Bristol Public Library

2014 Tipton Family Association Meeting in Bristol, Virginia
Columbus Day Weekend

Schedule of Events
Friday Night Dinner @ 6:30pm at the Athena Steak House
105 Goodson Street, Bristol, Virginia

Welcome all in town for the TFAA Meeting.
Everyone is Invited! Dutch Treat.

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Happy Spring to All!

I hope you are enjoying beautiful weather.

What better time than spring for a story about one of our famous Tipton ancestors, the baseball player, Joe Tipton. In 1952, Topps issued Joe’s baseball card while he was with the Philadelphia Athletics. He played in the major leagues from 1948 to 1954 playing catcher for the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago White Sox, the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators. During his rookie season with the Indians, they played in the World Series. In 417 games, Joe’s batting average was .236 with 29 homeruns and 125 runs batted in!

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Thanks to all who answered the request for funds to replenish the TFAA bank account

Thanks to all who answered the request for funds to replenish the TFAA bank account. Our immediate needs were fulfilled by a very prompt response.

The TFAA newsletter is being received by Tiptons, Tipton descendants and interested parties in 33 states; Washington, DC and the United Kingdom. The states are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Important Announcement

The 2014 Tipton Family Association of America meeting will be held in Bristol, Virginia on Saturday, October 12th.

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We Tipton and Our Kin

Pictured are the Tiptons and Tipton descendants who gathered in Burnsville, North Carolina on October 12th for the 2013 TFAA meeting

Pictured are the Tiptons and Tipton descendants who gathered in Burnsville, North Carolina on October 12th for the 2013 TFAA meeting.

Fifty-five people from twelve states attended. The states of Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee were represented.

Group photo provided by Tipton descendant Chandra Pickering.

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Ya’ll Come, Ya’ll Come
Ya’ll Come To Meet Us When You Can!

The Yancey County Library, Burnsville, North Carolina

The following is the Agenda for the 2013 TFAA Meeting

The Meeting is open to all persons interested in the Tipton Family, its history and the American history of our ancestors’ times.

Pre-registration is not necessary and the event is free and open to all Events take place at the Yancey County Library in Burnsville, North Carolina located at 321 School Circle; telephone number (828) 682-2600

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Greetings. Hope your Summer is Going Well!

On 28 June, I was an invited guest for the opening ceremony of the interpretive center at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park in Elizabethton representing the TFAA. The center is informative and beautiful and takes the ability of the Park to tell the story of old Fort Watauga and the Overmountain Men to the highest level. Jennifer Bauer, Park Manager, and her staff are to be congratulated on this outstanding achievement.

While attending, I was able to give Governor James Haslam of Tennessee a Tipton Family Crest coffee mug.

Sycamore Shoals, which is a ford on the Watauga River, and the history it represents, are important to our Tipton family because Major Jonathan Tipton was a member of the Watauga Association and an early settler in this part of North Carolina which became East Tennessee in 1796 when that state was formed. Major Jonathan was among the fighting men who answered the call as these frontiersmen rode over the mountains to defeat Major Ferguson and his Tory militia at the Battle of Kings Mountain 7 October 1780 during the Revolutionary War. History remembers them as the Overmountain Men.

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The above picture featured on the website is of Colonel John Tipton’s house at the Tipton-Haynes Historic Site in Johnson City, Tennessee. After Colonel John died; his son, John (often referred to as John Tipton, Jr.) lived in the house. John, Jr. added the siding to the original log cabin that Colonel John built and lived in. John, Jr. was also a Colonel of the militia in Sullivan County before he lived here. Once living here, he was also Colonel John Tipton of Washington County, Tennessee and he had a long career in the Tennessee legislature. It is easy to understand how the two men were sometimes confused in historical accounts in later years.
The Tipton-Haynes Historic Site is only about fifty miles northwest of Burnsville, North Carolina. If you have never been there, while in this neck of the woods attending this year’s TFAA meeting on 12 October in Burnsville, you will want to visit the Tipton House.

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Announcing, TaDa……….The TFAA Website!

We Are On the World Wide Web

www.tiptonfamilyassociationofamerica.com

 About Us      Queries            Ezine         Newsletters           Gift Store        Contact Us

Let me explain the different aspects of the site.  The homepage comes up when the site is visited and welcomes the visitor.  About Us introduces the TFAA.  The Queries Section is a blog area where anyone can post a question regarding Tipton family lineage.  The idea is anyone with answers to the posted questions can post those answers.  Hopefully, we can help each other asking and answering questions/queries.  The Ezine Section is the online magazine of articles about the family.  Four articles are currently uploaded and in the Table of Contents.  Newsletters is the Section which archives the last ten newsletters and soon this one plus future newsletters.  The Gift Store is still under construction but its purpose is self-explanatory.  And, Contact Us is self-explanatory.

You will note the site has a donate button so anyone can make a donation to the TFAA through PayPal by using this feature.

 The above picture is featured on the website.  It is of Colonel John Tipton’s house at the Tipton-Haynes Historic Site in Johnson City, Tennessee.  After Colonel John died; his son, John (often referred to as John Tipton, Jr.) lived in the house.  John, Jr. added the siding to the original log cabin that Colonel John built and lived in.  John, Jr. was also a Colonel of the militia in Sullivan County before he lived here.  Once living here, he was also Colonel John Tipton of Washington County, Tennessee and he had a long career in the Tennessee legislature.  It is easy to understand how the two men were sometimes confused in historical accounts in later years.

The Tipton-Haynes Historic Site is only about fifty miles northwest of Burnsville, North Carolina.  If you have never been there, while in this neck of the woods attending this year’s TFAA meeting on 12 October in Burnsville, you will want to visit the Tipton House.

