Since 1998 - Historical and Genealogical
Resources
for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia
WISE COUNTY'S OTHER INDUSTRY
(1887-1940)
CAPTAIN JOHN DUNKIN OF ELK GARDEN
COLONEL JOHN TATE OF RUSSELL COUNTY
THOMAS LOVELADY AND THE ORIGIN OF LOVELADY
GAP
THE BOREN FAMILY OF SOUTHWEST
VIRGINIA
The closing decades of the 19th century found Wise County under the scrutiny of northern speculators and capitalists. The iron ore deposits, the rich seams of coal and the magnificent hardwood forests were evaluated as sources of economic potential. Development and utilization of these resources ushered in an era of growth, social change, and economic optimism.
The coal industry has long reigned supreme as the most significant enterprise of the county, but there was another industry that contributed a great deal to the social and economic development of the county. The relatively untouched hardwood forest fostered the growth of a diversified industry in which this resource was utilized in a variety of methods. This industry did not flourish immediately, but grew gradually in several directions. It began modestly with the cutting of a select species of trees and antiquated methods of transporting the logs to market. Progressively, the industry attained sophistication with the inclusion of new machinery and improved transportation facilities. The men, mechanical apparatus, and the techniques employed in this task created a picturesque epoch in the history of Wise County.
The conditions of the forest in Wise County in the latter part of the 19th century were extremely favorable to the development of an industry in which this resource could be utilized. Charles Dudley Warner rode through a portion of Wise County near Big Stone Gap and gave this lucid description:
The pass itself, which shows from a distance only a dent in the green foliage, surprised us by its wild beauty. The stony road, rising little by little above the river, runs through a magnificent forest, gigantic trees growing in the midst of enormous boulders, and towering among rocks that take the form of walls and buttresses, square structures like the titanic ruins of castles; below, the river full and strong, rages over rocks and dashes down, filling the forest with its roar, which is echoed by the towering cliffs on either side. The woods were fresh and glistening from recent rains, but what made the final charm of the way was the bloom of the rhododendron, which blazed along the road and illuminated the cool recesses of the forest. The time for the blooming of the azalea and the kalmia (mountain laurel) was past, but the pink and white rhododendron was in full glory: masses of bloom, not small stalks lurking like underbrush but on bushes attaining the dignity of trees, and at least twenty-five feet high. The splendor of the forest did not lessen as we turned to the left and followed up Pigeon Creek to a high farming region, rough but fertile, at the base of Black Mountain. Such a wealth of oak, beech, poplar, chestnut, and ash, and sprinkled in, the pretty cucumber magnolia in bloom! [1]
Wise County had four distinct types of forests which included the following: the ridge type, the slope type, the cove type, and the hemlock bottom type. The ridge type existed on the upper ridges and spurs and had a southern exposure. The soil in these regions was shallow and had very little retention of moisture, therefore growing conditions were not conducive to producing saw-timber. The dominant species in this type of forest were chestnut, chestnut oak, and several other types of oak. The slope type comprised about fifty per cent of the forest of the county and so it was the most important from a commercial standpoint. The dominant species in this type was white oak, but the extremes of elevation offered other varieties. The lower slopes contained yellow poplar, hemlock, cucumber tree, buckeye, white ash, and hard maple. The upper slopes contained red oak, black oak, rock oak, and chestnut. The cove type contained yellow poplar, cucumber tree, basewood, white oak, white ash, buckeye, hickory, hard maple, black walnut and beech. The most favorable growing conditions are found in this area, but this type only composed about fifteen pre cent of the forest in the county. Yellow poplar was the dominant species in this forest type, but only about eight trees grew per acre. The hemlock bottomland type was dominated by hemlock, but beech, red maple, white elm, and river birch existed in this type also. Yellow poplar, cucumber tree, and basswood were found in this type, but in far fewer numbers. [2]
The industry began about 1887 when the firm of Horsely Tate purchased all the black walnut trees in the county. This firm paid $.60 to $1.00 per thousand board feet on the stump for this timber. Horsely Tate sold their interest to the Singer Manufacturing Company before removal of the timber was initiated. The Singer Manufacturing Company removed all the black walnut trees down to twenty inches in diameter on the stump. There were no railroads int he county at this time, therefore much of this timber was transported in the log to Abingdon by wagon. [3]
Daniel Bartley Hollyfield gives us an insight into the size of these huge walnut logs as well as the method employed in transporting them. He described a walnut tree which was cut on his father's farm on Bold Camp that was over four feet in diameter. This fine specimen contained four logs which were ten feet long and virtually knot free. Six yoke of oxen were employed to drag one of these logs, if the course was uphill. [4]
The completion of the railroads in Wise County added a great deal of impetus to the logging industry. In 1891 the Norfolk and Western Railroad came from Bluefield, West Virginia to Norton. In the same year the Louisville and Nashville Railroad came from Cumberland Gap to Norton where it made connections with the Norfolk and Western Railroad. [5] The South Atlantic and Ohio Railroad ran through Big Stone Gap and up Looney Creek as early as 1890. [6]
Timber shipments were slightly delayed due to the completion of roads from the woods to the railroad stations, but in the summer of 1891 heavy shipments of logs were made to European markets. [7] The Hoffman Lumber Company with offices in Big Stone Gap employed twenty teams of horses with four horses to each team to haul their logs to the railroad stations. [8] The Virginia and Carolina Lumber Company with its main office in New York City and a branch office in Big Stone Gap shipped oak, poplar, cherry, and ash to Liverpool, England and Hamburg, Germany. [9]
Private individuals became involved in this enterprise also. A Mr. Petit and a Mr. Thomson purchased timber in the Preston Tract near Big Stone Gap and utilized the facilities of the Big Stone Gap and Powell Valley Railroad to reach the outgoing rail lines. Their logs were also shipped to England and Germany. [10]
Timber was purchased during the early 1890's by the tract and by the individual tree. It was not uncommon to purchase select species of trees at a price ranging from $.50 to $1.00 per tree. [11] Prices of this nature should have made the logging industry attractive to many individuals. Tracts of timber located close to railroad lines could have been cut and transported at a minimum cost. Farmers who owned timber could have removed it themselves or employed others to remove it for them. Either method would have produced a profit, plus more land would have been available for cultivation with the removal of the timber. The combination of all these factors should have made logging the primary enterprise of the county at this time.
During the same period of time that the railroads transported timber out in the log, circular sawmills operated in the county. Tacoma had a mill of this type as well as a planing mill in 1890. [12] East Stone Gap had a very productive mill in 1890. [13] C. A. Day operated a sawmill near Pound in 1890, also. [14]
Big Stone Gap had several mills of this type in 1891 which furnished materials for shipment as well as for local construction. George Dutton operated a saw and planing mill in Big Stone Gap where the two forks of the Powell River merge. Wolfe Clay and Company operated three mills in the vicinity of Big Stone Gap. They made weather boarding, flooring, moulding, and cornering material. In the winter of 1891 this firm had 2,500,000 feet of lumber on hand with 20,000 poplar trees branded in the woods. They sold materials in Boston and in Wilmington, Delaware to the Jackson and Sharp Car Works. [15]
Freight rates in 1891 were $.32 to Boston: $.23 to Chicago: and $.16 to Cincinnati, per 100 pounds. There was very little difference in the market value of lumber in these cities. Seasoned poplar weighed between 2500 and 2800 pounds, therefore, for obvious financial reasons lumbermen in the area tried to develop the market to which freight rates were less expensive. [16]
These small circular mills were steam driven, therefore required a close source of water. Sawmills of this type operated from the very earliest days of the industry into the 1930's. Some were operated in permanent locations while others moved from site to site as the timber supply ws exhausted. Operators of these portable mills were called "fly-by-nighters." [17]
The sawmill equipment was comprised of a fifty to seventy-five horse power boiler, a fifteen to twenty-five horse power engine, an edger, a carriage, and a fifty-four to sixty inch circular saw. [18] The sawyer filed and maintained the saw in some cases, but most sawmill operators employed an individual to file the saws and keep the mill in good operating condition. Many of these saws had teeth which could be replaced after repeated filing had made them unfit for further use. [19]
The operation of a circular saw mill was relatively simple. The sawyer operated the levers which controlled the saw and carriage. He was usually assisted by one or two men in the process of sawing lumber. These men rolled a log onto the carriage and set the head blocks which consisted of a base, knee, and dogs. This mechanism held the log in place while it was sawed. The saw and drive pulley were mounted on a shaft and connected to the power unit. The saw had a guide that kept it sawing straight; a spreader which kept the board pushed out slightly from the log to keep the saw from binding; and a steel roller to transport the sawed board from the saw. The sawing operation began when the sawyer set the carriage in motion toward the rapidly rotating saw. The carriage was mounted on steel wheels and rolled on light steel rails. The carriage drive on this type of mill was usually a steel cable or the rack and pinion type. When the saw completed its cut through the log, the carriage rushed quickly back to its original starting position. The setworks adjusted the log to the new sawing position and the sawing process proceeded. [20]
There was a substantial increase in the number of these circular sawmills in the decade of the 1890's. In 1891 J. J. Wolfe bought tracts of timber from the Virginia Iron and Coal Company on Looney Creek and on Guest River. The tract on Guest River extended from Norton to Tacoma. [21] Mr. Wolfe acquired a contract to supply lumber for the construction of forty shanties in the mining district at Tacoma. He also completed a tramway from the mountains to the railroad line and began to make heavy shipments of lumber to outside markets. [22]
T. J. Templeton operated a sawmill on Roaring Fork in 1894. Mr. Templeton contracted to cut two million feet of poplar lumber on this tract. Many enormous poplar trees were taken from this tract. On one occasion Mr. Templeton sawed twelve thousand feet of lumber from three poplar logs which were twelve feet long. These logs were so large that they had to be split before they were transported to the mill. [23]
In 1897 M. C. McCorkle purchased 2,000 acres of timberland Powell Valley from the South Appalachian Land Company. This timber was located on the Preston Tract and was estimated to contain several million feet of oak and poplar. [24] Mr. McCorkle erected a sawmill here and proposed to build a commissary and about a dozen dwelling houses for his employees. [25]
The devastating effects of a sawmill fire were dreaded by all lumbermen. This malicious culprit visited the firms of two Wise County sawmill operators. In 1895 a planing mill and a considerable amount of lumber was destroyed at J. C. Moore's sawmill at East Stone Gap. This lumber was to be used in the construction of houses at the Iron Furnace near Big Stone Gap. [26] In 1898 E. W. Miller lost a sawmill and approximately one half million feet of lumber in a fire at Norton. [27]
From the early days of the industry people in the area of Big Stone Gap advocated the establishment of local industries to utilize the products of the forest. The most elaborate plan was proposed by the Virginia Iron and Coal Company. This firm owned about 64,000 acres of land in the county at this time with a great deal of valuable timber on it. They planned to construct a flume 3,590 feet long on Powell River for the purpose of floating logs down to any company which would establish a woodworking industry here. Nothing ever came of this notion. [28]
The only furniture manufacturing firm that operated with any degree of success was owned by J. C. Moore of East Stone Gap. In the late 1890's Mr. Moore made coffins, desks, bedroom furniture, and tables that were sold in Lee, Scott and Wise Counties. Mr. Moore also sold furniture in the wholesale trade at the Virginia Iron and Coal Company's Store located at Stonega. [29]
Some of the lumber from these circular sawmills was used in local construction, but much of it was sold int he form of dimension stock (dimensions specified by the buyer.) These purchasing companies usually operated milling equipment of their own, therefore, they sawed this dimension stock to meet their own specifications. Yellow poplar was used in car bodies, refrigerators, and for interior and exterior house trim. Oak was used in the construction of wagons and in the barrel industry. [30]
The price received for lumber near the turn of the century was not nearly as high as one might suspect. In 1898 G. A. Moore contracted to furnish lumber to Reynolds Tobacco Company for tobacco boxes. Mr. Moore received $3,000 for 250,000 feet of lumber which was mostly oak. [31] The magnitude of this operation could be visualized if one estimated each tree to contain an average of approximately 5,000 feet of lumber. It would have taken 500 trees to fill this contract. If one considered the cutting, hauling, milling, and transportation to the buyer, one could argue that the profits could not have been excessive.
