Brothers, Robert Overall, Nathaniel Overall and William Overall, born in the 1750s in Frederick Co., VA, came to middle Tennessee with James Robertson’s second party in the fall of 1779. Their sisters, Mary, who married James Espey (the original owners of “Espeyland” in Old Jefferson), and Nancy, who married Joshua Thomas, apparently were with them. After reaching their destination, they planted corn and prepared for a settlement near Sulphur Springs bottom, which is now within the city limits of Nashville. Most of the Robertson party returned to the Wautauga settlement to return again in the Spring of 1780, but the Overall brothers and their brothers-in-law stayed behind to defend the settlement. Early in 1780 Robert Overall was killed by Indians. William Overall was killed by
Indians on 22 January 1793. Historians agree that it was because of William Overall’s effective work as a spy for the colonists that the Indians gave him such cruel treatment. The brothers-in-law, James Espey and Joshua Thomas, were also killed by Indians. Of the five, Nathaniel Overall was the only one to die a natural death.
William Overall signed the Cumberland Compact, May 1780. Little is known of [Capt.] William Overall’s early life, but in 1776 he is found on the Wautauga River in East Tennessee joining in a petition “to the Honorable Provincial Council of N.C.” to be annexed to that province. He was on the 1787 tax roll for Davidson Co. He purchased 640 acres on Overall Creek, Mar 12, 1788 [RCHS Pub. Land Grants]
William Overall married about 1783, Susanna Thomas, sister of Joshua Thomas, who married Nancy Overall, and Anne Thomas, who married Nathaniel Overall. “On 22 January 1793, The Bench, or Bob Benge, the most daring and crafty of the Chickamauga bushwhackers, and Double Hear (beyond question the most cruel and bloodthirsty Indian in the Cherokee nation) fell in with a party of traders at Dripping Spring on the trace from Cumberland to Kentucky, killed Capt. William Overall and Mr. Burnett, took nine horses loaded with goods and whiskey, and made their escape. . . It was reported that Double Head cut and carried off the flesh from Capt. William Overall’s bones and carried his scalp and that of his companion to the Cherokee nation, and had war dances over them at Lookout Mountain, Willstown, and Turnip Mountain, his party having been enlisted from all these settlements.” [American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 436 ff.].
William Overall left a family of four sons and one daughter. An inventory of his estate was filed in Davidson Co. in
Jan 1795 by Susannah Overall, his administratrix. David Vaughn, may have married the widow, Susannah, as they are administrators of William Overall, deceased, and sold to Lewis Perkins 320 acres on Overall Creek, June 6, 1798 [RCHS Pub. Land Grants]. William Overall’s heirs were on the Rutherford Co. tax list for 1809, owning, 640 acres (R. Weakley was agent). CHILDREN of William & Susannah Overall:
1. William F. Overall, Jr. moved to Missouri in 1808.
2. Isaac Holmes Overall was found on the 1820 census for Rutherford Co. b. 1775-1795. Isaac H. Overall sold 100 acres on both sides of Overall’s Creek to John Smith June 17, 1818 [Deed Book L, p. 293]. Isaac H. Overall, age 60, & Sophia Overall, age 59 born NC are found on the 1850 Willkinson’s Crossroads [Dist. 7] Rutherford Co. census. Isaac H. Overall d. 25 Aug 1857, intestate, with Sophia Overall, widow. CHILDREN of Isaac & Sophia:
A. Isaac R. Overall of Texas.
B. Martha Jane Overall married 1836, Ellis Suttle.
C. Susan C. Overall married 1835, Edmund R. Rucker.
D. Lucretia H. Overall married 1841, Minos L. Fletcher
E. Cynthia P. Overall married 1st 1849, William T. Brown; married 2nd P.M. Sherman of Texas.
F. Cecilia Overall married 1st 1849, James E. Jones; married 2nd 1863, J. P. Floyd
G. Laura A. Overall married 1st 1848, James H. Kerby; married 2nd ? Summers of Cannon Co., TN
H. William S. Overall married 1843, Frances C. Fletcher
I. Jackson Overall, deceased at the time of his father’s will, leaving children.
3. Nathaniel H. Overall
4. Sophia Elizabeth Overall married Dr. John Price.
5. Major Wilson Lee Overall moved to Missouri.
http://rutherfordtnhistory.org/overall-family-of-rutherford-county/
