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Biographical Sketch of Colonel John Tipton (1730-1813)
by John Parrish

John Tipton was born in that greatest American generation which was destined to change the colonies, the British Empire and the world. Others of this generation were George Washington, Patrick Henry, Reverend General Peter Muhlenberg, George Mason, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. These men, all born in America, had the ability and the drive to bring republican government to the world. Over the course of Tipton’s life, he was to know and serve with these men as the United States was conceived and born of the American Revolution.

John Tipton was born August 15th, 1730 in Baltimore County, Maryland. He was born into a prosperous but not privileged family. His father, Jonathan, was a farmer as were the great majority of colonists in eighteenth century English America. John’s mother was Elizabeth Edwards Tipton. He had four brothers and three sisters. His siblings Edward, Sarah, William and Joseph were born between 1728 and 1738 so this was the family he grew up learning, playing and working among. His brother Jonathan and sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were born in the early 1750’s when John was a young man.

The Tipton’s family life was similar to their contemporaries. Farm life was hard work and the boys in the family were the farm labor. No doubt John labored in the fields sowing crops, clearing land for more fields and chopping wood to heat the home. While the boys did the farm work and cared for the livestock, John’s mother and sisters would have tended the vegetable garden, made the clothes and done other domestic duties equally as laborious as the boys’ work. Being prosperous, it is possible the family had indentured servants or even a slave to help with the labor. John’s education was not formal but he learned to read and write acquiring the education necessary to run his own successful farming business when an adult.

Life was not all drudgery and hard work. John’s grandfather, Jonathan, had immigrated to Maryland from Jamaica, an exotic place for a young boy to hear about. According to Tipton Family history, John’s great grandfather, Edward, was a soldier in the army of General Robert Venable who sailed in the English fleet of Sir Admiral William Penn that conquered Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655. This family lore, told around the fireside, was heady stuff for a boy growing up. Besides that, Grandfather Jonathan bred race horses on his Maryland plantation called Poor Jamaica Man’s Plague. Stories and fine horseflesh provided plenty of adventurous tales in the life of young John Tipton. He might also have heard the legend of his ancestor, Anthony de Tipton, who was knighted by English King Edward I after Tipton slew Welsh Prince Llewellyn in 1282.

In 1747, John’s father moved his family from Maryland to the Shenandoah Valley in the western mountains of the Crown Colony of Virginia. This was the frontier of English North America. The land was rich and resources were plentiful. There was a constant threat of Indian raid but the frontier was relatively peaceful until about 1755. Of course in those times, people lived with the constant threat of war. England was continually at war with the French, the Spanish, or the Dutch. All men were required to be part of the militia and ready to defend their homes and be called to fight when an enemy appeared. Every man had his musket.

In 1751, John married Mary Butler, daughter of Thomas Butler of Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Shenandoah River. The marriage was to last for twenty-five years and result in the birth of nine sons. The first, Samuel, was born in 1752. The births of Benjamin (1755), Abraham (1758), William (1761), Isaac (1763), Jacob (1765), John (1769), Thomas (1771), and Jonathan (1776) followed. In the tradition of the times, the family enjoyed the labor so coveted by a farming family and so necessary to a successful agricultural business.

By 1757, at the age of twenty-seven, John Tipton was a landowner and owned a farm of 181 acres. He learned well from his father and grandfather as the land he purchased was on the seven bends of the Shenandoah River. This area, near the crossroads of Tom’s Brook in what was then Frederick County, Virginia, was some of the most fertile in the entire Valley. Here, he raised corn, wheat, potatoes and barley enough to distill an amount of whiskey as was the habit of virtually every colonial that could. He raised hogs and a few cattle. As with his grandfather, he was fond of horses and had an eye for racing horseflesh. This farm was close to the Valley Pike that is referred to by history as the Great Wagon Road, well-travelled even in the 1760’s. In 1765, the road was cleared for horse drawn vehicles.

The Great Wagon Road began in Pennsylvania west of Philadelphia and ran down the Shenandoah Valley to Roanoke, Virginia. There it branched south and east into the Carolinas and south and west into what is now East Tennessee. The Road was the major pathway for immigration to the frontier of the southern colonies. It is believed that in the twentieth century, over forty per cent of all Americans could trace their lineage to ancestors who travelled the Great Wagon Road. So, while John Tipton was on the frontier, this frontier benefitted from news and the social life attributed to the constant traffic of the Great Wagon Road.

John Tipton was an Englishman and loyal to the King. He served in the militia with his neighbors. Muster days, as they were called, were also social events on the frontier with horse racing, contests of strength and marksmanship, fiddling, dancing, laughter and the best source for all the local news and news of the outside world. Militia days served as voting days. In 1761, Tipton’s vote for Colonel George Washington to serve in the House of Burgesses is recorded. The polling was done in Winchester, the county seat of Frederick County and Washington’s “home town”.

In 1772, John Tipton’s career of service to his neighbors and country began in earnest. Dunmore County was formed and Woodstock, just south of Tom’s Brook, was designated the county seat. Tipton was appointed to the Commission of Peace for the new county by Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia. He was a Vestryman of the Anglican Church of Beckford Parish. In colonial times, the county government provided the civil functions of the government while the Anglican Church Parish provided the social governance. Parishes were as powerful as the courts. Separation of church and state did not exist in the British Empire. County government held court and provided roads while Parish vestrymen helped the poor and monitored moral behavior.

Dunmore County Court records now list the presence of John Tipton, Gentleman. What may seem a courtesy to us in the twenty-first century was an official honorarium in colonial
Virginia. Being referred to as “gentleman” was a title reserved for use by prominent men. Thomas Marshall, father of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall was the clerk of this court.

