NICHOLAS EVERHART
1806 - 1854
Nicholas Everhart was born November 26, 1806, in Hawkins County Tennessee the fifth child of Catherine and Jacob Everhart. Nicholas grew to manhood on the family farm on Dodson's Creek south of the Holston River.
On February 28, 1831, Nicholas was married to Priscilla Neal in Greene County Tennessee. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born about 1833.
On the 18th day of April of that year Nicholas made an entry with the entry takers office of Hawkins County to purchase 83 acres of land that belonged to the state of Tennessee. Purchases of land from the state were called Grants. The survey was done on April 12, 1833, and on November 12, 1835, Tennessee Grant No. 19561 was issued to Nicholas Everhart for 83 acres. He was already living on the property when the grant was issued.
The grant describes the property as "...on the south side of Holston river, waters of Honey cuts' and Dodsons' creeks, adjoining D. Rowan and others including the house and improvements where Everhart now lives." Nicholas 83 acres joined land owned by Lauderback, Potram, Rogers, and Rowan.
A son, Henderson, was born to Nicholas and Priscilla in ca 1834. It is not know when Priscilla died, but Nicholas was married to Anna Martin in Greene County on January 24, 1836. Anna was the daughter of Daniel Martin and Sarah Gullyhore, an Indian.
On November 16, 1836, Anna gave birth to their first child, and they named him William. Less than two years later on September 16, 1838, Mary Anna who they called Polly was born.
When the 1840 census was taken Nicholas neighbors were John and James Hord, Andrew Logan, and David Stewart as well as Nathaniel Grigsby, Samuel Portrum, David and Issac Louderback, and George Kite. Also living nearby were William, Samuel, and Jacob Everhart, sons of Christian Everhart and Daniel Stewart who was married to Christian's daughter Sally.
Nicholas' mother, Catherine Everhart, and his brothers Jacob and David were living a few miles east across the Greene County line.
The 1840 Everhart household included Nicholas, Anna, their children, William and Mary "Polly" Anna as well as Nicholas' children, Elizabeth and Henderson, from his marriage to Priscilla.
On June 8, 1842, Anna gave birth to their second son, and they named him Daniel after her father, Daniel Martin. On October 15, 1844, their third son and fourth child, James was born.
On January 26, 1848, Nicholas again made an entry in the entry taker's office of Hawkins County for 180 acres of land. The property was surveyed on March 25, 1848, and Grant No. 26611 was issued to him on May 2nd of that year. This tract of land joined the 83 acres purchased in 1835, as well as the properties of Kite, Portrum, D. Lauderback, and Nat. Grigsby. It included Nicholas' house and improvements. Nicholas had been living on the land long enough to erect another house and make improvement. A portion of this tract ran along Day's Gap Road.
On June 6th 1839, Nicholas had made an entry in the entry taker's office to purchase 50 acres joining David Lauderback's land on Day's Gap Road. The survey was not done until March 25, 1849, and Grant No. 26610 was dated May 1, 1849. The grant number for this piece of property and for the 180 acres dated May 2, 1848, have sequential numbers and are located in the same deed book on pages 938 and 939, but the survey dates are a year apart. Our research indicates that in both East Tennessee and Virginia once the entry was made with the entry taker, the family took possession of the property, had it surveyed, and then the grant was issued which was the deed to the property. Payment of the land is believed to have taken place after the survey but prior to the issuance of the deed.
Nicholas mother, Catherine Everhart wrote her will on September 7th, 1844, and she died sometime between that date and June 7th 1847, when it was probated in Greene County. Nicholas was bequeathed $1.00 as were all of the children of Catherine and Jacob Everhart except the youngest, Thomas. It was a common practice to give each child their inheritance when they left home, and Nicholas probably had received his share before her death.
On the 15th of September 1850, when the US census taker came Nicholas and his family were living in District #15 of Hawkins County which was south of the Holston river in the Dodson Creek and Persia neighborhoods. Most of their neighbors were the same as those in 1840 with the exception of the Arthur Landers family who were in household # 68. Nicholas' family was household #67 and included: Nicholas, age 45, a farmer with real estate valued at $800; Anna, age 35; William, age 13; Mary, age 12; Daniel, age 9; James, age 6; Elizabeth, age 17; and Henderson, age 16. They were all born in Tennessee.
