Thomas Bynum Jarnagin (1746 - 1802)

Born 26 Jul 1746 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia Colony, British America

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Witt) Jarnagin — married about 1766 in Virginia Colony

Descendants

Died 26 Feb 1802 at age 55 in Long Creek, Cocke, Tennessee, United States

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Biography

Captain Thomas Jarnagin served with Virginia Militia during the American Revolution.

Thomas Jarnagin is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-224212
Rank: Captain

Thomas B. Jarnagin was born on 25 July 1746^[1] probably in Pittsylvania County, Virginia Colony. (Exact birthplace is unknown.) He is the son of Col. John Jarnagin and Mary Bynum. Thomas is buried in Thomas Jarnagin Family Cemetery, Morristown, Hamblen County, Tennessee. A monument erected by the Powers family in 1974 gives names, birth and death dates for Thomas, his wife Mary Witt, Benjamin and Susannah Lea Jarnagin, and Lewis and Lucinda Jarnagin Leeper. Thomas Jarnagin born 25 July 1746 and died 6 February 1802. The original marker is not legible.^[2].^[3]

Thomas married Mary Lavinia Witt about 1767 in Virginia. They left Virginia about 1778 and settled in the Watauga settlement in Washington County, North Carolina. By 1786 they had moved into Greene County, North Carolina and settled on the north side of the Nolichucky River at the mouth of Long Creek, which is presently in Hamblen County, TN.

He finished the building of his home, which he called Mount Harmony, in 1792. It stands about four miles from White Pine and about six miles southeast of Morristown in Hamblen County, Tennessee.

Thomas served as a Captain of a militia company from 1779 to July 1783 under the name Jonakin. In October 1984 the Historian of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution approved the marking of the grave of Capt. Thomas Jarnagin with a bronze marker recognizing his services in the cause of American Independence. The grave is located in the Thomas Jarnagin family cemetery on the Mount Harmony boundary on Long Creek presently in Hamblen Co., TN.

Timeline

1782 24 October 1782 Thomas Jonakin was granted 300 acres of land in Washington County, North Carolina "in consideration of 145 shillings for every hundred acres hereby granted paid into the Treasure.... lying between the survey the said Jonakin now lives on and the survey of Mathew Tabbot." He was required to register the grant in the Registers office of Washington County within twelve months. Warrant #178.^[4]

1786 1 November 1786 Thomas Jarnagan was granted 1000 acres in Greene County, North Carolina, on "the south side of Holston river the Chimney Rock bottom, ..." Entry No. 487, Warrant No. 87.^[5]

1786 1 November 1786 Thomas Jarnagan was granted 200 acres in Greene County, North Carolina for "the sum of Ten pounds for every hundred acres," on the "north side of the Nollechucky River" adjoining Jarnagan's other property. Required to register said grant with the registers office within twelve months. Warrant No. 57.^[6]

1793 29 July 1793 Thomas Jonakin was granted 960 acres in Greene County, North Carolina for "the sum of Ten Pounds for every hundred acres," on the north side of Holston on Richland Creek. Required to register said grant with the registers office within twelve months. Warrant No. 1240.^[7]

1800 July 1800, Jefferson County, Tennessee, Tax List: Capt. Fansher's Company, Jarnigan, Thomas, 785 acres, 0 white polls, 7 black polls. No white polls means Thomas was exempt from the poll tax due to age or infirmity and there were no white males living in his household between the ages of 16 and 21. The 1800 Federal census for Tennessee is lost.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S-699421186 Page: SAR Membership Number: 79025 APID: 1,2204::820520
2. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 7706043
3. ↑ Captain Thomas Jarnagin 1746-1802 by Lee L. Powers - 1985 Edition https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/749495/?offset=0#page=1&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q=
4. ↑ Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Early Tennessee/North Carolina Land Records; Roll: 24; Book: Watauga Purchase.
5. ↑ Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Early Tennessee/North Carolina Land Records; Roll: 3; Book: B.
6. ↑ Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Early Tennessee/North Carolina Land Records; Roll: 18; Book: 7. No. 240
7. ↑ Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Early Tennessee/North Carolina Land Records; Roll: 12; Book: 1.
8. ↑ Ancestry.com. Tennessee, Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 29 Jun 2022), "Record of Thomas Jernigan", Ancestor # A062519.

See also:

• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 Author: Yates Publishing Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc
• U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
• Powers, Lee Leeper, Ed., Captain Thomas Jarnagin, 1746-1802: the story of one of Tennessee's early pioneers and his wife, Mary Witt Jarnagin, 1753-1829. Published by Powers, Lake Lure, NC, 1978. Have not read the book, but it has gotten good reviews.

Acknowledgements

• Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note:

Research Notes

Thomas Jarnigan of Jefferson County and His Descendants: Capt. Thomas Jarnigan, who settled on the North side of "Chucky" river about four miles from its mouth in 1784-1785, built the first mill in Jefferson County on Long Creek. According to Goodspeed's History, he was from somewhere on the Dan River "in Virginia." The mistake in this statement is that, instead, he came from North Carolina, though perhaps from that part of it through which, dropping down out of Virginia, the Dan River runs.

Originally, the Jarnigan family came from Nansemond County, Virginia; from thence to Chowan & Bertie counties, on down into the Neuse River country in Johnston & Duplin and Sampson counties. The Jarnigans intermarried in North Carolina with the Needham Bryan family, and there was a Needham Jarnigan, among others. Capt. Thomas, or his father moved farther west to Orange County, and along the Dan River, and then, later, probably was among those who accompanied General James Robertson to the Watauga settlement. He lived in Carter or in Washington County in a Fort for a year or so, and when the lands below were opened for settlement, he came along with many neighbors to the Nolichucky River in Jefferson County, TN.

Source: Tennessee Cousins: A History of Tennessee People, Worth Ray (1950) at 100.
as cited on Caswell County Family Tree