In 1774, John Tipton began his career as an American patriot. On June 16th, a public meeting was called for the citizens of Dunmore County. From north to south, American colonists were outraged and concerned about the British imposition of martial law in Boston. The citizens formed a Committee of Safety and Correspondence for the county. John Tipton, gentleman, and four other men were elected to serve on the Committee. The Reverend Peter John Muhlenberg was Chairman. This Committee wrote and published the Woodstock Resolutions declaring the liberties of Englishmen and their right to resist tyranny as reported in an article in the Virginia Gazette published in Williamsburg on August 4th. When King George III learned of the Woodstock Resolutions, he branded them “seditious”.

Tipton was not only a patriot in word; he was a patriot in deed. As a soldier, his first command was as Captain in Lord Dunmore’s War. He led his men to the “Battle of Big Connaway”, also called the Battle of Point Pleasant serving under General Andrew Lewis. The frontier militia called out by the royal governor defeated a confederation of Indians on the Kanawha River at the place where this river empties into the Ohio River. In January, 1775, Tipton was an organizer of the First Independent Company of Dunmore, a militia organized by the Dunmore Committee of Safety and Correspondence.

First a patriot, next a minute man, on April 23rd, 1776; John Tipton became a rebel to the English Crown. He was elected to represent Dunmore County at the Virginia Convention in Williamsburg. This most significant of Virginia Conventions adopted a Declaration of Rights on June 12th and a constitution for Virginia on June 29th. Independence for the State of Virginia had been declared!

Following the Virginia Convention, Tipton was elected to the House of Delegates for the next four years where he served on Committees with leading Virginia patriots Patrick Henry, George Mason and James Madison. Benjamin Harrison, father of President William Henry Harrison was a Delegate. Tipton served on Committees with the prominent men of the Shenandoah Valley: Andrew Lewis, Isaac Zane and Arthur Campbell. During these years, he served his county, renamed Shenandoah in 1777, as Justice of the Peace appointed by Governor Patrick Henry who also appointed Tipton County Sheriff in 1778 and recruiting officer for the Virginia Continental Line in 1779. In 1780, Governor Thomas Jefferson appointed him Commissioner of the Provision Law. Tipton was County Lieutenant for Shenandoah. The County Lieutenant was the principal military officer in a Virginia County and thus a Colonel of militia. It was from this time forward that he was referred to as Colonel.

By 1782, Colonel Tipton had endured several tragedies in his life. In 1776, Mary died in child birth with Jonathan. While serving with George Rogers Clark in the Ohio Country, son Abraham, a Captain, was killed by Indians on Beargrass Creek at the Falls of the Ohio, present-day Louisville, Kentucky. His son William was badly wounded fighting at the siege of Savannah under General Isaac Huger.

In 1777, he married Martha Denton Moore, the widow of Dr. James Moore and member of a large, prosperous Valley family. The Dentons and John Tipton had a close relationship during his years in the Shenandoah. It was from Samuel Denton that John bought his farm on the seven bends. In 1781, Martha gave birth to a son who was named Abraham to honor the brother who fell in the Ohio country. With the birth of Abraham, Tipton had fathered ten sons.

In 1783, after the American Revolution was won, Colonel John Tipton moved to the Watauga Settlements on the Western Waters in what is now East Tennessee. His brothers Jonathan and Joseph had already moved to the area accompanied by their father, Jonathan, who was over seventy-five years of age. Brother Jonathan is a signer of the Watauga settlers’ petition to North Carolina of 1776 and Joseph is on the 1778 Watauga tax lists. John’s brother Edward had moved to Pennsylvania while his brother William stayed in the Shenandoah Valley.

Prior to Tennessee statehood in 1796, East Tennessee was part of the colony, then state, of North Carolina. Communication between the area and the state was very difficult because of the high mountains in between and the lack of roads for travel. It was not until the 1790’s that a wagon road connected East Tennessee to Asheville. The majority of settlers on the western waters was from Virginia and had travelled down the Shenandoah Valley to get there. Many of the settlers were Scotch-Irish but there were English, German and Huguenots.

Tipton brought with him considerable skills and experience as a judge, legislator, and public official. He had a steady and prominent part in bringing democratic government to his country. His life included first hand experience drafting a resolution of resistance to tyranny, a declaration of rights and a constitution for the neighbors who were his constituency, his state and his country. He had been bold and fearless as a patriot.

As before, Tipton had an eye for choice farmland. On May 15th, 1784 he purchased 100 acres between Sinking Creek and Buffalo Creek from Samuel Henry. In addition to being very fertile, the land was along an ancient buffalo trail with a bold spring and sheltering cave. In 1673, the first Englishmen to visit Tennessee; James Needham and Arthur Gabriel; camped at the site and later Daniel Boone made the cave his campground while hunting and exploring. Tipton built his home on this land. General Thomas Love, friend and ally, described the house as a “large size house, some 25 x 30 feet of hewed logs – a story and a half – no windows below – two or three window holes, round, in each gable and above – a door in front”.

Post-Revolutionary War times were confusing and trying times in East Tennessee, North Carolina and all the former colonies. In every state, the economy was depressed and the governments were struggling with massive war debt. North Carolina had ceded her western territory, including East Tennessee, to the Confederation government and then rescinded the cession. North Carolina’s action was distressing to the Watauga settlers causing them to feel without a government and abandoned by the state. As was common, a public meeting was held in August, 1784 at Jonesboro to consider the question of government in the Watauga area.

Given his experience and proven leadership, Colonel Tipton was depended upon by his neighbors almost as soon as he arrived. Records are incomplete, but Tipton was a “delegate” to the State of Franklin Convention held in mid-December, 1784. Here, a resolution passed 28-15 declaring independence from North Carolina and statehood for Franklin. Both Tipton and his brother Joseph voted against the resolution. In November, 1785, he was at the State of Franklin constitutional convention held in Greenville and was associated with a constitution which was very liberal for its day authored by Reverend Samuel Houston, uncle of the future Tennessee statesman. This constitution was defeated. Existing records indicate John Tipton and eighteen other men were in favor of this democratic constitution.

