----- Original Message -----
From: Jemima Gee Morse <morse(a)shentel.net>
To: <KYMONROE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2000 8:41 AM
Subject: [KYMONROE] LONGHUNTERS AND THE CUMBERLAND
Following are two message posted recently at the Longhunters
RootsWeb list. To see the series posted about these early
histories, use the RootsWeb archive URL
http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl and type in
"Longhunter" for the list name and the search.
The first msg., was posted by the president of the Knott Co.
Historical Society, and the second by a Mr. Weathers and includes
these paragraphs:
"The above quote could easily mislead folks who are not familiar
with both
Tennessee history and geography. . . .
". . . However, close scrutiny of their sources shows a chain of
misinterpretations which are simply quoted by succeeding
historians. Henry Skeggs was in this area in 1775 to "survey"
land for Judge Richard Henderson after his purchase of all the
land between the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers from the from the
Cherokee earlier that same year at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga
River. This sale was later invalidated by the Federal
Government.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David R. Smith" <knothist(a)tgtel.com>
To: <LONGHUNTERS-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2000 12:41 AM
Subject: [LONGHUNTERS] Some Early Longhunters into Kentucky &
Tennessee
> If your families descend from these longhunters, we'd be
interested in
> your ancestries here at the Knott County Historical Society.
> Sincerely yours,
> David R. Smith, President
> Knott County Historical Society
>
> In the year of 1761 - Wallen's Station Camp Established. "The
long hunters went out together in large parties, built a station
camp, then fanned out in twos and threes to range and hunt over
large areas. The first known station camp established in
Powell's Valley was that of Elisha Wallen in 1761. It is
thought his party consisted of eighteen or nineteen men, but
since no list has been preserved, only the names of a very few
are known certainly to have been in the party. Wallen's station
camp, set up at the mouth
> Wallen's Creek, was probably like other station camps, built
of poles, sometimes only eight by ten feet, covered with
puncheons or bark, walls on three side, the front open, along
which a fire was built for warmth. Upright poles were set up -
often a
> rked pole was driven into the ground, with a cross pole on
which the bark or puncheons were laid, sloping toward the back in
order to drain melting snow or rain away from the fire. This
type of shelter was known as "half-faced" camps. Other times an
e
> ra large rock was used for the backwall of such a camp shelter.
Some of Wallen's party are said to have seen the eleven-year-old
carving of the name of Powell and so named the Valley, river and
mountain. Ambrose Powell had been a member of Dr. Thomas
> lker's exploring party of 1750." - Emory Hamilton.
> "In Wallen's party of 1761, some were known to hunt as
far away as the Cumberland River in western Tennessee. Among
those known to have been in this party, besides Wallen, there was
his father-in-law Jack Blevins, his brother-in-law, William
Blevins,
> arles Cox, William Newman, William Pittman, Henry Scaggs, Uriah
Stone, Michael Stoner, James Harrod and William Carr. "Two other
long hunters of Powell Valley were William Crabtree and James
Aldridge, both of whom were probably in Wallen's hunting part
> of 1761. Of these two, John Redd, says 'I have seen them both
frequently, but know nothing of interest connected with their
long hunts. More of an Indian scout and hunter than a farmer,
William Crabtree was a real backwoodsman, tall, slender and with
> ightly red hair."1
> "The Crabtrees lived on the Holston, a numerous family,
with many of the same name, therefore it is hard to distinguish
which William was the long hunter, but it is believed he was the
William who was a son of William and Hannah (Whittaker) Crabtree
wh
> e residence was at the Big Lick near Saltville. If so, he was
born in Baltimore County, Maryland, circa 1748. His first wife
was Hannah Lyon, sister to the long hunter, Humberson Lyon.
After her death he was married in 1777 to Katherine Starnes and s
> died in Tazewell County in 1818. The father of William
Crabtree, whose name was also William, lived near the Salt Works
(now Saltville) where he died in 1777.
> "At this time, William Pittman was in his early twenties, six
feet tall and of fine appearance. There were several Pittmans
and more than one named William. [Va. Mag. History. 1893]
> "Of this William Pittman, John Redd writes - see
February 1776.]
>
> 1. Va. Magazine History & Biography, Vol. 7, page 249.
>
----- Original Message -----
From: <Rainsman13(a)aol.com>
To: <LONGHUNTERS-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2000 7:30 PM
Subject: [LONGHUNTERS] Elisha Wallen hunting party in 1761
> << . . . "In Wallen's party of 1761, some were known to hunt
as far away as
> the Cumberland River in western Tennessee. Among those known
to have been in
> this party, besides Wallen, there was his father-in-law Jack
Blevins, his
> brother-in-law, William Blevins, Charles Cox, William Newman,
William
> Pittman, Henry Scaggs, Uriah Stone, Michael Stoner, James
Harrod and William
> Carr. . .
>
> * * * * * * * *
> 1. Va. Magazine History & Biography, Vol. 7, page 249. >>
>
>
> The above quote could easily mislead folks who are not
familiar with both
> Tennessee history and geography.
>
> First, the Cumberland River does not even flow into modern
West
> Tennessee. The western part of its loop exits Tennessee into
Kentucky near
> Dover, Tennessee about 10 east of West Tennessee. What is now
called Middle
> Tennessee was once considered the western part of Tennessee and
was referred
> to as the "Western District." I do not know of any evidence
that Wallen's
> party even got into Middle Tennessee. I believe the part of
the Cumberland
> River that Wallen's party reached in 1761 was part in what is
now southern
> Kentucky. At its closest point, this part of the Cumberland
River is only
> about 30 miles from the Cumberland Gap.
>
> The French had been in Middle Tennessee by the early 1700s
and had set up
> a trading post at French Lick, now Nashville. These traders
had arrived
> strictly by river routes in the early 1700s, but were driven
out by an Indian
> attack, off the top of my head around 1712. The earliest
Colonial explorers
> reaching Middle Tennessee by any overland route, to my
knowledge, that can be
> documented were James Smith, Joshua Horton (Houghton), Uriah
Stone, William
> Baker and a Negro slave teenager named Jamie in the latter part
of June 1766.
> See, for example, Justice Samuel Cole Williams' book "Dawn of
Tennessee
> Valley and Tennessee History," The Watauga Press, 1937,
(reprinted Blue &
> Gray Press, 1972), p. 323.
>
> There are persistent statements by some later day
historians that Henry
> Skeggs reached what is now Middle Tennessee as early as 1765.
However, close
> scrutiny of their sources shows a chain of misinterpretations
which are
> simply quoted by succeeding historians. Henry Skeggs was in
this area in
> 1775 to "survey" land for Judge Richard Henderson after his
purchase of all
> the land between the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers from the from
the Cherokee
> earlier that same year at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River.
This sale
> was later invalidated by the Federal Government.
>
> Cleve Weathers
> Nashville, Tennessee
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