A new dimension was added to the industry during the latter part of the 1890's. There probably had been some participation in the tan bark industry, but in 1897 the Goodloe Brothers of Big Stone Gap placed a great deal of emphasis on this business. They hired approximately one hundred men to peel tan bark from the trees in the spring of this year. [32]
In 1898 construction of a tannery was begun in Big Stone Gap under the supervision of J. C. Specht. Long before the plant was completed Mr. Specht urged area farmers to deliver their tan bark to the tannery. [33] This plant, the Virginia Tanning and Extract Company, was owned by General Rufus A. Ayers. General Ayers expanded his facilities in the summer of 1899 and expected to begin shipments of tannic acid by September and shipments of leather by October of that year. [34]
During the summer of 1900 the United States Leather Company purchased the tannery of General Ayers and began the construction of a $250,000 plant adjacent to it. Herbert Moore managed the extract plant and L. F. Frisby managed the tanning department of this enterprise. [35]
The Clinch River Extract Company operated an extract plant at St. Paul. This firm acquired about fifteen per cent of tan bark and wood from Wise County. Their main source of supply came from North Carolina along the C. C. & O. Railroad lines. [36]
The process of peeling tan bark was usually pursued in the spring while the sap was rising. Bark was much easier to remove from a tree during this season. The types of trees selected for this purpose were generally hemlock and chestnut oak because they yielded the highest percentage of tanning. In later years after most of the hemlock and chestnut oak trees were removed, these companies had to utilize other species of oak and chestnut wood in their extract plants. The removal of the bark began once the trees were cut and on the ground. After the limbs were removed, the circumference of the tree was chopped with an ax at four foot intervals. A specially designed tool called a spud was employed to gouge the bark from the tree. These four foot sheets of bark were then loaded on sleds or wagons and hauled to the extract plants. [37]
A tremendous amount of waste occurred during the first ten to fifteen years of the logging industry. Thousands of magnificent trees were cut only to have some sort of defect that made them unfit for use. Quite frequently yellow poplar trees were found to have blue streaks or knots and for this reason they were condemned. Very fine white oak trees received the same treatment if they were found to be damaged by worms or wind shakes. Trees of this nature were simply left to deteriorate where they lay. The markets at this time demanded the finest quality of lumber available, therefore it was considered unprofitable to transport these logs to the mill. Vast quantities of chestnut oak trees were cut for their bark. Once the bark was peeled the remainder of the tree was left to rot. [38]
The removal of Wise County's virgin timber was hastened with the arrival of larger and more affluent operations. Yellow poplar and white oak were the favorite species of these companies, but other types of trees were not neglected. Circular sawmills were still utilized, but the band mill was far more efficient and productive.
These large firms did not change the method of cutting the timber. This process remained virtually the same from 1887 to 1940. Timber falling crews usually worked in pairs and the overall size of the entire crew depended upon the needs of the sawmill operation. The tools of these crews consisted of an ax, crosscut saw, and wedges. A great deal of skill and judgement was needed by these men. They had to decide the best direction to fall the tree. Their decision was based on several factors. Usually they chose the most convenient spot in which the tree could be sawed into logs. Sawing a tree into logs was called "bucking." They also had to choose the most accessible spot to the teamsters who skidded the logs away. Their ultimate choice was based on their own personal safety. Once the desired falling direction was chosen an "undercut" was sawed in the side of the tree facing the desired landing spot. This "undercut" or "lead notch" as it was sometimes called, was then chopped out with an ax. The tree fallers then moved to the opposite side of the tree and began to saw in the direction of the notch. If the saw started to bind deep into the cut, wedges were driven behind it to relieve the pressure. The sawing continued and eventually the tree toppled over, usually in the pre-selected spot. [39]
The arrival of these larger firms eliminated some of the brute labor of both man and beast. Logs were still transported from the falling locations by teams of horses and mules. The process of "nosing" a log was accomplished by tapering with an ax the end of the log to which the team was hitched. This eliminated the sharp outer edges on the front end of the log and kept the log from digging into the earth as it was skidded. The teamsters drove grab jacks into the nosed end of the log, to which they hooked their teams. The log or logs, depending upon the size, were skidded to loading points near the narrow-gauge tram or railroads. It is at this point that changes began to take place. Operators employed stream driven log loaders to hoist the logs onto the small rail cars. In the earlier years of logging the logs were loaded onto wagons by the combined effort of man and beast. [40]
As the logging operations pushed higher and higher up the slopes the small tram roads pursued them. This was done to cut down the skidding distance of logs as much as possible. Much of the terrain in Wise County was too steep for these small trams to ascend straight up the slope. This problem was alleviated by approaching the slope at an angle. Several hundred feet up the slope a switch was installed and the tram reversed its angle of approach to the slope. This process was continued until the desired point was reached. In other words, the tracks zig-zagged up the mountain through a series of switches called "switch-backs." [41]
One of the largest companies to operate in Wise County was the Tidewater Stave and Lumber Company. This firm was owned by R. D. Benson of New York City. In 1906 this firm purchased the interest of W. J. Stevens and began operations. They operated seven saw and stave mills on the Pound River, Bold Camp, and Indian Creek. Approximately 600 men were on the payroll, which was estimated to be $12,000 a month. These employees came from Dickenson, Wise, Letcher, and Pike Counties. Common laborers were paid $l.23 per day and skilled laborers were paid $3.00 per day. A working day consisted of 10 hours. [42]
This firm furnished medical services for their employees as well as some housing facilities. Medical services were provided by Dr. Hix and Dr. Richards at the rate of $1.00 per month for married men with families, and $.50 per month for bachelors. The company owned approximately 100 houses which it rented to its employees. House rent ranged from $4.00 to $6.00 per month, depending upon the number of rooms contained in the house. [43]
This company owned and operated a small narrow-gauge railroad that ran from the foot of Jenkins Mountain to Glamorgan. Side switches were built off the main line up both forks of the Pound River near Flat Gap, up Bold Camp Creek, and several other hollows. These side switches were extended when a mill had to be moved into a new boundary of timber. The railroad crew was composed of twenty or thirty men who worked ten hours a day. These men laid thirty pound steel rails to a thirty-eight inch gauge of oak ties which they cut and sawed themselves. During the early years of this operation two Heisler engines were used by the railroad. The railroad employees named one engine "Heisler" and the other "Huldy." The company later purchased a more powerful Shay engine. [44]
This little railroad was a colorful addition to the logging industry of Wise County. The company utilized it to haul their lumber and staves to the planing mill at Glamorgan, and many people in the area used it for transportation to Wise. Individuals rode at their own risk on top of the logs going to Glamorgan, and the empty flatcars coming back to Pound. There was no fare charged for this service. The railroad also hauled mining supplies to the Virginia side of Jenkins mountain where they were unloaded and transported across the mountain by wagon. The company earned substantial profits from this practice. [45]
This firm utilized the facilities of the Wise Terminal Railroad to transport their staves and lumber to the Norfolk and Western Railroad at Norton. These staves were used in their own cooperage industry located at Bayou, New Jersey. The lumber was sold principally to markets outside the county. [46]
Most of the inhabitants of the area in which the Tidewater Lumber Company operated accepted it with enthusiasm. Many men who would have had to seek employment outside the county acquired jobs with this firm. The type of employment offered by this company was preferred to working in the coal mines by most of these men. [47]
The most extensive logging operations in the county began with the arrival of single-band mills. Mills of this type were located at Pardee, Exter, Glamorgan, Ramsey, at the head of Powell Valley, and much later at Stonega. These band mills had a daily capacity of 30,000 feet of lumber. [48]
The operators of these single-band mills usually selected a level section of ground near a source of water. Like the circular mills, the band mills were steam driven. The building that housed the milling equipment was a two- story building with a small attic above the second story. The first floor contained the driving apparatus and the second floor contained the saw and carriage. The attic section of the structure was reserved for the saw filer and mill mechanic.[49]
Due to the fire hazard involved, the steam boiler was usually separated from the mill. These boilers were either hand fired or they were fired by a device called a "hog." Sawdust and slabs from the mill provided the fuel for the boiler. [50]
The band mill always had a log pond close by. The logs were stripped of their bark and prodded with long poles toward the "slip jack." This apparatus extended from the second floor of the mill down into the pond. Sharp cleats snared the logs and conveyed them along a trough into the sawing room. The sawing operation was very similar to that of the circular mill except for the saw. The band saw was a ribbon of steel ten to twelve inches wide and approximately eighty feet long with sharp teeth on one side. The carriage propelled the log toward the saw and once the cut had been completed it darted back to its original position. This feature gave this type of hand mill its name. In a double-band mill the saw had teeth on both sides and the carriage sawed boards coming and going. [51]
On February 16, 1906 J. B. Adams sold the Tug River Lumber Company for four hundred acres of timber located at the head of Powell Valley. This firm, co-owned by M. N. Offutt, C. L. Ritter, and B. B. Burns, paid $20,200 for this purchase. Specifications for cutting the timber had changed drastically when this contract was drawn up. Extremely small timber could be removed. Chestnut and chestnut oak, six to twelve inches in diameter, were cut three feet above the ground. All other species, twelve inches and over, were also cut three feet above the ground. [52]
Raymond Ellis was an extremely efficient timber boss for this firm. He allowed nothing to be wasted. Anything that could be sawed into a two-by-four was utilized. Chestnut oak and hemlock bark was stripped and sold to the tanneries. The best grade of chestnut was sawed into furniture stock and the poorest grades were cut into cord wood and sold to the extract plants. Even chestnut sawdust was sacked and sold. Small poplars, lynn, cucumber, and other laps were sold as pulpwood. [53]
This company established their band mill above East Stone Gap on the Powell River. In their total operation they employed 160 men. Their lumber was transported over their own narrow gauge railroad to East Stone Gap. At East Stone Gap the lumber was shipped to various parts of this country and Europe. [54]
