USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 40
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Dan Smith, who in 1774 was in command of all the militia forces and military defences on the frontier from Elk Garden to the Bluestone River, reported to Colonel Preston that, through fear of the Indians, Jacob Harman had moved his family "into the New River Settlement." Captain Smith also reported that, upon the recommendation of Thomas Maxwell, he had appointed one Israel Harman to act as a scout down Sandy Creek. These are all of the Harmans I find that came with the first settlers to the Clinch Valley.
Henry Harman, who settled on the Clinch east of the town of Tazewell in 1771, had two sons, George and Mathias that were noted as hunters and Indian fighters. They were with their father in 1774 when he had his terrific encounter with seven Shawnees on Tug River. A graphic account of this encounter, taken from Bick- ley's History of Tazewell County, is published elsewhere in this history. Captain Henry, as he was afterwards known, received two severe wounds from arrows shot by an Indian in the battle on Tug River. When struck in the breast with an arrow, Harman fell, and the Indians believed they had killed him. They subsequently boasted to whites, whom they had made captives, that they had killed "Old Skygusty," a name they had given the old man, for some unknown reason.
Captain Henry Harman had another son, Henry Harman, Jr., who came to Tazewell with his father in 1771, and was then only nine years old. When he reached manhood he married and built him a home two miles northeast of Tazewell. The place was after- wards known as the "John G. Watts Place." The act passed in December, 1799, by the General Assembly of Virginia creating the county of Tazewell, directed that the first term of the county court should be held "at the house of Henry Harman, Junior," and this mandate was complied with. The late David Harold Peery, of Ogden, Utah, a grandson of Henry Harman, Jr., in May, 1895, wrote a letter to a lady relative who was seeking information about the Harman family; and from that letter the following paragraphs are copied:
"Henry Harman, Jr., my grandfather, was born in North Caro- lina in 1762, and came to Tazewell with his father in 1771, and married my grandmother, Christina Harman, his cousin, a daughter of David Harman. Grandmother Christina Harman died in 1835. My grandfather, Henry Harman, built a large double log house in
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which the first court of the county (Tazewell) was held, in 1800. He was a very large man, weighing over 300 pounds, and 6 fect 2 inches in height. To get him out of the house after he died they had to take the door and facing out. He was a man of great intel- leet, honorable and high-minded; and left an immense estate of lands, negroes and stock. He married my grandmother, Christina Harman, in 1784, and he died in 1808, honored, loved and respected by all.
"The names of their children are as follows: Eleanor, my mother, who married David Peery; Daniel; Rhoda, who married John
Major David Peery was one of the first generations born in the present bounds of Tazewell County. He was the son of John Peery, who settled near the forks of Clinch River in 1772. Major Peery was an excellent man and popular citizen. He was born in 1777, the second year of the Revolution, and died in 1862.
Gillespie; Malvina, who married Alexander Harrison; Nancy, who married Hezekiah Harman, Jr .; Letitia, who married Addison Crockett ; Henry Wilburn Harman; Christina, who married Samuel Laird."
The David Harman mentioned by Mr. Peery may have been a brother of Henry Harman, Sr .; and he must have resided else- where than in Clinch Valley, as Biekley makes no mention of him. It is very evident that most of the Harmans now living in Tazewell County are direct descendants of the three brothers, Henry, Mathias
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and Jacob, who settled on the Clinch in 1771; and of Jacob and Israel Harman, who were living on Bluestone in 1774.
THE PEERYS IN TAZEWELL.
Several of the pioneers bore the name Peery; and they were not only valuable co-workers with the Clinch Valley settlers in the pioneer days, but they and their descendants since the organi- zation of Tazewell County have been rated among the most worthy and useful citizens. The Peerys were of the Scotch-Irish blood and came to Pennsylvania during the great exodus of these people from Ulster. From Pennsylvania they moved to Augusta County, Virginia. The Pcerys who settled in the Clinch Valley in 1772, or 1773, were all born in that county.
In 1773, Thomas, William and George, who were brothers, moved from Augusta County to what is now Tazewell County. They were sons of Thomas Pecry and were raised on Back Creek near Staunton, Virginia. Thomas settled a short distance west of the present town of Tazewell near the place where his son, Harvey G. Peery, afterwards lived, and which is still owned and occupied by his grandson, Squire George Peery; William fixed his home at or near the place where the residence of the late Albert P. Gillespie now stands; and George settled in Abb's Valley. Each of these brothers kept their homes at the place they first located until they died.
