John Hopper Essary (abt. 1782 - 1872)

Born about 1782 in North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Susannah (Hankins) Essary — married Jan 1805 in Roane Co., TN

Husband of Indiana Judah (Blackwood) Essary — married 8 Sep 1858 in Boneyard, Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States

Descendants

Died 31 May 1872 at about age 90 in Lone Elm, Henderson, Tennessee

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Gary Essary [send private message]

Biography

John Hopper Essary was born about 1782 in North Carolina, ^[1], son of Thomas Essary and an unknown mother, most likely on his Uncle Jonathan Essary’s farm about six miles southwest of Silar City in Chatham County.

In 1802, aged 20, John purchased land from his future father-in-law James Hankins on Hines Creek in Roane County, Tennessee (present day Loudon County). He married Susannah Hankins there in January 1805.^[2] John was cited frequently in the court records of Roane County from 1805 through 1821. At various times he served as juror, Justice of the Peace, petitioner, and militia Captain.

The United States declared war on Britain June 18, 1812, known variously as Mr. Madison’s War, the Second War of Independence, and the War of 1812. On January 20, 1814, in Kingston, Tennessee, aged about thirty-two, John mustered into the East Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Gunman, commanded by Colonel John Brown, the sheriff of Roane County before the war. With just over 200 volunteers in this regiment, they were used primarily as guards for the supply wagons traveling through Creek territory.

The East Tennessee Volunteers marched west, where they joined the West Tennessee Volunteers, and now under the leadership of General Andrew Jackson, turned south to New Orleans. As part of Doherty's brigade, they were put under the command of General John Coffee at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, which occurred on March 17, 1814 on the Coosa River in Mississippi Territory (present day Alabama). Lieutenant Sam Houston is said to have been the first over the ramparts as the Americans, accompanied by Cherokee, Choctaw, and Southern Creeks, overran the Red Sticks (Northern Creeks), effectively ending the Creek wars. From there John returned to Kingston and mustered out May 20, 1814.

John and Susannah had nine children while living in Hines Valley. The youngest, Nathan Cosby Essary, was born July 30, 1822. John’s last sale of land in Roane County was recorded November 25, 1822; his last appearance in a session of the Roane County court was April 1824. Susannah’s situation during this period is not known, but she apparently did not survive.

On November 7, 1821, Tennessee Governor William Carroll appointed John, now about age thirty-nine, as one of eleven commissioners in the organization of Henderson County in West Tennessee.^[3] He soon migrated from Kingston to Chesterfield by covered wagon, a journey of about 250 miles. His nine children, from infant to teen, traveled with him or arrived soon after.

John married Mary Eavia Carter, daughter of David J. and Elizabeth Carter, about 1824, perhaps in Henderson County. Their first five children were born there. Sadly, John and Susannah’s son William was murdered by his cousin William Renshaw July 9, 1830. John had a letter published in the Jackson Tennessee Gazette August 6, 1830, offering a reward of $50 to apprehend the perpetrator. There is no record that William Renshaw was ever brought to justice.

About 1834 John set out for Texas and the pending revolution. They laid over in New Orleans awaiting Austin’s return from Mexico. John, following a family trade of blacksmithing, forged rifles to support his family. After a brief sojourn in Texas, finding conditions too severe for his young family, John returned east to northeastern Mississippi. What drew him to Mississippi is unknown, but a number of Henderson County, Tennessee, families migrated to old Tishomingo County, Mississippi. John is enumerated in the 1837 Mississippi State Census in Tishomingo County, noting four acres of land under cultivation and one male slave. In 1837, he is also named on a list of hands to work on a road at the county line.^[4]

John and Mary had four more children in Mississippi, the youngest, William Lafayette, was born December 3, 1844, when John was 62 years old. John was cited as Justice of the Peace in Tishomingo County in 1849, and enumerated in the 1850 Census of Tippah County, recorded as a blacksmith. He received a declaration for bounty land in Tishomingo County in 1851 and a warrant for 80 acres in Alcorn County in 1853.

Now aged 73, and still with three minor children in his household, John returned to Texas, and was elected a Justice of the Peace in Wood County, Texas, in 1855. He received a warrant for 80 acres in Wood County in 1856. His Mercer Colony certificate for 640 acres was issued in 1857, but not executed until after his death in 1872.

"…I have a claim of land in that country. John Danby was to locate it, and it was to be good farming land, and was to give me a title to it. I was to give him half of it, I was to have choice of halves, and I want Joseph, Solomon, and William to have the land and to take it and use it…"^[5]

John returned to Mississippi, and, widowed a second time, married India Blackwood in Boneyard, Tishomingo County, September 28, 1858. India was the widow of his neighbor Ishmael Burrows in the 1850 Census. John and India did not have any children together.

