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William Blevins (William#3-3, William#2-2, William#1-1) b. 1738-1745 in Pittsylvania Co., Va. He served as a private in the Henry Co., Militia 1756-58 at about age 16.
He married Ann Dunn about 1769 at about age 24.
He patented land in Halifax Co., Va on March 10, 1756 amounting to at least 250 acres. He signed to an Oath of Allegiance to the Common Wealth of Virginia in 1777.
1777:
Colonel William Blevins (About 1745 - 1805) and his wife Ann Dunn (About 1756 - After 1826) [1]
Col. Wm. Blevins's DOD can safely and competently be pushed back to occurring Before Jan. 2, 1812 due to an Indenture with this date involving Gatewood Blevins that identifies William Blevins, commonly called Colonel, of Sullivan County, being deceased and also identifying Col. Wm. Blevins's wife, Ann, as being a widow who is in possession of [her husband's] estate. This Indenture involves one brother (Gatewood) giving up his claim to his portion of inherited land (24 acres) to another brother (john) in exchange for money. In 1805, there is another court Indenture where John is buying out the land inheritance claims of 3 other siblings. I am less familiar with this Indenture, having only seen a small portion of it and do not know if it identifies Col. Wm as deceased or his wife as a widow so i don't reference it as "Certain" the same way i do with the 1812 Indenture. Hopefully, someone who has seen the 1805 Indenture and knows what it says exactly can help us further narrow down Col. Wm's death date.
John's continued attempts to buy his siblings' portions of their land inheritance has created a documented trail that can help both pinpoint Col. William's death date and give us clues as to who and what was in the Col.'s will, which no longer exists. For example, it appears that Col. Wm willed each of his children 1/13 of his 315 acre home/farm, which comes out to about 24 acres a piece. It also appears that the children could not claim ownership of this land until their mother's death (or at least that's how i read it). It appears Col. Wm's widow, Ann, was maintaining possession of certain lands, assets, house (ex: bed) and non-house (ex: wagon) possessions until her death which means that Ann was defiantly mentioned in the will and the will gave her the right to remain in her home. Other court records also seem to imply that Ann had certain possessions that she could will to her children without consideration of her husband's will. I would also like to suggest the possibility that the son William R. could have received the 92 acres in his father's will due to there being no other identifiable records as to how he came to own this acreage in order to sale it in a solo fashion.
It is not exactly known when William Blevins came to Sullivan County. The area in which he lived was affected by the courthouse burnings that occurred during the Civil War and many early documents have been lost. When William and his family came to Sullivan County will forever be based on estimates from a hodge podge of documents and obscure cliff notes in unrelated books.
In his book, The Blevins Men of the Holston - Additions and Corrections, Robert P. Blevins says that William Blevins drops off the Virginia Tax Lists about late 1782/ early 1783. The North Carolina land grants were entered into the books during 1779. These dates may seem to contradict each other but from what I've learned about how land was "bought" during the 1700s, they actually do not. The process of "buying" land then is not the same as today and there appears to be a series of required steps that had to be met before you were granted ownership of the land. I'll explain to process in the way i understood it, if anyone can explain better please feel free to correct me. First you paid someone for the right to a tract of land, even though money was exchanged this didn't seem to mean you owned the land. I see it as "paying for the right to make a homestead on the land". Moreover, i'd like to mention this could happen "sight unseen" with land that is no where near you. Secondly, you had to have the land surveyed. Thirdly, you had to "make improvements to the land" which seems to include building a house, barn, coral; plowing a field, planting a garden, keeping domesticated animals on it, cutting down trees to make the area less wild, and of course living permanently on the land. Lastly, you had to prove to the courts and land offices that you had completed these steps adequately to be given the land grant which would make you the undisputed owner. This process seemed to take years not to mention whatever lag occurred in the courts to finish the land grant. So, a 3-4 year lapse (1779-1783) to bring the family to the area would not be unreasonable. It is within the realm of possibility and plausibility that this family was established in the area between 1782-1785. These dates would make the family Sullivan County residents prior to the county becoming part of Tennessee. These date would also imply that Col. Wm's last 3-4 children were born in North Carolina or possibly Tennessee, not Virginia. I would also like to mention an odd sentence in an unrelated book that may provide assistance to establishing a timeline, the book: First and Second Reports of the Bureau of Agriculture for the State of Tennessee. Bureau of Agriculture, Joseph Buckner Killebrew , mentions, on page 124, that Col. Wm Blevins was an established early horse breeder in Sullivan County by 1790. This reference would have this Blevins family in Sullivan County no later than 1790 and widens the arrival timeline to between 1782-1790. While i understand anyone considering this to be an unreliable source, I do think identifying Col. Wm as a horse breeder may provide an area of research to help discover more about him, his family, and their arrival in Sullivan County.