Many of the Hawkins County deeds were burned during the Civil War, and a deed of sale for the Hawkins County property owned by Nicholas has not been located.
On the 14th day of September 1852, Nicholas purchased two tracts of land in Greene County from Alexander Hail, John Hail and Augmun Hail. One tract was 147 acres and the other was 75 acres. They were described as being "...on the South side of Bays Mountain, on the waters of Gap Creek, known as the place where William Brotherton and Harvey Hail decd. joining lands of the heirs of Peter Couch, George Kenney, Alexander Williams and John Couch...." Nicholas paid $1000 for the two tracts. V. D. Smith and James D. Kenney witnessed the transaction.
On the 27th day of September 1852, Nicholas purchased another tract of land. This one from John A. Couch. It consisted of two hundred three and three-quarters acres and joined the tracts that he had purchased two weeks earlier from the Hails. He paid John Couch $750 for it. Witnesses on the deed were George Kenney, Elihew Couch, and V. D. Smith.
Nicholas moved his family to the property he had purchased in Greene County near the village of Romeo in late 1852, and Anna gave birth to their last child in the spring. Anna Jane was born April 19, 1853.
On the 22nd day of October 1853, about a year after the move to Greene County, Nicholas wrote his will leaving all of his property to "my beloved wife Anna Everhart." The property was to remain with Anna all of her natural life provided she remain his widow. Should she remarry the property would cease to be hers and would be divided between his lawful heirs. He named George Kenney Executor and Anna Everhart Executrixe. It was witnessed by John R. Young and James M. Brotherton.
Nicholas Everhart died on May 31, 1854, and was buried on his land. He was forty-eight years old. The site of his grave would later become part of the Nicholas Everhart Family Cemetery on Sleepy Hollow Road in Greene County Tennessee. His grave marker reads:
NIKOLAS EVERHART Nov. 27, 1806 May 31, 1854
On July 3, 1854, Anna Everhart and George Kenney appeared in court in Greenville, exhibited and proved they were the Executor and Executrix named and gave bond and security. The court empowered them to "...enter upon the execution of said will and the laws of this land requiring you to make and exhibit an inventory and an account of sales, and to make settlement of said estate according to law." On October 10, 1853, Nicholas Everhart's will was recorded on page 418 of the Greene County Will Book.
Anna Everhart and George Kenney filed an inventory of the estate with the court on November 6, 1854. Money on hand was $15 and debts owed Nicholas totaled $390.44. There were twenty debts listed in the form of "notes" from various men in Hawkins and Greene counties, only three of which were considered "doubtful claims." One of the men, Chrisley Everhart had been dead for over a year, yet they considered the debt good. One of the doubtful claims was a note from Jacob Everhart due March 4, 1849 for sixteen barrels of corn. Nicholas' estate had gotten a judgement against Jacob Everhart on October 17th 1854 for the $32 note.
A copy of the judgement was not found in either Greene or Hawkins County records so it is not known which Jacob Everhart had owed the money to Nicholas. His brother, Jacob, was living in Greene County at the time and Chrisley's son, Jacob, lived in Hawkins County. Since Greene County records are more intact, it is believed the judgement probably was obtained in Hawkins County and was against Chrisley's son, Jacob.
The inventory listed 6 head of horses, 5 head of cattle, 38 head of hogs, 15 head of sheep, 5 beds & bedding, 1 cupboard, 1 bureau, including household and kitchen furniture, and four hundred twenty-five and three quarters acres of land.
Two years after Nicholas' death Anna Everhart married Richardson Price. They were married on the 14th of September 1856 in Greene County. Less than a month later, on Monday, October 6th, her son William chose Shadrack S. Babb as his guardian. The Greene County Guardians and Orphans Court also appointed him guardian of Anna's other children. Jeremiah McMillan, John Malone, James Williams, Henry Smith, and Loyd Bullen were securities.
On August 28, 1856, Anna's son William was married to Rachel Harmon the daughter of Peter Harmon in Greene County. On August 31, 1857, Rachael gave birth to a daughter, Sarah Ann, and Anna Martin Richardson became a grandmother. She was forty-three years old.
In November 1857, William reached the age of twenty-one, and in August of 1858, he sold his interest in "the landed estate" of his father Nicholas Everhart to William Hawkins for $950.