Thomas Peery married Margaret Dennis and they raised a family of eleven children, six sons and five daughters. They were: Jonathan, James, William, Thomas (Burke's Garden), Joseph, Harvey George, Mary, Rebecca, Permelia, Eleanor and Nancy. There are hundreds of their descendants now living in Tazewell County and adjoining counties, with many living in other States of the Union. Harvey George Peery, one of the sons of Thomas and Margaret Peery, represented the county of Tazewell in the Virginia House of Delegates at the session of 1844 and 1845.
William Peery married Sallie Evans, a sister of Jesse Evans, whose children were massacred by the Indians in 1779, at the old Buse Harman place, just west of the divide at Tiptop. When the county of Tazewell was created, William Peery gave thirteen acres of land for the county seat; and the public buildings-court house and jail-were erected thereon. During the Revolutionary War he did valiant service for his country in its successful struggle against
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British oppression. He accompanied George Rodgers Clark on his expedition to Illinois; and was with Captain James Moore's com- pany in General Greene's campaign in North Carolina, and fought with the splendid riflemen from Washington and Montgomery coun- ties at the battle of Guilford Court House.
William Peery had a large family. Most of his children, after marrying, went West. He had five sons, Robert, Evans, George,
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Residence of Major Harvey George Peery, son of Thomas Peery, the pioneer. It was built in 1838, and is located a short distance west of the corporate limits of Tazewell.
Thomas, and Henry Fielding-and seven daughters-Sophia, Emily, Cosby, Polly, Nancy, Olivia and Cynthia. One of his daughters married John Wynne, son of William Wynne. John built the residence where the late Captain Wm. E. Peery lived, a mile and a half east of Tazewell. Wynne sold the place to 'Squire Tommie Peery in 1852, and moved with his family to Missouri. Thomas and Dr. Henry Fielding Peery, sons of William, spent their entire days in the land of their birth. Thomas was one of the most popular and useful citizens of the county. He was its representa- tive in the House of Delegates at the sessions 1819-20 and 1823-24; and he was a justice of the county court for a number of years. Dr. Henry Fielding Peery was one of the most eminent physicians
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of his day, an assiduous student, and an able writer. Dr. Peery, because of his fine literary attainments, was persuaded to establish the first newspaper published in Tazewell, the Jeffersonville Demo- crat; and in 1851 he was the leading spirit in the organization of a society known as the Jeffersonville Historical Society.
I have been unable to find much relative to the family and career of George Peery, the brother of Thomas and William, who settled in Abb's Valley. In examining the old records of Mont- gomery County, I found in the Surveyors "Entry Book" of that county that in the year 1782 George Peery entered 400 acres of land on Bluestone Creek between Jno. Davidson's and Jno. Comp- ton's. And the records of the county court of Tazewell County show that he was a member of the first court held in June,-1800, and helped to organize the county. He had previously been a justice of the peace in Wythe County, before Abb's Valley became a part of Tazewell, and by operation of statute law was constituted a jus- tice of Tazewell County. He was a beautiful penman, as his signa- ture to orders of the county court are so fine as to attract special attention. He raised a family in Abb's Valley, but I have failed to learn the number and names of his children, or what became of them.
In the year 1773 John Peery, a cousin of Thomas, William and George, settled a short distance west of the present county seat of Tazewell, near Plum Creek. Two of his brothers, Solomon and James, settled near him and lived in the community for several years. Solomon moved with his family to some place on Big Sandy River, and James moved to Tennessee. This John Peery was sometimes called "Short Johnnie," to distinguish him from a kinsman also named John, and who lived on the Clinch. In the records of the county court I find that "Short Johnnie" is mentioned as "John Peery, Distillery". He had a distillery where he made apple and peach brandy, and corn whiskey. John and his son, Thomas, went with Captain James Moore's company to North Carolina in 1781, and were in the engagement at Guilford Court House. Thomas, the son, was killed in the battle, and John, the father, was desperately wounded, receiving fifty-four saber cuts that were inflicted by Tarleton's brutal British troopers while he was lying helpless on the ground. "Short Johnnie" had a large family, but I have only the name of one in addition to Thomas, who was killed. There was a son named John, who lived on Clear Fork, and he was known
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as "John Peery, Silversmith." It is certain that the Peerys who lived on Plum Creek were the descendants of "Short Johnnie."
