Published: November 20, 2008 03:14 pm      

Bundle up for a cold one this winter, but very little snow

Whispering autumn winds speak quietly to us in hushed and reverent tones as they dance across auburn hillsides in fanciful rippling mirth. Burnished oaks, the lofty grandfathers of the forest, tower regally in russet splendor while vying with brilliant neighbors such as the golden hickory, flaming maple, scarlet sumac, and blazing dogwood for top honors in autumnal glory. Mountain peaks awash in their glistening, tapestried cloak encircle and embrace the shadowed basin below their sloping contours a comforting backdrop amidst dusk’s orange glow. Quiet country lanes loop and wind through enchanted tunnels of color, their soothing bower of entwined branches hovering protectively over the leaf-strewn roadbed below. Here and there, glimpses of a past only heretofore imagined still whisper quietly from every bend of the road where images evocative of a bygone era still beckon to us to slow down and take a look back at the frontier that used to be. Regal stone chimneys still stand as quiet sentinels in silent testimony to the craftsmanship and ingenuity of those hearty mountaineers who played such a courageous role in settling this Tennessee backcountry of ours.

Yes, in Tennessee’s frontier era it was known as “the backcountry,” or the Overmountain country, the land across the mountains that was originally part of the Lord Granville grant of North Carolina which placed it under British control. Yet, it was also the beloved hunting grounds of the Cherokee who were, needless to say, not anxious to have white settlers penetrating into their wilderness stronghold. Thus, if you think about what the settlers were up against from that angle, it makes their story all the more remarkable for ultimately they were facing a two-pronged foe with the British knockin’ at their front door and the Indians at their back. These Overmountain Men proved that they were more than up to it by establishing and administering their own independent form of government, “the first free government in America, independent of any other state or colony.” (Alderman, Pat (1970). The Overmountain Men: Battle of King’s Mountain * Cumberland Decade * State of Franklin * Southwest Territory. Johnson City, Tennessee. The Overmountain Press. p. 22) They also decisively bested their British and Indian foes to wrest a home from the savage wilderness for their families doing so at great personal sacrifice to themselves as most every family had lost loved ones in death due to Indian uprisings, British tyranny, or other infirmity. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you of one of those Overmountain Men who chose to settle here in what is now Cumberland County. His name was Adam Sherrill.

Adam Sherrill first came into the Tennessee backcountry in 1776 traveling with his parents and siblings from Sherrill’s Ford, NC to settle on the banks of the Nolichucky River near present-day Limestone, TN. Adam’s parents were Samuel and Mary Preston/White/Davidson Sherrill (there is some controversy as to Mary’s maiden name so all speculative names are listed until conclusively proven otherwise) and the home that they established there was known jointly as Daisy Fields (Alderman, 1970, p. 53, p. 229) and Sherrill’s Station. In an unsigned manuscript by a writer who “(married) into the family,” the following description of Samuel is given (Dooberley, Mrs. Alice (1992). Samuel Sherrill. Genealogy Family Group #1.1.2.):

He was a tiller of the soil, a hard-working man, “well to do” for an emigrant of that day. And he was skilled in the use of the rifle, so that it was said, “Sherrill can make as much of the grounds and the woods as any man. He has a hand and eye to his work, a hand and an eye and an ear for the Indian and the game.”

The Sherrill family was not new to trailblazing as Adam’s grandfather, also Adam Sherrill (known in genealogical circles as “Adam the Pioneer” to distinguish him from his grandson, Adam) was an early settler of the Catawba River Valley in North Carolina. At Sherrill’s Ford, North Carolina there stands a granite monument with a detailed inscription outlining the crossing and subsequent settlement of the Catawba River country by Adam Sherrill and his eight sons who were the first white settlers west of the Catawba River in the year 1747. Prior to this, Adam was also an early trailblazer alongside his father, William Sherrill, in the early settlement of western Maryland and later the Susquehanna River Valley in Pennsylvania where William was an Indian Trader with the Conestoga Indians. Both William and Adam were also instrumental in the opening of the Great Wagon Road through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia thereby establishing a trade route with the Indians of the Carolinas. It is believed, although not substantiated, that it was he (William) who actually made the ocean crossing to America in the late 1600s from Devon, England. Indeed a search of Devon’s old record books purportedly reveals a great many Sherrill names including the names William, Adam, and Samuel which are still in consistent use today within the Sherrill family more than 300 years later!

Tennessee’s Adam Sherrill and his family had only just arrived on the Nolichucky when word was received from Nancy Ward, the Beloved Woman of the Cherokees, of a proposed Indian attack against the white settlements. Thankfully, Nancy was a staunch advocate for peace between her people and the white settlers and her friendship to the white settlers can never be underestimated. Why? Because, without those warnings, the settlers’ story might have turned out very differently and without those settlers’ in place as an effective barrier against the British, the pivotal Battle of King’s Mountain might have had a very different outcome as well, thereby affecting the overall course of United States history as well! The Sherrill family, along with their other Nolichucky neighbors decided to travel to Fort Watauga, near present-day Elizabethton, TN, as the Nolichucky fort (Fort Lee) was still under construction and with only 15 fighting men to man it, the decision was quickly made to travel to Watauga.

None too soon either, for the Cherokee invaders under the leadership of Old Abram attacked Fort Watauga on the morning of July 20, 1776. Several of the women had gone outside the gate to milk when the Indian alarm rang out and although most made it inside the fort to safety before the gates shut, one woman was trapped outside with no other point of entry available to her. She quickly concluded that her best bet was to outrun them and jump the fort wall. It was said that she was a tall, athletic young woman that could “out-run, out-shoot, and out-ride any man in the settlement” (Alderman, 1970, p. 33) which she decidedly proved that morning as she outran every Indian brave and made that leap to safety over the fort wall! Assisting her in her leap of renown was none other than famed Indian fighter and soon to be governor of the short-lived state of Franklin and subsequent first governor of Tennessee, John Sevier (Alderman, 1970, p. 36, p. 53), a man that would become her future husband four years later!

