ROCKWOOD LANDING, TN

Daniel & Suzannah (Kincheloe) McPherson Gravesite is probably in this area.

I believe Rockwood Landing was near or at the site of present day Rockwood, Tn - itself an old Tennessee town as is Kingston (both had stage stops) which is near Knoxville and considered a suburb now by many. Both towns are on old Hwy 70 which was pre-empted by Interstate 40. That highway itself pre-empted the main east-west pioneer wagon road which in turn pre-empted an Indian trail across Tennessee as the country grew westward.

There are a lot of old towns along Old Hwy 70 that have long since been passed by and left in the dust of time. The Scotch/Irish settlers particularly liked the bottoms along the Clinch River especially, and whole groups of kindred families settled along there from farther back east - including but not limited to Daniel Boone and Davy Crocket, the latter who established a mill on a creek emptying into the Clinch River. He did the same thing near Lawrenceburg, Tn., and there is a state park there with a reconstructed building used as a nice restaurant sitting by the Crocket's reconstructed mill. Crocket's rule of thumb was that if more than 3 families moved to within the sound of a gunshot from him it was getting "just too crowded" and it was time to move on.

It is very likely this ancestor of ours fought the Creeks with Andrew Jackson. Led by a half-breed they called "Nikajak" - a perversion of his nickname "Nigger Jack" (he was half Creek and half Negro), they had done many foul deeds and depredations until something had to be done, inciting the Creek Nation as well.

Andrew Jackson called for volunteers among the different Militias and they hunted the large band of marauders down. They holed up in a defensible area with caves, located on the Tennessee River near Chattanooga. But Jackson and his volunteers attacked and wiped most of them out (there is a huge Reservoir there now, named Nikajak).

It was here where Sam Houston (later Gov. of Tennessee, then even later Gov. of Texas as well), received a unique (and serious) wound which never healed the rest of his life and which caused the breakup of his marriage, his resignation as TN Governor, and his move to Texas (it is a long story which was not known until 1935). He spent six months recuperating at his mother's cabin at Maryville, TN.

Parts of this "History Lesson" provided by Tony Miller.

Daniel McPherson 1755-1844

When the war of 1812 broke out, he volunteered in Kingston for three months service in Capt. White's Co. Cocke's Div. For service in the war with the Creek Indians. Another record shows him serving in Gen. Glascock's command, then transferred to Col. Samuel Birch's Regt., and in Capt William White's Military Regt. of Mounted Riflemen's Co. then discharged December 29, 1813 for which he received two bounty land grants of forty acres each and a pension which he received until his death Dec 9, 1875. His widow, Sarah, continued receiving his pension until her death April 23, 1897.

Source: Kincheloe - McPherson and Related Families : By Lewin Dwinnell McPherson A.B., A.M., Copyrighted 1951.

A letter from Margaret Foust, Spring City, TN to Compiler of above mentioned book states that Daniel and Susannah (her grandparents) were buried in the lower end of Roane Co. TN and that Daniel was A "Soldier of the Revolution".

Military: Patriot, furnished 470 lbs. beef to the state, "D.A.R. Patriot Index" Vol. 3 Page 1459, College Lib., Brownsville, TX; Soldier from Botetourt Co. VA; Page 1411.

Other: Roster & Soldiers; TN Soc. of D.A.R., Vol. 2, 1960-1970; College Lib., Brownsville, TX.

Daniel was blind for several years prior to his death. He was a soldier in the Revolution. He paid $1000.00 for 163 acres on the Tenn. & Clinch rivers in Roan Co. TN. Daniel and wife recorded in 1840 census of Roan Co. TN. Both Daniel & Susannah are buried near Rockwood Landing on the west side of the Tennessee River. The lake from the Watts Bar Dam has surrounded the cemetery.

Daniel and Susanah moved from Maryland to Jackson County, Tennessee, about 1790, and later to Roane County. They are both buried in Shiloh Cemetery, about 15 miles south of Kingston, on Highway 58.

Ten Mile, TN

  Elijah Daniel McPherson

  Rockwood Landing TN

  McPherson Burials

  Frank McPherson

  Descendants of Daniel McPherson

  McPherson Home Page

  My Southern Family - Site Map