The Blackwood Coal and Coke Company installed a band mill on Roaring Fork at Pardee in 1911 at an estimated cost of $50,000. [55] In 1914 the Keyes Walker Lumber Company of Roanoke, Virginia purchased this mill and 7,000 acres of timber. They also purchased 8,000 acres of timber from the Virginia Iron and Coal Company. [56]
A band mill was operated by the Virginia Iron and Coal Company at Exeter under the direction of John Crocker. This band mill operated from 1912 to 1918. The majority of the houses in Exeter at this time were constructed of yellow poplar lumber from this mill. [57]
The band mill located at Ramsey was believed to have been operated by either Keyes Walker or Douglas Walker of Roanoke, Virginia. This mill was believed to have operated until 1916. [58]
Currier Lumber Company operated a band mill at Glamorgan during the second decade of the 20th century. Mr. Currier had formerly been employed by the Tidewater Stave and Lumber Company. He was believed to have purchased some of the equipment of this company when he established his band mill. [59]
Currier Lumber Company provided a wide variety of services for its employees. This firm maintained a company store, through which the employees purchased many of their necessities. An employee could also buy a wagon load of coal or wood through the store. They were charged $1.50 for a load of coal and $.75 for a load of scrap wood from the mill. A fee of $1.50 was deducted from each employee's salary for medical service. Electricity was furnished by a steam generator located near the sawmill and each employee was charged $1.50 a month for this service. All the houses at the mill rented for $5.00 a month. [60]
There were about fifty or sixty men employed at the sawmill. Twenty-five or thirty men worked in the mill and about the same number worked in the lumber yard stacking and loading lumber. Most of these employees received a daily wage, but a few did piecework. Employees who operated stave machines received $.65 per one thousand staves. A good stave operator produced five or six thousand staves in a ten hour day. [61]
The combined efforts of band and circular mills had removed most of the virgin timber from the county by the early 1920's. At this time there were only two or three tracts of timber that would have been conducive to a band mill setting. Lumbering operations at this time were performed by circular sawmills and local labor. Many sawmill operators at this time used this activity as supplementary employment. [62]
In 1929 the McCorkle Lumber Company acquired a contract to cut timber from the Virginia Iron and Coal Company's land. This boundary of timber was located on Callahan Creek above Stonega. This firm moved its band mill from Russell County and erected it at Stonega. [63]
McCorkle Lumber Company agreed to pay $200,000 over a three year period for the right to cut this timber. On the twelfth day of each month this firm had to pay the following sums for lumber sawed in the previous months: $25.00 for each thousand board feet of poplar, walnut, ash, and cherry; $12.00 for each thousand feet of lynn and red oak; $8.00 for each thousand board feet of white oak and chestnut oak; and $4.00 for each thousand board feet of chestnut, hickory, gum, buckeye, birch, beech, and hemlock. There were two unusual stipulations in this contract. One stated that there were to be no houses of ill repute on this property, and the other stated that no person could make or sell liquor. [64]
This tract of land contained all virgin timber and several of the logs were so large that they could not be accommodated on the saw carriage. When a log of this size was encountered the saw mill personnel drilled holes in it and split it with small charges of black powder. If a tree of this nature was damaged int he falling process the persons responsible had to pay the market value of the lumber contained in it. [65]
In 1936 this firm moved its narrow gauge railroad and logging operation to Guest River. The band mill remained in Stonega. They removed the timber from land located on the South Fork of the Pound River. "Cooge" Branham was employed to haul the logs across Fox Gap by truck. The logs were then loaded onto flatcars and transported by the little Shay engine to the Interstate Railroad at Norton. From there they went directly to the mill at Stonega. [66]
The McCorkle Lumber Company erected new houses on Guest River as well as a company store. These houses had no plumbing or electricity and rented from $4.00 to $6.00 a month. [67]
After the timber was removed from this section the operation relocated on Black Creek near Blackwood. The narrow gauge railroad was no longer used due to the increased efficiency of trucking. "Cooge" Branham was contracted to haul the logs to the mill at Stonega. In 1940 the McCorkle Lumber Company sold its band mill and moved to Pike County, Kentucky. At this time all the easily accessible virgin timber in Wise County had been removed. [68]
The removal of these last stands of virgin timber ended an era that had begun approximately half a century earlier. An enterprise that had begun with speculation grew into a reality. The years of wanton waste in this industry can never be excused, but one must consider the circumstances under which these acts were committed. These early participants had to adhere to exacting standards, while all around them appeared a seemingly inexhaustible supply of timber.
The effects that this industry had on the county are contradictory. It gave employment to hundreds of men who would have had to seek employment outside the county or in the coal mines. It provided them with medical service, housing and electricity. The benefits received by these people came at a very dear cost. The magnificent virginal resource was eliminated forever. It would take centuries to produce the kinds of trees that this industry utilized. The demands of our present day society could never allow this to happen.
Footnotes: "Charles Dudley Warner's Description of a Ride Through Big Stone Gap," Harper's Monthly, January, 1889, quoted in John Proctor, Big Stone Gap, VA, p. 31-32. [2] Fred C. Pederson, "The Forest of Wise County," Virginia Geological Survey, XXIV, 1923, p. 590-591. [3] Ibid, p. 594 [4] Daniel Bartley Hollyfield, School Days of a Backwoodsman and News and Views of Bold Camp (Boston: Forum Publishing Co., 1963), p. 79 [5] Pederson, p. 586 [6] Big Stone Gap Post (Big Stone Gap, Virginia), August 22, 1890, p. 2 [7] Big Stone Gap Post, June 26, 1891, p. 1 [8] Big Stone Gap Post, September 18, 1891, p. 1 [9] Big Stone Gap Post, January 8, 1892, p. 2 [10] Big Stone Gap Post, March 4, 1892, p. 1. [11] Dan M. Buchanan, private interview, Big Stone Gap, Virginia, October 31, 1973 [12] Big Stone Gap Post, August 15, 1890, p. 1 [13] Big Stone Gap Post, October 24, 1890, p. 4 [14] Buchanan [15] Big Stone Gap Post, January 9, 1891, p. 3 [16] Big Stone Gap Post, September 25, 1891, p. 1 [17] Buchanan [18] Pederson, p. 596 [19] R. W. Gilliam, private interview, Big Stone Gap, Virginia, October 20, 1973 [20] Stanley F. Horn, This Fascinating Lumber Business (Cornwall, New York: Cornwall Press, 1943) p. 139 [21] Big Stone Gap Post, April 3, 1891, p. 1 [22] Big Stone Gap Post, July 17, 1891, p. 1 [23] Big Stone Gap Post, June 14, 1894, p. 4 [24] Big Stone Gap Post, October 14, 1897, p. 3 [25] Big Stone Gap Post, October 23, 1897, p. 3 [26] Big Stone Gap Post, October 24, 1895, p. 2 [27] Big Stone Gap Post, October 27, 1898, p. 3 [28] Big Stone Gap Post, April 27, 1893, p. 3 [29] Big Stone Gap Post, June 30, 1898, p. 3 [30] Gilliam [31] Big Stone Gap Post, April 13, 1899, p. 3 [32] Big Stone Gap Post, April 8, 1897, p. 3 [33] Big Stone Gap Post, February 24, 1898, p. 3 [34] Big Stone Gap Post, August 3, 1899, p. 2 [35] Big Stone Gap Post, January 8, 1903, p. 2 [36] Pederson, p. 598 [37] Gilliam [38] Big Stone Gap Post, June 12, 1907, p. 1 [39] Gilliam
[40] Ibid [41] Ibid [42] Big Stone Gap Post, December 28, 1906, p. 1 [43] Ibid [44] Edgar Maxwell, private interview, Pound, Virginia, October 7, 1973. [45] ibid [46] Big Stone Gap Post, December 28, 1906, p. 1[47] Maxwell [48] Buchanan [49] Gilliam [50] ibid [51] ibid [52] Wise County Court House, Deed Book 77, p. 472 [53] Big Stone Gap Post, June 12, 1907, p. 1 [54] ibid [ 55] Big Stone Gap Post, April 12, 1911, p. 2 [56] Big Stone Gap Post, January 14, 1914, p. 2 [57] Ross Smith, private interview, Exeter, Virginia, January 8, 1974 [58] Buchanan [59] George W. Shupe, private interview, Stevens, Virginia, April 15, 1974 [60] ibid [61] ibid [62] Pederson, p. 594-595. [63] Gilliam [64] Wise County Court House, Deed Book, 198, p. 379-384. [65] Gilliam [66] Leonard G. Litton, private interview, Big Stone Gap, Virginia, October 9, 1973 [67] ibid [68] ibid
Several years ago the writer was most fortunate in procuring a copy of the diary of Samuel Harvey Laughlin, born in 1799, and a grandson of Captain John Dunkin. The diary was written in 1845 by Laughlin, a well- educated man, from details related by his mother and grandparents who were prisoners of the British in Canada during the Revolutionary War. The contents of this paper are the unedited words of James H. Laughlin, and a copy of the diary is filed in the Southwest Virginia Historical Society Archives at Clinch Valley College, Wise, Virginia.
Captain John Dunkin (1743-1818), who settled in Elk Garden about 1769, was an only son of Thomas Dunkin. Earlier in life this Thomas Dunkin had immigrated from Scotland to Ireland, where he later married Elizabeth Alexander (born about 1710), also of Scottish descent. About 1740 he emigrated to Pennsylvania, eventually settling in Lancaster County where he died in 1760, leaving a wife, one son, and four daughters.
Captain John Dunkin, subject of this sketch, married Eleanor Sharp, daughter of John Sharp, and sister of John, Jr., Thomas, and Benjamin Sharp. The latter was a King's Mountain soldier. The Sharp family were also immigrants from Pennsylvania, who settled near Wallace, in Washington County, Virginia, before moving on to Kentucky and farther westward. Captain Dunkin died on Spring Creek in Washington County, Virginia, in 1818. His wife Eleanor had died in 1816.
The sisters of Captain John Dunkin were Elizabeth, who married Samuel Porter and lived at Castlewood, in Russell County, Virginia. Martha married Solomon Litton and lived at Elk Garden, Russell County. Mary Jane married James Laughlin, son of John and Mary Price Laughlin, and lived in Washington County, Virginia. There was a younger sister (name unknown), who married a Mr. Robinson in Russell County, Virginia, and later returned to Pennsylvania.
By 1769 young John Dunkin, with his mother, his wife and children, three of whom were born before leaving Pennsylvania, had reached Elk Garden, where he was made a first Sergeant, and later a Captain in the frontier militia of Washington County, and was very active in protecting the frontier against Indian forays from 1774 to 1778. When Powell Valley was evacuated in 1776 because of the Cherokee War, he led a party of settlers and militia into the valley and guarded the settlers while they brought out their personal property, which they had been unable to do because of the sudden evacuation of the valley.
Samuel Harvey Laughlin states:
On one occasion while he (Captain Dunkin) lived on the Clinch, a predatory band of Indians came into the settlement and murdered a man named Bush and his wife, and took their children, three daughters and a son, prisoner. The son was nearly grown. Captain Dunkin with a few men followed the trail and, by hard marching, overtook them, killed three of the Indians, and rescued the prisoners without losing a man.
Further to the northwest where Powell Valley had begun to be settled, in what is now Lee County, Virginia, the Indians were in the habit of murdering travellers. Before settlement had become permanent, the great buffalo trace to Kentucky, or that part of Virginia forming Kentucky - by way of Cumberland Gap, from 1766 to 1775 was a route for hunters and adventurous explorers on whom numerous murders and robberies were committed by various tribes of Indians, but mostly by Cherokee and Shawnee. Captain Dunkin and his little faithful band frequently went out and remained for different periods on tours of duty in protecting the settlers of this valley and on the road.
