JOHN SEVIER,
pioneer, soldier, statesman, Governor of the State
of Franklin, first Governor of the State of Tennessee.
Born September 23, 1745, in the portion of Augusta County that later included in Rockingham
County, Virginia; son of Valentine and Joanna (Goad or Goade) Sevier. Described as having had a fair education at Stanton,
Virginia; studied law and admitted to bar of Southwest Territory, May 6, 1796. First married, 1761, in that portion
of North Carolina later to become Washington County, Tennessee, to Sarah Hawkins, daughter of Joseph and Annake Jane
(Edwards) Hawkins; she died early in 1780; children by this marriage-Joseph, James, John, Jr., Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary
Ann, Valentine, III, Rebecca, Richard, and Nancy Sevier; second marriage August 14, 1780, to Catherine
(“Bonnie Kate”) Sherrill, native of North Carolina and daughter of Samuel Sherrill; children by this
marriage-Catherine Sherrill, Ruthe, George Washington, Samuel, Polly Preston, Eliza Conway, Joanna Goode,
and Robert Sevier. Lived for some ten
years at New Market, Virginia, where he engaged in farming and trading; laid off town lots in New Market;
established a tavern.
Soon after 1770, he became interested in the Watauga settlements in portion of North Carolina to be included in
Tennessee; named one of commissioners of Watauga Association; moved family, 1773, to Tennessee country, arriving,
December 24 or 25 of that year, in Holston settlements; after two or more moves, settled on Nolachucky River about
ten miles from Jonesboro, Washington County, North Carolina, later in Tennessee, living on plantation “Plum
Grove.” Public career in Tennessee country, began in 1776; he with James Robertson were officers in charge of
defense of Watauga settlements against attacks by Cherokee Indians; in same year served as delegate from Watauga
settlements to Provisional Congress of North Carolina which framed that state’s first constitution; made lieutenant
colonel of militia, 1777, and colonel of militia, 1780, and took part in
Battle of King’s Mountain latter year; clerk
of Washington County Court, 1778-85; governor of “proclaimed State of Franklin,” 1785-88; made brigadier
general for Western District of North Carolina, 1789; elected member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1st U.S. C
ongress, serving from June 6, 1789 to March 3, 1791, representing Western District of North Carolina. After Tennessee
country was organized into the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio, Territorial Governor William
Blount commissioned Sevier a justice of the peace for Washington County October 23, 1790; commissioned brigadier
general of Hamilton and Washington Districts.
Elected first Governor of the State of Tennessee, served constitutional limit of three successive terms of two years
each, inaugurated March 30, 1796, served to September 22, 1801; upon election as governor, Sevier removed to plantation
near Knoxville; elected governor again for three successive terms, September 23, 1803 - September 19, 1809. Served in the
House, 8th General Assembly, 1809-11; representing Knox County; earlier, had represented Greene
County in the Senate of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1789; had represented Greene and Washington counties
on Legislative Council of The Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio, commonly referred to as the
Southwest Territory, 1794, 1795. Elected to House of Representatives of 12th, 13th, and 14th Congresses, serving from
March 4, 1811 until his death; appointed,
1815, one of the commissioners to determine boundary between Georgia and Creek Indian lands is Alabama. Died while on
this mission, near Fort Decatur, Alabama, September 24, 1815; buried near Fort Decatur; re-interred at Knoxville June
18, 1889. In addition to duties connected with positions above, and to conducting his plantations, Sevier engaged
widely in land speculation and in Indian campaigns; elected a charter trustee of Blount College, 1794, Knoxville;
Greeneville College, 1794, Greene County, and Washington College, 1795, Washington County; named trustee of East
Tennessee College, Knoxville, 1807. Father of John Sevier, Jr., uncle of Valentine Sevier and of Charles Robertson
Sevier; grandfather of Robert Sevier Windle; great-grandfather of William R. Sevier; great-uncle of Valentine Sevier,
Overton County; sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.
Bibliography
Sources: Dictionary of American Biography; Biographical Directory of American Congress, Rothrock,
French Broad-Holston Country, 485-87; White, Messages of the Governors of Tennessee, 1, 1-2;
University of Tennessee Record, 1 (1898), pp. 262-63; Turner, Life of John Sevier, 14, 217;
Armstrong, Notable Southern Families, IV, 17-19, 159-299; Ellet, Pioneer Women of the West, 41;
Driver, John Sevier, Sevier and Madden, Sevier Family History, passim.
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