She, at that time, became stepmother to ten children ranging in age from a babe-in-arms to an 18-year-old and later became mother to eight children of her own! That woman was none other than Adam Sherrill’s sister, Catherine Sherrill, better known in Tennessee history as Bonny Kate Sevier, a title that she earned that famous day when she ran a bonny footrace with the Indians and for which John Sevier was credited with naming her! Sevier went on of course to become a famous leader on the frontier waging 35 Indian battles without losing a single one and going on to lead his men at the Battle of King’s Mountain where the Overmountain Men were certainly victorious against the Tories led by British Major Patrick Ferguson. Our Adam Sherrill, along with two of his brothers, and his father Samuel, were with John Sevier at that battle and served honorably under his leadership in those subsequent Indian battles as well.

Adam was indeed present at the Battle of Boyd’s Creek near present-day Sevierville, TN where he was thrown from his horse breaking several ribs in the fall. An Indian warrior leaped astride him with tomahawk raised to strike the final blow but was felled by a fellow compatriot before he could perform the deed. (Alderman, 1970, p. 133) Thankfully, his life was spared or the Sherrills in our county wouldn’t be here to tell the tale!

Much later, when the Indian threat was past and the Tennessee country was opened up for settlement, Adam Sherrill relocated to Roane County settling on Poplar Creek near Oliver Springs where he served in Capt. Gray Simms militia company in 1802. Around 1810, he moved to the head of Sequatchie Valley near the present-day Cumberland County/Bledsoe County line settling half-way up Bear Den Mountain on a knob known as the Gravelly Spur. Here he subsequently lived out his life surrounded by family and friends revered and respected, as well he should be, for the honored part he played in Tennessee’s early history. Adam died in 1828 while visiting Russellville, Alabama with his sister Bonny Kate where they had traveled to visit her son. It is purported that he is buried there in Russellville but no conclusive proof exists to substantiate that claim. Bonny Kate died in Russellville also in 1836 at the ripe old age of 82 and was buried there as well. Her body was later brought back to Knoxville for reinterment on July 27, 1922. She, along with her husband John Sevier, and his first wife, Sarah Hawkins are now buried on the courthouse lawn at Knoxville, TN.

Additionally, Adam had a son named Craven who served in the Tennessee State Legislature from 1841-1845 and again from 1851-1853 representing Bledsoe and Morgan counties (he lived in parts of Bledsoe and Morgan counties that later became Cumberland County). He also served as a sheriff of Bledsoe County and later as Cumberland County’s first sheriff. His home and gristmill were located right where the Sequatchie River comes out from under the mountain at the head of Sequatchie Valley. Craven and his wife, Mary Ann Branson Sherrill, are buried in the cemetery in the edge of the woods near their old homeplace. Craven was born in 1800 and died in 1864. I am so very proud to say that Craven Sherrill and Adam Sherrill were my second and third great-grandfathers respectively. I am just so thankful to have uncovered their story and connected with a past that I never could have imagined otherwise and I hope that all of the Sherrill descendants in the county have enjoyed learning more about our common ancestor Adam and the other Sherrill forefathers! It’s just too good a legacy not to share!

Now, on to my weather prediction! Many of you may have noticed that we have had hardly any early morning fogs in August which is our predictor for winter snows. I only counted three with those being very light which would denote the blue darter snows that you’ve heard me mention so often. However, the majority of woolly worms are solid black this year. I was raking leaves in my yard a few days ago and uncovered a solid black one and thought uh-oh! That definitely denotes a hard winter! My brother and others have also reported seeing solid black ones too. There have been some reports of brown ones too, but when I see those solid black ones I sit up and pay attention because their presence usually signifies that winter will be hard from beginning to end. As usual, there haven’t been very many of them but even the presence of the few that I know of makes me think it’s going to be worse than usual.

Also, the hornets are building anywhere from 1 to 8 ft. above the ground so this means a colder winter as well. When they build high in the trees, say 20 ft. off the ground, it means a milder winter, thus, seeing them build closer to the ground also denotes cold in my book. Too, the mast crop (acorns, hickory nuts, and walnuts, etc.) is heavy this year with the squirrels working overtime in my yard stashing hickory nuts, acorns, and even black walnuts (!) as they prepare for the winter cold! The corn husks were very thick this year too and the leaves are hanging on longer than usual which are additional cold winter signs.

Have you ever seen such a bountiful season? Everything from berries, to nuts, to apples, not to mention garden produce has been so prolific this year! The blackberries were huge and hanging in thick clusters all over our property such as I haven’t ever seen before! Also, I’ve had an apple tree that has only ever produced a little gnarly apple here and there over the years that is until this year. I bet that tree has produced 100 lbs. of absolutely delicious apples this year which is amazing. It’s been so long since I planted that tree that I’m not even sure what kind of apple it is but from the looks (and taste) of it, I think that it’s a Winesap. Plenty of apple pies in store for this winter!

Also, keep in mind that a change in the weather usually occurs on the changing of the moon phase such as the new moon or a full moon, so watch for a change in the weather in November on the 13th (full moon) and on the 27th (new moon) and again in December on the 12th (full moon) and the 27th (new moon).

So, based on all of nature’s signs, it’s looking like it’s going to be a hard winter but with very little snow so better get in plenty of wood and bundle up for a cold one! Old man winter is right around the corner…. Brrrr…