THOMAS H. HARVEY Part I "The Harvey Family in Tennessee" By: Max E. Reed 30 December 1989
.....my grandmother use to say that Thomas Harvey was born in East
Tennessee. After doing genealogy research for a few months I realized that what she really said
was..."Thomas Harvey was born in East Tennessee....."
After discovering that 17th century Tennessee was officially divided into East, Middle, and West
Tennessee, and knowing that Thomas Harvey was born in 1820, I decided to make a list of all of
the counties in East Tennessee and look up all the Harvey families located in those counties in the
1820 Federal Census. I found not one single Harvey family.
The Harvey family has been previously located in Missouri in the 1850 and 1860 census records. The problem is then to locate this family in 1840. Unfortunately, in census records before 1850, only the head of household is given together with number of household members in various age groups. In 1840, columns on the schedules are, males 0-5, males 5-10; males 10-15, males 15-20; males 20-30 and so on for each 10 year period. The same division is provided for females. I constructed what the 1840 census entry should look like and checked all the Harvey entries for Missouri and Tennessee for 1840. The known family members and their ages are:
NAME AGE in 1840
(?) Harvey ??
Elizabeth Harvey 32
Thomas H. Harvey 20
James Harvey 14
Joel Harvey 12
John Harvey 10
Bennet Harvey 7
Erby Harvey 6
Jane Harvey 1
With these ages, the 1840 Harvey family census should look like:
(?) Harvey 032100? 100001
This assumes Elizabeth is the wife in 1840 and not Thomas Harvey's true mother. The name and age of Thomas Harvey's father are unknown. There could be other children who die between 1840 and 1850. Since John is 10 and Thomas is 20, either could appear in the next higher age column. Amazingly, one and only one Harvey family in Missouri and Tennessee met the 1840 census criteria. That family was John Harvy (not Harvey) of Polk Co. Tennessee. Below is the Polk County 1840 census record for names of interest. The page and line number in the first column can be used to estimate how close together these families lived.
CENSUS 1840 POLK CO. TENN.
PG/LINE NAME FAMILY TOTAL
8/15 Joel Y. Harvy 120001-002001 7
8/19 Charles Harvy 1001-0001 3
8/21 Elyah Adams 0110001-0012001 7
8/26 Jane Hilderbran 0-1001 2
8/30 John Harvy 0321001-100001 9
9/26 Michael Hilderbrand
10/19 William Adams 0110000001-0110001 6
10/ Nancy Erby 2-00001 3
Total People in Division 3570 Polk Co. is located in the southeast corner of Tennessee. The county was formed from Cherokee Indian lands known as the Ocoee District in 1837. Joel Y. Harvy would be John Harvy's brother, the name sake of Joel Z., John's third son. Having discovered John Harvy was Thomas's father, the family was easy to locate in the 1830 census records. Polk Co. did not exist in 1830, but the family was located just north of what would become Polk Co in Monroe Co. The 1830 census records for the family and others with interesting names located nearby are shown below.
CENSUS MONROE TENN. 1830
PG/LINE NAME FAMILY Total
There are also a dozen or so Adams families in the census. These census records provide many new names, but to construct the relationship between these families will be a real challenge. Could Susanna Harvy, a widow nearing 60 be Thomas Harvy's grandmother? Are Michael, Thomas, Robert, Joshua, and Joel, John Harvy's brothers? Who is Polly Harvy? I then returned to the Missouri records to try and verify that John Harvy is in fact Thomas Harvy's father. The search of Webster County documents shed no light on the Tennessee Harvy family structure. This search did turn up new material on the Missouri days which will be given in a future article. A search of the records of Monroe and Polk Co. Tennessee revealed some relationships but most remain a mystery. Polly Harvy was the former Mary (Polly) Goolsby born about 1802. She married Thomas Harvy in Lincoln County Georgia in 1817. This Thomas Harvy was born in North Carolina but his parents are unknown. The children of Thomas and Polly were Thomas Goolsby Harvy, William Minor Harvy (alias Augustus M. Harvy) and Charles W. Harvy. Polly's husband Thomas apparently dies about 1821 or 1822. A circuit court entry for June 1822 probably refers to this Thomas Harvy. Circuit Court June 1822: "William Henry and Absolem Beck become bail for Thomas Harvy, 20 August 1821, for debt; claim that Beck was under 31 and that Harvy died in Georgia is denied by plaintiff and requires proof." A Chancery Court case (No. 447) in the 1850's reveals considerable information about Polly. Parts of the case are missing and much is unreadable. Fragments of the case follow.
