James Brown

A Patriot of the American Revolution for NORTH CAROLINA (SOLDIER). DAR Ancestor # A015511

The following abstract was published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 1, March 1967:

"Jane Brown died in Maury Co., Tenn., June 3, in the 91st year of her age. She was born June 22, 1740. Her husband James Brown was murdered by the Cherokee Indians, May 9, 1788, and she and 5 children made prisoners. Her husband, in company with Colonels John and Daniel Gillespie, her brothers, led a company of soldiers at the Battle of Guilford Court House, during the Revolution."

From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee–American_wars

Massacre of the Brown family

After a preliminary trip to the Cumberland at the end of which he left two of his sons to begin clearing the plot of land at the mouth of White's Creek, James Brown returned to North Carolina to fetch the rest of the family, with whom he departed Long-Island-on-the-Holston by boat in May 1788. When they passed by Tuskegee Island (Williams Island) five days later, Bloody Fellow stopped them, looked around the boat, then let them proceed, meanwhile sending messengers ahead to Running Water.

Upon the family's arrival at Nickajack, a party of forty under mixed-blood John Vann boarded the boat and killed Col. Brown, his two older sons on the boat, and five other young men travelling with the family. Mrs. Brown, the two younger sons, and three daughters were taken prisoner and distributed to different families.

When he learned of the massacre the following day, The Breath (Unlita), Nickajack's headman, was seriously displeased. He later adopted into his own family the Browns' son Joseph as a son, who had been originally given to Kitegisky (Tsiagatali), who had first adopted him as a brother, treating him well, and of whom Joseph had fond memories in later years.

Mrs. Brown and one of her daughters were given to the Muscogee and ended up in the personal household of Alex McGillivray. George, the elder of the surviving sons, also ended up with the Muscogee, but elsewhere. Another daughter went to a Cherokee nearby Nickajack and the third to a Cherokee in Crow Town.[125] Brown, Old Frontiers, pp. 272–275

Citations

• The American Whig Review, Volume 9; Volume 15. “Historical Traditions of Tennessee.” Page 239 link
• Miller, C. (1973). The Joseph Brown Story: Pioneer and Indian in Tennessee History. Tennessee Historical Quarterly, 32(1), 22-41. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42623356
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Nov 30 2018, 9:15:16 UTC