Notable people and leaders
John Sevier |
Joshua Gist |
John Sevier was the first governor of the State of Franklin, where he was renowned for combating impeding Native Americans and for having led an army of settlers in the Battle at King's Mountain. His father, Valentine Sevier, lived at the first Watauga settlement. Valentine Sevier, along with his wife Joanna, his four sons, Robert, Joseph, Abraham and John and their families, and his daughters, Polly and Catherine, arrived at the Watauga settlement from the Shenandoah Valley on December 25, 1773. Sevier's first wife was Sarah Hawkins. She died in 1780, leaving ten children, Joseph, James, John, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary Ann, Valentine, Richard, Rebecca, and Nancy. (1)
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Joshua Gist was the assistant judge of Superior Court of the State of Franklin, 1785. When Jefferson County was formed his land fell into that county; and later into Sevier County when that county was established. As judge, Gist was closely identified with the affairs of the State of Franklin and was a witness to the signing of the Treaty of Dumplin Creek. Following the collapse of Franklin, Gist was the justice of the peace in Sevier County beginning in 1794. (2)
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The campbell family Col. Arthur Campbell was impeached as judge of Washington County, Virginia, court for an attempt to have all that part of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge joined to the State of Franklin. He was never tried on these charges. He lived with his brother-in-law and cousin General William Campbell, of King's Mountain fame near Abingdon, the county seat of Washington County, in earlier times known as "Wolf Hills." Col. Arthur Campbell was a farmer and was prominent in all the political and military movements of the time, in addition to being a kindred spirit to Sevier. They were associated in many Indian fights, notably an expedition against the Chota soon after the King's Mountain battle. Col. Campbell aided Sevier and his Watauga riflemen in destroying the settlements of the Cherokees even as far as Lookout Mountain. At the age of sixteen, while fighting Indians in Augusta County, Virginia, he was captured and kept a prisoner near the Great Lakes for several years until he escaped. He died in 1811 on Yellow Creek, Kentucky, where he had moved a few years before. (3)
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Colonel John tipton John Tipton was a captain in the Virginia militia, a colonel in the North Carolina militia, fought Native Americans, and fought in the Revolutionary War for the United States. After spending some time serving in the Virginia General Assembly for Dunmore County and then Shenandoah County, Tipton moved with his family and five slaves to east Tennessee. There, he bought over 100 acres of land and lived in a cabin near Jonesboro, where he resided until his death in 1813. This cabin was the location of the final fall of Franklin, where Sevier's men and Tipton's men met in the Battle of the State of Franklin to determine Franklin's ultimate sovereignty. (4)
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(1) Robert E. Corlew, "John Sevier," in Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture (2016).
(2) Billie R. McNamara, comp., TnGenWeb Sevier County (Knoxville: TNGenWeb).
(3) Journal of Governor John Sevier 1790-1815.
(4) Tipton-Haynes State Historical Site (Tipton-Haynes Historical Association).
(2) Billie R. McNamara, comp., TnGenWeb Sevier County (Knoxville: TNGenWeb).
(3) Journal of Governor John Sevier 1790-1815.
(4) Tipton-Haynes State Historical Site (Tipton-Haynes Historical Association).