Member of Tennessee House, State of Franklin, 1785; representing Spencer County (now known as Hawkins); Speaker of the House; North Carolina SENATE, 1787; representing Hawkins County (then North Carolina, now Tennessee); Territorial Assembly, 1794, 1795; representing Hawkins County; Franklinite. Born in Halifax County, Virginia, in 1752; son of Colonel John and Rachel (Stockley) Donelson. Educated in field schools; surveyor and land speculator. Survey of Sullivan County, 1782; appointed surveyor for western lands by North Carolina legislature, 1784; surveyor-general for North Carolina; surveyor-general for State of Franklin. Captain, Sullivan County militia; major, Hawkins County militia, 1787; appointed by Governor Blount as lieutenant-colonel commandant of Territorial militia, 1790. Married in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, on April 17, 1797, to Mrs. Elizabeth (Glasgow) Martin, daughter of James Glasgow; no children. He later lived in Knox County, and spend his few years in Davidson County, where he died in September 1805. Son of Colonel John Donelson, sometime member North Carolina House of Burgesses and surveyor of the line between North Carolina and Virginia; son-in-law of James Glasgow, North Carolina Secretary of State; brother-in-law of Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States.

Sources: Draper Manuscripts, 2XX57; Armstrong, Notable Southern Families, II, 101; Williams, Lost State of Franklin, 87, 306, 313-14; Burke, Emily Donelson of Tennessee, I, 62-63, 118; II, 99; Rosters and Soldiers, 579; Donelson File, Tennessee State Library; information supplied by Prentiss Price, Rogersville.

From Biographical Directory: Tennessee General Assembly, 1796-1967, Issue 3