On one of these tours, he and his company fell in with a band of Indians whom they instantly attacked, killing four and wounding a fifth. They followed the wounded Indian some distance to a place where he had entered a cave. Captain Joseph Martin (builder of Martin's Station in Lee County, Virginia) was along with other Rangers, having met Captain Dunkin, and was with him when it was agreed between the two that while others kept guard outside, they would enter the cave and take the Indian or kill him.
They entered each with a blazing torch in one hand a pistol in the other, cocked and primed. After going in sixty of seventy yards, Captain Dunkin saw the Indian's eyes shining in the distance and taking deliberate aim, not knowing but that the Indian had a gun, and supposing others to be with him, was so lucky as to shoot him through the head.
In the year 1777 he went to Kentucky, raised corn, and made improvements by raising a cabin in the forks between Hingstons and Stoners Forks of Licking River. After thus preparing in Kentucky in 1777 and 1778 he moved his family, including his aged mother, and two sisters and their husbands, Samuel Porter and Solomon Litton, out from the Clinch to Kentucky in 1779. I say he removed them, for besides being the head of his family, he was the commander and leader of the immigrants, though Porter and Litton, and others who went along, were men of enterprise and good soldiers and woodsmen. These two (Porter and Litton) had farms begun also by improvements near Martin's Station. Martin's Station was on Stoner's river (or fork of Licking) five miles above its confluence with Hingston or Licking River. Ruddle's Station (pronounced Riddle's) was three miles below the junction or forks, consequently the forts were eight miles apart.
The winter of 1779 and 1780 was unusually severe and is remembered in the history of the time, and traditionally as the "hard winter". The rivers and the streams were all frozen - cattle and domestic animals died by the hundreds and thousands, as doubtless did the wild game. Wild meat, when it could be procured by the border settlers was very poor, and the corn and grain were early consumed, and the people put to great straits to procure subsistence of any sort, however common or coarse. Settlers were reduced to the very point of starvation, so much so that they were compelled to live on the most unwholesome meats without bread.
Many families travelling out to Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap and the Wilderness Road were compelled to encamp, erect huts and such other shelter as they could obtain, and subsist on the dead carcasses of their cattle, sheep, etc., as died from the effects of the weather and want.
When the spring of 1781 was ushered in there was an unusual bustle among the new settlers of Kentucky. They had the finest land in the world to cultivate, much of it easily cleared so as to fit it with corn crops, potatoes, etc. The previous winter had admonished them of the necessity of making as much provisions for the next winter as possible. In the spring there seemed to be but little danger from the Indians. In the vicinity of the forts, the planters pitched or planted large crops and everything seemed to smile and promise future prosperity. They seemed to be removed from the constant dangers and troubles with the Revolutionary War, still in progress, brought to the neighborhood of their brethren in all the country east of the mountains.
Early the crops of corn began to ripen and heaven seemed to be suspending the cornucopia over the famished land. There was a smile on every man's countenance, as he looked out upon the luminescence of the growing Indian corn. There was happiness and security in the forts. Happiness there really was, and security there seemed to be where they all lived, each fort like a great family. While living there in the snug and fancied security, they sang their domestic tedeums around blazing wood fires. While this happy sylvan state of things existed upon the fair frontier Colonel Byrd was busily employed at Detroit, plotting their destruction in combination with the northern nations of Indians in alliance with Great Britain in our Revolutionary War, a conspiracy against the peace and happiness of these unoffending frontier settlers which was soon to turn all their rejoicing and supposed security into a scene of sorrow and mourning.
On or about the first of June, 1780, Colonel Byrd, a British officer, collected a body of about 600 Canadians and Indians at or near Detroit, and after marching by land to the Great Miami where it was navigable, they took canoes, boats, pirogues, etc., and floated down the river to the Ohio. They rowed up the latter river to the mouth of Licking River, opposite to where Cincinnati now stands, and on the banks of which at its mouth now stands the thriving town of Newport and Covington; thence up the Licking River to the north fork of that river, a short distance below Ruddle's Station and thence by land. On the 22nd of June they appeared suddenly before Ruddle's Station as if they had fallen from the clouds or rose out of the ground by enchantment. The people hastily closed their gates and began to prepare for defense, but the show of artillery and the overwhelming number of the enemy appalled the stout hearts. Therefore they surrendered on pledges of personal safety from the Indians, but the whole of their property was given up to the plunder and rapine of the savages. After the fort was sacked, and the march was commenced, many prisoners were forced to carry the spoils on their backs for their captors. Every kind of property was taken.
Hearing the roar of artillery at Martin's Station which greatly surprised the people, two runners, a man named McGuire, and Thomas Berry, a relation of my grandfather, were dispatched to ascertain what was the matter at Ruddle's Fort. They were met on the way by the enemy, and on attempting to retreat were fired on. McGuire's horse was killed and he was taken prisoner. Berry escaped back to the fort.
On the next day (June 23, 1780) the enemy appeared before the fort and summoned them to surrender. Two hours were given these brave men in Martin's Station to consider - and they were notified if they did not surrender that the Indians would be let loose upon them to deal with as they pleased. They surrendered without firing a gun. (Withers in his History of Border Wars, says that Colonel Byrd took pain and had to exert all his authority to save their prisoners from slaughter.)
The prisoners taken at Martin's were united with the prisoners from Ruddle's There was understood to be an agreement between the British and Indians that the prisoners taken at Ruddle's should belong to the Indians, and those at Martin's to the British. Let this be as it may; according to Marshall, Butler, Withers, and other historians of these times the whole of the property of the Americans, including their Negroes, was given to the Indians.
My grandfather Dunkin likely had ten or twelve Negroes, and a fine personal property in stock and furniture, etc., of which he was altogether plundered. After the treaty of Greenville, he got back an old African woman named Dinnah, and a boy. This robbery and captivity reduced my grandfather to poverty.
The prisoners were all taken down the Licking River, by the route which the British had ascended to the Ohio, down that river to the mouth of the Great Miami, up that river as far as navigable, and thence to Detroit, and then to Montreal. My grandfather and my mother who was old enough to remember, often described to me the sight of the falls of the Niagara, as they passed round by a portage on their way to Detroit. In recounting these adventures to me and my brothers, my mother used to dwell upon the hardships of the whole journey from Kentucky. When the march started, my grandfather carried one of his children. All packed what few clothes were allowed them. She said the British treated them humanely. The Indians who had the Ruddle's Fort prisoners sold most all of them to the British for trifles. The British wanted them to exchange for their own prisoners, then in possession of our armies in the colonies.
I do not know, nor do I remember from the relations of my grandfather, or from the statements of my mother or her older sister, Aunt Betty Laughlin (wife of James Laughlin), whether all the prisoners were carried to Montreal. My grandfather was, however, with his family, and a letter from Uncle Benjamin Sharp gives the reason why he was imprisoned in jail at that place. His eldest son John Dunkin, Jr., made his escape from the British at Montreal, and his father who was known to have been an officer of standing, was suspected of having aided his son to escape to carry communications across the wilderness through New York to General Washington's army, the headquarters being then perhaps in Pennsylvania. John Dunkin, Jr., reported personally to General Washington, by whom he was well provided for until his father and family were exchanged and met him in Pennsylvania on their return home, they having come through western New York and by Philadelphia, through Pennsylvania and Maryland and to that part of Washington County in western Virginia where, or nearly where he had moved from when he went to Kentucky, and there he continued to live for the rest of his life.
After his return he never went back to Kentucky to look after his land and improvement, and thereby lost a "head right" to one of the best tracts of land on Licking River.
My great grandmother, the mother of my grandfather Dunkin, came from Pennsylvania with him, removed to Kentucky with him, was a prisoner with him in Canada, and returned to Holston with him, being seventy when captured, and lived many years after their return.
On return from Canada the prisoners came by way of Lake Champlain, by Saratoga, down the Hudson by water and across New Jersey to Philadelphia. My mother has often told me of the astonishing scenes of rejoicing in Philadelphia at the final achievement of our national independence as they passed through that city, and of the kindness everywhere of the people to them on their journey.
On the march to Canada and a Detroit and Montreal, my grandfather often saw among the Indians, and associating with the British officers of rank the renegade and incarnate devil, Simon Girty. This demon in human shape dealt in the scalps of American men, women, and children, bought and paid for by the British authorities. Girty's influence among the Indians was very great. In history his name descends embalmed in the execrations of all mankind.
My grandfather Dunkin, ever after I knew him, was a taciturn, serious, and rather melancholy man. He was a large stout man, and in his younger days, and until his spirit was broken and his health impaired by his Canadian captivity, and the loss of his property, had been a man of great vigor of mind and body, and fond of hazardous and arduous adventure.
Historical Summary:
The first mention of John Dunkin is found in an old Fincastle Court record for May 5, 1773, when he was appointed on a road commission to "view" a road from the Townhouse (Chilhowie, VA) to Castlewood. Then on January 29, 1777 he was recommended by the court of newly formed Washington County, Virginia, as a member of the Commission of Peace, serving on that body through November 1778. He was recommended by the court of Washington County for a Captain of Militia on February 26, 1777, although he had long been in the frontier militia for we find him as a Sergeant in command of Glade Hollow Fort when it was first garrisoned in 1774.
At a court held for Washington County, Virginia, on the 20th of March, 1781, there is entered this interesting order:
On motion of James Litton (brother of Solomon) and James Laughlin, and by consent and order of the Court they are appointed guardians of the estates of Captain John Dunkin and Solomon Litton, prisoners of the enemy in Canada, and to use all legal methods for saving and securing the said estates, whereupon they, together with William Davidson and John Vance entered into and acknowledged their bonds for eight thousand pounds for the faithful performance of the same.
After returning from captivity Captain Dunkin went to live on Spring Creek near Abingdon, Virginia. Solomon Litton returned to his old home at Elk Garden, and Samuel Porter to Temple Hill, Castlewood, VA, but the latter was not returning to the peace he probably anticipated. Shortly after his return Samuel Porter was charged by Col. Arthur Campbell for Courts martial on charges of treason while a prisoner in Canada.
Campbell's reasons for charges of treason seem vague and obscure and may have been groundless, for none other than that great patriot Gen. William Russell very indignantly interceded to the Governor of Virginia on behalf of Porter, who was his closest neighbor. To history buffs the record of this charge found in the Calendar of Virginia State Papers should make an interesting study.
In late November, 1772, at age 29, John and his family settled in the Moccasin Valley of present Russell County, Virginia, about 15 miles southwest of present Lebanon. He told the time of settlement in a deposition of 1810 for the court case of George Fugate vs. Nancy Mahon and others.
As a resident of the Moccasin Valley, John lived in four frontier counties:
About 1776 or before, John and his neighbors built a fort on his land for protection against hostile Indians. It was known as Tate's Fort, and is mentioned by early emigrants to both Kentucky and Tennessee. In Shane's Historical Collection of Kentucky papers, Volume 1, page 224, and in Williams' Early Times in Tennessee, and perhaps alluded to by John Tate in his deposition of 1810 for the case of Fugate vs. Mahon, where he is quoted as saying that Frances Fugate (deceased), who lived five miles from him, "did as the rest of us did, defend our land and families, and lived on the land in dispute (1772-1781) except for the time forted."
In October 1780, John as militia-man of Washington County, participated in the successful Revolutionary War battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina, and his name as a participant is recorded by Lewis Preston Summers in his History of Washington County and Southwest Virginia. (In command at King's Mountain was Col. William Campbell, whose wife Elizabeth was a sister of Patrick Henry, and after Campbell's death, the wife of General William Russell, for whom Russell County was named.)