Nineteen year old Mary "Polly" Ann wrote her will in April of 1858, and left her share of Nicholas' estate to her mother, Anna Price. On May 22 of that year she died and was buried next to her father. A second grave had been added on the other side of Nicholas' on April 30. A baby named Salela J. Everhart had been born on April 19, 1858 and had lived only eleven days.
It is not know who the parents of this baby girl were but is suspected that Mary "Polly" Ann may have been the mother. Was it only coincidence that Polly became ill and wrote her will the same time the child was born? If the baby had been Anna's, its name would have been Price and surely she would not have buried it next to Nicholas. The only other member of the family old enough to have had a child was William, and he had a baby only eight months old at that time. It is likely that Polly died before her twentieth birthday from complications relating to the birth of her child.
There were now three graves in the little cemetery.
One wonders if Richardson Price was aware of the terms of Nicholas' will when he married Anna. Whatever the reason, he soon deserted her and on November 4, 1858, the Chancery Court of Greene County granted her a divorce. The final decree stated that the "complainant is a person of unblemished character...and defendant Richardson Price has abandoned her without any just cause whatever & refuses to provide food, rainment and the necessities of life." The Court granted her a divorce and restored her name to Anna Everhart..
A committee comprised of James Williams, Thomas Morelock, James Kenney, George Kenney, and Abraham Carter awarded her alimony of $800, all household and kitchen furniture, beds, clothing, her mare, notes & bills single. The Trustee William Henry applied $750 of the money to the purchase of the interest that William Everhart had sold to William Hawkins in the tract of land that Nicholas had left him, $500 of it was applied to the property where Anna was currently living. (Nicholas had owned three tracts of land at the time of his death and William sold his interest in all three of them to William Hawkins.)
Mary Ann's (Polly) will had been probated on August 2nd. The divorce decree mentioned it and restored all of Polly's property, land, and belongings to Anna.
Nicholas Everhart had great respect for Anna and believed she could efficiently manage his estate for their children or he would not have named her as Executrix of his estate. Why would she give up her property to marry a man such as Richardson Price? Or was Richardson Price a good man at the time of their marriage and some event occurred between them that resulted in his desertion?
Had Anna not had the love of her children, she could have found herself homeless and penniless. But she was strong enough to seek redress through the Court and on April 2, 1859, was able to pay William Hawkins the balance of the $950 for William's share of the land. Anna then owned the share of the three tracts of land that her son William had sold in addition to Polly's share. All of Nicholas' estate was back with the family.
On January 30th of 1859, Anna's seventeen-year-old son Daniel married Eliza K Harmon the daughter of Peter Harmon and sister to William's wife, Rachael. On June 1, Rachael gave birth to Anna's second granddaughter and they named her Mary J. but called her Molly.
In August of 1860, when the US census was taken Anna Everhart, age 45 with real estate valued at $2500 and personal property at $800 was living in dwelling # 676 with James, age 15 and Anna Jane, age7. Next door in dwelling #675 lived Daniel Everhart, age 18, farmer and Elizabeth J., age 19. They were in district #11 with a post office address of Romeo. Living in district #7, dwelling #1500 was William Everhart, age23, farmer, with real estate valued at $1000 and personal property of $300. In his household were Rachel, age 25, Sarah A., age 3, and Mary J., age 1.
Living in district #15 of Hawkins County was Henderson Everhart, age 24, farm laborer, with no real estate and personal property of $150. In his household were Fannie, age 23, Andrew J., age 5, Albert, age 3, and Jacob, age 1. If Nicholas' property reverted to all of his lawful heirs when Anna remarried, why did Henderson have no property? A deed has not been found where he sold his interest in his father's estate.
Nicholas and Priscilla's daughter, Elizabeth had married George Washington Lawson on July 18, 1855. They are believed to have lived in Greene County. She was mentioned in Mary "Polly" Ann's will in 1858.
By 1872, Elizabeth was married to John W. Lamb. There was a lawsuit against Elizabeth Lamb and Daniel, James, and Jane Everhart in May of that year filed by William Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins was the man that William had sold his share of Nicholas' property. Only fragments of the suit have been found and it is not known what it was about, but it was settled out of Court in 1873.