The land grants issued by North Carolina to Col. Wm. Blevins are now located in Sullivan County, Tennessee. All of Col. William Blevins' land grants are located on the South side of the Holston River. There were a total of 3 land grants, 315 acres, 200 acres, and 92 acres. The 315 acres was divided between his 13 children, each receiving about 24 acres. Multiple court records show one son, John, attempted to buy out several of his siblings to increase his allotted acreage. The 200 acres was sold as a whole by the Col.'s 13 children. The 92 acres came into the possession of the Col.'s son William R. Blevins, though it is uncertain by what process this occurred.
(This land was sold by Col. Wm Blevins' son William R. Blevins).
(This land is sold by all 13 of Col. Wm Blevins' children in an Indenture dated 1818).
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Featured National Park champion connections: William is 12 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 20 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 13 degrees from George Catlin, 11 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 19 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 15 degrees from George Grinnell, 23 degrees from Anton Kröller, 15 degrees from Stephen Mather, 21 degrees from Kara McKean, 14 degrees from John Muir, 16 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 21 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
William Blevins #6 (4th gen.) (William #5 (Will)-3, Daniel #1-2, William #1-1) b. abt. 1762 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. William #6 entered service New River Va. (Montgomery or Wyeth Co.) and was in the Battle of Kings Mountain. He stated in his pension application that he was 18 years old at the time of the Battle of Kings Mountain. He served as a private in Captain Swifts Company under Col. Crockett in the Virginia Militia, serving as a spy, and was engaged in protecting the frontier against the Indians and Tories. In a skirmish with the Tories, his collar bone was broken. He married Mary Thompson abt. 1790 to 1793 in Sullivan Co., Tenn. After the Rev. War William #6 lived in Wyeth Co,, Va., then he moved to Rutherford Co., NC, then he moved to Lincoln Co., Ky, then to Vanderburgh Co., Indiana, then to Vermilion Co., Illinois, where he was living in 1838 when he filed his Revolutionary War pension application - which was rejected as he was not considered to have served in the regular army. Some think William #6 died ca 1825 at Emmett, in Sullivan Co., TN but this does not fit with the birth dates of several of his children and this author theorizes the death at Emmett is more likely that of William Blevins #4.
Fifth Gen. Children of William #6 and Mary Thompson Blevins include;
1. James #8 b. abt. 1796 2. William #11 b. abt. 1799 3. Christopher b. abt. 4. Joseph b. abt. 1805 5. Jackson b. abt. 1824-1834 6. Lucy b. abt. 1825 7. Mary b. abt. 1827 8. Alfred b. abt. 1828 9. Hiram b. abt. 1829-1833 10. General b. abt. 1830
Revolutionary War Pension Claim R945 (claim of William Blevins #6)
National Archives, Washington, D.C. Declaration of William Blevins State of Illinois, County of Vermillion On this 4th day of June A.D. 1838 personally appeared in open court, the commissioners of said County, the same being a court of Record, WILLIAM BLEVINS, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath, make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefits of the act of Congress passed June 7, 1838 (should be 1832)
To Wit: He declared that he can not recollect his age but he perfectly recollected that at the period of time when the battle of Kings Mountain was fought, he, this declarant was sixteen years old and subject to perform Militia duty. And that he entered the service of the United States as follows To Wit. He volunteered or engaged in the said service during the war of the Revolution as an Indian Spy to guard the frontiers of VIRGINIA against the incursion of the Indians and Tories by whom the frontiers were then greatly Harrassed at the house of CAPTAIN SWIFT on NEW RIVER in the County of MONTGOMERY or WYTHE in the Company Commanded by CAPTAIN SWIFT, LIEUTENANT EWING, ENSIGN McCOY in the month of March in the year that the celebrated battle of KINGS MOUNTAIN was fought ----- (continued on following page)
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BLEVINS/2014-02/1392194969
1777 Deed Book 1 page 15, INDENTURE Feb. 17, 1777. Between William and Agnes Blevins and Philip Thomas. Here William is selling 125 acres to Philip Thomas for £ 110. 1777 Deed Book 1 page 31, INDENTURE Between Peter Copland of the County of Henry, and William Blevins of the same County. For £ 110 current money of Virginia - Land on waters of Bever Creek in the said County
Abigail called "Happy" was the first born of his 13 children.