Captain John Edwards ~

...lived in this famous old house for a time in the 1790's. 

This is the Christopher Taylor House in Jonesborough, TN.  Christopher was married to the sister of our ancestral grandfather, John Edwards.  At this time, I am not sure of her name but will edit the page as soon as I find it. (It is Mary Edwards.)  Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were one of the first to build and inhabit a home in the immediate area, in the late 1700's.  The house presently stands on Main Street of the historic town of Jonesborough, TN in Washington County, where it was moved and rebuilt in 1974 during a time of renewed interest in preservation of the historic buildings. It might otherwise have been torn down and forgotten, as developers sought to provide homes for the growing population. Condominiums threatened this lovely log home, where it stood almost a mile away from it's present site,  and the historic society moved it to down town to be the centerpiece of a public park,  to enhance the experience of tourists and history buffs who sought to understand the way our pioneer forefathers lived and died.

Originally built by developer John Womack, it was bought by or built for (unclear) Captain Christopher Taylor, in 1777.  Inhabited by the Taylor family by 1778, it was a house built against the decree of King George of England, who had forbidden pioneer encroachment onto Cherokee lands. Just on the west side of the Appalachain mountains, this land was being claimed by settlers, by men who had fought through the Indian Wars, the Battle of Kings Mountain, the Revolutionary War, and various battles with North Carolina State officials. They felt they deserved a place to settle with families, but also didn't fear fighting Indians; they had been doing it for years.  According to the men who had begun the Watauga and Over Mountain Settlements, the Indians themselves had agreed to allow these settlements due to a lease agreement procured about 1754.  Still considered the westerly-most boundaries of North Carolina at the time, many of the settlers didn't know if they were in NC or in Virginia in 1772, when they proclaimed themselves to be the Watauga Association. In fact they initially, claimed they had made thier laws fashioned after the best of Virginia, hoping to appease the upper crust who saw them as unruly ruffians, uneducated and uncivil. They truly were a breed of fighters, ready to defend life and liberty, and history has shown them capable and energized to do exactly that. But history has also shown them to be strong families, whose ideals for freedom were ahead of their time, and their will to survive and thrive was disciplined and strong.

There are volumes of history about the area, but this house was one of the houses built in the days of Daniel Boone, John Seveir and Andrew Jackson. In fact, in Andrew Jackson's earliest years of becoming a successful lawyer, he resided in the Taylor Home, which the Taylors ran as an Inn, in spite of having  their 13 children living there. In the book, JONESBOROUGH by Paul M. Fink, Andrew Jackson arrived in the town in spring of 1788, and set up practice while living in the home of Mayor Christopher Taylor.(pp.95-96) In later years, many records say that Jackson had occasion to return to Jonesboro, (as it was spelled then), on business and he stayed with friends. Because, one author said that Jackson considered this house to be "home" when in the area,  I can only imagine he spent many nights there on return visits as well. Mr. Fink states that the house stood on the outskirts of the town and is one of the oldest log houses in Tennessee.  Comparing it to the first courthouse built there, which was of very similar style, the Taylor Inn was much larger.
Our ancestral Grandfather, John Edwards, a military contemporary with Captain Taylor, moved in with them for a while after divorcing his wife of 22 years,  in 1792. Mary Ruth Crabtree Edwards, daughter of William Crabtree and Hannah Whittaker, is our ancestral Grandmother.  Their divorce in itself is famous, because, it was the first divorce to be recorded in Burke Co., NC, where they had resided.  John retained all the acres of land he had aquired for his military service in the years before and during the Revolutionary War, and anything he had aquired during their marriage if not previously sold.  It is written in many sources, and the court records say, that Ruth was only awarded a featherbed and a Roan Mare.  She was known to have lived in the Jacks Creek area of what became Yancey Co., NC until her death in 1845. (This would be near our Roland ancestors, the Ayers families, and other Edwards family members.)

Although Andrew Jackson was no longer living in the house when John moved in,  I find it unlikely that he had never found an opportunity to meet him.  His sister and her husband were, after all, close friends.  Later, I plan to place some references and materials which feature the house on the blog. I will put up the pictures I took at the Joneborough History Museum on the Home page of the blog itself and provide a link.  Also the plaques that were placed in front of where the house now stands, will be pictured on the home page blog. I was delighted to sit on the steps that have been built into the house now, and ponder that the people who built that house and lived in it, sharing it with their community and any who needed shelter, were OUR ancestors.  Pioneers with gumption.   Here are a few more picts until later:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a museum in Jonesboro, TN that has this small replica of the Taylor hose above the doorway. Inside it tells the history of the house, and other elements of early life in this town.

 

I was so glad to sit on the steps at the entrance of a house where an ancestor had once entered many times. Even if it was not at this location, it was at the door of this house.