 Make Plans to Attend the 2013 Tipton Family Association of America Meeting in

Burnsville, North Carolina

In 1846 the United States became embroiled in the Mexican War.  A call for 2800 volunteers from Tennessee went out, but 30,000 from the Volunteer State responded.  Among them was Nathaniel Taylor Tipton, a young man from Tipton County, Tennessee.

Nat was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, the son of General Jacob and Lorina Taylor Tipton. General Jacob was the founder of Tipton County.  Nat was the grandson of Captain Jacob Tipton who was killed at St. Clair’s Defeat and the great-grandson of Colonel John Tipton of East Tennessee.  His mother’s father was General Nathaniel Taylor who served under Andrew Jackson; General Taylor’s father was Andrew Taylor of Watauga.

He and the other men from Tipton and Fayette Counties were part of Company A, 1^st Tennessee Regiment, Mounted Volunteers.  He was a sergeant.  They rode horseback through Arkansas and Texas to San Antonio and on to Tampico, Mexico.  The regiment took part in several battles before joining General Winfield Scott at Cerro Gordo.  In one of the battles, Nat was shot in the leg, but he was able to continue with his duty

The battle at Cerro Gordo was already lost.  Gen Scott told the men that had they arrived sooner, Santa Ana could have been captured and the battle won. The Southern men and horses were better prepared for the heat and humidity than those of the US Cavalry.

The contingent from West Tennessee remained with Scott to Jalapa where they were mustered out.  Their horses were sold to the government, and the men returned to New Orleans via boat in 1847.  They then traveled by steamboat to Randolph, west of Covington on the Mississippi.  At that time Randolph was a thriving town rivaling Memphis.

During their time of service the men were paid $8 per month if and when the paymaster showed up.

Nat returned to Tipton County and was county court clerk for three terms, and he was admitted to the bar in 1870.

He married Laura Applewight Stone Tipton and lived east of Covington with their ten children, eight of whom lived to maturity.

Ironically, after enduring this long journey, being injured in battle and starting a career in Covington, Nat and other men were on an upstairs porch of a hotel in uptown Covington. The porch collapsed and he was killed.   He left a wife and four underage children.  The Sheriff of Tipton County was requested by the County Court to toll the courthouse bell during his burial.  He was 56 and Laura was 45.  He is buried in Munford Cemetery in Covington.

Laura was granted a pension of $8 per month in January of 1908, sixty years after the Mexican War was over.  Her pension was increased to $10 per month three months later.  She died in 1913.

David Tipton of Piney Woods, Tennessee and I visited the John Tipton (Jr.) house in Blountville, Tennessee recently.  The house is occupied today by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Luchini who are doing renovations within historic guidelines and are both cognizant and proud of the history of the place.  Mr. Luchini was kind enough to give David and me a complete tour.

The house was originally a log structure with clapboard added; the original log construction is still to be seen at points within the house.  There is a basement, a main floor and two upper floors with inside stairs leading to each level.  Originally, the entry to the basement kitchen was outside.  The first floor is about 20 x 20 as are the upper floors making the house about 1,200 square feet.  The basement was the original kitchen whose fireplace still has its crane in place.

 John Tipton (Jr.) (1767-1831) married Elizabeth Snapp 28 October 1791.  They at first lived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and then moved to Sullivan County, Tennessee.  Elizabeth’s father, Lawrence Snapp, lived in the Shenandoah and was a close associate of John’s father, Colonel John Tipton (1730-1813); he later moved his family to Sullivan County.  John and Elizabeth lived near her parents in the Shenandoah and later in Sullivan County.  About 1815, they moved to Washington County and resided in his father’s home which is today’s Tipton-Haynes Historic Site in Johnson City, Tennessee.

John was a longtime legislator in the Tennessee General Assemblies serving in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  He died in 1831 while serving in the House as representative for Washington County.

His funeral in the State Capitol of Nashville was considered the largest funeral held in Nashville to that date.  He was buried in the Nashville City Cemetery and the General Assemblies of Tennessee placed a monument over his grave.  The State’s tribute to John Tipton was described in a 30 November 1831 article in the Nashville Banner & Nashville Whig newspaper.

Use this link to view his grave: http://thenashvillecitycemetery.org/280168_tipton.htm

 You can also read more about John Tipton (Jr.) on the TFAA website’s Ezine Section in

“Notes on John Tipton” by Sally Ryan Tomlinson.

Join Us

CLICK and Join us on Facebook!

Thanks to Andrew Tipton for administering our Facebook page.

Please share this newsletter with everyone you know that could be interested in our family’s history and association. If you are receiving this newsletter by snail mail, please let me know your email address so you can get the newsletter electronically and in color.  My email is parrrish968@aol.com.

Previous newsletters are archived on the TFAA website.

The TFAA and President thank the many TFAA members and friends who support our Association financially.  That support makes our family’s association prosper and achieve its goal to preserve Tipton family history in the present!

Please support the Tipton Family Association by making your membership donation to the Tipton Family Association of America on the TFAA website: www.tiptonfamilyassociationofamerica.com

Many Thanks to All Who Make Their Membership Donations to
The Tipton Family Association of America

Tipton Family Membership donations make the TFAA able to accomplish the goals of the membership. In recent years, the TFAA has re-established meetings and newsletters, made the book We Tipton and Our Kin available on CD, provided a plaque in honor of William “Fightin’ Billy” Tipton in Savannah, assisted research in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia on the farmland of Colonel John Tipton and the successful quest to find the burial place of Major Jonathan Tipton. With your financial support, we can continue to succeed and do more!

Visit Us at www.tiptonfamilyassociationofamerica.com