Short news feature (4:11) from WCRB television in Chattanooga, produced in 2020.
Intro text: “Peaceful today, the valley’s modern-day origins were quite chaotic.”
Category: Local History & Information Page 4 of 5
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Written by Miss Elizabeth Parham Robnett, County Historian and author of Bledsoe County, Tennessee: A History
By 1830, at least thirty veterans of the Revolutionary War had found their way to Sequatchie Valley. A few of them settling in the valley as early as 1805. Some taking an active part in the early government of the County. The majority of the veterans had served in the states of Virginia and North Carolina.
Probably the most popular of these old soldiers was Thomas Brannon. He was living in the county as early as 1818, at which time he applied for a pension. Legend has it that he was “one hundred and some years old.”
Others, [such] as Francis Hughes served under General John Sevier at the Battle of Kings Mountain; Charles Thurman and Chatten Pollard took part in the Battle of Yorktown and saw General Cornwallis surrender to General George Washington in 1781; Andrew Davis was born in the Waxhaw settlement of South Carolina and knew Andrew Jackson as a boy. Andrew McDonough, grandfather of Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, was living in Bledsoe County in 1816 and married for the second time, Rhoda (Sartin) Roberson, the widow of William Roberson; and John Tollett who was a member of the first court of Bledsoe County. Charles Thurman settled on Walden’s Ridge and drew a pension until his death in 1848. Greenberry Wilson, who settled at the head of Sequatchie Valley, lived there until his death in 1812.
John Narramore, who had served as justice of the peace of his county, was the last of the Revolutionary War Veterans in Bledsoe County. He died in June 1851.
George Walker and Samuel Billingsley had carried the rank of Captain in the fight for independence.
| More information about Revolutionary War patriots is available at the TNGenWeb Special Project, Tennesseans in the Revolutionary War. Click here to visit the Project’s Web site.
Additionally, information about specific veterans is available from the TN Society, DAR, and the TN Society, SAR. Click here for contact information. |
Revolutionary War Soldiers Who Lived in Bledsoe County
Compiled by Miss Elizabeth Parham Robnett
| Alexander | Dan |
| Billingsley | Samuel |
| Brannon | Thomas |
| Brown | Stephen |
| Crawford | John |
| Curtis | John |
| Dalton | John |
| Davis | Andrew |
| Doss | John |
| Ford | John Sr. |
| Hale | John |
| Hughes | Francis |
| Kelly | Alexander |
| Kerklin | George |
| Malaby | John |
| Mcdonough | Andrew |
| Narramore | John |
| Pollard | Chatten |
| Pryor | Matthew |
| Rains | John |
| Reed | Lovett |
| Roberson | James |
| Roberson | William |
| Smith | Laton |
| Standefer | Benjamin |
| Sutherland | Daniel |
| Thomas | John |
| Thurman | Charles |
| Thurman | Philip |
| Tollett | John |
| Walker | George |
| Wilson | Greenberry |
Most early settlers in Bledsoe county came from eastern seaboard states (North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina) or the counties of East Tennessee, primarily Roane, Grainger, Anderson, and Knox.
Expansion was rapid in the early days as lands opened following Indian cessions. More than 3,000 people settled in present-day Bledsoe County during the 5-year period between 1805 and 1810.
Early published Tennessee histories describe this westward and southern migration in great detail. Miss Elizabeth Robnett’s book, History of Bledsoe County, discusses specific factors regarding the establishment of settlements here.
U. S. Highway 27 and U. S. Highway 127 were important migratory paths for travellers before railroads were built.
Rosenwald schools were built to advance the quality of educational resources for African American students in the rural South in the 1920’s. Pikeville’s Lincoln school was erected through a Rosenwald grant.
Click here to learn more about Lincoln School and view more photos at the Sequatchie Valley Scenic Byways Web site.
Photo source: Sequatchie Valley Scenic Byways
This Web site includes a wide variety of local interest content and photography in an informative and educational format. Visitors will get a tremendous sense of what the Sequatchie Valley is all about. Click here to visit the site.
One of the best overviews of the Sequatchie Valley you will find on-line is Knoxville’s WBIR-TV’s Heartland Series feature from the 1980’s.
Bledsoe is divided into three distinct areas by nature…the Cumberland Plateau, Walden’s Ridge and the Sequatchie Valley.
The Cumberland Plateau was named for the Duke of Cumberland by Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginian. Sequatchie/Sequachee is of Cherokee origin and means “hog trough” or possibly opossum. There are two stories of the naming of Walden’s Ridge. One story supposes it is named for a hunter, John Walling who died there; the other suggests it was named for Elisha Walden.
Many early settlers were farmers. The rich fertile land around the Sequatchie River provided the perfect environment for corn crops that were the mainstay of the settlers.
The Bledsoe County Historical & Genealogical Society has published two hardback volumes of local photos.
For information, please contact BCHGS.
If you can add to this list, please click the button in the sidebar and e-mail the county coordinators!
Local
The Bledsonian-Banner newspaper Facebook page
Bledsoe County Senior Center Facebook page
Pikeville-Bledsoe County Chamber of Commerce Facebook page
Things to do in Pikeville Facebook page
Bledsoe County Courthouse Facebook page
Bledsoe County Weather Facebook page
Regional
Marion Co. TN Genealogy Chat Facebook group
Topical
Abandoned Tennessee Facebook group
Exploring Tennessee Facebook group
Tennessee Historic Structures Facebook group
Bledsoe County History Museum
Located in the Ross House
108 Frazier St, Pikeville, TN 37367
Ross House Medical Museum
The site is most widely known as the place where Dr. James A. Ross operated his medical practice in a small building behind the house. Both the circa 1872 house and the office building are being restored. In the 1940’s, the house served as the county’s second hospital. The committee is searching for the names of the Bledsoe “Boomers” who were born there.
108 Frazier St, Pikeville, TN 37367
Betty Dunn Nature Center
Natural history museum located in Van Buren County
10821 Park Rd, Pikeville, TN 37367
Dunlap Coke Ovens Museum
The Dunlap coke ovens are the remnants of a coke production facility near Dunlap. National Register of Historic Places site.
Mountain View Cir, Dunlap, TN 37327
Burritt College Museum
Located in Spencer, Van Buren County
Pioneer Hall Museum
Pioneer Hall is a historic school building in Pleasant Hill in Cumberland County. It was built for the American Missionary Association from 1887 to 1889 and designed by Reverend Benjamin Dodge, a Congregationalist from Maine. National Register of Historic Places site.
Rhea County Court House Landmark and Museum
Historical exhibits primarily related to the Scopes trial in 1925.
1475 Market St, Dayton, TN 37321
Cumberland Homesteads and CCC Museum
96 Highway 68, Crossville, TN 38555
White County Heritage Museum
144 S Main St, Sparta, TN 38583
Palmer Miner’s Museum
2115 Main St, Palmer, TN 37365