Originally published as part of a series for the Tennessee American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, this well-written volume gives necessary background information and details the early activities in that area in the 1760s. It thoroughly covers the settlement during its vanguard role in the 1770s and chronicles the various events that brought a change from that of a holding action to one of aggressive expansion in the 1780s.
Explore the controversial legal history of the formation of the United States Prestatehood Legal Materials is your one-stop guide to the history and development of law in the U.S. and the change from territory to statehood. Unprecedented in its coverage of territorial government, this book identifies a wide range of available resources from each state to reveal the underlying legal principles that helped form the United States. In this unique publication, a state expert compiles each chapter using his or her own style, culminating in a diverse sourcebook that is interesting as well as informative. In Prestatehood Legal Materials, you will find bibliographies, references, and discussion on a varied list of source materials, including: state codes drafted by Congress county, state, and national archives journals and digests state and federal reports, citations, surveys, and studies books, manuscripts, papers, speeches, and theses town and city records and documents Web sites to help your search for more information and more Prestatehood Legal Materials provides you with brief overviews of state histories from colonization to acceptance into the United States. In this book, you will see how foreign countries controlled the laws of these territories and how these states eventually broke away to govern themselves. The text also covers the legal issues with Native Americans, inter-state and the Mexico and Canadian borders, and the development of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government. This guide focuses on materials that are readily available to historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and researchers. Resources that assist in locating not-so-easily accessible materials are also covered. Special sections focus on the legal resources of colonial New York City and Washington, DC—which is still technically in its prestatehood stage. Due to the enormity of this project, the editor of Prestatehood Legal Materials created a Web page where updates, corrections, additions and more will be posted.
In the 1760s, the first Europeans crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains from North Carolina into the Valley of Virginia to settle the area that now comprises Carter County, Tennessee. They illegally settled the fertile bottomlands, already cleared by Native Americans, along the banks of Watauga River where Elizabethton is now situated. This was in direct defiance of British law forbidding settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. The settlers became known as the Overmountain Men. In 1775, they obtained clear title to the Indian land they had illegally occupied for years. Carter County was established in 1796 from Washington District, North Carolina. Early residents relied on natural resources for food and employment, and the mountains and streams supplied an abundance of wild game for hunters and trappers. Throughout the l800s, iron ore was mined, and furnaces operated along watercourses. Throughout the early 1900s, lumber companies offered logging and sawmill jobs, and in the 1920s, two huge textile mills began operating in Elizabethton, bringing Carter County into the industrial age.
This collection of essays profiles a diverse array of North Carolinians, all of whom had a hand in the founding of the state and the United States of America. It includes stories of how men who stood together to fight the British soon chose opposing sides in political debates over the ratification of the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. It also includes accounts of women, freedmen, and Native Americans, whose narratives shed light on the important roles of marginalized peoples in the Revolutionary South. Together, the essays reveal the philosophical views and ideology of North Carolina's revolutionaries. Contributors: Jeff Broadwater, Jennifer Davis-Doyle, Lloyd Johnson, Benjamin R. Justesen, Troy L. Kickler, Scott King-Owen, James MacDonald, Maggie Hartley Mitchell, Karl Rodabaugh, Kyle Scott, Jason Stroud, Michael Toomey, and Willis P. Whichard.
Concentrating primarily within the period of 1600–1839, this narrative describes the first "Old West"—the land just beyond the crest of the Appalachian Mountains—and the many firsts that occurred there.
As the author of this work; I have accumulated some 200 documents about Blevins Families in America and drawing on around an additional 400 pages of manuscript, I will be working to add additional information on the descendants of - William Blevins of Virginia – as these people are discovered - beginning with fifth generation descendants of the fourth American born generation. Therefore, anyone who can provide corrections or any additional Blevins information I hope they will do so by emailing me at [email protected] .
Most of us probably think of America as being settled by British, Protestant colonists who fought the Indians, tamed the wilderness, and brought "democracy"-or at least a representative republic-to North America. To the contrary, Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman's research indicates the earliest settlers were of Mediterranean extraction, and of a Jewish or Muslim religious persuasion. Sometimes called "Melungeons," these early settlers were among the earliest nonnative "Americans" to live in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. For fear of discrimination-since Muslims, Jews, "Indians," and other "persons of color" were often disenfranchised and abused-the Melungeons were reticent regarding their heritage. In fact, over time, many of the Melungeons themselves "forgot" where they came from. Hence, today, the Melungeons remain the "last lost tribe in America," even to themselves. Yet, Hirschman, supported by DNA testing, genealogies, and a variety of historical documents, suggests that the Melungeons included such notable early Americans as Daniel Boone, John Sevier, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Andrew Jackson. Once lost, but now, forgotten no more.
Without the support of American women, victory in the Revolutionary War would not have been possible. They followed the Continental Army, handling a range of jobs that were usually performed by men. On the orders of General Washington, some were hired as nurses for $2 per month and one full ration per day--disease was rampant and nurse mortality was high. A few served with artillery units or masqueraded as men to fight in the ranks. The author focuses on the many key roles women filled in the struggle for independence, from farming to making saltpeter to spying.
The vicious war on the frontier significantly altered the course of the Revolution. Regular troops, volunteers, and Indians clashed in large-scale campaigns. Bloody fights for land, home, and family. Although the American Revolution is commonly associated with specific locations such as the heights above Boston or the frozen Delaware River, important events took place in the wooded, mountainous lands of the frontier.
Andrew Taylor (1730-1787) married Elizabeth Wilson in about 1763. Afyer shie died, he married her sister, Ann Wilson, in about 1769 in Virginia. He died in Tennessee. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in Tennessee.