There is evidence that Polly's husband was related to the Harvy family which is the subject of our search. One reason for believing Polly is related is the following remarkable document from the court records of February 3rd, 1841.
Test C. H. Lorbett
Three hundred dollars is a very large amount of money for that time. The typical land grant was 160 acres for which the settler paid $2 per acre, usually one quarter down, the balance over ten years. Later, since most settlers could not meet the required payments, the government forgave much of the debt and reduced the land price to $1.25 per acre. This gives an indication of how difficult accumulating three hundred dollars would be. At the time of Polly's deed of trust, our Thomas H. Harvy was 21 years old. Could he possibly have had over three hundred dollars to lend? This seems very unlikely since 20 years later, in the 1860 census, his net worth is only $50.00. Could the Thomas H. Harvy of Polly's deed of trust be the Thomas Harvy in the 1830 Monroe Co. census living adjacent to Susanna, and Robert Harvy? In other references to this Thomas the initial H. is never used. He and Polly appear on the 1836 Tax List:
____________________1836 Tax List_________________
Civil
District Name Acres Value Tax Poll Tax
7th Thomas Harvy 80 $100 .80 .50
9th Polly Harvy 160 $800 4.80 .50
11th Dudley Harvy - - - .50
13th Michael Harvy 30 $75 .72
13th Josiah B.Hunycut - - - .50
A map of the Monroe Co. districts shows that Polly's land is located along the river and is of considerably more value than Thomas' land. After the Cherokee removal in 1838, the "Trail of Tears", the land just west of Polk County was opened for settlement and organized as Bradley County. Joel Y. Harvy, Dudley Harvy, and Thomas Harvy moved into that County. Thomas is listed in the 1840 Bradley Co. census: - Thomas Harvy 012001 - 201001 I have not been able to locate either Thomas or Joel Y. Harvy in the 1850 census, but in all records found, this Thomas never uses the initial H. Also, he would appear to be poorer than Polly based on his land ownership. I do not believe that this is the Thomas H. Harvy in Polly's deed of trust. There is a third possible explanation for the identify of the Thomas H. Harvy in Polly's deed of trust. Could he actually be John Harvy's father (grandfather of our Thomas H.). There is no such person who appears on any court record, and there are no Tax records for Polk county until 1861 (there are lists of delinquent tax payers), but a Thomas Harvy did purchase two tracts of land in the original Hiwassee district land distribution of 1820. On December 1st, 1820 in Knoxville Tennessee, Thomas Harvy bought 160 acres in the Hawassee district for $416. He paid one quarter down. He also bought an additional 160 adjacent acres, both purchases together forming the east half of section 31, township 2, range 2 east. This is shown on the map of Monroe county to be about 1 mile east of the town of Sweetwater. This is apparently not the Thomas Harvy in the 1840 census. Could this be the Thomas H. Harvy of Polly's deed of trust? Could this be John Harvy's father? Could this be our Thomas H. Harvey's grandfather? If so, then Susanna Harvy cannot be the widowed Susanna Adams, daughter of Ona Hildebrand, a full blood Cherokee, grandmother of our Thomas H. Harvey. While it is not known exactly how Polly Harvy is related to our Harvy line, she certainly is related in some way. Therefore, at the end of this article additional information on the descendants of Polly Harvy appears.
According to the previous issue of Footprints, Ona Hildebrand, a full-blood Cherokee Indian, married one _______ Adams. Their daughter ______ Adams married John Harvy and their first son was Thomas H. Harvy, our subject. If John Harvy married ______ Adams in 1819, then, _______ Adams must have married Ona Hildebrand about or before 1800. A check of the roll of Cherokees made by the Government in 1835 and used for the removal in 1838 shows that the only Cherokees with the name Hildebrand lived along the Hiwassee River in what later became Monroe and Polk Counties of Tennessee. Hildebrand became a Cherokee name when John Hildebrand married Susanna Woman Catcher in Hiwassee, probably around 1800. John operated a government sponsored mill for the benefit of the Cherokee. A complete list of his descendants shows no marriages to either an Adams or Harvy. The only explanation would appear to be that other, older relatives of Susannah must have also taken the name Hilderbran at the time of her marriage to John. This was not uncommon. One of these relatives must have been Ona Hildebrand.
