Henry Rogers and Elijah Rogers, petitioners

A few weeks ago I shared to a Facebook group, my thrill at seeing Henry Rogers' signature, along with Elijah's on a petition in 1788.  (The Facebook closed group is Sevier County Tennessee Genealogy Active Sharing.)

That was in the area that was then part of North Carolina, before Tennessee became a state.  The area was only identified as South of the French Broad River.  But other information states it was in Franklin, a proposed state that never became a reality, which was proposed because North Carolina didn't offer any protection to the settlers from the Indians...which was the purpose of the petition to the legislature of the young state of North Carolina.  It also asked the NC legislature to consider making a new county in this large area.  The several petitions apparently said much the same thing over 1788-1789.

Far right hand column, Henry Rogers is listed, with Elijah Rogers 6 below.  But the corker for me was seeing the microfilm of the actual signatures.

Henry and Elijah Rogers signed (or had scribe sign) petition 1788 Franklin NC

Someone mentioned in a comment that the photocopy indicated some of the signatures had probably been signed by the scribe who wrote the rest of the petition.  But interestingly enough, Henry Rogers and Elijah look to be signed in another hand.

FYI, Franklin wanted to be a separate state, in case you don't remember that part of history following the first 13 which became states after the American Revolution.  It had a constitution and governor, and lasted about 4-1/2 years, not being acknowledged by the Congress of the United States after many petitions for statehood.  see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Franklin

Background: basically North Carolina decided first in April 1784 to give the lands west of the Appalachian mountains (as far as the Mississippi) to the new United States to pay their share of the war debt.  Then a few months later, they changed their minds and it was still North Carolina territory, and supposedly receiving soldiers and judges in the frontier where new communities formed.

In the meantime, the settlers in that area (probably including the Rogers) were having Indian difficulties, based on all the different tribes making different treaties at different times.  

By August 1784 the new state of Franklin was formed.  But the constitution it originally offered to the inhabitants excluded lawyers, doctors, and preachers as candidates for election to the legislature.  It wasn't approved, so the laws of North Carolina continued until a new Franklin government and constitution came about in 1785, while the state of North Carolina had a rival county government in the same area.  Come tax season this must have been a quandary for the inhabitants.  Apparently Franklin government was willing to accept barter for payments due, and gave its citizens a 2 year reprieve of paying property taxes.

Native Americans (called Indians in almost all historic documents) had claim still to much of the land that whites were settling on, and the governments (new United States) and North Carolina, were making different treaties with different tribes.  Confusion and discord reigned with violence erupting frequently.  

The last meeting of the state of Franklin legislature was in September 1787.  The state of NC was threatening the state of Franklin governor (John Sevier) and insisted he pay his back taxes, and in Feb 1788 seized some of his property, including a slave.  There was an attempt by Franklin citizens to obtain him back, but the militia of NC fought them off, and several men died.  By Feb. 1789 Seivier gave his allegiance to the state of North Carolina, and the state of Franklin was no more.

"After the dissolution of the State of Franklin in February 1789, continued support of the separate state movement was confined largely to Sevier County, specifically in the country south of the French Broad River. The people there realized that the only entity recognizing title to their land holdings had been Franklin.  Both North Carolina and the Federal (Confederation) government supported the Cherokee claims as set forth in the Treaty of Hopewell, and considered settlers in the area "squatters". This led to the formation of a "Lesser Franklin" government, with an Articles of Association similar to the earlier Watauga Constitution. In 1789 these Articles were adopted at Newell's Station, which served as the seat of government for the wider area of Lesser Franklin, including all the settled country south of the French Broad.^[9]

"The Lesser Franklin government finally ended in 1791, when Governor William Blount, of the newly formed Southwest Territory, met the Cherokee chieftains on the site of the future Knoxville, and they made the Treaty of Holston. The Overhill Cherokee now acknowledged the authority of the United States government, and ceded to the Federal government all of their lands south of the French Broad, almost as far as the Little Tennessee River.^[9] 

Source of quotes from Wikipedia above: Sevier County Settlers vs. the Cherokee Indians; Tennessee Genealogy web online; accessed March 2014. 

