Tinker Deed Map
Washington County, Tennessee Tombstone Inscriptions by Charles M. Bennett and the Watauga Association of Genealogists. Information used with the permission of Lorraine Bennett Rae.
From volume 2, page 209 – entry 70
“Located on the P.P. Tinker property on Roaring Creek in the 1st district of Washington County. It is on the left of Hwy 107….”
LOCATION – The exact location of this single, rock marked grave has not been found. From prior maps and review of a few deeds, it is believed to be near 202 Roaring Creek Road. Several residents of the area were canvassed and none could ever recall seeing any such marker. The resident of 202 was aware of the map indicator and had searched his property with no results.
DEEDS – A conveyance from Ira Green to Joseph M. Arrington (Deed Book 30, Page 348 – Nov 7, 1845 but not recorded until 1848) was for about 6 acres. Metes and bounds were so general that an overlay to current tax maps was not possible. The first call mentions the east side of Roaring Creek and Reuben Gann’s stable. No conveyance from the Arrington family to others has been found.
The Tinker family owned much of the property from Hwy 107 south along Roaring Creek, so no deeds have been concise enough to establish a location of this burial ground.
It is interesting to note that in the 1850 census, one Thomas Arrington and family was enumerated next to David Seaton and Reuben Gann. Was Joseph the same person as Thomas, or perhaps a father or brother, who actually owned the land? The 1850 census shows Thomas declaring a 100 value to his land owned, however. No deeds were found for Reuben Gann, and the Seaton family is well established on the west side of Roaring Creek.
BURIALS – In the Bennett book, the burial is recorded as “Orval J. Arrington, d May 19, 1814, aged 3…2” The death date is suspect, based upon the deed history noted above.
It may be that the death date should reflect 1847 – Carvings on rocks could easily allow such confusion, if the etchings were not deep enough to be clearly read. 1847 would seem to fit the deed history a bit better.
No other record for Orval J. Arrington has been found.
Surveyed, transcribed and donated to the Washington County TNGen Web July 2015 by Gordon M. Edwards, member of the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee.
Copyrighted 2015 by the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee. No part of this work may be copied without written permission from the Cemetery Survey Team.