Circuit Court June 1823: James Baker, Polly Daniel, Hiram Vincent and his wife Polly are
accused of beating Mrs. Polly Harvy.
Deed Book 26 April 1838: Land transferred from Alexander Harvy to Nancy Moses.
September 5, 1838: Marriage of Charles Harvy to Hannola Clayton. (All marriage records of
Monroe County before 1838 were destroyed by fire.) John Shamblin Esq., Sheriff of Polk County, returned into Court the following named Citizens of Polk County as delinquents for their Taxes, for the year 1840, which was ordered to be recorded
The following list of men are delinquent in not paying their taxes for the year 1841, which was received by the Court and ordered to be placed on record.
(This shows that John Harvy did not own land in Polk County since fifty cents was the poll tax, a
head tax placed on all males of age.) January 1842 - Application being made for an appropriation of twelve dollars and 60 cents in
favor of John Shamblin Sheriff of Polk County for taking Joel Y. Harvey prisoner to Cleveland
jail, and guarding him two nights and one day. Deed Book M - 21 September 1842: Michael Harvy of Blount Co. to William Brown of Monroe Co.; land transferred from Charles Crosland to Charles Harvy to Michael Harvy.
State ) January 24th. 1843 to one turnkey-- .50
vs ) to boarding----- .37
Charles ) 25 Jan 1843 to one turnkey .50
Harvy ) Feb. 15 1843 to one turnkey .50
boarding 3 days @ 37 cents/day 1.12
one turnkey--------- .50
________
$3.50
Application being made for an appropriation in favor of Commodore White of four dollars and
fifty cents, for feeding and lodging Joel Y. Harvey prisoner - it is therefore ordered by the Court a
majority of the Justices being present and all voting in the affirmative that a certificate, issued in
favor of C. White aforesaid for the aforesaid amount of four dollars & fifty cents to the County
Trustee to be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Deed Book N&K - 9 October 1843: Charles Harvy to Caswell L. Walker, both of Monroe Co.;
undivided 1/4 interest in land granted to minor heirs of Polly Harvy by act of Legislature of
Tennessee.
Deed Book N&K - 20 May 1844: Charles and William M. Harvy to Thomas Harvy; their interest
in land granted to the three of them.
Deed Book N&K - August 1845: Augustus M. Harvy otherwise called William M. Harvy to
Iredell D. Wright; Deed of Trust; undivided interest in land granted to Thomas G., Charles, and
David W. Harvy and said A.M. Harvy under the name William M.
Chancery Court - September 1849: Wear vs Wear; Robert Wear, dec'd in Blount Co.; 12 heirs of
Robert Wear are (1) John B. Tipton and wife Louisiana; (2) Thomas G. Harvy and wife Lucretia
Adaline; (3)....
Chancery Court - Isaac D. Wear vs Thomas G. Harvy and wife Adaline. Filed 19 August 1850.
Wear of Blount Co. Harvys of Monroe Co. Robert Wear of Blount Co. died intestate leaving
twelve heirs or interests in land near or on the Tennessee River. Lucretia Adaline, heir, wife of
Thomas G. Harvy, sold her interest to Isaac D. Wear, another heir. Isaac D. claims that he has
paid the Harvys but they refuse to make deed; and now Lucretis P. and Margaret E. Wear have
filed a petition to sell the land for distribution of proceeds. The Harvys answer that Thomas G
started to Georgia with his wagon and team and near Madisonville he found that he had with him
seven notes, including one on Isaac D. payable in a wagon; that he wrapped all in a paper and
gave them to Augustus Miner Harvy to take back to his wife; that Miner sold the Wear note to
Isaac D. although Harvy had warned him not to buy it. Mary Harvy, 49 in 1852, is mother of
Miner. Chancellor decrees for the Harvys. There is much testimony as to the wagon, how Miner
got the note, whether witness Mary Harvy can be believed on oath, etc.