John Tipton was an opponent of the right of the State of Franklin to exist. He was not alone among notable citizens of the area. The most respected man of his day, Evan Shelby, never supported Franklin and served as Brigadier General of Militia for North Carolina during a period of Franklin’s existence. Colonel Robert Love and his brothers, members of a prominent family, were opposed to Franklin. General Joseph Martin was opposed to the State of Franklin. Many future legislators voted against independence as had Tipton. North Carolina considered the movement a rebellion and its leaders as traitors. The Confederation government in New York gave it no countenance. Even Georgia, which planned military campaigns with the Franks, was careful in its correspondence to avoid addressing a state or independent government.

History has yet to decide if the State of Franklin was the spontaneous act of self-reliant, independent settlers originating a western democracy; the conspiracy of self-seeking land speculators; or a separatists’ movement which resented the subordination of its interests to those of Carolinians in the East. There is no question that land speculation was rife in the west and that some of Franklin’s leaders were among the speculators.

Colonel John Tipton had the experience to foresee whether or not the counties involved were prepared for self-government. He would have been offended by the land speculation schemes which had not taken place in Virginia and he was an official of the State of North Carolina which turned to him to oppose the movement. He may have been influenced at the Greeneville Convention when he saw that a more democratic self-government was not the intent of the Franklin leadership.

For all intents and purposes, the State of Franklin ceased to exist on February 29th, 1788. Frank Governor John Sevier attacked Tipton and some North Carolina supporters at Tipton’s home. Sevier and his men were routed. Sevier submitted to the laws of the mother state, North Carolina, after what history refers to as The Battle of the Lost State of Franklin.

The State of Tennessee is indebted to Colonel John Tipton for his unflagging opposition to the State of Franklin and his ability to defeat the movement. Franklin was a convoluted “state” which brought the counties involved into conflict with federal policy, the mother state, the State of Virginia and the Indians on the frontier in addition to strife and violence in the counties themselves. Because Franklin was defeated, Tennessee moved forward to statehood in an orderly and straightforward manner countenanced by all of the United States.

If Tipton’s decisions regarding Franklin needed any vindication, such was clearly given in March, 1788 when he was elected a delegate to the Hillsboro Convention at which North Carolina considered ratification of the proposed federal constitution creating the United States. Tipton, an anti-federalist much influenced by his friend Thomas Jefferson, voted with the majority to not ratify the constitution. The over-riding objection was the fact that the constitution did not contain a Bill of Rights protecting the citizens. Once again in his life, Colonel John Tipton stood firmly for democratic, representative government.

In August, 1788, he was elected to represent Washington County as Senator in the North Carolina Legislature. He had served in the Legislature in 1786, as a court clerk for the state and been appointed a Colonel of militia under Brigadier General Evan Shelby. By 1789, the voters of North Carolina came to favor the federalists and Tipton was among the anti-federalists no longer in the Assembly. Here ended his service to the State of North Carolina.

Colonel John was a big, powerful man who stood six feet tall and had been a famed boxer in his youth. With dark hair and dark eyes, he had a ruddy complexion sustaining his English ancestry; he was described as “spare” in his youth and tended to “corpulence” in old age. He was the type of man that did the work with his own hands even though his prosperity afforded him servants and slave labor. Some stories about his temperament are legend. Sometime during the upheavals of the State of Franklin, it is said that a Tipton in his mid-fifties bested a younger John Sevier in a fight begun when Sevier struck Tipton with a cane. At a more advanced age, he is reputed to have ridden his horse from Knoxville to his home near Jonesboro in one day, a distance of one hundred miles. His son, Jonathan said his father was honorable and kind, determined when opposed but predominately benevolent and merciful.

Tipton seems to have been circumspect where Native Americans were concerned. Two of his sons, his father-in-law and his cousin Joshua were killed by Indians yet he displayed no vendetta. His one documented foray against the Indians was when he captained a company of men at the Battle of Point Pleasant during Lord Dunmore’s War in 1774. He was a slave owner. A Shenandoah County census states he had four slaves and he gifted a slave to the widow of a man killed at the Battle of Franklin in 1788. Thus, he clearly considered his slaves his property.

The 1790’s visited more sadness on the life of Colonel John Tipton. His son Jacob, born in 1765 in the Shenandoah Valley, was killed on November 4th, 1791 at St. Clair’s Defeat by Indians in the Northwest Territory. In 1823, Jacob’s son, General Jacob Tipton, was to name the West Tennessee County of Tipton in honor of his fallen father. Then in 1794, Martha died after seventeen years of marriage. Martha was buried in a family cemetery on the Tipton farm below Buffalo Mountain where they had lived for a decade.

In 1789, North Carolina ratified the United States constitution and became a member of the Union. The state again, and this time permanently, ceded her territory west of the Alleghany Mountain watershed to the federal government as of February 25th, 1790. On May 26th, the federal government created the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio which contained the land that would become the State of Tennessee. The Territory was more simply referred to as the Southwest Territory and use of the name Tennessee became common.

Always a public servant, Tipton was elected to the unicameral legislature of the Southwest Territory. When it convened in August, 1794, his legislative peers turned to him to serve on a Committee to make provisions for the poor and to Chair the Committee for Petitions and Grievances, an important legislative function. He served on this Committee with James White, founder of Knoxville, and William Cocke, an official of the defunct State of Franklin. On August 30th, the legislature passed a bill creating a university in Greene County which made education a territorial priority. John Tipton was certainly one of the very few of these legislators who had been on a university campus as he had visited the College of William and Mary so many years before in Williamsburg. Tipton served as one of the founding Trustees of the university, Washington College Academy.

Relying on the experience of Tipton with constitutional documents, the legislators of the Southwest Territory appointed him to a Committee to write a constitution for the State of Tennessee. It was determined that the territory; with a population of 77,262; was ready to apply for statehood. The dream of the East Tennesseans was coming true: statehood for the land from the Watauga to the Mississippi River!