John and India were enumerated together in the 1860 Census of Tippah County and 1870 Census of Alcorn County. Kossuth, Mississippi, where they lived, was successively administered by Tishomingo County, then Tippah County, and finally Alcorn County. There are no records that document John’s life during the Civil War. His brother James and the children of his first marriage left evidence that they were sympathetic to the Union. The population of northeastern Mississippi also leaned toward the Union. A few miles north of Kossuth, the Siege of Corinth in the spring of 1862 and the Battle of Corinth in October 1862 were both victories for the Union. The children of his second marriage, all except David, living in Texas, lived among supporters of the Confederacy, though only his son Levi was recorded as a Confederate participant. In 1870, now aged about 88, John contemplated yet another return to Texas.

"…I would like to know how near the nearest railroad is to you and where it terminates at each end. You wrote that I said I was going to start to Texas. I thought at that time I would, for I can think how I had come to that country, and it seems like I could come again, but when I started from Tennessee down here I found that I could not stand the trip unless I could come some other way besides in a wagon…"^[6]

John didn’t make it back to Texas. But he did return to Tennessee. His daughter Elizabeth Pritchett and son Nathan Essary were living in Henderson County.

"…I have set a day to leave this Country to go to Nathan’s the 15th of September. David has agreed to take me there, and if you don’t write to me before then and I live, my post office address will be lone Elm…"^[7]

John’s son David Essary, who also lived in Alcorn County, delivered his father to Lone Elm, Tennessee, where he settled in with his son Nathan Cosby. Nathan was John’s only son who had returned to Chesterfield. Finally, in the summer of 1872, John aged about 90, his son Nathan Cosby wrote to his Texas kin.

"Dear Brother, I sit myself down to inform you: We are all well as Common; hoping these few lines may reach you safe and sound, and find you all well & doing well. I have no news more than father is dead. He died May the 31st 1872… N.C. Essary"^[8]

John was buried in Union Church Cemetery.^[9] His grave marker states that he died in the year 1869, aged about 87. More recently, a second marker was erected, clarifying the matter.

After receiving news of their father’s death, his son Joseph Rasberry executed John’s Mercer Colony certificate, resulting in the John Essary Survey in Bell County, Texas, surveyed January 15, 1874. It is located in Killeen, Texas; Killeen High School is located there today. Probate for the land wasn’t settled until 1902. Mercer Colony certificates, issued by the last of the Texas impresarios, were challenged in court; some cases dragged on into the 1930’s, and most were negated by the courts.

John’s long and eventful life began as the Treaty of Paris of 1783 confirmed the international recognition of former British Colonies as a new nation. He lived through the terms of the first eighteen Presidents of those United States. He saw his own children split between the North and the South in the Civil War, the Union preserved. Among his 120-some grandchildren, a few lived to see a man walk on the Moon.

Sources

1. ↑ U.S. Census 1850
2. ↑ Roane County, Tennessee Marriage Bonds, 1801-1826, p.16
3. ↑ Tennessee County History Series, Henderson Co., G. Tillman Stewart, p. 35
4. ↑ History of Old Tishomingo County, Mississippi Territory, Cochran, p.31
5. ↑ letter, John Essary, Kossuth, Mississippi, to Joseph Essary, Cedar Valley, Texas, 17 May 1870, unpubl.
6. ↑ letter, John Essary, Kossuth, Mississippi, to Joseph Essary, Cedar Valley, Texas, 6 Aug 1870, unpubl.
7. ↑ letter, John Essary, Kossuth, Mississippi, to Joseph Rasberry Essary, Cedar Valley, Texas, 20 Jun 1871, unpubl.
8. ↑ Nathan Cosby Essary, Lone Elm, Tennessee, to Joseph Rasberry Essary, Cedar Valley, Texas, 31 (sic) Jun 1872, unpubl.
9. ↑ Alcorn County, Mississippi, Cemetery Records, Thomas P. Hughes, Jr. and Jewel B. Standefer, 1971, Thomas P. Hughes, Memphis, Tennessee, p. 193

See also: Find A Grave: Memorial #9733618

John Essary Bible, held by descendants of Joseph Rasberry Essary (1835-1921)

Essary-Deckard News, Evelyn Davis, 1981-1987

Interview, Lottie Oliver, 22 Oct 1982

Land Records, Alcorn County, Mississippi, A-635 and E108

Mississippi State Census, 1837, Tishomingo County, p.1

Story of Chesterfield, Jane Walker Anderson and Eula Essary Scatterday, 1978-1980

US Census, 1830, Henderson County, Tennessee, p.94

US Census, 1860, Tippah County, Mississippi

US Census, 1870, Alcorn County, Mississippi

War of 1812 Pension Application on Fold3