Chancery Court Record Case 504 - Filed 14 May 1852: Iredell D. Wright vs Thomas G. Harvy.
Wright of Blount County. About 1845 a judgement was obtained by Mary Wright, Execx. of
Isaac Wright dec'd against one Augustus M. Harvy otherwise called William M. Harvy, who has
now died intestate and unmarried. Mary Wright has died intestate and Iredell is now "Adm. de
bonis non" of Isaac Wright dec'd. Thomas G. Harvy is brother to Augustus M. and answers that
in 1845 Samuel douthet recovered a judgement against Augustus M. and Polly Harvy and levied
on the undivided interest of Augustus M. on the land; the land was sold to John McGhee Jr. and
was redeemed by Douthet, then redeemed by Thomas G.; that the Sheriff gave him a deed and
there is no fraud.
Chancery Court Case 530 - Filed 10 March 1854. Iredell D. Wright and David W. Harvy vs
Thomas G. and Polly Harvy. Petition to sell land. Complainants of Blount Co. David W.,
Charles M., Thomas G., and William Minor Harvy were Grantees of land in Monroe Co. Polly is
mother of David W. Harvy who is listed as David W. Wright in several instances and in April
1855 when he is in West Tennessee or Mississippi. Wright bought the interest of David W. at
Court sale for David W. but title not transferred. November 1854, witness thinks David W. is
about 30. May 1855, witness William Pendergrass, 23, is son of John A Pendergrass, over 40.
June 1855, acreage is set off to David W. and he sells it the same day.
Deed Book P - 3 April 1854: Indell D. Wright to David W. Wright both of Blount Co.; land on
which Polly Harvy now lives.
Deed Book P - 21 April 1855: Mary Harvy to David W. Harvy; her interest.
Deed Book P - 16 June 1855: David W. Harvy to William Denton, land upon which Polly Harvy
now lives.
Deed Book P - 17 May 1856: Moses Joseph Duncan to Caroline Harvy.
Deed Book Q - 25 February 1858: Chancery Court Decree 3 December 1855; I.D. Wright and D.
W. Harvy vs Thomas G. Harvy and Polly Harvy; land partitioned between David W. & Thomas
G. Harvy.
1870 - Marriage of N.L. Harvy to M.J. Smith. F. DESCENDANTS OF POLLY HARVY Polly Harvy is related to the Harvy line investigated by Footprints. The nature of this relation is not known. For information purposes what has been found on Polly's descendants will be documented here. Most of this information can be found in History of Monroe County, Tennessee. Thomas G. Harvy was a Justice of the Peace for more than 50 years. He had a farm along Island Creek where his son, LaFayette Harvy, also had a farm. The old Thomas Goolsby Harvy home, built in the mid 1800's, still exists and is located about one and 1/2 miles south of Vonore, Tenn. on U.S. Highway 441. It is now owned by Mrs. Katheleen Peace Peeler. Some remodeling has been done on the house and it is in good repair at the present time. Thomas G. Harvy had two sons: Robert Harvy, who moved to Texas and Nathaniel LaFayette Harvy, born November 16, 1843, married Martha Jane Smith, born November 10, 1844. Their children were Lizzie Lucretia Harvy, who married Lewis LaFayette Kinser; Robert (Bob) Harvy, who married Betty Moser; and Garland Smith Harvy, who married Effie Elvira Kinser. Robert (Bob) Harvy, born January 21, 1876--died June 10, 1953, married Betty Moser, daughter of William Henry Moser and Asnath Ann Cochran Moser. Quoting from History of Monroe County: "The writer feels justified to include the whole obituary of Robert Harvy as it tells much about the early part of his life in Texas and also mentions many names that are so familiar to Monroe County, especially the pallbearers. It is possible that many of these migrated from Monroe County to Texas as many did so in those early years, (1836-45), and fought along with Sam Houston in their early battles for Texas independence." Monday, 10 June 1930 page 10 Robert W. Harvy, 85, Commander of Mildred Lee Camp, United Confederate Veterans and retired locomotive engineer, died at his home, 818 E. Brockett Street at 3:10 O'Clock Sunday morning, following a short illness. He had just returned from Biloxi, Mississippi, where he attended the annual convention of Confederate Veterans, and was taken ill soon after his return. Funeral services were held at 2:00 O'clock Monday afternoon at the Travis Street Methodist Church, of which he had been a member and active worker... Internment was in West Hill cemetery beside the grave of his wife, who died 11 years ago...Mr. Harvy is survived by three sons, T. Earl Harvy and George H. Harvy of Sherman and Robert Harvy, Jr. of Paris. Two grandsons, George Harvy, Jr. and Howard Harvy. Mr. Harvy was the engineer who pulled the first Texas & Pacific train into Fort Worth from Dallas. This was in the spring of 1876 and J.D. Starling was the conductor...He came to Texas in 1873 from Indianapolis, Ind., where he had gone from his native state, Tennessee, after the Civil War. Quoting a history of Monroe County... "Howard Harton Harvy of Sherman, Texas furnished the following information on the Harvey family to the writer...
