John Donelson Jr. (1718 - 1785)

Born 7 Apr 1718 in Snow Hill, Somerset County, Province of Maryland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 17 Nov 1785 at age 67 in Barren River, Warren, Kentucky, United States

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Biography

John Donelson (son of John), aka Jr., and Col. was born April 7, 1725 in Snow Hill, Maryland of John Donelson and Catherine Davies (sic), who married in about 1716 in New Castle, Delaware.^[1] p54: "His father was an importer, his maternal grandfather an Episcopal clergyman, a great uncle the first president of the college of Princeton, New Jersey...

Family

John Donelson married Rachael Stockley in Pittsylvania, VA.

^[2]

Children include:

Alexander Donelson

Catherine Donelson

John Donelson

Mary Donelson

William Donelson

Stockley Donelson

Jane Donelson

Rachel Donelson

Samuel Donelson

Severn Donelson

Leven Donelson

Timeline

25 Jan 1736 "Bosworth" 150 acres, given to John Donelson, son of Capt. John, to allow his mother Catherine Donelson peaceable possession during her life. p65. 21 July 1756 John Donelson of Virginia sold 50 acres to Thomas Sturgis of Worcester Co. MD and 100 acres to Steven Sturgis., p65. 6 Nov 1764, John Donelson (son of John) with wife Rachel of Accomack Co., Virginia, sold 220 acres 'Beyond Expectation" in Worcester Co., MD to James Rounds., p60^[3]

1744, Pioneer settler of Pittsylvania, Virginia, patented lands in 1744.

1764: Filed his bond as Surveyor for the county of Halifax. (Hall Va. V..130 In April Court he takes the oath as Justice (Order;. 439).

1767: At Nov. Court of Pittsylvania, VA 1767 (Vol. 1-2) John Donelson, Gent., produced a commission from President and Masters of William and Mary College and took the usual oaths as a member of the commission and as justice of Oyer and Terminer (Vol. I-212) County Court Note Book, Vol. VI, No. 4, Dec. 1927),

1769: Chosen along with Hugh Inness to represent Pittsylvania in the House of Burgesses. He served in the House of Burgesses from 1769 until the outbreak of the Revolution, except when officially engaged in making surveys for the colony of Virginia or holding treaties with the Indians.

1770: July Court he took the oath as a member of the commission and as a justice of Oyer and Terminer.

1772: Surveyed the State Line westward; Indians told him of beautiful land in Tennessee...

1773: AT March Court, John Donelson, Jr., becomes assistant surveyor and takes the oath (Pitts. I-111) Was also Colonel in Militia.

1774: On tax list for "Bloomery" on Pigg River. His iron works, was known as Bloomery,

1774 /1778: Sold lands to Colonel John Mrkham and James Calloway, Jeremiah Early for 4,000 pounds. (Deed in Henry County, Book I, pg 300)

1778 Col. John Donelson resigned his position of county lieutenant of all the county's military forces.

1779: He Left Ft. Henry for Fort Nashborough, Tennessee. There he helped found the city of Nashville. He was a signer of the Cumberland Compact bringing the rule of law to the wilderness.

1785 DEATH

Other Sources

HISTORY OF PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Virginia: ^[4] p42 : In 1744 John Donelson of Accomac patented 200 acres on both sides of Sandy Creek. He made his home on the bank of the Banister River {Halifax, VA}... p154: Col. John Donelson II, the father of Capt. John Donelson {III}, had been for ten years or more along the frontier, performing various trusts for the Colony. p155-56: "Col Donelson was the son of John Donelson, SR., who came to American from London in 1716, and settled in Delaware, where he married Catherine Davies (sic). "Mrs. Donelson's brother (sic), Samuel Davies, was a Presbyterina preacher of great eloquence and one of the founders of his faith in Virginia; he was called by the Hanover Presbytery to Virginia in 1748, where he had made his home for many years. It is said of him that his influence was greater than that of any other preacher of gospel in Virginia (see also Howe's Virginia", pg 294) "Colonel John Donelson II married Rachel Stockly, whose son Captain John Donelson III married Mary Purnell, and their daughter, Emily Tennessee Donelson, married Andrew Jackson Donelson. "John Donelson, Sr., and his wife Catherine Davies, had two children, Mary, who married Hugh Henry of Accomac and John, who married Rachel Stockley also of Accomac. "When about twenty-five years of age, Donelson came to this section and made his home on Banister River {Halifax Co. VA}, near the mouth of Whitehorn Creek, where the house is still standing with long sloping roof and wide rock chimneys. Here was born in 1767 and grew up to lovely girlhood his daughter Rachel, who in later life was to become the wife of President Andrew Jackson.