There was another John Peery who came here in 1773. He tarried for a while on Clear Fork; and then moved on to the Clinch, where he settled permanently near the fork of the river, one and a half miles northeast of the present county seat. There he acquired a large boundary of land, which is considered by many persons the most valuable per acre of any now in the county.
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et
This was the home of Major David Peery, built by him in 1805, and one of the oldest houses now occupied as a residence in Tazewell County. It is now owned and occupied by Samuel C. Peery, son of Capt. Wm. E. Peery.
This John Peery was distinguished by the name of "Long John," and he is also mentioned in the county records as "John Peery, Blacksmith." He was born in Augusta County, Virginia, where he married Nancy Martin in 1772. Their children were all born in the Clinch Valley and their names were: James, David, Catherine, Jane, Archibald, George, and Jonathan. Of these, two of his sons, David and George, remained in Tazewell County and settled on the lands they inherited from their father. The others moved to Ken- tucky and Missouri. "John Peery, Blacksmith" died at Burksville, Kentucky, at the home of one of his children, about the year 1817.
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Major David Peery, son of John Peery, "Blacksmith", was born April 17th, 1778, in the Clinch settlements. In December, 1806, he married Eleanor Harman, daughter of Henry Harman, Jr. Soon after their marriage he built a comfortable log dwelling on the Clinch about one mile east of the railway station at North Taze- well. It is now the residence of Samuel Cecil Peery, and is one of the oldest houses still used as a dwelling in the county. Major Peery has a large number of descendants in Tazewell County and at Ogden, Utah, where his son, D. Harold Peery, died a few years ago at a venerable age.
THE THOMPSON FAMILY.
Bickley, in his history of Tazewell County, says nothing about the coming of the Thompsons to the Clinch Valley; and the male descendants of the pioneers of that name who are now living in the county seem to have little knowledge of when their ancestors came here and what they did after they became settlers. From Mrs. George W. Gillespie, of Tazewell, who is a great-grandaughter of William Thompson, a pioneer ; and Mrs. C. W. George, of Albany, Missouri, who is a great-great-grandaughter of the said William Thompson, I have procured very satisfactory information. With this, and such data as the county records supply, I will do the best I can in preparing a sketch of the Thompsons who were of the pioneers.
The Thompsons are of the Scotch-Irish people, who migrated from Ulster and settled in Pennsylvania. They came from that province to the Valley of Virginia, and thence to the Clinch Valley. In the Surveyors "Plot Book" of Fincastle County, which book is now kept with the records of Montgomery County, at Christians- burg, I find that Captain Dan Smith, assistant surveyor of Fincastle County, in the year 1774 surveyed for one William Thompson a tract of 229 acres of land, situated "on the north waters of the South Fork of Clinch River, Beginning at a black walnut at the foot of Morris' Knob." The date of this survey indicates that William Thompson certainly came to the Clinch Valley as early as 1774, and possibly previous to that date. If he ever lived on this tract, which he purchased from the Loyal Company, there is no evidence now in existence of his having such residence. He did, however. acquire under a settlers' right a large boundary of valuable land in
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the present Thompson Valley, six miles above Morris' Knob and built his home at the place where Milton Thompson, his great-grand- son, now lives, about six miles south of the town of Tazewell.
It appears that William Thompson, the first, was twice married. He had two sons, John and Archibald, by his first wife; and three or more sons by his second wife. One of the sons by his second wife was known as "Lawyer James Thompson." He was eccentric, but a man of ability, and was the first Commonwealth's Attorney for Tazewell County. Another son of the second family was named
Col. Archibald Thompson, one of the first generation born in Tazewell County. He was the son of John Thompson and a grandson of Lieutenant Rees Bowen.