The Henry Rogers and Elijah Rogers families were living in future Sevier County.  They were asking North Carolina for assistance, though also probably hoping the Lesser Franklin government would also help them.  If they were considered citizens of North Carolina, they wanted its protection from Indians.

The State of Franklin (in red) superimposed on a map of modern Tennessee

Note: Sevier County is east of Knoxville.  

Severe County, Tennessee

I'm adding this to Sepia Saturday this week...who had a prompt like this (and I haven't anything along those lines at all!)

Sorry about that, fellow Sepians... the ancestors signed on to have me feature them this week.  After all, Halloween is noted as the time when the veils between the living and those who have gone before (ancestors etc.) are thinest.  I also appologize for all the strange colors of type.  Computers seem to be haunting me also.

Today's quote:

The same pain that can blemish our personality can act as a creative force, burnishing it into an object of delight.

PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN

Taverns and gathering places

I don't think any of my immediate ancestors had come into Tennessee by 1775.  They were a couple of years later.  But these were people who were alive at the same time, hacking out settlements in a wilderness.  And since I live in the Appalachians these days, I am very awestruck by what a job that must have been.
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What can I contribute to the Sepia Saturday meme for this week?  (Others may post something that meets this suggestion HERE.)



Can I find something to do with racing, flags, pipe smoking, hats of different styles, women in long dresses sitting and looking around, or little girls with black stockings...?

And the actual print has this description at Sepia Saturday.
Opening Of Norwood Sports Pavilion (1909) East Riding Archives Flickr Stream

However faded the print may be,  the celebrations are clearly visible, with flags flying and the very best hats being worn. The occasion was the opening of the new pavilion for the Beverley Town Cricket, Bowling and Athletic Club, in Beverley, East Yorkshire. The eagle eyed amongst us may just notice a cricket score in the background. Whatever game you play and whatever theme you care to identify and follow in this fine old photograph, all you have to do is to post a post on or around Saturday 15th July 2017 and link it to the list below.

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Bean Station Tennessee never had anything to do with cricket, bowling or the kind of pavilion that is shown above, I'll just bet.

The Bean Station Inn, pencil drawing (not clear focus)

My Tennessee settling ancestors were coming from Virginia, over passes, along trails that may have been cut by Daniel Boone.

Tavern at Bean Station

The tavern pictured in my header at the very top of my blog is where my ancestors may have wet their whistles many years later, (1850) the ones who had trekked out to Willis, Walker County, Texas.  The Rogers landed there before the civil war, having settled originally in Tennessee in 1794.

(Here's the header pic that has since been changed...)

The Holston River ran along Bean Station and was the route taken towards what would one day become Nashville.  It runs into the Tennessee River, which runs into the Ohio, which runs into the Mississippi, thus this was a major river artery for going west.  But I dare say that the Rogers of Sevier County (further south in the mountains near the Smokeys) would have travelled by land.  Many of the families settled in northern Louisiana rather than going on to Texas.

Today Bean Station overlooks the Cherokee Reservoir, held behind a TVA dam and hydroelectric facility of the same name, located downstream from Bean Station.  TVA is the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built many dams and formed reservoirs all over Tennessee in the 1930s through 50s.  It was the aim to provide rural electricity to many people who lived out on farms a long distance from cities.  Telephones came about the same time, once poles and wires were laid.  And the reservoirs became lakes for recreation.

Today Bean Station is at the junction of US Highways 11W and 25E, and there is a crossing through several islands in the Cherokee Reservoir, or perhaps they still see it as the Holston River there.  Once you get on the south shore from Bean Station there's an Old Kentucky Road in Morristown, TN.

Red ball is Bean Station

Bean Station is about 2 hours from where I live, using an interstate highway system, crossing at least 2 of those TVA reservoirs, going through some tunnels in the mountains.

Property for sale in Tennessee currently