The constitution of Tennessee drafted by this Committee, which convened on January 11th, 1796, was a very democratic document eliminating property qualifications for voters and providing the governor be elected by the electorate, not the legislature. Thomas Jefferson deemed the Tennessee constitution “the least imperfect and most republican of all”.

It was on the Constitutional Committee, if not before, that Colonel John Tipton made the acquaintance of Andrew Jackson. Tipton and Jackson had several things in common in addition to being dedicated public servants. They both loved race horses and each had a horse descended from the most famous bloodline in America, that of the English thoroughbred, Diomed. Tipton was known for his racing stock and to have the fastest horses in East Tennessee. Don Quixote and Tipton’s Irish Grey were legendary racers. Tipton and Jackson also shared an antipathy for John Sevier, although Jackson’s feud was more vociferous.

During 1795 and 1796, Frenchman Andre Michaux was a guest in the home of Tipton. Michaux was the most famous botanist in continental Europe and he was sent to America by the French government to study the flora of North America. In ’95, he was headed west to study the plant life of Tennessee; on his return in ’96, he revisited Tipton’s beautiful plantation. He must have found both hospitality and a fascinating plant life as this was Michaux’s only repeat visit with a Tennessean. It is possible Thomas Jefferson wrote an introduction to Tipton for the botanist because Jefferson did so with other friends.

The culmination of a long and admirable career of service to his neighbors was Colonel John Tipton’s election from Washington County to the Senate of the inaugural Tennessee Assembly. He served in this capacity for four years retiring from an active political life in 1799. His official career spanned at least twenty-seven years service to the Crown Colony of Virginia, the State of Virginia, the State of North Carolina, the State of Tennessee and the United States of America.

In 1803, Colonel John became very active in support of Andrew Jackson when Jackson worked to prove the land fraud accusations against John Sevier, then Governor of Tennessee. Tipton sponsored a petition in East Tennessee against Sevier which garnered support for Jackson in Sevier’s stronghold neighborhood. The petition had over one hundred signatures and represented an embarrassment for Sevier. Tipton’s sons, Samuel and John, brought the land fraud accusations to the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Colonel John Tipton spent the remaining fourteen years of his life on his plantation at the foot of Buffalo Mountain. He died in August, 1813 at the age of 83. His home is now a Tennessee State Historic Site, the Tipton-Haynes Homesite. Judge Samuel C. Williams, Chairman of the State Historical Commission, exclaimed in 1945 when the state acquired the property that “no other site in Tennessee compares with this in its historic interest”.

According to the Reverend Ervin Charles Tipton in his book We Tiptons and Our Kin, the Colonel’s son John received a letter of condolences from Thomas Jefferson. President Jefferson said “Colonel John Tipton was a man of strong conviction and loyal determination. He was endowed with a high order of intellect. He possessed a high sense of honor. He was a personification of loyalty to the State and Country.” This statement is found in a Bible owned by Abraham Butler Tipton, grandson of the Colonel and son of John. In 1948, the Bible was in the possession of H. Hord Tipton of Church Hill, Tennessee.

Senator John Tipton of Indiana

In 1831, John Tipton (1786-1839) was elected by the Indiana State Legislature to a seat in the United States Senate. He served in the Senate until his death. Previously, Tipton had been in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1819 to 1823 when he became United States Indian Agent for the Potawatomie and Miami tribes.

At age 17, Tipton moved to what is now Harrison County, Indiana near the Ohio River where he farmed and served in the militia. In 1809, he was commissioned an ensign in the renowned mounted riflemen known as the Yellow Jackets. In 1811, he commanded a unit at the Battle of Tippecanoe serving under future US president William Henry Harrison. Tipton rose in military stature to become a major general in the Indiana Militia. He served as Sheriff of Harrison County and performed numerous other civic duties.

Tipton was a founder of several Indiana towns including Indianapolis, Logansport, Fort Wayne and Columbus which was originally called Tiptonia. Five years after his death, Tipton County was organized by the Indiana Legislature and named in his honor. In 1847, the county seat also became Tipton. Today; Tipton, Indiana is a prosperous city of 5,000. Tipton and Tipton County are located in the central part of the state.

John Tipton was born 14 August 1786, the son of Joshua Tipton and his wife, Janet Shields Tipton. Joshua and Janet moved to present-day Sevier County, Tennessee in East Tennessee. Joshua was the son of Mordecai and Sarah Tipton. He was killed by Indians on the east fork of the Little Pigeon River 18 April 1793 when John was not yet seven years old.

Grandfather Mordecai was a first cousin of Colonel John Tipton (1730-1813) who married Colonel John’s sister Sarah. Thus, Senator John Tipton referred to Colonel John Tipton as his great uncle. His great grandfather was William Tipton, a brother of Jonathan Tipton, Colonel John Tipton’s father. Mordecai was born in Baltimore 18 Apr 1724 and then migrated into the upper Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. By 1776, he was living in Botetourt County, Virginia with his family including Joshua.

Senator John Tipton died 5 April 1839. On occasion, in casual sources, he is confused with his famous Tennessee great uncle Colonel John Tipton. However, John Tipton of Indiana was a famous pioneer American in his own right.

Note of Interest: For those who remember the popular television series The Millionaire we recall the fictional wealthy benefactor John Beresford Tipton. While an intriguing choice of names made by the show’s producer, Don Fedderson, there is no know connection between the fictional Tipton and other famous John Tiptons. The television series ran from 1955 to 1960.