William. He was called "Roan Billie", because of the peculiar color of his hair, which was red and gray in spots, somewhat similar to the hair of a roan horse. A third son of the second marriage was Andrew. He lived at the old home place after his father's death; and he erected the tombstones that mark the grave of his father and the graves of other kindred in the Thompson family graveyard. One of these stones records the fact that William Thompson was born in the year 1722, and died in 1798; and another stone gives the date of the birth and death of "Lawyer James Thompson."
John Thompson, son of William, married Louisa Bowen. She was a daughter of Lieutenant Rees Bowen, who was killed in the battle at King's Mountain. Archibald, his brother, married Rebecca
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Peery, a daughter of George Peery, who settled in Abb's Valley, and who was one of the justices of the first county court of Taze- well County.
John Thompson, after his marriage, settled in Thompson Valley, about three miles below Plum Creek Gap. He had four sons, William, James, Archibald and Walter, and several daughters. William, son of John, married Matilda Witten, daughter of James Witten, the famous scout. This William Thompson established his home at the foot of Clinch Mountain on the old wagon road which crossed the mountain to Poor Valley, and thence down through Laurel Gap, by Broad Ford, and on to Preston's Salt Works. His three brothers had their homes above his place on the road that then passed up the valley to the Plum Creek Gap. They each had large and valuable boundaries of land, most of which still remains in the possession of their descendants.
Archibald Thompson, son of the first William, after his mar- riage with Rebecca Peery settled in the upper seetion of Thompson Valley. at the place where Joseph Neal now lives. Archibald had four sons-William, George, John and James. He acquired an extensive boundary of land in the head of the valley, which he divided between his sons, William, George and James. Nearly all this land is still owned by his descendants. In 1813 he purchased from Captain James Patton Thompson a traet of three hundred acres of land in Burke's Garden, and gave it to his son John. The tract embraced the greater part of the four hundred acre boundary upon which James Burke built his eabin in 1753 or 1754. Rufus Thompson, grandson of Major Archie, as he was called, now owns and lives upon this noted and valuable farm.
THE BARNS FAMILY.
Robert Barns, the progenitor of all the people of that name in Tazewell County, was an Irishman by blood and birth. He was born about the middle of the eighteenth century and left the Emerald Isle when he was a mere youth. Tradition says his depar- ture from the land of his birth was occasioned by an escapade in which he and several mischievous companions succeeded in breaking up an Irish Wake-in that day a very grievous offense with the peasantry of Ireland. The young Irish emigrant located for a brief while in Maryland after he came to America, and then moved on to the present Roekbridge County, Virginia. From thence, he
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came to the Clinch Valley. His occupation was that of school- master, a class badly needed in that day in these regions. While engaged in teaching the boys and girls of the neighborhood, he took advantage of the liberal settlers' laws of Virginia and acquired what is now a splendid landed estate in the Cove, nearly all of which still remains in the possession of two of his great-grandsons, Wil- liam O. and Joseph G. Barns.
Robert Barns came here about the time the Revolutionary War was drawing to a conclusion. His wife was Grace Brown, and there was a peculiarity in the structure of her hands that continues to mark many of her descendants, even unto the third generation. Her fingers had no joints below the second, or middle, joints. It is said that her father and brothers and sisters had hands similarly formed.
Robert and Grace Barns had but three children at the time of his death, two sons and one daughter. They were William and John, and the daughter, whose name I have not found, married John Goodwin. Robert Barns died in 1802, and his will is one of the first recorded in the Will Book of this county.
William Barns, son of Robert and Grace Barns, married Levicie Ward, daughter of John Ward, the first clerk of Tazewell County, and grandaughter of David Ward, the pioneer. He inherited a large share of his father's valuable estate. During his entire life, after reaching manhood, he was one of the most prominent citizens of the county; and he represented Tazewell County in the Virginia House of Delegates at the sessions of 1829 and 1830. He lived through the entire period of the Civil War, and gave his earnest sympathy and support to the Confederate cause. Though too old to perform military service, he had three sons who served in the Confederate Army. Clinton Barns had the rank of captain; Oscar was lieutenant of Company D, 23rd Virginia Battalion of Infantry, and John served as a private in the same company. When the small Federal army under command of General Burbridge, in December, 1864, was retreating after being beaten by the Confed- erates at the Salt Works, a party of stragglers went to the house of 'Squire Barns for the purpose of securing loot. One of the ruffians, without provocation, shot the venerable man, in the presence of his family. The wound was in the breast and was at first considered fatal, but the old gentleman recovered, and remained active in body and mind until he died in 187 -.
