 |
 |
Pioneered by Researcher Jack Cross First Sullivan CO, TNGenWeb County Coordinator
Index | Cemetery | Pension | Obituary | Census | Churches | Court House | Search | Civil War | Marriages
Though explorers, trappers, and hunters made trips into what is now East Tennessee and Virginia as early as the 1670's the first permanent settlements in Washington and Sullivan County did not occur until 1769. Most of the early migration to Upper east Tennessee was through the Great Valley which runs northeast to southwest from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to North Georgia. Even those migrating from North Carolina would many times travel up into Virginia then come down through the valley. Travel was made easier when Virginia opened a good road to the North-of-Holston are which enabled salt to be brought from the nearest lick (Saltville, VA) and goods from Baltimore and Philadelphia
In the 1780's the major “highways” consisted of Forbes Road, Zane's Trace, the Great Valley Road, and the Wilderness Road. There were also other routes that went to larger towns that were often initially established because of their location on a major river or they were major trading posts at the edges of “civilization”. One must also keep in mind that in addition to these land routes the rivers were also routes of mass travel. This includes the Ohio River, serving Cincinnati and Louisville and eventually entering the Mississippi River, and the Tennessee River, feed by the Holston, the French Broad and the Clinch Rivers going from east Tennessee south to northern Georgia and then turning north through middle Tennessee and then into Kentucky where it finally flows into the Mississippi River as well.
Many of the original settlers around the “Island of the Holston” (as Sullivan Co. was known then) were from Baltimore and surrounding areas in Maryland. As you can see the Great Valley Road from Pennsylvania, down the Shanedoah Valley of Virginia to the Island of the Holston River. Later settler's would begin to move west to Cumberland Gap and then north through Kentucky on the Wilderness Road.
After the American Revolution, settlers were drawn to the area of Sullivan County because of the opening of the western land, the need for North Carolina to pay its war debt and the desire to compensate those in the service of their country. It should be noted however that the lands grants of Washington and Sullivan County were purchase land grants. Though there were no military grants in this area, many of the soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War were compensated with land grants in what is now Davidson and Sumner Counties. Parts of Sullivan County, prior to 1779, were considered to be in Virginia and in fact many of the first grants were issued by that state. (See Same Place, Different Name) Still other parts were considered to be part of North Carolina. Many times the settlers ran into problems in getting their grants and deeds recognized. So it was for this reason the State of Franklin was formed. The state of Franklin with it's capital in Knoxville, Tennessee was of short duration and gave way to the formation of the state of Tennessee.
Even after the Tennessee became a state there still was changes for our ancestors of Sullivan Co. The area that consists of today's Sullivan County was first part of Washington County, Tennessee. Then in October 1779 the act was passed to form Sullivan County from “that part of Washington County lying north of a line formed by the ridge dividing the waters of the Watauga from those of the Holston, and extending from the termination of this ridge to the highest point of the Chimney Top Mountain”.
Last updated on 13 March 2005
© TNGenWeb (TNGenNet, Inc.), 1996-2008 This Sullivan County Home Page is copyrighted by TNGenWeb (TNGenNet, Inc.), a non-profit, public benefit corporation. The maintenance of this page is donated to TNGenWeb (TNGenNet, Inc.) by the Sullivan County host(s). You are welcome to copy information found on this Home Page for your personal use and to share this information with other researchers or genealogical organizations, but this information may not be sold or used in a commercial project without expressed permission of the TNGenWeb. Specified pages contain works and information used by permission of the author. These pages and information are for personal use only and may not be sold or included in any research or works for profit without the prior consent of the author.
This TNGenWeb Project website is hosted by USGenNet, a nonprofit web-hosting service solely supported by tax-deductible donations. If this website has provided you with useful information, please consider making a donation to USGenNet to help keep websites like this online.