On 2 November 1872, Elizabeth Everhart Lamb and John W. Lamb sold her undivided interest in Nicholas' land in Greene County to Daniel, James, Anna Jane, and Anna Everhart for $400. In 1858, Anna had paid William Hawkins $950 for the interest her son William had sold. Had real estate values declined almost 60%? Was the decline in property values a result of the Civil War?
Daniel and Eliza Everhart's first child was born on November 12, 1860. They named her Emma E. but called her Sarah. On September 14, 1861, a son was born to William and Rachael, and they named him Peter. Anna was the grandmother of four children and another one would be born to Daniel and Eliza within a year.
On Monday, May 5th 1862, Daniel who was one month short of being twenty years old and his brother, James who was seventeen went to Court and chose Alfred Couch as their guardian. William Ross was security. Daniel who had been married over three years, was the father of a child, and would soon be father of another was required to have a guardian because he was under twenty-one. Since their mother had reclaimed the Everhart name and again owned a portion of the property, why did they choose Mr. Couch as their guardian? Were they preparing to leave and wanted a man they knew would take care of their family in charge of their affairs?
The War of the Rebellion had begun in 1861, and men from all over the county were joining. Many of the men that lived in Greene County were supporters of the Union, some of which was probably a result of the strong Quaker community there. Hawkins County was split, and both counties had families where some joined the Blue and some joined the Gray.
No record of William Everhart being in the war has been found, but Daniel and James enlisted in the U.S. Army on July 12, 1862. They enlisted at Greenville, Tennessee for a period of three years. At the time of enlistment they were both privates in Company K First Regiment Tennessee Calvary.
James gave his age on the enlistment papers as 18, but he was only 17 years old. He was five feet three inches tall with dark complexion, gray eyes, and black hair. His birthplace was Hawkins County Tennessee and his occupation was farmer. By April 1863, James was an orderly for the commanding officer, and in October he was an orderly at Division Headquarters where he remained until September of 1864 when he became an orderly at Brig. Headquarters. In 1865 at the time of his discharge James was an orderly for General Grant. His discharge was signed by The General, and for many years was displayed in a large gold frame at the post office in Mosheim, Tennessee where his son in law was post master.
Daniel was 20 at the time of his enlistment. In May 1864, he was absent from his company recruiting for the Federal Army. After his return he was a bridge guard. His regiment was in action at Nashville in December of 1864. In 1887, his application for a pension stated that he was disabled due to "affection of breast and back spells of fever" as a result of action the last of May in 1863, and "affection of heart at Battle of Nashville about Dec. 15, 1864." Daniel was discharged at Nashville on June 5, 1865. At the time of his discharge he was a Sergt.
The boys came home from the war and settled on the land their father had left them. Between 1865 and 1882, Eliza gave birth to ten more children. Daniel was the father of a total of thirteen children.
James came home and lived with his mother and Anna Jane. His right shoulder had been severed by a saber and remained stiff and of little use for the remainder of his life. He built a gristmill on Gap Creek, which was then known as Dry Creek. There he ground the corn and wheat of his neighbors into meal and flour. The gristmill operated until shortly after the turn of the century. Nearby, also on the creek, was a cave that was used to store ice that the men would cut from the creek in the winter. This allowed the families to have ice well into the summer months.
Sometime after arriving home from the war, James selected a spot on the land some distance from the home place where his mother lived and built a house. The house still stands on Highway 70 near Romeo across the road from the Nicholas Everhart cemetery. It is owned by one of James grandsons.
James married Alitha Harmon daughter of Rufus K. Harmon who may have been a cousin to Rachael and Eliza. They were married on November 16, 1870 in Greene County. Two sons were born to them; James Wilson in 1872 and Rufus Martin in 1874. Alitha died on October 14, 1876, and was buried in the New Bethel Cemetery in Greene County.
James stayed in the house and took care of the two infant children until his marriage to Agnes Dulcena Smith in 1877. In April the thirty-four year old James married fifteen year old Agnes, and she moved into the house as a new bride and step-mother of a five year-old and a three year-old. James and Agnes had eleven children born in the house that James had built.
James died July 19, 1919, and was buried across the road in the family cemetery where his brothers had been buried. William had died in 1889, and Daniel in 1909.