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William and Levicie Barns raised a very large family which consisted of four sons and six daughters. All of these, except one daughter, Rebecca, married and raised large families. Robert Barns, the pioncer, has more than a hundred descendants now liv- ing in Tazewell, among whom are found many of the best citizens of the county.
THE GILLESPIES OF TAZEWELL.
The Gillespies of Tazewell County are of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Their ancestors came from Ulster, and first settled in Pennsylvania. They moved from that province and located in the part of Western North Carolina now known as East Tennessee.
In July, 1780, Colonel Charles McDowell and other Whig patriots of the Carolinas were being hard pressed by Major Fer- guson and his Tory and Provincial forces in the Catawba and Broad River valleys. The Carolinians appealed to Colonel Isaac Shelby to come to their assistance with a volunteer force from the Holston and Watauga settlements. He heeded the call and marched promptly with two hundred mounted riflemen to the assistance of his compatriots beyond the Alleghanies. Thomas Gillespie, a very young man, was then living in the Watauga Valley. He was one of the band of two hundred that went with Shelby to the Carolinas, and did valiant service in the campaign against the Provincials and Tories who were under command of Ferguson and were devastating the country.
Gillespie was with Shelby when he captured Captain Patrick Moore and his Tory garrison of ninety-four men at Thickety Fort on the 30th of July, 1780, and he was in the several small battles that Shelby's men had with the Provincials and Tories. In the fight at Musgrove's Mill on the Enoree River, August 18th, 1780, there were some extraordinary feats of marksmanship by certain of Shelby's riflemen. After the Provincials and Tories were routed, and were being pursued across the river, one of the Tory riflemen, who had crossed the stream, sheltered himself behind a tree to shoot at the Americans as they crossed at the rocky ford. The tree, how- ever, did not completely conccal the body of the Tory. Noticing this, Thomas Gillespie quickly leveled his rifle on the Tory's par- tially exposed body and at the crack of the rebel's rifle the Tory bit the dust.
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When Colonels Campbell, Shelby and Sevier, on the 26th of September, 1780, marched from Sycamore Shoals for the Carolinas to answer with rifle shots the insolent message sent them by Major Patrick Ferguson, one of the men who marched with them was Thomas Gillespie. He was at the battle of King's Mountain; and, no doubt, did his duty there as he had at Musgrove's Mill the pre- ceding August. It is more than probable that on the march to and from King's Mountain, Thomas Gillespie was in some way associated with the men from the Clinch, and from them learned of the very fertile lands and other attractions of this beautiful country. A few years after the war he left his home in the Watauga Valley and journeyed to the Clinch Valley; and took up his residence in the immediate neighborhood where David Ward was then living. and where Rees Bowen was living before he marched to his death at King's Mountain.
Soon after he came to the Clinch settlements he married Mar- garet Bowen, daughter of Lieutenant Rees Bowen; and established his home in the Cove, at the foot of Clinch Mountain, on or near the spot where W. J. Gillespie now has his. residence. There hc acquired ownership of a large and valuable boundary which has ever since been owned by his descendants; and is now owned and occupied by W. J. Gillespie, his great-great-grandson. Thomas and Margaret Gillespie reared a large family. They had five sons .- John, Rees B., Henry, William and Robert, and two daughters. They have a large number of descendants, perhaps a thousand, in Tazewell, and throughout the United States.
THE WYNNES.
William Wynne, who settled at Locust Hill, one and a half miles east of the present town of Tazewell, and built a fort there, was one of the most interesting characters among the first settlers. He was a Quaker, and he took no part in any offensive movements made by his fellow-pioneers against the Indians. His fort, it seems, was built purely as a haven of safety for his family and the families of his neighbors. Any person who is sufficiently interested to go upon the ground where it stood will find that it was admirably situated for defensive purposes. The stockade that inclosed the fort was so arranged as to bring within the inclosure the head of the splendid spring that gushes from a cave at the rear of Mr.
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George A. Martin's residence. This enabled the occupants of the fort to get an ample supply of water without going outside the stock- ade when the Indians were hanging around.
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