Rebecca (Sevier) Rector (1782 - 1853)

Born 9 Nov 1782 in Tennessee USA

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 11 Jan 1853 at age 70 in Greene County, Tennessee USA

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Biography

“Another party had already gone to Snyder’s house and killed his wife, Elizabeth, and child, John. The child, John Montgomery Snyder, was nearly cut in two with a tomahawk. They went to John King’s house, also a son-in-law of Colonel Sevier. King was a short distance away, shucking corn. His wife, Ann, shut and fastened the door, and she was shot between the logs of the house, killed, and they threw the child into the fire. Soon after it was taken out with life, but was so shockingly burned that it soon died. They went to Colonel Sevier’s house, caught his daughter, Rebecca, a young lady, knocked her down with a war club, scalped her, and left her for dead. Colonel Sevier barred his door – and he and his wife all alone, except perhaps for a child…..Colonel Sevier never resettled at his old place.” ^[1]

“Snyder was at work at the fire, with Benjamin Lindsey, an apprentice boy of 15, at the bellows. Little Joseph Sevier was in the shop, and in the fight he ran under the work bench and was killed there. Snyder was shot through the body and much mangled with the tomahawk. Lindsey dashed out of the shop, broke through the Indians, jumped the yard fence, and fell upon and broke his elbow joint. The Indians then killed Mrs. Snyder and child, then Mrs. King and child, James – both children of some (five)years old. James Sevier, then 17, was out with a negro man in a neighboring field pulling corn. Hearing the screams, he knew the cause. The negro was anxious to go to their relief, and said he wanted to die if necessary, in his master’s defense. Young Sevier thought it not prudent to go, as both were unarmed. John King was shucking corn nearby. They ran for the river, and travelled in a canoe to alarm the people of Clarksville. Colonel Sevier was then suffering from rheumatism, but fired his old brass blunderbuss at a crowd of Indians by a large sugar tree in the yard, not over 20 steps from the house. One Indian toppled over and the others dropped their plundered guns, scrambled them up again, and got their wounded companion. For a second load, Colonel Sevier not having bullets, Mrs. Sevier broke up some pewter spoons and glass, loaded, and Colonel Sevier shot a second time, with no effect except to deter them from any further attempt upon the blockhouse. That morning Sevier had lent his gun to a young man who lived at the station, who had taken off nearly all the bullets. At the fire of the blunderbuss, which was understood as a signal of attack or danger, Amos Bird and Anthony Crutcher mounted their horses and dashed over – swimming the river – and reached there shortly after the Indians left.” ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Letter written by Hugh Bell - 1844
2. ↑ Memoirs of Rebecca Sevier Rector, (Scalped during this event)

• findagrave.com for Rebekah Sevier Rector

• Armstrong, Zella. Notable Southern Families. Baltimore, MD: 1974. v. 4.
• Sevier, C. B. and Madden, N. S. S.. Sevier Family History. Washington, D. C.: N. S. Madden. 1961.

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCDX-16Q : 23 December 2020), Rebecca Rector in household of John Rector, Greene, Tennessee, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/family/K2XG-BGZ