In November 1781, John was appointed with others to appraise the estate of Francis Fugate (deceased), who was killed by a fall from his horse. The other appraisers were William Huston, John Wood, and Robert Tate, another ancestor of the writer, who lived about three miles below John in Moccasin Valley.
In February 1782, John was appointed with others to view and cut out the road down Moccasin Valley from Little Moccasin Gap in Clinch Mountain on present U. S. 19 between Abingdon and Lebanon to Big Moccasin Gap on present U. S. 23 near Gate City. Also in 1782 his second tract of land of 100 acres was surveyed and recorded in the records of Washington County at Abingdon.
In May 1786, with the formation of Russell County, John was appointed an overseer of the poor, a constable, and a Lieutenant in the militia.
In 1787, John became a "Gentleman Justice" on the Russell County Court or governing board, by appointment of the Governor of Virginia, where he served with great devotion to duty for most of his remaining life of 41 years. Again and again he rode his horse to successive places of county government meetings at Castlewood, Dickensonville and Lebanon; served many times, one to three days per month, sometimes presided over and wrote the minutes of the meetings, and signed them more than 150 times with a bold and attractive signature. By virtue of his position as Justice, he was often referred to as John Tate, Gent., or John Tate, Esq. In 1787 he was also appointed Captain in the upper militia of the Moccasin Valley; and that year he took the Oath of Allegiance to the newly drafted Constitution of the United States.
In 1789, John became Captain in the 2nd Bat., 72 Reg. Of the Virginia Militia, and also served as Superintendent of an election in his locality.
In 1795, John became Major in the 2nd Bat., 72 Reg. Of the Virginia Militia.
In 1800, John had his cattle mark recorded, and the Russell County Court ordered that no person in the county have the liberty of marking with a swallow fork in the left ear, except John Tate.
By 1801, John became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue for Russell County, and served two years. His securities were Henry Dickenson, County Clerk; Nathan Ellington, Dickenson's deputy and son-in-law; John M. Estill and Harry Smith. His deputies were John and Zachariah Fugate, Cummings Gilmer, George Powers, John Sewell, and Andrew Williams.
In 1801, John was appointed with Samuel Ewing as one of the commissioners for Russell County to meet with the commissioners for Lee County to superintend and run the dividing line between the two counties. (Lee County had been formed from part of Russell County in 1792.)
In 1802, John became Lt. Col. Commandant of the 72 Reg., 3rd Division of the Virginia Militia, and since has been known to many as Col. John Tate. His appointment was by James Monroe, Governor of Virginia, and later President of the United States.
In 1809, John again became an overseer of the poor, and served by re-appointments 15 or more consecutive years.
In 1813, John and several other persons, including a teacher, Thomas Birch, sent a petition to the Legislature of Virginia, requesting that a school already in operation with thirty students be established officially as Amity Hall Academy. John and nine other ancestors of the writer were signers: John and three other ancestors of the writer were trustees. The petitioners said they were "duly impressed by the consideration that in all free states intelligence was the life of liberty, and that they were desirous to cooperate with other counties in the state to promote the grand cause of education."
In 1819, John and his grandson Robert Fugate, became Executors of the estate of Colbert Fugate (deceased) who married John's daughter Hannah, and who had been a farmer, part-time county official, and three times a member of the Virginia Legislature.
In 1825, John, as the senior Justice among 31 present for a special meeting in Lebanon, helped to appoint unanimously James P. Carrell the second Clerk of Russell County; thereby promoting a very able and interesting person who, with limited formal schooling but with training experience and the skillful use of books, became one of the best clerks in Virginia, a part-time Methodist Minister, song-book compiler and publisher, land buyer and seller, money lender, patron of education and benefactor of students. (In 1836, James P. Carrell gave five times the usual gift of $100 to help start Emory and Henry College, ten miles east of Abingdon at Emory, VA; and Carrell's help to John A. Kelly, an Emory and Henry student of the 1830's, led to a gift of nearly two million dollars for Emory and Henry College in the 1960's from the Carrell-aided student's grandson, Frederick Kelly. To the writer, this is a very significant series of creative historical events stemming from James P. Carrell's appointment by John Tate and other justices in 1825.)
In 1826, when over 80 years old, John again became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue for Russell County, and served two years, which apparently reflects his stamina and stability as a person, his dynamic interest in public affairs, and the esteem which he had as a senior citizen. His Securities were Charles Carrell, James Dixon, Zachariah Fugate, Harvey Gray, John Jessee, Benjamin Sewell, and John Smyth - the last three of whom are other ancestors of the writer. One of his deputies was his grandson, John Fugate, who later moved to Missouri.
Col. John Tate died December 15, 1828, at 85 years of age, and is buried in a Tate and Burdine cemetery in the Moccasin Valley, 15 miles southwest of Lebanon on some of his former land now owned by the writer and his brother, Thomas E. Tate of Haleyville, Alabama.
Col. John Tate's wife, Mary Bracken, died in 1817, and is buried near him. The children of John Tate and Mary Bracken were:
Robert Tate, 1768-1844, who married Winnie Atkinson and moved to Pulaski Co., KY.
Hannah Tate, 1772-1844, who married Colbert Fugate and lived in Russell County, Virginia, just southwest of her parents in the Moccasin Valley.
Samuel Bracken Tate, 1775-1845, who married Jane Owens and moved to Pulaski County, Kentucky.
Jane Tate, 1770s-1823, who married Henley Haddix and moved to Kentucky.
Martha Tate, 1780-1847, who married John Buster and moved to Kentucky
Isaac Tate, 1780s-?, who married Peggy Walton of Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1809, and lived in Russell County until 1833, then in Kentucky and Missouri.
Lydia Tate, 1785-1854, who married William Fugate and lived in Russell and Scott Counties, Virginia
Numerous descendants of Col. John Tate and Mary Bracken and their children have lived and still live in various parts of the United States.
It is a common tradition in Lee County, Virginia, that a low gap in Wallen's Ridge called Lovelady Gap was so named because the family of Thomas Lovelady was massacred there by the Indians.
Research does not bear out this traditional belief, but known facts about the life of Thomas Lovelady, though meager indeed, while disproving the tradition, do reveal other interesting facets of early Powell Valley history not heretofore known. It is the belief of this writer that the gap was so named because Lovelady used it as a passage in his travels to and from Powell Valley to the settlements on the Clinch River.
Lovelady, a native of Guilford County, North Carolina, was born around 1750. Perhaps no man on the southwest frontier had a more illustrious war record. He fought the Indians, British and Tories until the country was secure, and despite all, lived to the ripe old age of 90 years. He outlived two wives and had a third named Nancy Briggs whom he married in Floyd County, Kentucky, August 20, 1821. He died in Russell County, Virginia on June 10, 1840.
His first war service in the Revolution was performed while living in Guilford County, North Carolina, where he was drafted and sent against a band of Tories on Cross Creek near New Bern, which was headed by a Tory named Fannin, and called by them "Colonel". After the Tory campaign he again enlisted and served out a term which took him into the state of South Carolina. When returning in a company of twelve men from this campaign, tired and hungry from marching, they stopped by the home of an old Dutchman named Adam Appel, who was also a Tory, to ask for food and lodging, which was refused. Pinched by hunger, and fatigue, they entered and helped themselves to food, after which all but Thomas Lovelady lay down upon the floor to sleep. The Dutchman's daughter refused to go to sleep despite his promise that she would not be harmed. He decided to stay awake and watch that she did not slip away and report their presence to the Tories. He, however, overcome by fatigue, fell asleep, and upon awakening sometime later found the young lady gone.
He immediately awakened his companions and advised them to leave the house which they refused to do. About daybreak a band of Tories, commanded by Fannin and a major Bill Nickels, came up and surrounded the house. Fannin shot one of their company named Johnston Tyler, and was in the act of shooting Lovelady when Major Bill Nickels intervened, being a former acquaintance of Lovelady. The remaining eleven men got off by taking the oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain, which was administered by Fannin. They probably never intended to keep the oath, but they were nevertheless released upon a parole of honor.
The little band set out on their way homeward and soon met with a party of Whigs who joined them. Together they returned to see the old Dutchman, his daughter, and the Tories, but Fannin and his followers had fled. They took the young lady to Stinking Creek, a tributary of the Big Alamance River, gave her a sound dunking, and in the words of Thomas Lovelady: "Left her in a situation not the best suited to carrying speedy expresses."
Shortly after this he came to what is now Scott County, Virginia, to visit her sister, the wife of Amos Allord who lived on Copper Creek. Allord was killed in April of 1786 by a group of settlers after having stolen horses belonging to Patrick Porter and his son, Samuel Porter. In league with John Watts Crunk and some man named Shelley, he was engaged in stealing horses and selling them out of the area. He was corralling these horses in a ravine where a stream empties into a cave, near Trimbles Creek in Scott county. This cave is yet known as Amos' Cave, but the name Allord has long been forgotten by people living in the area.
While visiting his sister, Thomas Lovelady volunteered to go on General Evan Shelby's Chickamauga Campaign of 1779 against the Cherokee Indians. After this campaign, he returned to Guilford County, North Carolina and, at the request of his father he went into South Carolina to help an uncle whose property had been taken away by the Tories, to move to Guilford County.
While in South Carolina he again volunteered, and, after being marched from place to place chasing the British and Tories, he fought int he battle of Cowpens. After this nine month tour of duty he again visited his relatives in Virginia. Remaining at home for the winter, he again volunteered at Abingdon, Virginia, under General William Campbell, and marched twelve hundred strong against Lord Cornwallis. He then joined the command of General Greene, and fought in the battle of Guilford Courthouse. He then pursued Cornwallis to Ramseur's Mill, where he was again discharged.
After peace was declared he moved to the state of Georgia, where his house was burned by a band of Indians. When he returned to Virginia is not known, but he was living in Russell County, Virginia in 1834, when he applied for a pension, and he died there in 1840.
With regard to Thomas Lovelady's settlement in Powell Valley there is some factual evidence to prove his settlement there. Alfred Huff, nicknamed App, who lived near Elk Knob some four miles east of Pennington Gap, Virginia, was a grandson of James Huff. He was reared by his grandfather, who was a member of the posse that killed the half-breed Indian Chief Benge in 1794, and who was still living in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1845. App Huff remembered many Indian stories told to him by his grandfather James Huff.
One of the stories told by App in 1922 to the late Mr. Winfield S. Rose, of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, associates Thomas Lovelady with an Indian massacre on Big Black Mountain in the year 1788. The story, as related by App to Mr. Rose, was that a man named Breeding, his two sons, and two other men, who were thought to have been sons-in-law of Breeding, had set up a ginseng camp on Black Mountain. One day they decided to go down to Poor Fork in Harlan County, Kentucky, to do some fishing. Upon returning to camp that night they heard owls hooting around the camp and were told by Thomas Lovelady that the owls were Indians. The ginseng diggers refused to believe him, but Lovelady was convinced they were Indians and slipped out of camp and hid himself in a hollow log where he soon became witness to the massacre of his companions. Huff further states that at the time Lovelady lived in a cabin on the site of the P. Litton farm in Lee County, Virginia, where he traded with the Indians of the Shawnee nation, with whom he was on friendly terms. The writer has been able after much painstaking research to verify the truth of Huff's story of the Indian massacre and that Lovelady really did at one time live in the Turkey Cove of Lee County.