Sources: Robert Tipton Nave; John Parrish; Wikipedia; Charles D. Tipton

Researching My Roots
by Ronald Walter Tipton
26 March 2011

I first began researching my Tipton family roots in 1994. I was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1941 to Isaac Walter Tipton and Betty Louise Hadfield. My Mother’s family history was from Pennsylvania Quakers. All I knew about my father’s history was that he came up to Pennsylvania when he was ten years old, with eight of his brothers (no sisters) and without shoes to work on his Uncle Don Byrd’s farm near Unionville, Pennsylvania, country about 45 miles west of Philadelphia. I did know that my father was a ‘hillbilly’ and that fact distressed me greatly when I was growing. Little did I know that my father and his brothers came from those hearty, brave and hardworking families of Appalachia that made up the backbone of America.
Back in 1994 was when I first began researching my family history. I made my first trip to the mountains of western North Carolina where my father grew up as a small boy and visited one of my father’s distant Tipton cousins. His name was Horace Tipton and he was about the same age as my father. During my visit ‘Uncle Horace’ stopped me and said:
“Ye a damn Yankee ain’t ye? Ye talk funny!”
At first I was stunned because he thought I talked funny? I could hardly understand him, his Appalachian accent was that thick. Then I saw the humor in the situation and continued my visit with ‘Uncle Horace.’ However during our visit (I was there with my brother John and his wife Barbara Tipton), ‘Uncle Horace’ did maintain a certain distance. Don’t want to get TOO friendly with a (damn) Yankee you know.
Below is the reason I have a ‘Yankee’ accent.
This is a history of how my branch of the Tipton family came to be in Pennsylvania. This information is an oral history from my late Aunt Peg Tipton, wife of my Uncle Henry Tipton.
In the 1920’s, life was rough for the folks who lived in the hollers of the Pisgah Mountains in western North Carolina, near the border of Johnson City, Tennessee. One of those families who were near starvation was my paternal grandparents, Fieldon and Hester Lewis Tipton and their nine sons.
From 1909 to 1926 Fieldon and Hester had nine children, all boys. Fieldon was in the lumber business with other relatives in the close-knit mountain community. Leading up to the Great Depression, the sawmill business wasn’t producing enough food on the table to feed nine growing Tipton boys. Fieldon’s brother-in-law, Don Byrd (married to Hester Lewis’s sister, Essie Lewis) had a fruit and vegetable farm in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. He needed cheap farm labor. Fieldon and Hester and their nine growing boys needed food, a roof over their heads to protect them from the elements and heat to give them comfort during the cold winters.
Sometime in 1929 or 1930 (the exact date is uncertain) the Fieldon Tipton family made a life course change and decided to relocate to Pennsylvania and work on Don Byrd’s farm. The whole family moved into one of the tenant cabins called “The Baker Place” near present day Unionville, Pennsylvania. “Field” and his boys began the back-breaking work of picking fruits and vegetables in their Uncle Don’s farm. Two more sons were born to Fieldon and Hester Tipton in Pennsylvania. More farm labor.
The names of the Tipton boys were:
Raymond Luther Tipton 1909-1988
John Henry Tipton 1911-1993
Edward Walter Tipton 1914-1998
Erby Erwin Tipton 1917-1990
Isaac Walter Tipton Sr. (my father) 1920-2000
John Hannum Tipton (twin) 1922-1961
Richard Berry Tipton (twin) 1922-1989
Luther Raymond Tipton 1925-1979
Fieldon Jacob Tipton, Jr. 1926-2006
Bruce Tipton 1931-1995
Samuel Park Tipton 1934-2001
Baby Tipton (twin of Samuel, died at birth) 1934-1934
As the Tipton boys grew into adult most of them met and married the local women of southeastern Pennsylvania, their new home. Out of those unions thirty-six legitimate children and four illegitimate children were born. I am one of those thirty-six legitimate children over a hundred children were born.
With the exception of Fieldon ‘s cousin Adgie Tipton, who also moved to southeastern Pennsylvania at the same time, all of the Tiptons who now live in an around the southeastern portion of Pennsylvania are descendents of my grandparents, Fieldon and Hester Tipton. And this is the reason I am a Tipton with a Yankee accent.

Notes on John Tipton (Jr.) (1767-1831)
by Sally Ryan Tomlinson 14 October 2008

John Tipton, Jr., seventh son of Col. John Tipton and Mary Butler, also became a colonel and a legislator, as his father had been before him. John was born 21 Apr 1767 in Frederick Co., VA and was 16 when his family moved in 1783 across the mountains to what became Washington Co., TN. John Tipton, Jr. was on the Washington Co., NC, voters’ list the third Friday in August 1786; five years later he served under an older brother, Capt. Jacob Tipton, in a battle against the Indians. (“True List of the Voters Names in Washington County and State of North Carolina, Begun and Held the Third Friday of August Anno Domen 1786,” cited in Evelyn S. Thompson, “John Tipton, Jr.” in History of Sullivan Co., TN, 1993, #1424)
John was commissioned lieutenant colonel commandant of the Sullivan Co. Militia 16 June 1801, succeeding John Scott, who resigned. Elkanah Dulaney was his second major. (Commission Book 1, p. 175, Tennessee State Library and Archives. Elkanah’s wife, Margaret Snapp, was a sister-in-law of John.) John was a private, Capt. Jacob Tipton’s Co., 1st Regiment, US Levies, Lt. Col. Darke, 1791-1792, and in Taylor’s Co., Carter’s Regiment Militia, Territory South of the Ohio, 1793-1794. (Virgil D. White, Index to Volunteer Soldiers, 1784-1811) A John Tipton was private-captain, Capt. Spencer’s Co. Mounted Riflemen, Indiana Territory Militia, 1811. The 1812 Muster Roll, Book 9, p. 12, shows a John Tipton; the John Tipton on the Muster Roll, Book 3, p. 14, was aged 23, 5’10?, dark haired, blue eyed and from Blount Co., TN. Mary Hardin McCown, in Soldiers of the War of 1812, 1950, said that Speaker John was on Andrew Jackson’s staff at the Battle of New Orleans. He would have been 44 in 1814 and a politician of some note in Tennessee, but proof of his military service then is lacking.
John served seven terms in the Tennessee General Assembly, first from Sullivan and then from Washington, and one term in the Senate. He was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives 1807-1809. (Robert M. McBride, Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly, I, 727: John was Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tennessee, 1807-1809; represented five counties in the Tennessee House and Senate: served seven terms in the House, 1803-1815 from Sullivan Co., 1831-(3) from Washington Co.; one term in the Senate, 1817-1819 from Sullivan and Hawkins Cos.) When young Andrew Jackson attacked John Sevier in 1802, Col. John Tipton, Sr. and his eldest son, Samuel Tipton, led a petition drive supporting Jackson. Samuel and his younger brother, John Tipton, Jr. were state representatives, and took the case against Sevier to the floor of the Tennessee legislature. Samuel, represented Carter in the Assembly from 1801-1805.
A younger brother, Jonathan Tipton, served with John in the 18th Assembly, representing Monroe County, while a nephew, John Butler Tipton, son of Jonathan, represented Cocke, Greene, Sevier and Washington Counties.(Robert M. McBride and Dan M. Robison, Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly, I, 1796-1861, 725-731)

