The Territory South of French Broad has a unique history, and its settlement is complicated by events of individuals and disputes with North Carolina. The boundaries of this territory are in general terms, the French Broad and Big Pigeon Rivers on the north, the French Broad on the west, what we now call the Little Tennessee River on the South and the mountains on the east. Settlers first saw the area in 1776 when an expedition was made against the Cherokee Indians. The area was not open to settlement but North Carolina made grants, which were in this area. When the settlers who had fought at Kings Mountain returned home after the battle they were informed that the Cherokees were planning a raid into the settlements in what is today upper East Tennessee. John Sevier the leader of the settlers called out the militia and marched to meet the Indians and march into their villages that were on the south side of the Tennessee River (now called Little Tennessee). The Battle of Boyd’s Creek was fought December 16, 1780 and the militia force led by Sevier continued to the Indian villages after the arrival of reinforcements. The river was crossed at Tomotley Ford. Several villages were burned and the militia continued south to the village of Kaiatee on the Tellico River and farther south to Hiwassee and Chestowee which were also burned. The militia started the return trip to their homes January 1, 1781. On this return trip the settlers from upper East Tennessee had an chance to inspect the lands in what was to become The Territory South of French Broad and perhaps to select and stake out lands for future settlement.
April 1784 the General Assembly of North Carolina met and in this session ceded its western lands to the federal government, leaving the inhabitants without any means of defense or government. The people of our first Wild West were not slow to take to themselves their own government. October 1784 the General Assembly again met and repealed the cession act but it was too late to stop the movement for a separate government in the lands affected by the cession act. John Sevier was satisfied with the repeal of the cession act and attempted to bring the inhabitants back to North Carolina but the people wanted to continue the movement toward their own state.
March 1785, the first General Assembly of the new State of Franklin convened at Jonesborough, and John Sevier was elected governor. May 31, 1785 a meeting between delegates from Franklin and the Cherokees was held at the home of Major Samuel Henry near the mouth of Dumplin Creek in present Sevier County and a treaty was made which opened the lands of the Territory South of French Broad for settlement. In response to the Treaty of Dumplin many settlers moved into the territory. The Treaty of Dumplin opened for settlement on those lands, which were drained by the creeks of Little River. Those lands drained by creeks going into Tennessee River were still Indian lands. Claim for the lands on the north side of Tennessee River are based on a treaty made at Coytoy August 3, 1786. It appears that this treaty was forced on the Cherokees at gunpoint. The limits set by the Treaty of Dumplin had been exceeded by the time the Treaty of Coytoy was forced upon the Cherokees.
1788 seems to mark the end of Franklin as a state; the inhabitants of upper east Tennessee had a buffer between themselves and the still hostile Cherokees and no longer supported John Sevier in the dispute with North Carolina. Franklin and John Sevier still had support in the Territory South of French Broad.
The General Assembly of North Carolina finally ceded its western land to the federal government in 1789 and the Federal Government accepted. The Federal Government had made a treaty with the Indians at Hopewell on the Keowee River in South Carolina in November 1785. This treaty placed the boundary of the Indian lands north of Greeneville and stated “Any settler who fails to remove within six months from the lands guaranteed to the Indians, shall forfeit the protection of the United States and the Cherokees may punish him or not as they please”.
Soon after the deed of cession from North Carolina was accepted, the Federal Government created the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio and named William Blount of North Carolina its governor. In May 1791 a meeting between Governor Blount and delegates of the Cherokees resulted in the Treaty of Holston which legalized the settlements to the dividing ridge between the waters of Little River and Tennessee River. Although the Treaty of Holston legalized the presence of the settler in the Territory South of French Broad to the dividing ridge between the waters of Little River and Tennessee River, he still had no title to his land. From 1791 through 1794, the Cherokees and Creeks still waged war on the settlers in the Territory South of French Broad.
John Sevier had seen that the rights of preemption and occupancy for the settlers in the Territory South of French Broad were preserved but several of the early settlers felt that their chances of getting title to their holdings were not realistic and left. Samuel Newell was one of those who left the area. Samuel Newell’s original site was near the intersection of US 411-US 441 on a hill overlooking Boyd’s Creek and was the site of the county seat of the State of Franklin county of Sevier. Knox and Jefferson Counties were created by Ordinance of the Governor June 11, 1792.Sevier County was taken off Jefferson County September 27, 1794 and Blount County was taken off Knox County July 1795 by the Territorial Assembly. Sevier and Blount were the only counties made by the Territorial Assembly. The Tennessee Assembly took Cocke County off Jefferson County October 1797. These five counties, Jefferson, Knox, Blount, Sevier and Cocke contained the Territory South of French Broad. The part of Jefferson County which was a part of the Territory South of French Broad is the corner of the county which is between Sevier and Cocke Counties and lies on the south side of the French Broad. The Cocke County area contained in the Territory South of French Broad is the area on the west side of the Big Pigeon River from the mouth of the river to the Sevier County line and south of French Broad. All of Sevier County was in the Territory South of French Broad except the corner which is north of the French Broad. The Knox County section of the Territory South of French Broad is the area from the Sevier and Blount County lines to the river. All of Blount County was included in the Territory South of French Broad, except in my opinion Cades Cove, which was part of the Hiwassee Purchase.
In 1796 Tennessee became the sixteenth state, but she was still not free to issue land titles for land included in her Territory South of French Broad. North Carolina and the Federal Government were still squabbling over Tennessee’s lands and their disposition. In all this period of confusion, John Sevier saw that the rights of preemption and occupancy were preserved until 1806 when Tennessee was able to grant title to this area.
Approximately 15 years ago I located a book in the Knox County Register of Deeds office, which I transcribed for my own use in abstract, and my own brand of shorthand. When I returned several years later to correct errors and check items I had questions about this book was not found. I am sure that these abstracts contain errors but I also strongly feel that in spite of these errors, these abstracts contain much information that is helpful to genealogists. Each entry contains the several pieces of information about the land granted, but there were several different surveyors and each had his own style therefore not all contain the same information. An example is taken from entry #8 and the abstract reads-Robert Wilson was granted 244 acres 60 poles in Sevier County that was located on Little East Fork of Little Pigeon River. There were no chain carriers listed on the entry which was surveyed March 31, 1807. CC is my indication for chain carrier that I think to be important, because these are often sons, brothers or other relations to the grantee or neighbors who had adjoining grants. Andrew Donovan is listed as chain carrier on many of the grants in Cocke County and I believe he was a member of the survey team which was led by George Gordon, surveyor. George Gordon made the majority if not all the grants in Cocke County. A microfilm of this book is available from the Tennessee Library and Archives in Nashville.
I would like to make one other comment about these grants. At the time these grants were made the rivers were not known by the names we use today. In the grants Tennessee River applies to what we today call the Little Tennessee River that runs into today’s Tennessee River but at the time of the grants was the Holston River. At the time of the grants today’s Tennessee River was the Holston River from its merger with the French Broad just above Knoxville to the mouth of what was then the Tennessee River in today’s Loudon County.