"According to Howard Horton Harvy, the 1830-40 census of Monroe County, Tennessee, suggests that Mary (Polly) Goolsby Harvy and Thomas Harvy had two other children, (Males) born 1825-30, but in the division of the family farm land, only the four that are mentioned here were the heirs. She did not remarry." "Our subject of the above family is Thomas Goolsby Harvy born 1818, died 1895 and is buried in the Sunset cemetery in Madisonville, Tennessee." "He married Lucretia Adeline Wear born Sept 4, 1822, died Sept 14, 1874, daughter of Robert Wear and Lucretia Thomas Wear. Lucretia Adeline was the grand-daughter of Colonel Samuel Wear and Mary Lyle Thompson Wear. The two children of Thomas Goolsby Harvy and Lucretia Adeline Wear Harvy were Nathaniel or Newton Lafayette Harvy and Robert Wear Harvy." "Robert Wear (Weir) Harvy born May 30, 1845 in Monroe County Tennessee, died June 15, 1930 in Sherman, Texas, married Florence A. Johnson born July 23, 1859 in Bonham, Texas are both buried in West Hill cemetery in Sherman, Texas. Descendants of Thomas Harvy and Polly Goolsby are shown in the above figure."
This material was published in the Chattanooga Times, August 12, 1934. The author was Penelope Johnson Allen, a genealogist and expert on Cherokee Indian history who wrote for the Chattanooga Times Sunday Magazine from December 3, 1933 to March 21, 1937. After the Revolutionary war closed and treaties were concluded between the United States and the Cherokee Indians, the government began a definite policy for civilizing the Cherokees which was carried on through their agent. One of the first improvements instituted for the benefit of the Cherokees was a mill which was built in the nation at the town of Hiwassee, where the Great War and Trading path crossed the Hiwassee river in the present limits of Polk county Tennessee. An experienced miller was employed by the government agent to build and operate this mill for the Cherokees and the man who was secured to do this work was John Hildebrand, a Pennsylvania German, who had moved south to Rowan county, North Carolina, before the year 1782. It is probable that he came from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where many of his kindred were living in 1790. When Col. R Jonathan Meigs assumed his duties as agent to the Cherokees in 1801 John Hildebrand was already on the payroll at the agency as official miller at the Hiwassee mill and there are regular entries in Col. Meigs' day-book of payments which were made to him for salary and subsistence during the years Col. Meigs was in charge. For the year 1802 John Hildebrand received $185.01 for pay in public employment, having charge of a mill for the benefit of the Cherokees. During that year he also was paid $4 for making two looms and one large wheel for the Indians. In 1803 he sent the following order to Col. Meigs: "Hiwassee, April 5th, 1803. Sir, you will please to send by my son Michael one quarter's pay - Viz. October, November, & December, & his receipt shall be good. I am, Sir, due respects yours. John Hildebrand." The Meigs Journal, under date of April 18, 1804, show that John Hildebrand was paid $90 for building a schoolhouse and house for the teacher at the Indian school at Hiwassee. This was the school which was organized by Dr. Gideon Blackburn for the education of Cherokee children.