John returned from Tennessee to Shenandoah Co., Virginia, where he was married to Elizabeth Snapp 28 Oct 1791 by Simon Harr, a Lutheran pastor. John settled near Elizabeth’s parents in Shenandoah. Thomas Little of Washington Co. appointed “my trusty and loving friend, John Tipton Jun. of the County of Shenandoah (son of Colonel John Tipton of Washington and Territory aforesaid)” his attorney 15 Feb 1795 to recover his interest in 400 acres on Toms Brook, Shenandoah, as a grandson of Thomas Little, deceased. (Shenandoah DB K, 10) Thomas Little, who died in 1748, married ca. 1733-1734, Haverstraw, Orange Co., NY, Mary Denton, born ca. 1714, NY, died 1778, daughter of Jonas (Jonah) Denton, who died after 1752 in Frederick Co., VA, and Hannah. Thomas, Sr. was thus the husband of a first cousin, once removed, of Martha Denton Moore Tipton, stepmother of John Tipton, Jr.
Commissioners Jonathan Clark, Philip Williams and Andrew McKoy deeded John Tipton 400 acres on Toms Brook known as Littles Place in the North Mountain 25 Aug 1797; witnesses Christopher Heiskill, Jacob Miller, Michael Ott. (Shenandoah DB L, 505) John Tipton and Elizabeth of Shenandoah sold 317 acres to Philip, Sophia, Elizabeth, Catharine, Peter and Sarah Warner, children of Peter Werner, deceased. 12 Sep 1797; witnesses P. Williams, John Snapp. (Shenandoah DB L, 433)

John and Elizabeth moved to Sullivan Co., TN. When John Tipton of Washington Co. deeded Isaac Tipton of Washington part of Joshua Houghton’s North Carolina grant 2 July 1796, it was described as adjacent John Tipton, Jr.’s line, given by John Tipton to his son John, who sold it to Isaac. They already were living in James Brigham’s former house adjoining Blountville in Sullivan Co., TN in 1798, on land granted Brigham 23 Oct 1782. (Sullivan Deed Book 1, 163) John Tipton, Sr. of Washington deeded John Tipton, Jr. of Sullivan 524 acres on the south side of Wautauga 11 Feb 1806 for $50 and 640 acres in Carter Co., TN for $51. (Washington Co., TN DB 8, 250)
Elizabeth’s father, Laurance Snapp of Shenandoah, deeded John Tipton, Jr. 570 acres of the Brigham grant west of Blountville 13 Sep 1798 for $4,000, “the plantation or tract of land whereon the said John Tipton now lives . . .containing 600 acres together with all houses, buildings and improvements thereunto made or Created, the town of Blountville the land thereunto being excepted. . .” (Sullivan DB 3, 402-403) Brigham deeded the Sullivan commissioners 30 acres of the tract to lay out a town and to build a courthouse, prison and stocks 11 Dec 1792. (Sullivan DB 2, 602) Later deeds indicate that John lived there until 1813, in what became known as the Snapp Hotel, destroyed in a fire in 1863 during the Civil War. (Evelyn S. Thompson, “Col. John Tipton, Jr.,” in History of Sullivan Co., TN, 1993, #1424) William Armstrong deeded John of Sullivan 200 acres 9 Oct 1811 and Thomas Goddard deeded him 210 acres 2 Sep 1816.
John became active in developing Blountville, selling lots, planning new additions, building roads, buying more land. He was mentioned in Blountville in 1809 and in the incorporation of Blountville in 1817. (Serial No. 16, Chapter 56; Serial No. 21, Chapter 15, Sec 7, Tennessee State Library and Archives) He made about 90 deeds through 1829. Henry Borden sold him 1/2 acres 18 Oct 1803; John acquired additional lots in Blountville 1804-1811. (DB 6: 290, 264, 307; 10: 7, 44, 45) He sold a lot to Joseph Carper 10 Sep 1797, one to Philip Snapp 15 Aug 1799, Elkanah R. Dulaney 21 May 1800 and two 14 May 1805, Robert Benham 18 Aug 1802, William Deary 23 Nov 1803, 22 July 1806 and 28 Apr 1813, Lawr. Snapp 20 May 1804, Alexander Getgood 12 Apr 1808 and 2 Mar 1811, George Gross 4 Jan 1811, Jacob Hartman 29 July 1811, John and William Gifford 15 June 1812. (Sullivan DB 3: 143, 256, 343; 6: 37, 38; 4: 635, 582-583, 774; 9: 315; 6: 211,132, 164, 329, 167, 382)
The 1811-1812 Sullivan tax lists indicate that John Tipton paid taxes on 1046 acres, 4 slaves and 1 stud horse. In 1814 he sold a lot between his large large stable and the bridge, and on 22 Aug 1815 he sold his house and three acres on the north side of the street in Blountville to Jacob K. Snapp, Elizabeth’s nephew. John bought another 210 acres in 1816 for $2000. He sold William Deary 252 3/4 acres adjoining Blountsville in November 1820 for $7000; when Deary’s heirs sold it in 1856, they referred to it as “the Tipton tract on which is situated the Mansion house.”
In 1821 John Tipton of Sullivan deeded his son-in-law James H. Barnett of Sullivan a lot in Blountsville ” in consideration of the love and affection he hath.” That was after his father’s 1813 death in Washington Co., TN; following the death of his half-brother, Abraham Tipton, II, John, Jr. acquired that property on Sinking Creek and moved to Washington County. He thus was John Tipton of Washington County when he deeded 2.5 acres 17 Mar 1825 to Laurence Snapp of Sullivan Co. “in consideration of the natural love and affection which he hath to his Son-in-law, Laurence Snapp.”
John Tipton of Washington Co., TN sold David Pugh of Carter Co., TN a Negro girl, Meriah, about 7 years old, “which girl I warrant to be a slave for life, sound and healthy so far as I know,” 23 Sep 1828 with Samuel P. Tipton and Elizabeth Tipton as witnesses; proved in open court in Washington Co., TN 28 Jul 1829, James Severe, clerk. (Bill of Sale, Washington DB 18, 358) John’s daughter Minerva had married David’s son Jonathan Pugh in 1822. John Tipton of Washington County deeded Jacob Snapp and John Shave of Sullivan 1/2 acre in Sullivan for $150 on 25 Mar 1829. John Tipton of Washington County deeded Magdaline Snapp a 1/2-acre lot in Blountville 20 May 1829 for $50. (Vol. 10, 473)

