under the circumstances. The struggle of the colonies with Great Britain was increasing. These men west of the mountains, though isolated, were by no means mere idle spectators of the conflict. Their interests were all enlisted in the struggle for independence. In answer to the utterance of the Virginia Convention of 1776, the inhabitants on the Watauga and Holston set forth that - - they were deeply impressed with a sense of the distresses of their American brethren, and would, when called upon, with their lives and fortunes, lend them every assistance in their power." The Watauga settlements do not appear to have been represented in the Provincial Congress which assembled in Newbern, N. C. , August 25, 1774, and which was one of the steps which the colonists took toward a complete independence of British rule. But a little later they sent a petition, asking to be annexed to North Carolina. This does not seem to have been because their own government was inadequate for local needs, but because it was felt that strength would come to them from a closer alliance with their countrymen east of the mountains, and who were now fully enlisted in the struggle with the mother country
It is evident that this petition was granted, as there were representatives from this region in the Congress which assembled at Halifax, N. C. , November 12, 1776. It is noteworthy that this territory was designated by this North Carolina Congress as "Washington District, Watauga Settlement," which is probably the first use of the name, Washington, in the country. Justices of the peace and militia officers were appointed for the new county, and by the close of 1777 the Watauga Association had come to an end. But it had served a useful purpose during its brief life. It had consolidated the fiber of the young settlements and had made them inviting to new comers. The foundations of society had been laid in an entirely new country. The soldiers of the little republic had been sent on toilsome and dangerous, but patriotic, expeditions against a savage enemy, but they had thus served an apprenticeship which was to stand them in good stead later on. One incidental but greatly valuable result was that what was known as the Wilderness Road was covered, and so Kentucky and the Northwest was held for the time coming when a mighty tide of emigration under American auspices should pour into it. But the Watauga settlers were not factionists. They met a practical necessity with a practical expedient. When the need came, not simply now for local self-government, but for cooperation with their fellow countrymen in the great struggle for independence, their little State was given up, and the less was merged in the greater. Watauga illustrates the Anglo-Saxon capacity for self-government, its readiness to adapt means to ends, its love of liberty regulated by law.
The Watauga Association came to an end by the close of 1777. The years that immediately followed were the most strenuous of the Revolutionary struggle. This region, however, continued to grow in population in spite of the war ; indeed, it grew rapidly. When the earliest settlers felt the need of organization and formed the Watauga Association, there were two or three hundred people in the territory. By 1783 there was a population estimated at upwards of ten thousand souls in the region between the Holston, the Cumberland, and the hills. They were under the government of North Carolina, and had a representation in her Legislature, but naturally they were, to a large extent, isolated. Traveling over the mountains was slow, and travelers were comparatively infrequent. It took considerable time for news to pass from the seaboard into this far-off region.
When the Revolutionary war ended and peace was proclaimed, the country, indeed, was free from the foreign yoke, but it was in a state of exhaustion. The Continental Congress was but a makeshift ; public matters in general were in confusion ; public creditors were clamorous for the payment of the debts which Congress had incurred in the prosecution of the war. It was recommended repeatedly to the States owning vacant lands that they throw them into the common stock in order to help in defraying the expenses of the war. North Carolina was one of the States which responded to this appeal, taking action at the Assembly at Hillsborough, in June, 1784. She ceded for this purpose twenty-nine millions of acres of her territory west of the mountains, rich grass land and woodland; providing, however, that if Congress did not accept the ceded territory within two years the act was to be nugatory and void.
It was one of the consequences of this action that it practically left the people west of the mountains without a government. The North Carolina Bill of Rights had made provision for the formation of a new State or States out of her western territory. Hence, she did not feel inclined to take any steps on behalf of the people in that region that would involve a charge upon her treasury. The new organization, if one were formed, should bear its own expenses. Congress, on the other hand, would do nothing for these people, for the cession of the lands had not been accepted. It was in many respects a repetition of the early Watauga experience of a dozen years before, only now a much larger population was to be dealt with. The condition of things was critical. The French and Spaniards looked with unfriendly eyes upon these growing settlements, and they did not hesitate to directly or indirectly stir up the Indians to aggression upon them. There was also the need of preserving order in the community itself, now so much enlarged over former times. But Robertson and Sevier, and their companions, were still prominent in the community, and these men were equal to the emergency. They did over again essentially what they had done in 1772.