Mr. Davies went to England in 1753 in the interest of Princeton College, NJ, and his preaching excited such favorable comment that the King himself came to hear him. He was one of the early presidents of Princeton College. pg 324: DONELSON, TENNESSEE, Its History and Landmarks, By Leona Taylor Aiken, p306:

• (The family was moved from the Bettie (Mrs. W. A.) Donelson Farm at Hermitage, Tenn. (SW of Cleveland Hall) on Nov. 1948 to final interment at Hermitage Church Family Cemetery...
• Mrs. Phila Ann Consort of Capt. Stockley Donelson and daughter of Doct. William P. Lawrence. Born the 16th July 1809 Died 28th February 1851;
• Emily Donelson consort of A. J. Donelson June 1807. Died 19th Dec. 1836;
• Ann Handy Martin Oct. 30, 1834-FEb. 1837
• Catherine Martin July 13, 1799-April 16, 1836 (two in one grave);
• Mrs. Mary consort Capt. John Donelson, May 18, 1763-Nov. 16, 1848;
• Catp. John Donelson Born Acomac City, VA. April 7, 1755-21st April 1830; *Elizabeth consort of William died Oct. 1841 age 31;
• Mrs. Elizabeth Anderson May 20, 1772-Died April 18, 1847; two illegible;
• William Eastin 1784-1829;
• Susanna Eastin 1812-1823;
• Tabitha Smith Eastin 1824-1816;
• Rachel Jackson Martin born Nov. 2, 1827-died Jan. 8, 1848;
• Lewis Jackson Randolph son of Lewis and E. A. Randalph born Mar 10, 1836 died June 3, 1841;
• Jane JRD; Rachel consort of William Donelson born April 8, 1803, died Sept. 16, 1824;
• Elizabeth consort of Severn born June 8, 1781 died Mar. 31, 1898; Severn consort of Elizabeth born Aug. ___ died Oct. 1818.
• Set apart is a new granite headstone: Memory of Rachel Stockely Donelson born Va. 1715-died 1794; and John Donelson born Va (sic). 1718; killed by Indians in KY. 1785.

^[5] "John Donelson {III?}, later a resident of the Cumberland Settlement in Tennessee; father of Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Stockley Donelson; ancestor of Andrew Jackson Donelson, Maj. Gen. Daniel Smith Donelson, C. S. A., and other prominent Tennesseans.

He was, at the time, a leader in Pittsylvania county, VA., where he settled about 1744-8. He was son of John Donelson, Sr., who came from London in 1716 and settled in Delaware where he married Catherine Davies (sic), sister of the eminent, Rev. Samuel Davies (sic). John Donelson married Rachael Stockley of Accomac county; was colonel of his county Militia, and a member of the committee of safety at the beginning of the Revolution...Page 359 ...The House of Burgesse, receding, asked the governor to take steps towards a treaty with the Cherokees in which the line should be fixed to run from the junction of the North Carolina line with the Holston the mouth of the Kanawha. Colonel John Donelson was appointed to conduct the survey...The treaty of Lockaber (October, 1770) resulted: By it the line demarking the Cherokee limits was fixed: "Beginning where the boundary line between the province of North Caroline and the Cherokee hunting grounds term- inates, and running thence in a west course to a point six miles east of Long Island in Holston river and thence to said river six miles above the said Long Island (sic) thence in course to the confluence of the Great Canaway and Ohio river."...Colonel Donelson in 1771 ran the line, ...(Many tried to settle western in western country)...Nothing came of it. Colonel John Donelson, of Pittsylvania county, set about to acquire lands in the neighborhood of the line, and in June, 1774, he ran the Virginia-North Carolina boundary line due west from the point of its first intersection with the Holson past its second intersection with that stream in order to ascertain how it would effect his title...Did Donelson thus early contemplate removal to the West?"

