Wataugan Ancestors

Permalink Reply by Maureen MacDonald on August 1, 2010 at 5:15pm

"George Rusel" or George Russell is my 4th Great-grandfather. His daughter Lydia married Col. James Roddye (his second wife). They settled in and named Russellville for George. Mary 'Polly' Roddye married William Stanton Leuty and settled at Old Washington--making them my 3rd great-grandparents. Their daughter Sidnah married second James F. Ladd. He was the sheriff of Rhea county for a time. After the Civil War they moved to Walla Walla, Washington. Their daughter Mary was already living in Washington Territory, and she is my great-grandmother.
I have many more detail on this family, if any of you are my cousins contact me, please. Maureen

Permalink Reply by Johnny Dee Morris on July 6, 2011 at 6:56am

I am direct descendant of Gideon Morris. He helped form East Tennessee with land grants. Also Morristown is named after him. My family line can be found at Smokykin.com

Permalink Reply by Heather Isbell Kramer on December 12, 2011 at 9:54am

Hi Maureen,

This is very interesting. I did research a long time ago for a Leuty descendant of William Stanton Leuty, but no longer have the files. How interesting that I cross paths with that name again. Genealogical serenditpity.

Permalink Reply by Debbie Winchell (Loving Dove) on August 25, 2011 at 10:06am

My mother and I are direct descendants of Indian traders Christopher CHOATE and his son Emanuel Choate. They both married Cherokee women. Emanuel Choate signed the Watauga petition. He was killed during the Battle of Lookout Mountain about 1774. I've read the his death was written about, so I should look it up.

About the same time period I have another family in the area. The only thing I know for sure is that Ulrich BEELER died 1805 in Sullivan Co., TN. His wife was named Martha. It's possible that I'm descended from his son Joseph Beeler born 1775. I know I'm descended from a man who has been documented as Joseph PEAVLER born 1795 in Sullivan County. The curious thing is that Joseph was marked as part white on the federal census records. The name Peavler has had many different documented spellings and seems to have come from the German surname Buehler.

Joseph married Mary Ann RIDGE, who also appeared to have Native ancestry. I've had a heck of a time finding her family. However, I found Dalton and Simon Ridge involved in the State of Franklin.

It's very interesting to find ancestors of my mother involved in a biracial frontier community. I have found a similiar community on my father's side in western Massachusetts.

Debbie

Permalink Reply by Debbie Winchell (Loving Dove) on May 12, 2012 at 3:30pm

Information that I found earlier makes it less likely that Emanuel Choate was the father of my Elizabeth Nancy Choate. Somewhere along the line I read that another branch of the Christopher Choate family was in North Carolina. That looks more promising.

Permalink Reply by Rosemary Taylor on December 7, 2011 at 11:27pm

I have been to Sycamore Shoals and the fort where I purchased the book, "The Overmountain Men, by Pat Alderman. It is full of names, and I will do look-ups.

Permalink Reply by Debbie Winchell (Loving Dove) on January 29, 2012 at 1:14pm

Rosemary, thank you so much! Would you please look to see if there is anything for Ulrich Beeler and his son Joseph? I'm descended from his son. Ulrich also had a brother Joseph. Is there any information for men with the last name of Ridge? I believe there were a few.

Permalink Reply by Rosemary Taylor on December 11, 2011 at 10:21pm

One of my ancestors in Watauga was William Triplett. He died 28 Jan 1782, Hanging Rock, Watauga, North Carolina. Their daughter, Nancy (1776-1850 Adair, KY), married John Sanders (1771 Wilkes, NC-1839 Adair, KY). Their daughter, Telitha (1805 KY - 1882 Phelps Co., MO), married John Smith (1801 Clay, KY - 1784, Phelps Co., MO).

Permalink Reply by Gaye Plunkett on January 6, 2012 at 3:57pm

I'm a direct descendant of Zachariah Isbell. I'm very interested in learning more about the Watauga Association and other descendants.

Permalink Reply by Gina Hicks on May 1, 2013 at 9:08pm

My ancestor is Charles Robertson, father of Julius who also signed the petition with him, and Julius later removed to Buncombe Co. NC (his lands later became part of Yancey Co.) and his grandson Julius had several sons there, one of which, Moses Peterson Robertson (my 2nd great grandfather) came back to Carter County and married Margaret Esther Tipton, daughter of Jonathan. They are buried in Sullivan County. I am still trying to find the grave of Charles if anyone has information it would be soooooo appreciated :)

Permalink Reply by Arthur Little on March 12, 2014 at 11:03am

Hi to all. I'm Richard Little and I can trace my ancestry back to Valentine b. 1780 and Orra/Arry Little who lived on the south side of the Holston near present day Bluff City, Sullivan County, Tennessee. There is a group of 7 of us from the Little DNA project that trace ourselves back to four men (Andrew b.bef 1740, Valentine b. 1753, Mathias b/ bef 1755 and George Little b. bef 1755), all with 1782 NC deeds on the Holston River. Andrew Little appears to be the patriarch of our group. Right now our genealogy path seems to go thru Mathias then Andrew but still gathering evidence on that one.

Andrew Little had the 20th deed in the Watauga Deed book dated Nov 1775. Andrews plot contained nearly 400 acres and the Bluff City Park Island, slightly east of present-day Bluff City, Tn. The Watauga deed was reissued in a North Carolina deed of 1782 with about 100 acres less. Valentine Little had a 1782 NC deed of 100 acres adjoining Andrews plot to the east on the south bank of the Holston River. George Little owned about 400 acres directly across the river on the north bank of the Holston. There is a fourth Little, Mathias, who had another 1782 North Carolina deed adjoining Andrews deed to the south.

I recently found that Valentine Little b. 1753 (son of Andrew) was one and the same as Valentine Klein/Cline of Linoln County, North Carolina who died late 1801. There was a lot of what looks like land consolidation on both the Holston area around Bluff City 1784-1792 and some of the same people in Lincoln County, North Carolina. I keep seeing a 2 year to the month buy, sell of land. That tells me there were rules about buying and selling. Id love to know what was going on there. Im the curious kind. grin

In 1774 when the order to build forts was issued by the governor I have found a record of a "Little Fort" of the Watauga deed of 1775 for Andrew Little.

All 4 of these men I can trace from 1770 from New River Settlement, Virginia, over to Blackmores Fort in Scott County Virginia in 1774 with Looney Company and Boone. Then down to Womacks Company in 1776 and both Andrew and Valentine from Womacks listed on Christians Expedition against the Cherokee.

Andrew Little appears to be Andreas Klein born in Europe of Germanic blood who arrived in the colonies in 1752. Valentine Klein was baptized in 1773 at Trinity Lutheran in Lancaster PA. (If your descendants are of German ancestry Trinity is a great place to look. Ive found both maternal and paternal ancestors with records at Trinity) Working on obtaining further information to verify these are the same people but looks good so far.

I have a copy of Mary Kegley's "Soldiers of Fincastle" and several other reference materials that relate to the area and time. If anyone needs a look up just give me a shout out. Looking thru the previous comments I hadn't noticed anyone mention the original hand written Watauga Deed book on ancestry.com. If you can handle the cursive writing of the day it is a great reference as well.

Richard

Permalink Reply by Rebekah Williams Cessna on October 23, 2014 at 10:05am

Thanks for the sources! Michael Hyder is an ancestor of min with German roots. I'll look for those books!

Wataugan Ancestors

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