A convention was called which met at Jonesborough, August 23, 1784. Resolutions were passed declaring that it was expedient that Washington, Sullivan and Greene counties, particularly affected by the cession bill, should form themselves into an association and "combine themselves together, in order to support the present laws of North Carolina, which may not be incompatible with the modes and forms of laying off a new State. " The convention further claimed the right to petition Congress to accept the cession made by North Carolina, and "for that body to countenance us in forming ourselves into a separate government." The right of holding a convention from time to time, as might seem necessary, was also claimed. The resolutions added, "When any contiguous part of Virginia shall make application to join this association, after they are legally permitted, either by the State of Virginia, or other power having cognizance thereof, it is our opinion that they be received to enjoy the same privileges that we do, may or shall enjoy." The convention looked to internal harmony in claiming the right to prescribe such regulations as the good of the community from time to time seemed to require. It had regard to representation in the Federal Government, in that it claimed the right to send a representative to Congress, to present the situation to that body. Such a representative was sent in the person of William Cooke, and due provision was made for his support.
Besides the pressing necessity of the situation, a number of reasons were urged in the convention for the establishment of a separate government. Among these was the belief that such action would induce settlers in great numbers to come into the region, and that thus agriculture and manufactures would be advanced and literature be encouraged. This last item is noticeable when we remember the primitive condition of society and the narrow surroundings in which men found themselves. Then it was urged -the wish being evidently the father of the thought -that the "seat of government being among themselves would evidently tend, not only to keep a circulating medium in gold and silver among us, but draw it from the individuals living in other States." They had the hope also that many travelers would be drawn to the region, out of curiosity or on business, who would expend a good deal of money among them. Located in this isolated region, they felt that their own interests should not be sacrificed to promote those of the eastern counties. The earnestness of purpose and the high ideals of these settlers are indicated by the following resolution adopted by the convention : " As the welfare of the community also depends much on public spirit, benevolence and regard to virtue, we, therefore, unanimously agree to improve and cultivate these, and to discountenance everything of a contradictory and repugnant nature."
In all this it would seem to be completely evident that there was nothing of a spirit of rebellion against the mother State. It was simply that North Carolina had left them outside of her protection, the Federal Government had not taken them up, and so they did what the circumstances rendered imperative - they set out to take care of themselves. The change was so quietly effected that it scarcely seemed to have taken place. The existing laws of North Carolina were continued in force until a new constitution could be adopted. John Sevier was chosen Governor of the new State, and the men who held commissions from North Carolina were, for the most part, put into corresponding offices under the new regime, an arrangement which gave general satisfaction.
A brief description of the Court House at Greenville, where the convention met to form a new constitution, November 14, 1885, will indicate the primitive condition of things in this region. It was built of unhewn logs, and covered with clapboards. It was occupied by the court at first without a floor or a loft. It had one opening only for an entrance which was not yet provided with a shutter. Windows were not needed either for ventilation or light, the intervals between the logs being a good substitute for them. But log walls are as conducive as marble to the formation of a good constitution. It is interesting to note the character of a constitution which was proposed to the convention. It was not adopted, indeed it was violently opposed by some members ; but it had some remarkable features, which are an index to the character of many of the people of this isolated little commonwealth.
It was proposed to provide for but a single house of representatives. There was to be a property qualification for voters. Such a provision as the following was proposed, " No person shall be eligible or capable to serve in this or any other office in the civil department of this State, who is of an immoral character, or guilty of such flagrant enormities as drunkenness, gaming, profane swearing, lewdness, Sabbath-breaking, or such like ; or who will, either in word or writing, deny any of the following propositions, viz :
1st. That there is one living and true God, the Creator and Governor of the universe. 2nd. That there is a future state of rewards and punishments. 3rd. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are given by divine inspiration. 4th. That there are three divine persons in the Godhead, co-equal and co-essential.
Imagine such a test in a civil service examination in these days ! And yet this constitution went on duly to provide for religious liberty.
These "backwoodsmen," moreover, put a high estimate upon education, as is evidenced by the fact that one proposition ran : "All kinds of useful learning shall be encouraged by this Commonwealth, that is to say, the future Legislature shall erect before the year 1787, one university, which shall be near the centre of this State, and not in a city or town." Certain taxes were proposed to sustain the institution. It is no wonder that the proposition was warmly opposed, for most of the members felt that the burden would be too great for the young community to carry. But it is somewhat remarkable that under the circumstances it should have been made at all.
Another instance of wisdom on the part of the framers of this proposed constitution was the section providing that the instrument, drawn out into a familiar catechetical form, should be taught in all the schools. Is there not a hint here for our own day ?
