First Families of Tennessee is a tribute to these men and women who established the state.

This book provides family sketches and genealogical information on the first families to settle in the area of East Tennessee that originally made up the state of Franklin. The earliest settlers date back to the mid 1700s. By the year 1770, some 70 families had settled in the area bounded by the Watauga, Nolichucky, and Holston river valleys. Most migrated from Virginia via the Great Valley, although a few were believed to have been Regulators fleeing North Carolina after their defeat at the Battle of Alamance. In May 1772, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers negotiated a 10-year lease with the Cherokee Indians, and being outside the claims of any colony, established the Watauga Association to provide basic government functions. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote that the Watauga settlers were the "first men of American birth to establish a free and independent community on the continent." Modern Counties in Tennessee which made up the State of Franklin: Blount County Carter County Cocke County Greene County Hamblen County Hawkins County Jefferson County Johnson County Sevier County Sullivan County Unicoi County Washington County A convention of delegates (except for Davidson County that sent none) met on August 23, 1784 and after intense debate they declared these western counties independent of North Carolina on a unanimous vote. Several names were offered for the new state. The name Frankland was proposed since it was translatable as "the Land of the Free," however, Franklin was decided upon perhaps for gaining the favor of Benjamin Franklin. North Carolina regained control of the region in 1788 thus ending the existance of the State of Franklin. The extant records for the State of Franklin generally reference the entire region which now covers the 12 counties of East Tennessee. This book focuses on the earliest known families in the area.

Published to coincide with the bicentennial of the White House, this lavishly illustrated, delightfully accessible book describes the everyday lives of America's "royal families" in the White House, from John and Abigail Adams in 1800 to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Index. 300 photos.

In the years following the Revolutionary War, the young American nation was in a state of chaos. Citizens pleaded with government leaders to reorganize local infrastructures and heighten regulations, but economic turmoil, Native American warfare, and political unrest persisted. By 1784, one group of North Carolina frontiersmen could no longer stand the unresponsiveness of state leaders to their growing demands. This ambitious coalition of Tennessee Valley citizens declared their region independent from North Carolina, forming the state of Franklin. The Lost State of Franklin: America's First Secession chronicles the history of this ill-fated movement from its origins in the early settlement of East Tennessee to its eventual violent demise. Author Kevin T. Barksdale investigates how this lost state failed so ruinously, examining its history and tracing the development of its modern mythology. The Franklin independence movement emerged from the shared desires of a powerful group of landed elite, yeoman farmers, and country merchants. Over the course of four years they managed to develop a functioning state government, court system, and backcountry bureaucracy. Cloaking their motives in the rhetoric of the American Revolution, the Franklinites aimed to defend their land claims, expand their economy, and eradicate the area's Native American population. They sought admission into the union as America's fourteenth state, but their secession never garnered support from outside the Tennessee Valley. Confronted by Native American resistance and the opposition of the North Carolina government, the state of Franklin incited a firestorm of partisan and Indian violence. Despite a brief diplomatic flirtation with the nation of Spain during the state's final days, the state was never able to recover from the warfare, and Franklin collapsed in 1788. East Tennesseans now regard the lost state of Franklin as a symbol of rugged individualism and regional exceptionalism, but outside the region the movement has been largely forgotten. The Lost State of Franklin presents the complete history of this defiant secession and examines the formation of its romanticized local legacy. In reevaluating this complex political movement, Barksdale sheds light on a remarkable Appalachian insurrection and reminds readers of the extraordinary, fragile nature of America's young independence.

Brief family histories of people who lived in Tennessee in the 18th and 19th centuries.

This is the story of Americas first western frontier, when brave men and women crossed the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains to find better lives for themselves and their families. James Robertson led the first group of settlers over the mountains and founded the first white settlement in what would later become East Tennessee. But they were not alone. Centuries earlier, the Cherokees came from the north, conquered the local tribes, and settled there. In the year before the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, British Indian agents began inciting the Cherokees, Shawnees, and other western tribes. The frontiersmen mobilized their militias and eventually defeated the Cherokees. Afterward, James Robertson was appointed Indian Agent to keep the peace. In 1779, Robertson entered into an agreement with Richard Henderson and John Donelson to settle the area around the French Lick, which would later become Nashville. After their arrival in 1780, Indian attacks soon commenced. Using large-scale attacks and small ambushes, the protracted war against the settlers lasted for fifteen years. Richard Henderson fled, and John Donelson was killed. James Robertsons determination and steadfast leadership was the glue that kept the infant settlement together. George Washington appreciated Robertsons leadership and appointed him Brigadier General of the Western Militia. Andrew Jacksons military training began as a private serving in General Robertsons militia. Jackson learned well, and years later replaced Robertson after his retirement. Boone, Clark, Sevier, Shelby, Blount and Bledsoe were other western leaders who trusted James Robertson. James Robertsons long military and civic career began before the American Revolution and ended after the Battle of Talladega during the War of 1812. He was a brave, intelligent and patriotic leader who believed in Manifest Destiny and founded Nashville, the nations westernmost settlement of that era.

The compelling, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal—some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate’s bestselling novel Before We Were Yours and were reunited with birth family members as a result of its wide reach From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents—hiding the fact that many weren’t orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died. The publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann’s lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families. Before and After includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. Christie and Wingate tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, many of the long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with the authors to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children’s Home Society reunion . . . with extraordinary results. Advance praise for Before and After “In Before and After, authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate tackle the true stories behind Wingate’s blockbuster Before We Were Yours, of the orphans who survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. With a journalist’s keen eye and a novelist’s elegant prose, Christie and Wingate weave together the stories that inspired Before We Were Yours with the lives that were changed as a result of reading the novel. Readers will be educated, enlightened, and enraptured by this important and flawlessly executed book.”—Pam Jenoff, author of The Orphan’s Tale and The Lost Girls of Paris