In 1788 a letter written to the Governor of Virginia, found in the Calendar of Virginia State Papers, and signed by Major Anthony Bledsoe, Thomas Carter, and other prominent citizens of that day mentions that "one of the Elams, Neal Roberts, and three of the Breedings of the New Garden section of Russell County had been massacred at a ginseng camp on Big Black Mountain."
The writer has not been able to verify the first name of the Elam, or the three Breedings, but it is known that a Richard and John Breeding were on the 1778 campaign of General George Rogers Clark to Kaskaskia, Illinois, and that they both enlisted at Cowan's Fort in Russell County, Virginia. After much research Neal Roberts has been proven to have been Thomas Cornelius Roberts who owned much land in the Glade Hollow section of Russell County. On November 19, 1788, Richard Thompson was granted administration on the estate of Thomas Roberts by the court of Russell County. Roberts' widow, Mary Roberts, later married John Frost, a preacher who lived on the North Fork of Holston River. Some of Neal Roberts' descendants were living recently in Oklahoma, where the writer had reached them through correspondence.
The site on Black Mountain where these pioneers were killed is a memorial to them, and the stream still bears the name Breeding's Creek.
To further prove Thomas Lovelady's presence in the Turkey Cove we go to Washington County, Virginia, Land Entry Book 1, where we find this entry: "Entered for James Thompson, 200 acres in Powell Valley in Turkey cove, near the lower end, known by the name of "Lovelady's Place," and to include his improvement and also a spring about a half mile above said improvement."
The second entry is in the same book and same page, but dated September 18, 1780, and reads: "Entered for Captain James Thompson, assignee of Colonel William Preston, 100 acres of land in Powell Valley about one mile beyond where the old wagon road crosses the South Fork of Powell River and lying on both sides of the road and including the improvement made by one Lovelady, which he (Lovelady) sold to one Gatlif, and to include the spring of said settlement."
These entries show that in 1780 Thomas Lovelady was not living, but had lived on these two land claims, and the question still remains to be answered: When did he first settle upon them?
In the early court records of Washington County, Virginia, there are a few vague notations regarding the presence of a family named Boren of whom little has ever been recorded. The primary reason for this is that the Borens were elusive "movers", never remaining long in one location. The history of the Boren family is a parallel of the history of westward advancement, as we shall see.
The earliest of the name in America is hard to determine, but among the early arrivals were William Boren who was granted 1000 acres in Stafford County, Virginia, for the transportation of 40 persons into the colony in 1666; John Boran who was transported to Isle of County Wight, Virginia by William Dawson in November, 1635 - another notation states that "John Boran died Novembre 20, 1635," but whether or not this was the same John Boran is uncertain; John Boreing who was one of nineteen persons transported to Nansemond County, Virginia, in 1656 by George Abbott, and he shortly afterward appeared in Norfolk County where several of the name settled, including one Edmund Boreing who migrated to Currituck County, North Carolina, and whose descendants used the spelling Bouren. [1]
John Boreing of Nansemond and Norfolk was the progenitor of the Maryland Boreing - Boring - Boren families, having migrated to Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1670. [2] He was granted large tracts of land by King Charles II upon which the city of Baltimore now stands, and was one of the first justices of Baltimore County until his death in 1690. His widow Ann (believed to have been Ann Sawyer) married Captain John Ferry of "Black River". The known children of John Boreing and Ann were a daughter Ann (who may have been by a previous marriage), and sons John (who married Presotia (1) and Sarah (2) - he died 1750, born 1683); James who married Rebecca and died 1738; Thomas who was married and died 1723. There were probably other children, among whom may have been Absalom and Joshua Boring. [3]
Numerous descendants of John Boreing migrated to the Watauga in Tennessee between 1778 and 1800, including Absalom and Joshua Boring and James Boren, the latter of whom married as his second wife in Baltimore County, Maryland, Sarah (Boston) Tipton, widow of Luke Tipton who died 1774. There are numerous descendants of these families residing in the Watauga region to this day.
One branch of the Boren family of Maryland appears to have gone southward very early with Christopher Gist. These were William, Charles and Joseph Boring (brothers) and perhaps others, who settled on North Hyco Creek in Orange County, North Carolina (now Caswell), prior to 1749. Christopher Gist (who was a relative of the Boring family in Maryland) [4] and his son, Christopher, Jr., apparently constructed a cabin in the Mulberry Fields, Anson (later Rowan) County, North Carolina, on the Yadkin River where that river comes nearest the Virginia line. [5]
In 1750 Christopher Gist was induced to accompany an expedition into the Ohio River country by the Ohio Company, and he later accompanied General George Washington on a mission to the French in the capacity of guide. [6]
Nathaniel O. Gist, Jr. lived at Mulberry Fields many years with his Indian wife. He is said to have been the father of the noted Cherokee Indian sage Sequoyah. [7]
The Boren - Boring family of Orange County, Virginia, first appear upon record in the tax list of 1755 as follows:
Charles Boring - 1 white
William Boring - w/his 2 sons - 7/2 negroes - 3 white
Joseph Boring & 1 negro - 1 white - 1 black [8]
An even earlier court record shows that "Joseph Boring to serve jury duty", dated June, 1753 [9] while another record shows: "February 1764 - Ordered that Joseph Bowring be appointed overseer of the road from North Hico to head of Enoe & John Thompson from thence to town." [10]
When the Stamp Act was passed in 1765, the frontiersmen protested violently and rightly that all local court clerks, county officials, sheriffs, justices of the peace, etc. were all appointees of the governor, that local government was corrupt and unjust, and that the burden of taxes was being placed upon the frontier settlements.
In 1765 the "Regulators" were organized, led by influential dissenters from various sections of the Carolinas, who used every means, legal and forceful, to have their grievances aired in the case of "taxation without representation."
"Yet though many men have maligned the unhappy Regulators, no man has dared to reflect upon the 'patriot of '76' who thus brought to such glorious end the struggle the Regulators began and in which they fought, bled, and died." [11]
The primary leader of all the Regulators in North Carolina was Joseph Boren of Orange County. Following the Battle of Alamance, at which the Regulators were defeated by the colonial forces, a proclamation was issued by Governor Tryon pardoning all Regulators who were willing to "come in...lay down their arms, take the oath of allegiance and promise to pay all taxes." However, he excluded from this amnesty "all the outlaws, the prisoners in the camp, and the undersigned persons..." naming "Joseph Boring" and thirteen others. [12]
Joseph Boren was born circa 1720, either in Maryland or the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It is reputed that "Joseph Borin's father was James Borin, and James' father was William Borin of Maryland." [13]
Joseph Boren, the Regulator, died in Orange County, North Carolina, in the spring of 1775, [14] a forgotten hero of the Revolution who died a year before his dreams of freedom and equality were realized.
The following will is recorded in Orange County, North Carolina:
"Then came before me William Lea, one of his Majesty's justices of the Peace of the county of Orange, and John Currie and James Culbertson, both planters and made oath that they on the 11th of this month heard William Boring on his death bed will in presence of Charles and Joseph Boring. To Charles he left a piece of gold value of 30 shillings, also a negro boy which Joseph Boring may keep or pay his brother Charles the sum of 30 pounds - to be paid by said Joseph, when it suits, without any process of law to be commenced against his brother Joseph. All rest of estate to Joseph Boring and his heirs forever."
June 20, 1768 -William Lea
John Currie
James Culbertson [15]
William, Joseph and Charles Boren were brothers and there were probably others, including John Boren (1726- 1821) who lived for a time near Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, then removed to South Carolina and later to Tennessee where he died in Sumner County.
Charles Boren is first enumerated in the 1755 tax list of Orange County, North Carolina, and is again mentioned in the will of William Boring in 1768 and is known to have married Mary, whose name has not been determined.
The children of Charles and Mary Boren, as near as can be determined, were as follows:
In about 1763 Thomas Kilgore and five sons arrived in Orange County and settled on North Hico Creek as neighbors to the Borens. Thomas Kilgore and his son Charles (who was born circa 1744) became Long Hunters and Bazel Boren accompanied them on several expeditions into the wilderness. The year 1763 may have been the first year they went out. [16]
The next neighbor south of Charles Boren on North Hico Creek was Obediah Terrell, [17] one of the greatest of the Long Hunters. In 1767 Bazel Boren and Thomas Kilgore joined Terrell on the Clinch River in Powell's Valley and established "Kilgore's Camp" on Grassy Creek in what is now Scott County, Virginia. A few years after this event, both Bazel Boren and Charles Kilgore settled at this site and established forts.
It would be interesting to learn whether or not Bazel Boren had ever been out prior to his visit to the Clinch River in 1767. The only family record which would give us this information states only that Bazel Boren "went out in 1769 on the great hunt when he was not yet twenty years of age." [18]
The "great hunt" was organized in 1769, the parties meeting eight miles from Fort Chiswell on New River, consisting of more than twenty-five men, of whom the following are known: Gasper Mansker, Bazel Boren, Elisah Wallen (whose descendants married into the Boren family on the Watauga), Obediah Terrell, John Rains, Abraham and Isaac Bledsoe, Joseph and John Baker, Joseph Drake, Uriah Stone, Henry smith, New Cowan, Robert Crockett, William Carr, James Dysart, Thomas Kilgore, Jacob Harmon, William Crabtree, James Aldridge, Thomas Gordon, Humphrey Hogan and Castleton Brooks. [19]
The men passed as a group through Cumberland Gap into the wilds of Kentucky where they established a station camp (in what became Wayne County, Kentucky), thereby disbursing into smaller groups less likely to frighten the game. On what is now Matthews Creek, branch of Roaring River in Overton County, Tennessee, the Indians fired upon one group of men from ambush, killing Robert Crockett.
These groups of men stayed out throughout the season, some of them wintering int he wilderness that year. At the same time, Daniel Boone and several companions were in the same region, and according to one source, [20] the parties encountered each other on several occasions.
Between the years 1770 and 1773, Bazel Boren became closely associated with Daniel Boone and they likely were acquainted from much earlier. Their association probably came about through the mutual acquaintance with the Gist family.
