Dalton and Simon Ridge

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maureen MacDonald on February 22, 2012 at 12:17pm

Hi Debbie,

Where did you find the State of Franklin Petition?  Do you have any other resources for records dealing with this time frame?  Would really like to acquire a copy of the Petition.  There seem to be very few documents from that time period avaiable.  Many of my relatives records appear to have been created in that 'balck hole'.

  Thank you for any assistance you can provide, Maureen

Permalink Reply by Debbie Winchell (Loving Dove) on February 22, 2012 at 1:05pm

One transcription is available here:  State of Franklin Petition  I see Dalton and Simon's last name was actually written Ridgs.  I wonder where I got Ridge from.  Knowing my luck, they went by Riggs.  I'll have to see.

I know about black holes, created by burned and missing church and town records and family bibles.

Permalink Reply by April Lee Payne on November 19, 2015 at 3:26pm

There was such a mess created when Colonel John Tipton openly worked against the State of Franklin. He hated my sixth great-grandfather, who only reluctantly agreed to be governor, since it's what the community wanted. Things got so bad that courts weren't even allowed to function. Tipton's men would raid the courts of Franklin (their main objective, to confiscate Franklin's papers) and Sevier would have to retaliate. I know James Sevier (the Governor's second son) did his best to hang onto the legal papers, being the Clerk, but many things were lost, sadly, in this debacle. I had to read several different accounts and see this thing from the various viewpoints to even begin to get a grip on what happened. I know there are maps that show what part of Eastern Tennesee was encompassed in the State of Franklin.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Tennessee_highlighti...