John Hildebrand was a widower with five children when he came among the Cherokees. He married as his second wife, a Cherokee woman whose name was Susannah Woman Catcher, or Woman Holder, and by her had four children. Because of his marriage to a Cherokee woman John Hildebrand was entitled to a reservation in the Cherokee Nation under the treaties of 1817 and 1819 and, according to the provisions of the said treaties, 640 acres were surveyed and laid off for him on Oct 26, 1820, on the north bank of the Hiwassee river, including the mouth of Conasauga creek, which included his dwelling house and improvements at a place which was later called Columbus. Because of the on rush of citizens of the United States to possess themselves of lands obtained by the treaties, John Hildebrand was forced to leave his reservation and move south of the Hiwassee river. Later he went west and in 1842 he registered a claim for his reservation and ferry valued at $7,000 for which he had never been paid. Before the Cherokee removal most of his children lived in what is now Polk county, Tennessee. On the south bank of the Ocoee river stands the old house of Michael Hildebrand, an interesting relic of the Cherokee days. It is said that this house was more than seven years in the building and many fascinating stories are told of the people who frequented it. The old Federal road crossed the Ocoee at this point and the home of Michael Hildebrand was a landmark in the days when people traveled by coach. The history of the Hildebrand family is especially interesting because two of the sons of John Hildebrand married granddaughters of the famous Cherokee woman, Nancy Ward, whose magnanimity and loyalty to the white people saved the infant settlements on the Watanga and Holston many tragic blows from her tribe.
JOHN HILDEBRAND's issue by his first marriage:
(2) Peter Hildebrand who married Elizabeth Harlan. (3) George Hildebrand, who married Susannah Graves. (4) John Hildebrand, who married Micatiah Terrapin. (5) Sarah Hildebrand, who married Black Coat and Young Wolf. Issue by second marriage:
(7) David Hildebrand, who married Elizabeth McCarty. (8) Mary Hildebrand, who married Mr. Hambright and Daniel Hafer. (9) Elizabeth Hildebrand, who married Mr. Coody.
Michael Hildebrand, oldest son of John Hildebrand, was born in North Carolina in 1781. He married first Nannie (or Nancy) Martin, who was a daughter of Col Joseph Martin and Elizabeth Ward, daughter of the famous Cherokee "beloved woman," Nancy Ward. Michael Hildebrand settled on Okoa creek in that part of the Cherokee Nation which later became Polk county, Tennessee, where he was listed in the Cherokee census of 1835 as head of a family of eight people. He owned at that time five slaves, two mills, one ferryboat and had 228 acres of land under cultivation. He married second Lucy ___, by whom he had one son, whose name was Michael, and appears in the federal census of 1850 as a resident of Polk county, aged 68 years. His wife, Lucy Hildebrand, was 56 years old and his son, Michael, was 8 years old.
Peter Hildebrand, second son of John Hildebrand, was born May 10, 1782, and died Dec 11, 1851, in the old Indian territory. He married Elizabeth Harlan, born Aug 15, 1793; died Sept 19, 1826, daughter of Ellis Harlan, a noted Indian trader among the Cherokees who came from Pennsylvania, and Catherine Ward, daughter of Nancy Ward, the Cherokee prophetess, and Bryant Ward, an English trader. Peter Hildebrand lived in what is now Polk county, Tennessee, where he acquired considerable property and reared a large family. When the Cherokees moved west in 1838 he was conductor of Company 12, which set out Oct 23, 1838, and arrived at its destination March 25, 1839. His company consisted of about 1,700 persons, 705 riding horses and eighty-eight wagons and teams. Most of his children settled in what is now Oklahoma.
John Walker Hildebrand, son of Peter and Elizabeth (Marian) Hildebrand, was born Feb 23, 1818, in that part of the Cherokee nation now Polk county, Tennessee, at the Cherokee village of "Uwaga-hi," commonly called Ocoee, and died Sept 17, 1910, in Polk county, Tennessee. He was known as "uncle Jack" among a large circle of friends and it was from his interesting recollections of happenings in the early days that much of the local history of Polk county has been preserved. As a child of 4 years he attended the funeral of his great-grandmother, Nancy Ward, the famous Cherokee woman whose romantic life has become a part of the history of her tribe, and it was he who located her grave in Polk county, which was marked in 1923 by the Nancy Ward chapter of the D.A.R. John Walker Hildebrand moved to the Indian territory in 1842, but returned to his former home in Polk county, Tennessee, in 1844, where he spent the remainder of his life. While on a hunting trip on Chilhowee mountain, in company with James C, Donaldson, they discovered a yellowish stream of water trickling over a ledge of rocks, which they traced under the leaves until they located the source which later became noted as the popular Benton Springs. "Uwaga-hi" or Ocoee, the Cherokee village where John Hildebrand was born, takes its name from the Cherokee word meaning "apricot place" or "may-pop" and was formerly an important settlement on the Ocoee river a mile northwest of Benton, located on the old Indian war-path. John W. Hildebrand married Eliza J. White, born Aug 16, 1821; died March 15, 1894.