Poignantly, John Tipton, Jr. died 8 Oct 1831 while serving in the 19th General Assembly, and all of Nashville turned out to honor him. The Senate adopted a resolution calling on all members to wear black crepe on their left arms for 30 days, and to join the House in marching two abreast to his funeral. The order of march called for the body to be followed by relatives and attending physician, clergy, the Speaker, officers of the two houses, the House, the Senate, governor, secretary of state and staff, treasurer, Nashville mayor and aldermen, University president and trustees, judiciary, citizens. (Tennessee Senate Records, Sunday 9 Oct 1831)
The newspapers noted that he had been in ill health and declined rapidly after his arrival in Nashville for the opening of the session. “The deceased has been long known to the people of Tennessee as a public man, and with those among whom he resided, few men have enjoyed as long and steady a popularity. . .The history of his family is closely identified with the history of Tennessee. He was many years a member of the Senate, of which we believe he was more than once Speaker. He was several times a candidate for Congress against very popular competitors, but, without success, yet it has often been remarked that in all his elections, Col. Tipton was never badly beaten by anybody.” (Western Weekly Review 14 Oct 1831; similarly, Nashville Banner 10 Oct 1831; Railroad Advocate 27 Oct 1831) The state erected a monument over his grave in the Old City Cemetery, 101 Fourth Avenue South at Oak Street, Nashville.
In 1895 the Senate appropriated $300 to repair the monument with the same inscription as on the original monument, saying “WHEREAS The Hon. John Tipton, who resided in Washington County, was one of the most prominent and patriotic pioneer settlers of Tennessee, who distinguished himself by his daring intrepidity in the various Indian wars of his day. He was also distinguished in the councils of the State, and took a leading, prominent and patriotic part in shaping legislation in both branches of our State Legislature. He was elected ten times to the Legislature, serving in both houses. He was Speaker of the House in 1811 and 1812, and presided over the high court of impeachment that tried Judge Heiskell in 1813. He died while a member of the Legislature, and his distinguished patriotism and service, both civil and military, has made his name a household word and honored and beloved by all. . . (Acts of Tennessee 1895, No. 30, p. 501-503) The resolution was signed by John A. Tipton, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The monument ordered erected by legislature in 1895 says, on the front side:
“To the Memory of Col. John Tipton, born in Washington Co., TN, Died Oct. 8,1831. Erected by order of the 49th General Assembly.
How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country’s wishes blest
When spring with dewy fingers cold
Returns to deck their hallowed mould
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy’s feet have ever trod.
On the back side:
Sacred to the remains of the late Col. John Tipton of Washington Co. in the State of Tennessee, placed here by the Officers and Members of the 49th General Assembly of that State as a token of their regard for the talents and exalted worth of the deceased. An early adventurer in this country, he was distinguished for his daring intrepidity in the sanguinary Indian Wars of the day. He gave promise of the future by the deeds of his youth, and verified public expectations by the lofty stand he afterwards assumed and always sustained in the councils of his state. He was an incorruptible patriot. Bold in conception and fearless in execution. Covered with honors and with years, he descended to the grave on the 8th day of October 1831 in the 64th year of his age.” (Tombstone, Old Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson Co., TN, copied by Evelyn Snapp Thompson. It is in error in placing his birth in Washington Co., TN)

John’s 3 Oct 1831 will, written five days before his death [In the name of God amen. I John Tipton being of sound mine and memory and haveing before me that all mankind are doomed to die I make this my last will and testament. First I will and bequeath my Soul to God the Giver of all good. . .] left the land and premises where he lived to his three children, Samuel P. Tipton, Elizabeth S. Tipton and Edny M. Tipton, to be equally divided according to quality and quantity, but reserving to Samuel P. the part including the house, and equal privileges as to water with all. The remainder of his estate was to be disposed of to the satisfaction of his debts, and anything left to be “equally divided among all my children, having heretofore given to Abram B. Tipton, Mary Ann, Margaret V., Emeline, Manerva P. and Lucinda M. all that part of my estate allotted for them.” Sealed John Tipton; witnesses A. McClellan, Christian Carriger. (Washington Co., TN, Reel 169, WB 1, 244)
Samuel P. Tipton, Elizabeth Tipton and Edney Tipton sold the Washington County farm to David Haines 8 Feb 1837. He gave it to Landon Carter Haynes (1816-1875) as a wedding present in 1839. Col. John Tipton, Sr. (1730-1813) bought the site in 1784 and built a log house on the stage road; it was the site of the Battle of the Lost State of Franklin. John, Jr. made some architectural changes, enlarging the house, covering the logs with siding and adding windows. The house is now part of the Tipton-Haynes Historic Site, Johnson City, TN.