PASSPORTS OF SE PIONEERS: 1770-1823 by Dorothy Williams Potter: page 368: Papers of Andrew Jackson, vol. I, 1770-1803, p70: South West Point Sept. 1795. : Dear Jackson, By Swift who passes here this morning I drop you a few lines just to acknowledge your favour by Colo. Donelson... J. Grant. [Addressed: "Andrew Jackson Esquire Cumberland Pr. favour Mr. Jno. Swift."] Page 461: On March 2, 1794 Stockley Donelson wrote Andrew Jackson that Donelson had lent a horse to "Mr. Thos. Man... to ride to Cumberland he was to return with your representatives...pp45-46. Page 459: Carter, ed. Territorial Papers, vol. IV; page 247. Blount wrote the Secretary of War again on May 12. 1793 stating "Yesterday evening my express James (sic) Donelson returned via Kentucky (being afraid to venture the nigh way) with letters from General Robertson who lives near Nashville...page 256. Page 128: Knoxville, March 23d 1793: Sir Yesterday my expected express James (sic) Donelson returned from Cumberland, his delay was owing to the waters of that river being very high for many days nine feet above what was ever heretofore known.... Three Chickasaws started with James (sic) Donelson to come on to this place, one arrived with him, and two lost their horses at Bledsoe's station, who will probably be up in a few days...I have the honor to be & c [Governor Blout] [To the Secretary of War]

ION Dilly's Book...about Andrew Jackson and Rachel Donelson...Col. Donelson is Rachel's father. Mary (Donelson) Caffery is neice of Rachel (Donelson) Jackson. Also, in PASSPORTS it states that Mary Caffery, wife of John is a sister of Mrs. Jackson. (There is another Mary Donelson who married a John Caffery in Davidson, TN in 1809. The marriage in Amherst, VA was submitted by a patron. The one in TN was extracted from original records).

Confusion over names

There has been some confusion in the Davis line due to the similarity of names of the Rev. Samuel Davis, father of Catherine Davis Donelson, and the Rev. Samuel Davies who was an early president of the College of New Jersey, Later Princeton University. "The history of the Presbyterian Church in Amercia" by Rev. Richard Webster (1857) gives the history of both men: Davis; pg 310, Davies pg. 549. The Rev. Samuel Davies was born on the Lumb farm, New Castle, Del., Nov. 3, 1723. (See Pencader Presbyterian Church records, Glasgow, De., pg. 41). Rev. Samuel Davis married (1) Mary, widow of Colone Sympson; (2) Elizabeth, widow of Colonel Whittington (see Somerset Co. MD records 9.h. 189); he had two children, a son, Samuel and a daughter Catherine, both by his first wife. Catherine married Capt. John Doneslon I. (see division of lands among hiers of Davis, Som. County, Md. Records AZ fo. 125, 21 Jan. 1733);

Needs source

• Colonel John Donelson, along with James Robertson, was one of the founders of Nashville, Tennessee, USA. *https://nashvillepublicart.com/2020/04/18/the-founding-of-nashville/

Sources

1. ↑ James Marquis, ANDREW JACKSON,THE BORDER CAPTAIN. Bobbs-Merrill Company; (1933.1st ed.)
2. ↑ Will of Andrew Stockley. July-Sept 1763, Accomack Co., VA. Wills and Administrations: Accomack County, Virginia:1663-1800, abstracted by Strattton Nottingham, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Reprint, 1999. p219.
3. ↑ Ruth T Dryden, Land Records of Worcester County. Maryland:1666-1810, Family Line Publications, Westminster (MD).1992, p60.
4. ↑ Maude Carter Clerment, HISTORY OF PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Virginia, Genealogical Publishing Co.,1929. 340 pages.
5. ↑ DAWN OF TENNESSEE VALLEY AND TENNESSEE HISTORY, by Samuel Cole Williams, LL.D., Former Justice of the Supreme Court of Tennessee; The Watauga Press, Johnson City, Tennessee, 1937, (Monterey, CA FHC, call # TN 31, p359