Over the Misty Blue Hills: The Story of Cocke County, Tennessee

1836 Map of Cocke County, Tennessee

“Over the Misty Blue Hills: The Story of Cocke County, Tennessee,” written by Ruth Webb O’Dell and published in 1951, provides a historical account of Cocke County. The book covers various aspects of Cocke County’s history, including its political, social, religious, and industrial developments. The contents are divided into several detailed sections: the political history of Cocke County, the significance of local names, the natural resources and setting, early settlers, religious history, industrial development, and notable figures from the county. Additionally, it delves into specific family histories, offering insights into the lives of many influential families such as the Allens, Burnetts, Huff, McMahan, and many others.

Digest of papers relating to pensioners of the Revolutionary War

Digest of papers relating to pensioners of the Revolutionary War

Evelyn Baldwin provided Allen County Public Library with a packet of research information on her ancestors Revolutionary War that she had compiled back in 1926. In 1949 the library then bound those 72 pages and enclosed them in covered book boards, thereby making them more accessible to their patrons. Fast forward to 2018 and the Library has digitized these pages and made them accessible to anyone online.

Biographical Sketch of Richard Watson Hicks

Richard W. Hicks was born in 1855, the son of the late ex-Judge Jay Hicks, of the Flint district, who died in 1869. Richard’s mother was a Miss Kate Levi, a full-blood Cherokee. Although a most successful schoolteacher, Richard Hicks’ education was confined to the neighborhood school at Pleasant Valley, which he attended for about four years. In 1886, at the age of thirty, he commenced teaching in Sequoyah district, after which he taught two terms at Rabbit Trap, Tahlequah district. He was next sent to open the Hickory Creek School, in Coowescowee district, and proved his adaptability for his … Read more

Slave Narrative of Sophie D. Belle

Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Location: Forrest City, Arkansas Age: 77 “I was born near Knoxville, Georgia. My mother was a professional pastry cook. She was a house woman during slavery. She was owned by Lewis Hicks and Ann Hicks. They had Saluda, Mary, Lewis, and Oscar. “Mother was never sold. Mr. Hicks reared her. She was three-fourths Indian. Her father was George Hicks. Gordon carried him to Texas. Mr. Bob Gordon was mean. He asked Mr. Hicks to keep mother and auntie while he went to Texas, Mr. Gordon was so mean. My mother had two little girls but my … Read more

Richard Dexter Genealogy, 1642-1904

Arms of Dexter

Being a history of the descendants of Richard Dexter of Malden, Massachusetts, from the notes of John Haven Dexter and original researches. Richard Dexter, who was admitted an inhabitant of Boston (New England), Feb. 28, 1642, came from within ten miles of the town of Slane, Co. Meath, Ireland, and belonged to a branch of that family of Dexter who were descendants of Richard de Excester, the Lord Justice of Ireland. He, with his wife Bridget, and three or more children, fled to England from the great Irish Massacre of the Protestants which commenced Oct. 27, 1641. When Richard Dexter and family left England and by what vessel, we are unable to state, but he could not have remained there long, as we know he was living at Boston prior to Feb. 28, 1642.

Biographies of the Cherokee Indians

1830 Map of Cherokee Territory in Georgia

Whatever may be their origins in antiquity, the Cherokees are generally thought to be a Southeastern tribe, with roots in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, among other states, though many Cherokees are identified today with Oklahoma, to which they had been forcibly removed by treaty in the 1830s, or with the lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokees in western North Carolina. The largest of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes, which also included Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, the Cherokees were the first tribe to have a written language, and by 1820 they had even adopted a form of government … Read more

Pierce Family of North Bridgewater, MA

chester pierce

The Pierce families of this country are and have long been very numerous. Early in the settlement of New England came representatives from England, most of them not related, so far as now known. Among them were Abraham, of Plymouth, 1623, who became one of the original purchasers of Bridgewater in 1645; Daniel, of Newbury, blacksmith, who came from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, in 1634, aged twenty-three years; John, of Dorchester, mariner from Stepney, Middlesex, before 1631; another John, of Dorchester and Boston; John, of Watertown, 1638; Capt. Michael, of Hingham and Scituate; Richard, of Portsmouth, R. I.; Robert, of Dorchester; Thomas, of Charlestown, who was admitted to the church there in 1634; and Capt. William, of Boston, who was a distinguished shipmaster of his time.

List 3, Cherokees

List of Cherokees and Cherokee Freedmen whose names were omitted from final rolls because no application was made or by reason of mistake or oversight. Shows the names of 125 Cherokees by blood and 2 Cherokee freedmen all except 5 being minors, and most of them less than 4 years of age March 4, 1906.

Baker Family of Taunton Massachusetts

Charles F Baker

The Baker family of Taunton, the head of which was the late Charles F. Baker, who for years was one of the successful business men of Taunton, his adopted city, esteemed and respected for his many noble qualities of mind and heart, springs from the old Swansea-Rehoboth family of the name, the progenitor of which was John Baker. Little is known of the latter save that his wife was formerly Susannah Wood, and that he died in 1767. From this (I) John Baker of Swansea and Rehoboth the descent of the late Charles F. Baker, the head of the Taunton family under consideration, is through Nathaniel, Joseph, Levi and Caleb W. Baker.

Biography of Edward D. Hicks

Edward D. Hicks is numbered among Tahlequah’s representative business men and is one whose life record should be a stimulus to the effort and ambition of others. He was born at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, on the 1st of January, 1866, a son of Daniel R. and Nancy J. (Rider) Hicks. His grandfather on the paternal side Elijah Hicks, was chief of the Cherokee Nation in Georgia and Indian Territory and died in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks came with the immigration of Cherokees in 1837 and 1838 to Indian Territory and the father became a successful farmer and stock … Read more

Knowles Family of New Bedford, MA

thomas knowles

The family bearing this name in New Bedford, where it is one of nearly one hundred years’ standing one, too, of prominence and wealth, is a branch of the ancient Knowles family of the town of Eastham, Barnstable county, this Commonwealth. Reference is made to some of the descendants of the brothers Thomas and James H. Knowles of Eastham, several of whose sons – at least two of the former and one of the latter – in their earlier manhood cast their lot with the people of New Bedford. The firm of Thomas Knowles & Co. for many years was one of the greatest engaged in the whale fishery business in New Bedford; and its members in turn have been succeeded in business by younger generations who have most worthily worn the family name and sustained its reputation; and today the name continues of record in and about the city of their birth connected prominently with many of the most extensive commercial establishments and banking institutions of the locality.