This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Farris, Webb, Roach, Lynn, Wharton, Watson Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/GeV.2ACEB/2155.1 Message Board Post: This is some of what I have on Elisha Farris and Robert Benge. ELISHA4 FARRIS (JAMES ESOM3, HENRY2, IAN ESOM1) was born Abt. 1745 in Lunenburg, Halifax Co., VA, and died August 26, 1791 in near Moccasin Gap, Russell Co., VA, killed by Cherokee Indians led by Robert Benge, a haf- breed. He married MARY VAUGHN April 01, 1765 in Charlotte Co., VA, daughter of THOMAS VAUGHN. She was born Abt. 1745, and died August 26, 1791 in near Moccasin Gap, Russell Co., VA, killed by Cherokee Indians led by Robert Benge, a haf- breed. Route of the Wilderness Road Some suggest that the origin of the Wilderness Road was at Fort Chiswell (Ft. Chissel) on the Great Valley Road where roads converged from Philadelphia and Richmond. Others claim the Wilderness Road actually began at Sapling Grove (now Bristol, VA) which lay at the extreme southern end of the Great Valley Road because it was at that point that the road narrowed, forcing travelers to abandon their wagons. It moved through the Allegheny Mountains at Cumberland Gap, at what is now the junction of the State boundaries of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Heading northwest, it splits at Hazel Patch--with one route creating Boonesborough, the other Frankfort. Today one can follow the main route from Bristol, VA to Middlesboro, KY then to Pineville, Mt. Vernon, and on towards Lexington on Interstate 75. Robert's father was John Benge, an Indian trader who lived among the Cherokee, and his mother was Wurteh who was part of an influential Cherokee family. [Robert's pedigree can be found in the genealogy database, "Our Ancestors."] John was previously married to Elizabeth Lewis, daughter of William Terrell Lewis and Sarah Martin, a prominent family originally from Virginia. Elizabeth's sister, Susannah Lewis married John's brother, Thomas Benge. John and Elizabeth had several children at their home in western North Carolina. These were William Lewis, Sarah, and Obadiah Martin. Apparently, John was also living with Wurteh at his home with the Cherokee (probably Toquo) and had several children born there. These were Robert, Utana "the Tail," Lucy, and Tashliske. After Elizabeth and the Lewis family found out about John's Cherokee family, their marriage was dissolved and Elizabeth latter remarried John Fielder and had other children. Wurteh also had a child from a man whose last name was Gist or Guess and their child became known to history as Sequoyah. Robert and Sequoyah were half brothers Circa 1788: Robert Benge was married to a Cherokee woman and settled at a site still called Benge's Field just south of present-day Trenton, GA. This was the Cherokee village called Lookout Town [from Evans, 1976]. Summer of 1791: At the Cherokee town called Running Water in present-day southernmost Tennessee, Robert Benge announced that he was going to start a raiding campaign against white settlers in southwestern Virginia. Five men joined him and they proceeded northward [from Evans, 1976]. August 23, 1791: Robert Benge's group raided the William McDowell house near Moccasin Gap (Russell Co., VA). Two whites were killed and an 8-year-old boy and woman were captured [from Evans, 1976]. August 26, 1791: Benge's group raided the Elisha Farris house. Four whites were killed and Nancy Farris, a 19-year-old girl, was captured [from Evans, 1976]. "August 26, 1791, a party of Indians headed by a Captain Bench, of the Cherokee tribe, attacked the house of Elisha Ferris, two miles from Mockison [sic] Gap, murdered Mr. Ferris at his house, and made prisoner Mrs. Ferris and her daughter, Mrs. Livingston, and a young child together with Nancy Ferris. All but the latter were cruelly murdered the first day of their captivity." [Bledsoe et al, in Summers, 1903, p. 438]