But this instrument was not adopted, and in its place the constitution of North Carolina, slightly altered, was made that of the new State of Frankland,or Franklin, as it was more generally called. When the break-up came -and it was not long delayed - the new government slipped back into the old as easily as it had emerged from it ; which perhaps would not have been the case, had an entirely new constitution been adopted. The change, as just intimated, had been effected quietly, but trouble began for the new State almost immediately. When North Carolina found that the cession act of 1784 was not accepted by Congress, the act was repealed. She then proceeded to erect a judicial district comprising the counties that formed the State of Franklin. Sevier was appointed Brigadier General to command the forces against the Indians. It was not unnatural, that in view of this change in the status, some of the people should have felt that there was no need of further proceeding in the new State organization. Sevier was among these, but he yielded to the evident determination of the majority. The outcome was that there were two governments, each seeking to exercise its sway over the same territory. They came into inevitable conflict, but the results were not very serious. The North Carolina authorities would secure possession of the books and papers of the Franklin government, and the Franklin officials would retaliate in kind. Some of the inhabitants were obedient to North Carolina, but the majority, for a short time at any rate, held to Franklin.
It will not be wondered at that some of the bright hopes which animated the organizers of the new State were not realized. Gold and silver as a circulating medium did not flow into the country. Money of any kind was scarce, but taxes could be paid in kind at certain established rates. The salary of the Governor was £200, of the Judge of the Supreme Court, ,£150, and other officials in proportion. These salaries could be paid in skins ; but peltries were, after all, of more value than paper. Indeed, one of the historians of Tennessee, whose work was published in 1823, writing of this use of peltries, says: "And it may be safely said, that at this moment, it would be a matter of great consolation to many of the citizens of Tennessee, had some of their banks been founded on mink skin capital."
If it was owing to the indifference of North Carolina that the State of Franklin had been founded ; when it was seen that the people of the new commonwealth continued in their course of self-government, her indifference ceased. The Legislature which convened at Newbern in November, 1785, gave a part of its attention to the condition of things in Franklin. A number of attempts at negotiation were made, and conciliatory measures were adopted. North Carolina, for example, relinquished the taxes unpaid since 1784. At the same time that State maintained its sheriff and justice in the separated counties. It is evident that such a condition of things could not long continue. Governor Sevier had arranged a plan of cooperation with Georgia against the Indians, and had accepted a general's commission from that State, while a force of mounted riflemen had been recruited to aid the Georgia forces against the Creeks. Sevier hoped that this" course would occupy the attention of the people, silence malcontents, and restore harmony to the little republic. But Georgia after all did not cooperate, and the movement failed. The people of Franklin were losing their interest in the new government. Men were elected in August, 1786, to represent this district in the North Carolina Legislature. In September, 1787, the last Legislature of the little State met, a quorum having been got together with some difficulty. Their action was unimportant, and the Governor was scarcely able to secure the passage of an act to provide ways and means for carrying into effect his negotiations with Georgia.
In spite of all this, and in spite of processes issued against his personal estate, and conflicts thereupon ensuing, Governor Sevier retained his elastic and sanguine temperament. He was continuing to inspire his followers with hope even as late as the end of January, 1788. But March ist of that year was the end of his term of office as Governor, and that proved to be the end of the State of Franklin. The historian Foote says of the whole history of this brief State, "this movement was premature rather than uncalled for."
It remains to be said in connection with this history that Sevier was arrested on a charge of treason, but escaped from the court house at Morganton when brought to trial, to the relief, as it would seem, of the North Carolina authorities. The North Carolina legislature, which ratified the United States Constitution, November 21, 1789, extended pardon to all who had been concerned in the government of Franklin except Sevier, whom it declared incapacitated for holding office. In spite of this, he was elected to represent Greene county in the North Carolina Senate, and when he presented himself there the disability was removed. Soon after this he was elected to Congress, and took his seat in that body June 16, 1790, being its first member from the valley of the Mississippi. For two years after the Franklin government came to an end the region it had covered continued under the control of North Carolina. It then, by a renewed cession to the General Government, became a part of what was known as the United States Territory South of the Ohio, in which condition it remained for six years. Then in 1796 the State of Tennessee was formed, and the man who had been most prominent in Watauga and Franklin, John Sevier, became its first governor.
These little communities had each but a brief existence ; a decade covers their combined life. As organizations they had, of course, but a very limited influence. But the fact that the men who founded them were able to meet pressing emergencies with adequate arrangements, counted for much. It was the consolidation of those settlements that prepared the way for those States that were to be, and that put a barrier that could not be removed to the advance of the Spanish and the French into the Northwest territory. The fact, moreover, that communities became solidly established in this region west of the Appalachians, helped to open the eyes of the dwellers upon the seaboard to the importance of the great interior territory, and so, in its turn, led to the overthrow of the French and Spanish domination of the Mississippi valley. The boundary line, running through the great lakes, and west to the Mississippi at the thirty-first parallel, and on the south following the southern line of Georgia protracted to the same river, nominally secured by us at the close of the revolution, was only actually secured by the treaty of Jay and Pinckney in 1795. It is doubtful whether it would have been thought worth while to secure it at all had not the character of the dwellers in those trans-mountain regions been what it was.