In the year 1773, Bazel Boren was living on the Clinch River, Virginia, with Charles Kilgore who had recently taken out a land claim on Copper Creek, about two miles north of Blackmore's Fort. [21]
At this time Daniel Boone, recently returned from Kentucky, had gathered his family on the Yadkin River in North Carolina and prepared to return to settle the wilderness under an agreement with Richard Henderson. Boone relates:
On my return, I found my family in happy circumstances (he having been out several years). I sold my farm on the Yadkin, and what goods we could not carry with us, and on the twenty-fifty of September, 1773, we took leave of our friends and proceeded on our journey to Kentucky, in company with five more families, and forty men that joined us in Powell's Valley..." [22]
Among the forty men who joined them in Powell's Valley were Joseph Drake, Gasper Mansker, Thomas Kilgore, and Bazel Boren. Again, quoting from Daniel Boone's account:
On the tenth of October (1773) the rear of our company was attacked by a party of Indians (in Powell's Valley) who killed six, and wounded one man. Of these my oldest son (James) was one that fell in the action. Though we repulsed the enemy, yet this unhappy affair scattered our cattle and brought us into extreme difficulty. We returned forty miles to the settlement on Clinch River..." [24]
Boone resided near Captain Russell's (whose son was also one of those killed) during this time, while a rare list of tithables enumerated in William English's district shows on lower New River region on the Holston near Blackmore's Fort, "Morgan Bryan, tithable for the year 1773." [24]
Morgan Bryan was the uncle of Rebecca Bryan, wife of Daniel Boone. Born in 1729 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Morgan Bryan, married Mary Forbes in Virginia in 1747. Their children were: James Bryan born circa 1749, died previous October 14, 1796; Morgan Bryan, III, born 1750, married 1781 Maxemilly Simpson, died 1815; Joseph Bryan, born 1751, married Easther Hampton 1772, died 1830; Rebecca Bryan born circa 1754, married Mr. Morgan; Mary Bryan, born circa 1756, married Samuel McMahan, died 1829; George Bryan, born February 15, 1758, married (1) Elizabeth Neal Rodgers 1780 (at Bryan's Station, Kentucky) and (2) Mrs. Cassandra Miller; John Bryan born circa 1762 (nothing known of him); Susannah Bryan born circa 1760, Forks of the Yadkin River, North Carolina, married circa 1777, Bazel Boren.
Colonel Daniel Boone was placed in charge of the frontier forts on the Clinch River during the period of 1773 to 1775, and undoubtedly Bazel Boren was a member of the militia during this period. At the same time, Bazel Boren apparently took up land as attested to by a document dated May 7, 1782, Washington County, Virginia, which states: "Surveyed for Bazelet Bowen (sic) two hundred seventy acres of land in Washington County by virtue of a certificate from the commissioners of...Washington and Montgomery Counties...lying on the south side of Copper Creek a branch of Clinch River (description follows)...We the commissioners for the district of Washington and Montgomery Counties do certify that Bazelet Bowen is entitled to four hundred acres of land by settlement made in the year 1774 lying in Washington County on Copper Creek within two miles of Huston's Fort..." [25]
The reason that Bazel Boren did not enter his land in the year 1773, as did his associate Charles Kilgore, is that apparently he was away from the Clinch. It is believed that Bazel Boren probably accompanied Daniel Boone. William Bryan and others into Kentucky in the late fall (there is a record which shows that Boone and Bryan were both on the Elkhorn that season.)
There can be little doubt that Bazel Boren was involved with Boone in the Cherokee campaigns during this period of time. There is a lengthy account of Bazel Boren's part in an Indian raid upon the Clinch settlements during this time and the pursuit of a party of Indians who murdered a member of the Cowan family.
In the fall of 1775, the Boone party - consisting of the Bryan, Sparks, Calloway, Grant and other families, including Bazel Boren, resumed their journey to Kentucky began just two years before. They cut out the "Wilderness Road" and founded Boonesborough on the banks of the Kentucky River.
From Boonesborough, Daniel Boone, William Bryan, Morgan Bryan, Joseph Bryan, Bazel Boren, and perhaps others went northward to the banks of the Elkhorn where William Bryan planted corn and built a cabin. [26]
Bazel Boren, Morgan Bryan III, Gasper Mansker, Thomas Kilgore, Col. John Montgomery, and perhaps others travelled southward from the Elkhorn into what is now Robertson County, Tennessee, and camped at the junction of Sulphur Fork and Red River.
In November 1775, Mansker detected signs of Indians and left his companions to investigate. As he watched the camp of two Indians, one of the braves arose and walked towards him and Mansker was forced to shoot. The Indian turned and ran about fifty yards past his own camp and fell dead over a bluff into the river. The other Indian fled the camp hurriedly.
Mansker returned to his companions and they gathered up their camp and went back to the Indian camp only to discover that the second Indian had gathered up his belongings and left. They knew that if the Indian reached his tribe and gave warning, their lives would be forfeit, and so the men tracked him throughout the night and following day but, unable to come up to him, they left the country, returning to Boonesborough. [27]
In 1776, due to Indian hostilities in Kentucky, many of the families returned to their homes in North Carolina and on the Clinch River, Virginia.
The reminiscences of George Bryan (Bazel Boren's brother-in-law, to be found in the Draper collection, informs us that his brother Morgan Bryan III and "several others of my kinsmen" went to explore the Cumberland in Tennessee and "the country westward" with Daniel Boone in 1776. Although space does not permit a full recounting of the information, there is evidence which shows that an incredible even may have taken place during this period. Apparently, Daniel Boone and others of his companions including possibly Bazel Boren (inasmuch as they were together in the westward party), explored into the headwaters of the Missouri River in what is now the state of Idaho! A tree exists to this date, recently preserved from that location, bearing the inscription: "D. Boon 1776".
George Bryan's reminiscences give us further information about this period of time: "My father (Morgan Bryan II), my brother James and others had been out in 1775 through the Green River country, in the barrens and in Tennessee exploring. My brother James had been out nine months and had remained on Clinch, when the others went in...Boone was here three months alone without horse, dog, or friend. He was in the wild country of the west..." [28]
In February, 1777, an old French trapper of New Orleans recited how with surprise he encountered at "Deacon's Pond" on the Cumberland River, near the present town of Palmyra, in Montgomery County, Tennessee [29], an "encampment of six white men and one white woman who made their way through to the upper waters of the Cumberland at the end of the preceding year, and there built them a boat and floated down some four hundred miles to Palmyra and landed. What became of them afterward tradition says not...[30]
History has never been kind enough to reveal the name of the mysterious white woman - the first in west Tennessee - but one wonders seriously if it was not Susannah Bryan who married Bazel Boren sometime in 1777 and may have accompanied him on this journey.
There can be little doubt that this party was that mentioned by George Bryan in the Draper Manuscript as his kin who went out to "explore the Green River country and the barrens in Tennessee" that season. From George Bryan we learn the identity of some, while speculation and circumstantial evidence tells us the others: Gasper Mansker, Bazel Boren, Morgan Bryan, Sr. and Jr., Thomas Kilgore and Wilson Hunt, who comprise the "six white men", while James Bryan, as George Bryan attested, returned after nine months in Tennessee and was not sighted by the old French trapper.
In February, 1777, the Indians attacked Boonesborough and began a series of depredations which lasted several years. In the spring of 1778, Daniel Boone was captured and carried away, during which time Rebecca Bryan Boone returned to North Carolina with her relatives and Bazel Boren returned apparently to the Clinch River settlements.
In 1777, Bazel Boren and Susannah Bryan were married, probably in Washington County, Virginia (the marriage records were destroyed) and in the same year, Bazel Boren is listed as one of those commissioned as a lieutenant of the militia. [31]
The first child born to Bazel and Susannah Boren was Mary Boren, born September, 1778. Sometime during this period, Bazel was also joined in Washington County, Virginia, by his brother, John Boren, who married Sarah Alley, daughter of Peter Alley of Washington County.
In March, 1779, Bazel Boren accompanied his brother-in-law George Bryan and others to the Elkhorn in Kentucky where they planted corn and cleared land until May. In July they returned for their families and brought them to Kentucky, and in September of that year, Susannah's parents, Morgan and Mary Bryan came out. By late fall, seventy families were on the Elkhorn, over four hundred in number, the nucleus of the settlement which became famous as "Bryan's Station". Susannah remained on the Clinch until July, for George Bryan relates:
"William Bryan brought one daughter, single, and William Grant brought his wife and also a single daughter...These were all the women that came out in the Spring..." [32]
Bazel Boren remained at Bryan's Station through the winter of 1779-1780 and took up land in what became Bourbon County. The Indians attacked Martin's and Russell's Stations in the late summer of 1780 and the families once again returned to the Clinch and to North Carolina for protection.
Bazel Boren, together with his father-in-law, Morgan Bryan II and Morgan's brother, James Bryan, fought at the bloody Battle of King's Mountain, October 7, 1780. Bazel Boren was a lieutenant under Captain William Edmondson (killed) and Captain James Dysart of Col. William Campbell's Virginia Regiment.
Captain Dysart was a Long Hutner and close associate of both Bazel Boren and the Kilgores. Thomas Kilgore, who had remained in Tennessee, living in a cave, travelled all the way to Virginia to participate in the battle with his five sons: Charles, Hiram, Robert, William, and James. Hiram Kilgore was killed, Charles and Robert both wounded. (Ed. Note: the five sons mentioned were actually the sons of his brother Robert Kilgore of Orange County, North Carolina, not the sons of Thomas Kilgore).
Even more ironic was the fact that Samuel Bryan, brother of Morgan, William, James and John Bryan and an uncle of Susannah Bryan Boren, was a Tory Colonel, in command of the North Carolina Tory Regiment which fought against Samuel's own brothers at King's Mountain! John Bryan was killed by Col. Edward Fanning upon information provided by his brother, Samuel Bryan, and a desperate feud persisted between the brothers.
Space does not permit a full recounting of the battle which has been covered in many other accounts, but suffice it to say that Bazel Boren so displayed his courage in this combat with Ferguson's British troops that "Boren's River" near the battleground was named for him (now called Broad River).
Following the Battle of King's Mountain, Morgan and James Bryan returned to their families at Bryan's Station, Kentucky, while Bazel Boren apparently returned to the Clinch River where he appears upon many records between 1780-1782.
Sometime during this period, as we have noted, Bazel Boren was joined in Washington County, Virginia by his father, Charles Boren, and brothers William and John Boren and probably others. The following records of Washington County are of particular interest:
"6 May 1782 - William Boren enters 100 acres on Grassy Creek, waters of Copper Creek, being the place where said Boren lives." [33]
"29 May 1782 - James Dysart enters 100 acres on waters of Copper Creek taking in a large spring on the road going from Charles Boren's to the Clinch." [34]
"18 June 1782 - Alexander Ritchie 300 acres on north side of Copper Creek including the Big Spring and on both sides of the road leading from (Patrick) Porter's Mill to Boren's Fort to include Kilgore's Camp." [35]
"30 August 1782 - Thomas Alley, assignee of Peter Alley, 150 acres of land on waters of Copper Creek, joining the lines of Basil Boren's lines to include the mouth of Big Branch, the mouth of Grassy Creek and up the creek for improvement." [36]
On November 20, 1782, Thomas Faires and Bazel Boren were again recommended for lieutenants of militia [37] Tax lists and other records show John and William Bowen who apparently arrived from Caswell County, North Carolina, between 1780-1782. [38] Space does not permit a recounting of the court and other records concerning these persons in Washington County, Virginia.
In 1782, Thomas Kilgore organized a company of men to accompany him back to Tennessee for settlement in the Red River country where they had explored some years before on several occasions. We know the names of some of these persons, most of whom were from the Clinch River: Bazel Boren, William Boren, John Boren, Charles Boren (others of the family), Martin Duncan, Morgan Bryan III, Charles Kilgore, Moses Maulden, Ambrose Maulson, Samuel Mason, Josiah Hankins, William Crabtree, "and several other families." They arrived in the latter part of the year 1783 and erected a fort called "Kilgore's Station" near Sulphur Fork of the Red River. Thomas Kilgore remained ever afterward and died on his farm where he had first lived in a cave. He is buried in Villines Cemetery, Robertson County, Tennessee and his tombstone reads: "Thomas Kilgore - Major, North Carolina Militia, Revolutionary War 1715-1823", having died at the age of 108 years!
