MySource:Samples 59/The Old Path, Route of the Great Indian War Trail vanishing quickly in East Tennessee

Moses Samples at Finley's Gap, Jefferson Co., TN

[A Personal Interpretation of Swanns' article]

• Old deeds often give clues to the route of the War Trail.

On the seventh of June 1784, a 400 acre survey was done for John Blackburn: “Long Creek at the second crossing of the War Path beginning fifty poles above the improvement …” This brief statement tells us that the War Trail crossed Long Creek at least two times and that John Blackburn had begun farming on this property prior to 1784 – a very early date.

Matthew Samples name appears in John Blackburn's Last Will & Testament.

• We know that David Crockett visited James Blackburn in Jefferson County, East Tennessee, on his trip to Washington in October 1827 by reading page 3 in Crockett’s letter from Washington City of February 5, 1828 to James Blackburn son of John Blackburn mentioned above.
• The Finley’s Gap and headwaters of Long Creek neighborhoods were bristling with pioneer families at a very early date. So many Jefferson County natives and descendents can trace their roots back to these earliest pioneer settlers. The heavy settlement activity here may have resulted from the proximity of this area to the War Trail which was the route taken by the first pioneers entering the area. Some of the earliest settlers and families in this neighborhood were James McCuistion, Sr. and Jr., David, Joseph, Andrew, Robert and Thomas McCuistion, John and Rebecca Jacobs, William and Jean Finley, Richard Grace, Richard Grisham, Thomas Dinnel, David Davies, John, James, Edward, and Andrew Blackburn, Samuel Lyle, James Corbett, Thomas Snoddy, James and Reuben Churchman, Bradley, Eli & William Bettis, George W. Jones, James Sherrod, John Sterling, William, Christopher, James and Thomas Bradshaw, Henry Brown, Samuel Gass, John Lang, William Hughes, James MvGuire. James and Levina Scott, Jerimiah and Catherine Nicholson, Ninian Chamberlain, William Givens, John Carson, Andrew and Agnes McAdow, Richard Collins, Rebacca and Elizabeth Grisham, Robert Mansfield, Jacob Crider, William Walker, Samuel McGreary, Patrick and James McGuire, Henry Bradford, Richard Grace, James Gibbons, Robert Miller, Daniel Prigmore, Moses Samples, John Potter, George McGirt, Henry Hagard, John Lacey, William Rankin, McGarahs, Kerrs, Bethens, Yells, Kimbroughs, and others.

Davy Crockett's in-laws, the Finleys, must have moved onto their home in the gap of Bays Mountain at a fairly early date. The name of the gap, Finley’s Gap, is still in use today. The one hundred acre Finley homestead and David Crockett's first home were located in Finley’s Gap not far from Collier’s Corner.

• David Crockett and Polly Finley lived next to the Finely’s at Finley’s Gap from their wedding in 1806 until 1812 when they moved to Middle Tennessee. David developed many friends in this area which covered the Mt. Horeb, Collier’s Crossroads, and the Headwaters of Long Creek neighborhoods. The Blackburns, Samples, Rankins, Nicholsons, McCuistions, Mansfields, Bettis, Loves, Bradshaws, Corbetts, and others were neighbors and friends of David and Polly Crockett.