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Thought this might be helpful to some of you.... MORE THAN YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT JOHN SEVIER by Sheila Gibson Saint Francis XAVIER was canonized in Rome in 1622, his direct descendant, Don Juan XAVIER (SEVIER) fled from Paris to London after the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This was John SEVIER’s grandfather; and he was a French Huguenot. John SEVIER’s father, Valentine SEVIER, was born in London, England, probably after 1708. He & his brother, William, ran away to America. They arrived in Baltimore in 1740. Valentine first settled near Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, in the Valley of Virginia. He married Joanna GOADE & became a tavern keeper and Indian trader. He founded the village of New Market of the Shenandoah, Virginia. John SEVIER was born there on 23 Sep 1745. Because of Indian troubles about 1755, the family spent two years in Fredericksburg where young John was able to attend school. When they returned to New Market, they found all they had built there in ruins. John helped his dad rebuild the home, the store & the tavern. He was also able to attend the Academy of Staunton. In 1761 John SEVIER married Sarah HAWKINS (whose sister married Davy CROCKETT’s father, John). SEVIER ran a store in Middletown, Virginia, for a time. In 1769 William BEAN built a cabin on Boone’s Creek near the Watauga River and several families joined him there. Carter’s River Valley followed in 1771 & another settlement on the Nolachucky followed in 1772. Collectively, this area became known as the Watauga Settlement. Also in 1772 Cherokee Chief “Old Abraham” led 700 warriors in an attack at Watauga Fort. It was then that the famous Nancy WARD told the white settlers about the plans. Old Abraham held the fort in siege for six days before with! drawing back to the Chillhowee mountains. John’s wife, Sarah HAWKINS, was “delicate” & never moved from eastern Virginia. On a visit to see his family in 1773, Virginia Governor John MURRAY, Lord Dunmore, invited John SEVIER on an expedition against the Shawnee, Miami, Wyandot & other tribes north of the Ohio River. John was appointed captain in the Virginia line. The Battle of Point Pleasant has been called “perilous and fearful”. Troops at Point Pleasant were attacked by a large body of Shawnee under Chief Cornstalk (Keigh-ugh-qua). Valentine SEVIER & James ROBERTSON distinguished themselves in that campaign. In December 1773 John SEVIER moved his family to the Keywood district on the north bank of the Holston River settlement (near his good friend Isaac SHELBY), then to the Watauga River in 1775 & once more to the south bank of the Nolachucky (Greene County). It was from this place that folks started calling him “Chucky Jack”. SEVIER was very popular among the frontiersmen. William BEAN, James ROBERTSON & Jacob BROWN were all bringing settlers into the region. They also formed their own government which they called the Watauga Association. (All these frontier folks reportedly negotiated leases from the Cherokee who were actually living along the Little Tennessee. However, the Wataugans actually had no legal title to they lands they occupied until Richard HENDERSON of the Transylvania Land Company negotiated the questionable Henderson Purchase.) John SEVIER began as the clerk of the Watauga Association & quickly rose in both government & military leadership. In April 1775 the Revolutionary War began. In June General George WASHINGTON took command of the Continental armies; & the Watauga Association replaced their court system with a 13-member Committee of Safety. SEVIER was a prominent member of this group. He later drew up the memorial of the citizens of Watauga to the North Carolina legislature asking to be annexed. The petition was granted; and Tennessee became a county on North Carolina known as Washington district. John SEVIER & James ROBERTSON were at the Watauga Fort when it was attacked on 21 Jul 1776. At that time there were about 150 settlers staying there, including the garrison from Gillespie Station located below Jonesboro. Near the fort was a courthouse & jail erected by the Watauga Association. A second fort was later built “higher up Watauga on the north side” on land then owned by Valentine SEVIER Sr. From 1777 to 1780 John SEVIER served as county clerk and district judge. In 1779 SEVIER commanded the overmountain militia in innumerable Indian fights. With Colonel Isaac SHELBY, in 1780, SEVIER also planned the Battle of King’s Mountain, including raising 480 men for that campaign. Sarah Hawkins SEVIER died from childbirth complications in 1780. John SEVIER married Catharine “Bonnie Kate” SHERRILL that same year. On 25 Sep 1780 John SEVIER, some of his family members & more than 300 of his overmountain neighbors gathered at Sycamore Shoals (in Tennessee). Others there were patriots and soldiers from Virginia & North Carolina, about one thousand in all. The purpose was to answer threats in a message sent by British Major Patrick FERGUSON. On 7 October of that year the Americans met FERGUSON & the loyalist forces at King’s Mountain, South Carolina. The American’s overwhelming victory there was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. Eight detachments of militia surrounded the ridge. John SEVIER commanded that detachment of patriots from Washington County, North Carolina (eastern Tennessee). Two months later Sevier played a key role in the Battle of Boyd’s Creek. This time the fight was not against the British but against the Cherokee. In 1781 SEVIER conducted several expeditions against the Chickamauga towns including Highwassee, Toquo Town, Choa, Tellico, Little Tuskeegee & Chestuee. SEVIER was a lead figure in peace negotiations with the Indians as well. Big Island was renamed Sevier’s Island in his honor. In 1783 SEVIER moved to the south bank of the Nolachucky at a place he called Mount Pleasant (Greene County). John SEVIER helped create the State of Franklin (in honor of Benjamin Franklin) in which SEVIER was named governor in 1785. Franklin soon dissolved however. It lasted less than three years. SEVIER went on as a Democrat from North Carolina to the First Congress in 1789. In 1791 SEVIER was appointed Brigadier General of militia for the Washington District of the Territory South of the Ohio. In 1793 SEVIER conducted the Etowah campaign against the Creek & Cherokee which brought peace along the French Broad & the Holston settlements for the rest of SEVIER’s life. In 1796 he served as the first governor of Tennessee. In 1798 he was appointed brigadier general of the Provisional Army. Then in 1803 he served another term as governor of Tennessee. From 1811 until his death in 1815 SEVIER served in the House of Representatives from Tennessee. John SEVIER died in 1815 near Fort Decatur, Alabama. At that time, he was fulfilling a presidential appointment as commissioner to determine the boundary between Georgia and the Creek territory in Alabama. In SEVIER’s military career he won thirty-three battles out of thirty-five.