George W. Hildebrand, son of John Hildebrand, was born about 1784. He married Susannah Graves, who was of Cherokee descent. Nannie Hildebrand, first child of John Hildebrand, Sr. and his Cherokee wife, Susannah Woman Catcher, married Hiram McCreary, by whom she had several children. David Hildebrand, son of John Hildebrand, Sr., married Elizabeth McCarty. Mary Hildebrand, daughter of John Hildebrand Sr. and Susannah Woman Catcher, married first, Mr. Hambright; second, Daniel Hafer. The descendants of John Hildebrand to the third generation are shown in the figure. The Harvey family has now been traced back to the 1830 Tennessee census. Why are no Harvey families found in the 1820 Tennessee census? The unfortunate answer is that there are only two East Tennessee counties in the 1820 census, the others have all been lost! Further, the entire census for what became Tennessee for 1810, 1800, and 1790 has been lost. So, there are no more census records to examine. Fortunately, tax records and land records do exist for this period so all hope is not lost. If the Harvey ancestry can be extended back to colonial times, records seem to be more plentiful. It has always been, and still remains, my objective to trace the Harvey ancestry (and Copeland, etc.) back to the point of origin in Europe. To do this really will require making a connection with some well documented colonial line. One such line is the early North Carolina Harveys. John and Thomas (father and son) were the first and second Governors of North Carolina. But to date no such connection has been made. When and from where did the Harvey ancestry start their movement west? A common misconception is that poor workers in eastern cities, being unable to make a living in the eastern cities headed for the frontier. According to Westward Expansion, the cost of moving west was a barrier that few easterners could overcome. If a prospective pioneer wanted to begin life anew, he must move to the extreme edge of the frontier, appropriate government land, clear his fields and personally conquer the wilderness; this required technical knowledge acquired by prior experience. When such skills were lacking, his only choice was to settle in a community already undergoing development. This was expensive. He would be forced to pay between $1.25 and $10.00 and acre for land, $5 to $20 and acre to have it cleared, $112 for a split-rail fence, from $100 to $375 for tools, $150 for draft animals, $50 for a long cabin, $25 for transportation and $100 for food to support his family until his own farm came into production. Few eighty-acre farms were established that did not cost their owners at least $1,500 - a sum far beyond the reach of the average eastern workingman whose wages seldom rose above $1 a day. Even those who sought to become independent farmers by working first as hired hands in the West found the path difficult; they learned the needed skills but often found it impossible to save the money to buy a farm from their wages of $150 a year and keep. So most new areas were occupied by farmers from nearby regions who had either the frontier skills to begin life anew cheaply or the capital necessary to put land into production. Thus the west was settled in rolling waves; a farmer improving his land, selling at large profit and moving on to the frontier starting anew. With shelter assured, the frontiersmen began clearing his land. Four or five years of back-breaking labor was needed to clear the ten or fifteen acres necessary to support a family. During this period the pioneer family lived on grain purchased from nearby farmers, but two good crops would pay for the farm and all improvements. The settlement of Tennessee began between 1790 and 1795. The influx was so great that when a site was chosen for the new capital, a central site was chosen at Knoxville at the mouth of the French Broad river. It was said that during the summer of 1795 immigrants were so thick on the Old Walton Road that they crowded each other from the highway; 26,000 crossed the Cumberland in two months. By 1796, 77,000 people lived in Tennessee and the territory was ready to enter the Union as a state. Monroe county was formed in 1819, and a large land distribution was make in 1820 with the Hiwassee purchase from the Cherokee. Thomas Harvey bought 310 acres at the land office in Knoxville and many Harvey families (presumably all related is some way) moved into Monroe. How these families are related and where they came from is now the subject of a continuing search. Please place in the Subject Line: WEBPAGE-HISTORY 
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