Agnes lived in the house until her death in 1936. Sometime prior to her death she began experiencing health problems, and her thoughts were on the place that her burial should be. Her family was buried at the Price Cemetery a few miles east of Romeo. One day she summoned some of her children and told them her concerns about the long term care of the Everhart Cemetery where their father, James, was buried. She was afraid that since there was no perpetual care that one day the cemetery would be neglected and maybe eventually become part of the pasture. That the stones would gradually fall over and it would be lost.
Agnes asked her boys to go dig-up their father and move him to the Price Cemetery. They prepared a grave in the Price Cemetery, then dug-up James coffin and moved it. James is the only child of Nicholas and Anna that is not buried in the Everhart Cemetery. When Agnes died the 5th of February 1936, she was buried next to James in the Price Cemetery.
Anna Jane, the youngest of Nicholas and Anna's children, died February 16, 1879, and was buried next to the baby, Salela. She was twenty-six years old. She had married Robert B. Setson sometime prior to her death. Her stone reads: Anny J. Setson - Apr 19, 1853 -- Feb 16, 1879.
When the US census was taken in June of 1880, Robert Setson was living with his mother-in-law, Anna Everhart. On September 9th, Anna Everhart died and was buried next to her daughter Anna Jane, in the family cemetery. She was sixty-six years old.
Footnotes:
Tombstone. Everhart Cemetery on Sleepy Hollow Road, Greene County Tennessee.
1850 US Census, Hawkins Co. TN.
Tennessee Land Grant No. 19561, Tennessee State Library & Archives Roll No. 96, East Tennessee District Land Grant, Deed Book 19, p. 418.
Burchette, Nellie Marie Lawson, Nicholas Everhart Family (unpublished).
Tombstone, Everhart Cemetery.
Tombstone, Price Cemetery, Romeo, Greene Co., Tennessee.
Tennessee Land Grant N. 26611, Tennessee State Library & Archives - Roll No. 27, East Tennessee District Land Grant, Deed Book 27, p.939.
Tennessee Land Grant No. 26610, Tennessee State Library & Archives Roll No. 27, East Tennessee District Land Grants, Deed Book 27, p. 938.
Burgner, Goldene Fillers. Greene County, Tennessee Wills, 1783-1890, p. 67.
US Census, Hawkins County, Tennessee, p.860, dwelling #67, family #67.
Burgner, p. 79.
Greene County Probate Court Records-Inventories of Estates, Tennessee State Library & Archives, Roll # 89.
Greene County Inventories of Estates -Roll#89. Tennessee State Library & Archives..
Ibid.
Houston, Sandra Kelton, Greene County, Tennessee Guardians and Orphans Court Records 1783-1870, p. 38.
Tombstone. Everhart Cemetery.
Greene County Deed Records - Roll # 193, Tennessee State Library & Archives, Book 29, pp.391-392.
Burgner, p.88.
Burgner, Goldene Fillers. Chancery Court Minutes Greene County, Tennessee, p. 277.
Ibid. p. 278.
Greene County Deed Records - Roll #193. Tennessee State Library & Archives. Book 30, p. 595.
Peter Harmon Will, Greene County Tennessee Wills 1783-1890, p.137.
Greene County Chancery Court Minutes Book - Roll #10, Tennessee State Library & Archives, Vo. 4, p. 638.
Ibid. Vol 5., p. 105.
Greene Co. Deed Records, Book 38, p. 577.
Tombstones, Everhart Cemetery.
Houston, Greene County, Tennessee Guardians & Orphans Court Records, p.46.
Military Records. US Archives, Washington, DC.
Robinette, Billy. Interview 1977, Romeo, Greene Co. Tennessee.
Bible, Donahue. Greene County Tennessee.
Burchette.
Robinette, Billy. Interview in 1997 - Romeo, Greene Co. Tennessee.
Greene County Cemetery Records, Stamps Library, Rogersville, Tennessee.
Robinette.
Tombstone. Smith Cemetery, Romeo, Greene Co. Tennessee.
Note: The original document contained 47 footnotes. When it was converted to html, the footnotes disappeared. Their sources are listed above. If anyone desires information as to where the footnote was located in the original document e-mail me and I will look it up. I will mail copies of the original document with footnotes for the cost of the postage and envelope.
June Everheart
Everheart@tyler.net