In 1784 Col. John Montgomery and Col. Martin Armstrong founded the town of Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, and shortly afterward the town of Palmyra was founded, Bazel and Stephen Boren becoming among the first lot purchasers.
In nearby Sumner County, Gasper Mansker founded Mansker's Station and Morgan Bryan III (brother os Susannah Bryan Boren) took up land adjoining Bazel Boren and soon after there was Renfro's Station and Prince's Station and several other settlements. The new settlers formed a militia and government and called it Mero District, the first justices of which were Col. John Montgomery, Bazel Boren, Andrew Jackson (later president of the United States), Archibald Roane, Samuel Donelson (a brother of Rachel Donelson, wife of Andrew Jackson) and others. The first cases brought before this court concerned Andrew Jackson and a horse and the widow Stewart in which William Boren was a witness. [39]
In the spring of 1787, Bazel Boren is enumerated with his brothers John and William in the Davidson County, Tennessee, tax list, but shortly thereafter, removed with his family to Bryan's Station, Kentucky, where he resided until 1789, near his father-in-law, Morgan Bryan II. Little is known of his activities here except for the following:
"Petition No. 54...Your petitioners are induced again from the hardships and disadvantages they labour under: by being connected with the county of Bourbon. Your petitioners live in the Limestone settlements near the Ohio River and are detached from every other inhabitant of said county - at least thirty miles, except a small settlement at the Blue Licks, etc...We your petitioners therefore do pray that a division of sd county be made...from Blue Licks...to Russell County line...to Boon's Creek...to Stoner's Fork...to the Kentucky River...etc." [40]
The above petition was dated August 25, 1787 and signed by among others, "Bazal Borns."
The following letter was written while Bazel Boren yet resided in Fayette County near Bryan's Station, and is self- explanatory:
"Five pound reward, Edward M. Dole left Cumberland on the 10th inst. (February) with a horse which he stole (description of horse and man follows)...whoever apprehends the said thief and horse, and secures them so that the owner may get his horse again, shall receive the above reward; or if the thief be committed to jail, and the horse delivered to the care of Mr. Morgan Bryan of Fayette County, or Mr. Andrew Layer of Linn County, shall receive the reward (signed) John Boren." [41]
The year 1790 saw Bazel Boren back in Tennessee, active in civil and military affairs too numerous to recount in this limited space. In 1791, following the organization of Tennessee as a territory, with William Blount as governor, the following record is noted:
"Gen. Daniel Smith, 1791, March 7 - June 14. At the treaty ground (King's Mountain). List of persons appointed by Governor Blount and changes in military and civil officers in Tennessee: Bennett Searcy, Thomas Johnson [42]...Samuel Donelson, Henry Johnson (father of Thomas), John Montgomery, Basil Boran...[43]
In 1796 Tennessee was formed into a state and a constitutional convention was held at Knoxville, and the delegates to the convention from Robertson County, newly formed, were: Thomas Johnson, James Ford, William Fort, William Prince and Robert Prince. No mention is made of Bazel Boren, but a notation in the Robertson County, Tennessee Court records states "... and that Bazil Boren be appointed a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Knoxville..." with no further mention of whether or not he attended.
What is known is that Bazel Boren was appointed at this convention as the first justice and register of the newly formed Robertson County, Tennessee, together with his brothers William, John, Stephen and Moses who all held some office, as did his brother Francis Boren. Stephen and Moses Boren were the first constables. [44]
The following letter (paraphrased) was written to Morgan Bryan II by Mary Bryan McMahan, sister of Susannah Bryan Boren:
"To Mr. Morgan Bryan
living in Virginia (Kentucky)
Fayette County near Lexonton These
North Carolina Roan County September the 16th 1793
Honoured Father and Mother I gladly embrace this opportunity of leting you know that we are all in good health at present. We received your letter by the hand of Mr. Enoch Bryan hearing of your health gave us much Satisfaction also hearing of piece and plenty in yours parts of the Country...Weather very bad the wet not permitting us to work our crops...yet we are blest with plenty...I received a letter from Bazel Boren with much satisfaction dated June the 29 which says they are all well...your affectionate children till death.
Samuel McMahan
And
Mary McMahan
Please to let brother Morgan know that I have sent to him by Enoch Bryan three dollars and a half...rental monies,etc." [45]
In 1800, Morgan Bryan, Susannah's brother, sold the last of his land in Tennessee to Bazel Boren. [46] Bazel continued to be the dominant figure in county records of Robertson County, Tennessee, until the year 1809 at which time he resigned his commission as register and removed with his family to Johnson County, Illinois.
The children born to Bazel and Susannah Boren were as follows:
Bazel Boren resided in Johnson County, Illinois, until his death, which occurred in 1812. His wife, Susannah, petitioned for the care of the "two infant children, Mourning and Coleman."
The climax to Bazel Boren's career as a Long Hunter and explorer came about when Daniel Boone, on a return visit to Kentucky in 1810, set out to locate all of his old friends and companions, such as Michael Stoner in Wayne County, Kentucky, and Simon Kenton in Indiana. On this visit, Boone stopped at the home of Bazel Boren in Illinois and before leaving, left Bazel his trusty old dog "Neddy", named no doubt for Boone's brother, Edward "Neddy" Boone who was killed by Indians in 1780.
The old dog gained fame when he "saved the early settlers from marauding panthers." [47]
The author of this account is the grandson of William Coleman Boren, son of Coleman Bryan Boren, who in turn was the youngest son of Bazel and Susannah Boren. Bazel Boren's grave has never been located, and while his widow was residing in Union County, Illinois in 1818, she was absent from the 1820 census.
Coleman Boren married as his first wife, Malinda Keller, born in Rowan County, North Carolina. They had met at a dance in Union County, Illinois, and were married there in 1830. Shortly thereafter, Coleman Boren joined the Mormons and suffered the persecutions endured by them in Missouri. He was appointed by Brigham Young as President of the Pisgah (Iowa) Branch of the Church and came to Utah in 1851, settling in Provo, Utah Valley. Here he died in 1858 after serving in the Indian wars. His second (polygamous) wife was Flora Maria Kingsley, who was the great grandmother of this writer.
The Boren family is steeped in the traditions of pioneering and exploring. Coleman Boren named one of his sons Albert Boone Boren, in honor of Daniel Boone, and this family pioneered Utah, Arizona, and points west.
Francis Boren, brother of Bazel Boren, was the grandfather of Carson Dobbins Boren, founder of Seattle, Washington. Other Borens were pioneers of Texas, California, Oregon; and numerous descendants live in these regions today.
The Boren family, whose traditions originate in Southwest Virginia, have not been well known, but will, because of their accomplishments, not soon be forgotten.
Footnotes: [1] Cavaliers & Pioneers of Virginia; wills of Currituck Co., NC [2] Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland, Liber 12, Folio 589 [3] John Boreing, Maryland Planter, Edwin G. Boring, typescript, copies in Virginia State Library and Maryland Archives [4] Reubin Boren of Baltimore County, Maryland, son of Thomas Boren and Elizabeth Welsh, and a great-grandson of John Boreing; married Miss Vaughn, daughter of Abraham Vaughn and Edith Gist, she being a granddaughter of Christopher Gist, Sr., and a niece of Nathaniel Gist, companion of Daniel Boone. [5] History of North Carolina, Ashe, Volume 1, page 282 [6] ibid, p. 277 [7] Report of Bureau of Ethnology, 1898. Mooney & Payne, mss, p. 108- 109 [8] American Heritage Service, Vol. I (1967), 1755 tax list [9] Abstracts Minutes Court Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Orange County, NC [10] ibid [11] Colonial Records of North Carolina. Saunders, Vol. III, prefatory notes. [12] ibid [13] Wells and Allied Families, Guy H. Wells, Milledgeville, GA, p. 73. [14] Orange County, NC Will Book A, page 188 [15] ibid, p. 93 [16] Charles Kilgore of King's Mountain, Hugh M. Addington, 1935 [17] Orange Co., NC tax list, 1755, op. Cit [18] Reminiscences of Peter M. Wentz, Provo, Utah, who married a granddaughter of Bazel Boren. "Bazel Boren was a short, heavy-set, dark-complected man" [19] Further information on these men can be obtained in Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia. Southwest Virginia Historical Society Publication No. 5, March 1970, "The Long Hunters" by Emory L. Hamilton [20] George Bryan of Paris, Kentucky, Draper Manuscript Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society (George Bryan was the brother-in-law of Bazel Boren). [21] Washington County, Virginia deeds [22] "Daniel Boone, An Account of His Adventures," published in Early Indian Trails by Hon. O. H. Smith, 1858; originally presented in Family Magazine, 1836. [23] ibid [24] William English's Tax List of New River Tithables, Virginia State Library [25] Land grant and deed records, Washington County, Virginia; surveyors records, 1782. It is also interesting to note that "Huston's Fort" was erected by William Huston (1757-?), great-great uncle of Gen. Sam Houston of Texas. Mary Houston, sister of James Houston, married Joshua Boren of Watauga, TN. [26] J & D Bradford vs Abraham McClelland, Hughes, KY, Reports, p. 195; "And the deposition of Daniel boone was read, in which he states that he located a preemption of 1,000 acres...to include a camp made by himself and William Bryant (sic) on the north side of the Elkhorn..." etc. The deposition further states that said camp was made prior to 1775, and perhaps as early as 1773 the site had been visited by them. [27] Tennessee Cousins, Worth S. Ray, p. 393 [28] Draper Manuscript, 22C-22. [29] Bazel and Stephen Boren were among the first lotholders here. The county was named for Col. John Montgomery who visited the site with Boren and Mansker in 1775. [30] Picturesque Clarksville, Past & Present, p. 11 [31] Washington County, Virginia court minutes, 1777 [32] Draper Mss, op cit, William Bryan was married to Mary Boone, sister of Daniel Boone, while William Grant married Elizabeth, another sister, Edward "Neddy" Boone, brother of Daniel Boone, married Martha Bryan, sister of the Bryan brothers. Edward Boone was killed by Indians in the fall of 1780 [33] Surveyor's Entry Book from 1780, Washington County, VA, p. 33. [34] ibid, p. 36 [35] ibid, p. 40. This is where Thomas Kilgore and Bazel Boren first camped in 1769. [36] ibid, p. 46. Y. Thomas Alley was a brother and Peter Alley the father of Sarah Alley, wife of John Boren [37] Washington County, Virginia court minutes, 1782 [38] Caswell Co., NC tax list 1777, Gloucester District: Susannah Boran, widow of Joseph Boran; James and William Boran (sons of Joseph); and William Boran, "son of Charles Boran." [39] Court Records, Mero District, North Carolina [40] Filson Club Publication No. 27 (KY) [41] The Kentucky Gazette,Lexington, KY, March 7, 1789 [42] Bartlett Searcy was one of those who was captured with Daniel Boone in 1778 and carried to Detroit but was later released. Thomas Johnson was the father of Cave Johnson, postmaster general in President Polk's cabinet [43] Draper's Tennessee Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, 4 XX 22 [44] Robertson County, TN court minutes, 1796 [45] The John D. Shane Papers, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA, Mss Sh 18 B 8455 [46] Henry County, KY deed books, 1800 [47] Letter of Judge Alley D. Boren of San Bernardino, CA, a grandson of John Boren and Sarah Alley