Dropped stitches in Tennessee historyAllison, John
History
Dropped stitches in Tennessee history
Allison, John
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845 -- Homes and haunts -- Tennessee; Tennessee -- History
David Allison was commissioned “Master of the Rolls and Clerk in Equity
of the Superior Court of Law and Equity” for Washington District at
Jonesboro, by Judges Samuel Spencer and David Campbell, in August,
1788. He held this office for about two years, resigning in 1790,
when he went to the settlement on the Cumberland--now Nashville--and
engaged, I believe, in the mercantile business.
Joseph Hamilton disappears entirely from the court records and
proceedings at Jonesboro, and I have been able only to trace him
elsewhere, as Clerk of the County Court of Caswell county, State of
Franklin, 1785, and when he was appointed by the territorial Governor
and Council to aid in running and marking the lines of Knox and
Jefferson counties, when they were established in 1792, and where he
was appointed one of the Trustees of Greeneville College in 1794.
It was while Roane was Governor, in 1802, that the memorable
contest between John Sevier and Andrew Jackson, for the position of
Major General of militia in Tennessee, occurred. It was no empty
and meaningless honor to hold this position then in the state--as
subsequent events demonstrated. Under the terms of the constitution,
the Major General was elected by the field officers of the militia.
When the votes which had been cast were counted, there was found to
be a tie between Jackson and Sevier. The Governor, by virtue of his
office, was commander-in-chief of the militia. He was therefore a field
officer, and as such was entitled to cast, and did cast, the deciding
vote between these two great commanders. Governor Roane gave his vote
for Jackson, and Jackson thus became Major General of militia in
Tennessee, which led him up to the victory he gained over the British
at New Orleans, and this victory eventually made him President of the
United States. If Roane had voted for Sevier?--I am a Presbyterian.
Roane was a candidate for re-election to the office of Governor, in
August, 1803. John Sevier was a candidate against him, and defeated
him, notwithstanding the fact that Roane had the earnest and active
support of Jackson. Jackson and Roane combined could not beat Sevier
before the people, although the latter had been three times Governor
theretofore. Roane, as before stated, remained in private life until
1811. Sevier was twice elected Governor after having defeated Roane,
and remained in public service almost continuously until his death
in September, 1815. To give in detail the various offices with which
John Sevier was honored, every one of which he honored in turn,
would be foreign to the subject. He filled every office known to the
statutes--and some which were unknown--except two: he was never a
Senator in Congress nor a judge of any of the Superior Courts. (He was
not a lawyer.) Nothing that could be said on the subject would add to
this evidence of the confidence the people had in him, and of their
faith in and affection for the man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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