A message forwarded from and by permission of Pansylea Willburn. Subject : Re: [KYWAYNE] FIRST INHABITANTS of WATAUGA "I also research extensively (lines other than my Wayne Co., KY ones) in the area you describe below, some of which became, first, Greene Co., North Carolina, and then Greene Co., Tennessee, and during the time when there was a State of Franklin, records are there for many of these people. My family the Casey/Kersey family went to the Watauga area, Greene County in 1785 and settled on Lick Creek. Court records, often in the same record, use the two spellings interchangeably. It should be Kersey, but most descendants used Casey. The Kersey family was fleeing from the Indian wars/burnings in Washington Co., PA, land which was originally the old Yohagania County, VA. Some of the settlers on Lick Creek in the early to mid 1780s made this same migrational trek. Others came directly from VA or NC. Some of the names below I know well because of their marriages, etc. into my family. These people were frontier people, not weak of heart, used to fighting and surviving. I think the Lew Bowyer below is the attorney Luke Bowyer who practiced in Greene Co..and was a bondsman at one or two of my Casey/Kersey marriages in the State of Franklin (Greene Co.) in 1786. The Buller mentioned is Bullard in most records and at an early date (1786) one of them also married into my Casey/Kersey family. Many Bullard families for over a 100 years named a son Bowyer Bullard (see Missoui records, etc.) and some named sons Casey Bullard. In using this list, please remember that spelling was not standardized! Many of the readers of your list below will recognize historically important names in early Tennessee history. It is interesting to me that young Andrew Jackson also registered with the Greene County court to practice law, when I think he was just in his late teens or early twenties. I have written all of this to suggest that, if any reader, wants to pursue some of the names on this list that they contact the Greene County, TN Genealogical and Historical Society and get back issues of their quarterlies which published the yearly early tax lists for Greene County. Also, there are two wonderfully detailed and entertaining volumes of the early Greene County Minutes of the Court of Common Pleas (compiled by Goldene Burgner), which show many of these hardy people and their descendants going about their business of serving on juries, suing each other, occasionally breaking the law, establishing infrastructure for their communities, buying and selling land, and paying their yearly taxes. If I can find time, perhaps I can post one of the early tax lists for Greene Co. I wrote a short article a few years ago on spelling variations, and it was printed in the Greene Co., TN Historical Journal. One of the major difficulties with research for beginners is that they often assume that if a name isn't spelled in an old record just as it is today it isn't their family. I also wrote an article for them about the entertaining stories that emerge from the actual records in the 1780s in the Greene County court of common pleas. I don't have either of these in the computer I am using now, or I would cut and paste and send them to you. I am always interested in paths of migration. Some of these Watauga settlers and/or their descendants moved on to be pioneers elsewhere. A good example is David Lindsey/Lindsay who married one of my Kerseys. He was a Rev War soldier, as were many of these settlers, and he moved on to Shelby, AL where the local DAR chapter is named for him. My direct line of Kerseys moved to Grainger/Claibourne counties, TN by the late 1790's and to the area of Rhea, Hamilton McMinn Counties, TN around 1823 and on to Webster/Wright County, Missouri in 1842. They seemed to prefer new land on opening frontiers. I am struck by how many of the Watauga settlers' names I see in these "new" places, along with my Kersey family. They often traveled in groups. Best regards, Pansylea Howard Willburn >>>‘FIRST INHABITANTS of WATAUGA' >>>(From Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee) >>> >>>This document is without date. The original, now in the state archives >>>at Raleigh, North Carolina, has endorsed upon it, "Received August 22, >>>1776." >>>It was possibly drawn up in the early part of that year. >>> >>>John Carter, Chn. >>>John Sevier >>>John Jones >>>Charles Robertson >>>Jas. Smith >>>George Russell >>>James Robertson >>>Jacob Brown >>>Jacob Womack >>>Zach.[Zachariah] Isbell >>>Wm. Been >>>Robert Lucas >>> >>>The above signers are the Members in Committee assembled. >>>/s/ William Tatham, Clerk, P.T. >>> >>>Jacob Womack >>>Joseph Dunham >>>Rice Durroon >>>Edward Hopson >>>Lew. Bowyer, D. Atty >>>Joseph Buller >>>Andw. Greer >>>Joab X Mitchell >>>Gideon Morris >>>Shadrack Morris >>>William Crocket >>>Thos. Dedmon >>>David Hickey >>>Mark Mitchell >>>Hugh Blair >>>Elias Pebeer >>>Jos. Brown >>>John Neave >>>John Robinson >>>Christopher Cunningham >>>Jas Easeley >>>Ambrose Hodge >>>Dan'l Morris >>>Wm Cox >>>James Easley >>>John Haile >>>Elijah Robertson >>>William Clark >>>John (X) Dunham >>>Wm. Overall >>>Matt. Hawkins >>>John Brown >>>Jos. Brown >>>Job Bumper >>>Isaac Wilson >>>Richard Norton >>>George Hutson >>>Thomas Simpson ...< {see SHERRILL] >>>Valentine Sevier >>>Jonathan Tipton >>>Robert Sevier >>>Drury Goodan >>>Richard Fletcher >>>Ellexander Greear >>>Jos. Greear >>>Andrew Greear, jun. >>>Teeler Nave >>>Lewis Jones >>>John I. Cox >>>John Cox Jr >>>Abraham Cox >>>Emanuel Shote >>>Tho. Houghton >>>Jos. Luske >>>Wm. Reeves >>>David Hughes >>>Landon Carter >>>John McCormick >>>David Crocket >>>Edw'd Cox >>>Tho's Hughes >>>William Roberson >>>Henry Siler >>>Frederick Calvit >>>John Moore >>>William Newberry >>>Adam Sherrell >>>Samuel Sherrell, junr. >>>Samuel Sherrell, senr. ....{SEE SIMPSON] >>>Ossa Rose >>>Henry Bates, junr. >>>Jos. Grimes >>>Christopher Cunningham, senr. >>>Joshua Barten, sen >>>Joud. Bostin, sen >>>Henry Bates, jun >>>Will'm Dod >>>Groves Morris >>>Wm. Bates >>>Rob't Mosely >>>Ge. Hartt >>>Isaac Wilson >>>Jno. Waddell >>>Jarret Williams >>>Oldham Hightower >>>Abednago Hix >>>Charles McCartney >>>Frederick Vaughn >>>Jos. McCartney >>>Mark Robertson >>>Joseph Calvit >>>Joshua Hughton >>>John Chukinbeard >>>James Cooper >>>William Brokees >>>Julius Robertson >>>John King >>>Michael Hider >>>John Davis >>>John Barley >>> >>>Nothing has been found after the most careful examination, to show what >>>action was taken by the Provincial Council in reference to the petition. >>>It is probable, however, that in the exercise of its now omnipotent and >>>unrestricted authority, the Council advised the settlers to send forward >>>their representatives to the Provincial Congress at Halifax, as it is >>>known they did as delegates from 'Washington District, Watauga >>>Settlement.'" _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx