Week 48 - " Research Family History - Part 3"

Bill and Jim by John & Bonny tombs.

     The question we left you with in Week 39's "Excellent Adventure" was: Which of John Sevier's wives is the Sevier half of our family descended from -- first wife Sarah or second wife Bonny Kate?
     The answer? Neither.
     We are not direct descendants of John Sevier. He was our great-great-great-great uncle. We are descended from John Sevier's younger brother, Abraham.
     We borrowed Grandma Lair's Sevier Family History Book recently and looked up the family tree. Grandma Lair, of course, was born Margaret Sevier. We all have heard much about John Sevier, Indian fighter, hero of the Revolutionary War Battle of King's Mountain, governor of the Lost State of Franklin and first governor of the State of Tennessee. But, who was Abraham?
     He was no slouch. In fact, none of those early Seviers were slouches. Valentine Sevier, emigrated 
from England about 1740, according to the Sevier Family History Book. He and his wife, Joanna, had seven children. John was the oldest, born in 1745 in Virginia. Abraham was the sixth, born in 1760.
     Abraham did serve during the Revolutionary War. In 1778, he was listed as a spy, under the command of older brother, Capt. Robert Sevier, who later died during the Battle of King's Mountain in 1780. In all, Abraham served about three years. He and his wife, Mary, had 10 children. Child No. 6 was a son, Valentine Smith Sevier, born in Carter County, Tenn.
     Valentine Smith Sevier's family, at some point, emigrated to Morgan County, Ill., and settled in Waverly.
He and his wife, Elizabeth, had nine children. Child No. 4 was a son, Ananias Davidson Sevier, also born in Tennessee, in 1825, but who moved to Waverly with the family.
     Like many Seviers, Ananias served in the military -- in the Mexican War with Company G of the First Illinois Foot Volunteers, mustered in at Alton in 1846. He was in the Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico, in February 1847 and was in several other Mexican areas before being discharged in June 1847. Ananias and his wife, Cornelia, had 13 children, including a son, Nathan, born in 1856, who was our great-grandfather.

John Sevier climbed Clingman's Dome.

     Nathan and his wife, Eliza, had 12 children. Child No. 9 was our grandfather, Valentine Sevier, born May 22, 1894, in Waverly. He married Maude Brown in 1919 in Jacksonville, was a barber and barber instructor at the Illinois School for the Deaf. He died Sept. 16, 1946, just a few weeks before brother Jim was born.
     While I was somewhat surprised we are not direct descendants of John Sevier, we are still related. Instead of an "Uncle John from Germany," as we used to play as kids, we have an "Uncle John from Tennessee."
     The Seviers were real pioneers and hardy people. They had lots of kids!! John had 18 children -- 10 by his first wife, Sarah, and eight by Bonny Kate. Sarah died shortly after the 10th child was born.
     John fought 35 battles with Indians and won all 35. In one battle, he was chasing the Indians through what is now Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He climbed to the top of Clingman's Dome to get a better view of where the Indian villages were. Cheryl, Jim, Sharon and I drove up, then walked the last half-mile to the top of Clingman's Dome during brother John's birthday retreat in Sevierville, Tenn., last fall.
     John Sevier's brother, Valentine, born just after John, was the first Sevier to venture into Tennessee. He was a friend of Daniel Boone and fought in several Revolutionary War battles, including King's Mountain.

But we are still Sevier descendants!      

     Valentine had troubles with Indians, though. He and his wife, Naomi, had 14 children. Five of his children, two sons-in-law and a grandchild all were killed by Indians. Another son died on board a ship after serving in the War of 1812 and in the Battle of New Orleans.
     So that's what I now know about our Sevier family roots, thanks to the Sevier Family History Book.
     Now we need to find out more about the Lairs of Kentucky!