Cocke County, TNGenWeb
Mantooth Family

Submitted by Brenda Schwall

Our First Mantooths

The nickname "Cherokee Tom" came from the 1907 "Indian Application" of two of the great-grandchildren and will be used to indicate Thomas Mantooth, Sr. It was stated that this was Thomas Mantooth's nickname in the neighborhood where he lived.

The earliest proven documentation for our Mantooth branch of the family is the marriage bond for Thomas "Cherokee Tom" and Elizabeth Phariss Mantooth who were married under the name Montuth/Mantuth in Shenandoah County, Virginia, in 1785 (bond dated Sept. 3, 1785, bondsman: Samuel Phariss.) His father-in-law, Samuel Phariss, was a tenant of Andrew McKay and was taxed in 1785 for one dwelling and ten white souls under the name Jaris, Samuel, on the Abraham Keller Tax List.

Thomas Mantooth appeared in the 1787 Shenandoah County Virginia Tax List owning two horses and two cattle . His father-in-law, Samuel Phariss, was taxed as one white male with three horses and nine cattle.

Samuel Phariss joined the Big Pigeon Baptist Church in what is now Cocke County in June of 1790. Thomas Mantooth joined the Big Pigeon Baptist Church in December 1792 by letter.

"Cherokee Tom" (Thomas Mantooth) appeared in the Jefferson County, Tennessee, Court Minutes 1792-1795 by Douthat on November 9, 1793, when a deed was proven and recorded from John Baldridge to Thomas Mantooth. Cherokee Tom paid 100 L for 250 a. on the northeast side of Big Pigeon River. The only adjoining land ownermentioned was a Moses McCoy/McKay.

Thomas Mantooth and Ebenezer Leith were securities for Samuel Phares who was appointed quardian of the heirs of John Cheers, dec. (P. 234 of original, date unknown), and Thomas Mantooth and Samuel Phares were both on a list of jurors in the State vs. Jacob Beem, Augusta McKinney, Rollin McKinney and Daniel Beck. (Assault and battery on Mary Buchkner, p. 235, date unknown.)

Mary Mantooth Burke (presumed daughter of Cherokee Tom and Elizabeth) stated she was born in Virginia in 1788 and their presumed son, John Mantooth, claimed to have been born in Virginia in 1789. They could even have had an earlier child born in Virginia. According to Lee descendants, Margaret, wife of Stephen Lee, was supposed to be their eldest child, born in 1786. The time frame certainly fits. That would make their migration to TN between 1789 and 1792. Possibly they came with Samuel Phariss by June of 1790. We have no evidence of where they were in between times.

Neither of the sons, Thomas Jr. and probably a Robert, or Samuel appear in the 1880 census to give us more information. Thomas Jr. died by 1835, according to the Jefferson County suit against his heirs. William Mantooth (1803) and James Mantooth (1807) are also ascribed to  Cherokee Tom  and Elizabeth, as well as two other daughters, Letty Virginia Mantooth Hall (1795) and Elizabeth Mantooth? Frazier (1796), by reason of their birth years. Elizabeth Mantooth (age 86), born in Virginia, was living with Elizabeth Frazier and her husband, Benjamin, in the 1850 census; we presume from the age that the elder Elizabeth was her mother, Elizabeth Phariss Mantooth.

I have cut off the list of children for "Cherokee Tom" and Elizabeth at 1807, although there could be others born after that date; Elizabeth was only 43. If so, they were probably girls, for the males who appear in the 1840 and 1850 censuses begin the repetition of the names of the "original" children.

The list of children of Thomas Jr. and Letitia Dillon as given in the suit against the heirs of Thomas Jr. does not list a Robert but another male is listed in the 1830 census. In their application for Indian Lands, two granddaughters of the heirs list a Robert, whom they said moved to Polk County and died there around 1900. The Robert Mantooth who married Hetty Mantooth, daughter of Samuel and Litha Pharris died in Polk County. There was included an affidavit from a Robert Mantooth of Polk County who was 73 in 1895. This is the Robert they probably referred to, although some of the information he gave is incorrect, as was the information their father, James Wilson Ford, (age 85 in 1895), also swore to. Both claimed that Thomas Jr. and Thomas Sr. lived until the 1850's. We know that is not correct from the suit, the 1839 tax lists which show both Elizabeth and Letitia as property owners, and the census records, which don't list them at all.

If we accept the fact that "Cherokee Tom" died one year after his son, Thomas Jr., as stated in the Indian Applications, then the years of death might be 1835 and 1836. I have also seen the date 1832 in some references but cannot find its source. Any time between 1830 and 1835 could be correct. This discrepancy is noted in the Indian Applications. I think that the information is based partly upon ramblings because neither man could have known the Thomas Sr. and Jr. for over 20 years. Robert, definitely a grandson, was born around 1822 and would have been a teen when both Thomases died.

James Wilson Ford was born in 1809 and grew up in Haywood County, N.C. His older brother, Tipton Ford, married there in 1825 and moved to Cocke County, where he appears on the 1830 census. James does not appear on the census of 1830, but he should have married around that time. The birth year of his eldest child, Letitia Ford, is given as 1830 or 1833. Based upon the ages of the rest of the children,1833 is probably closer to correct. Their next child was born in 1836. James Ford could only have known the Thomas Sr. and Jr. for a few years.

These are the proposed children of "Cherokee Tom" and Elizabeth Phariss Mantooth and their offspring:

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