When John’s property was sold after his death, the inventory indicated the comfortable household of an affluent farmer. A sideboard sold for $26, a set of silver spoons for $18 and a clock and case for $13.25. There was a set of windsor chairs, as well as one of split-bottom chairs, four beds, a corner cupboard, a desk, six tables, a bookcase and books. A daughter, Edna Tipton, bought the Bible for 6 1/2 cents. There were 13 hogs, 2 sows and their pigs, 20 sheep and 3 geese, but, suprisingly, no horses or cows. The major buyers were his children Elizabeth Tipton, Samuel Tipton and Edna Tipton. A son-in-law, Jonathan Pugh, bought two books and other items; another son-in-law, William H. Young, and his wife Emeline bought a bed and other items. Other buyers were James P. Taylor, Jonathan Kelly, James Robinson, James Barnes, James Hughes, Joshua Suanger(?), John Ryland, James Casada, Samuel Hunt, John Stephen, Robert Casada Jr., John Stevens, James Harvey, James W. Young, Jonathan Right.

Washington Co., TN Inventory Book 1, 1826-1834: An inventory of property sold at the house of Col. John Tipton, dec’d, August 18th, 1832:
1 corner cupboard, to Samuel Tipton, 5.00
1 bed, bedstead, furniture, to Edna Tipton, .50
9 Delf plates to Samuel Tipton, .37 1/3
1 bed, bedstead, furniture, to Samuel Tipton, .50
2 dishes and 4 cups and saucers (paid), Edna Tipton, .12 1/2
1 bed, bedstead, furniture, to William Young, 1.00
sundry articles to Elizabeth Tipton, .12 1/2, .6 1/4, .6 1/4
1 bed, bedstead, furniture, to Elizabeth Tipton, 1.00
sundry articles to James P. Taylor, .25
1 clock and case, to James P. Taylor, 13.25
1 table to Edna Tipton (paid), .50
1 sideboard, to James Young, 26.00
1 table to Elizabeth Tipton, .12 1/2
1 sett of silver spoons, to Samuel Hunt, 18.00
1 large table to Samuel Tipton, .50
1 pairs of seals & waits, to James P. Taylor, .50
1 desk to (paid) Edna Tipton, .25
1 sett of Windsor Chairs, to Jonathan Right, .50
1 looking glass (paid) to Samuel Tipton, .12 1/2
1 sett of Split bottom Charis, to Samuel Tipton, .6 1/4
1 book case and books to Samuel Tipton, .6 1/4
1 man saddle, to James Barnes, 3.18 3/4
1 pair firedogs to Emeline Young, .6 1/4
1 falling axe, to Samuel Tipton, .26
2 books to Jonathon Pugh, 2.00
1 pair of stretchers & shovel, to James Barnes, .36
1 pair of steelyards to William Young, .62 1/2
1 pair of stretchers, to Samuel Tipton, .26
1 heckle to Jonathan Kelly, 1.42
1 bottle, to Samuel Tipton, .25
1 reel to William Young, .6 1/4
1 oven, 1 pot &c., Samuel Tipton, .3
1 water bucket to Elizabeth Tipton,.25
1 half bushel & other things, to James Barnes, .66
1 wheat seive to Samuel Tipton, .26
1 pair Hames and Chains Collar, James Barnes,1.75
1 hand saw to James Robinson, .75
1 pair fire dogs to James P. Taylor, 5.00
1 Bible to Edna Tipton, .6 1/2
1 large kettle, to William Young, .50
1 table to Samuel Tipton, .50
1 large kettle, to James Robinson, 1.00
2 tables to Samuel Tipton .001/4
1 grindstone, to James Hughes, 4.50
1 pair fire dogs to William Young .7 1/4 ?
1 log chain, to Joshua Suanger(?), 2.25
1 oven and kettle to Elizabeth Tipton, .75
1 small chain, to John Ryland, .37 1/2
1 churn to Samuel Tipton, .3
1 pair horse gears, to James Casada, 2.6 1/2
1 pot & skillet to William Young, .6 1/4
2 brichbands to James P. Taylor, 2.75
1 pot & skillet to Elizabeth Tipton, .6 1/4
1 sett of harrow teeth, to Samuel Hunt, 2.00
sundry articles to Jonathon Pugh, .25
1 plough, to John Stephen, 3.95
2 hoes & 1 shovel to Samuel Tipton, .6 1/2
1 plough, to John Ryland, 1.16
1 axe, to James P. Taylor, .6 1/4
1 dung fork, to Jonathan Kelly, .58
1 barrel, to Samuel Tipton, .6 1/4
1 large trough, to Samuel Tipton, .25
1 windmill, to Robert Casada Jr., 8.12 1/2
3 hogsheads, to James Robinson, .35
1 sow & pigs, to Samuel Tipton, 1.00
1 loom & tackling, to William Young, .38
5 head of hogs, 1st choice, to John Stevens, 5.57
1 wool wheel, to Elizabeth Tipton, .12 1/2
2 head of hogs, 2nd choice, to Elizabeth Tipton, 1.00
1 shovel mole & skitts, to James Barnes, .01
6 head of hogs, 3rd choice, to John Stevens, 5.50
1 sow & pigs, to Elizabeth Tipton, 1.00
20 head of sheep, to James Harvey, 10.22
3 head of geese, to Elizabeth Tipton, .3
the whole rent grain of wheat & oats, to Elizabeth Tipton, .50

A list of notes found among the papers of the Said John Tipton, Dec’d, which are considered perfectly desperate, the administrators not knowing where a solitary individual of the makers live:
on B. Grady, for $80 in shoe and bootmaking, due 28 Sepp 1817; teste Wm. Anderson
on James Landon, $7.50 due 11 Jan 1814 &c.
on James Landon, $70 to be discharged in work at each price. Due 21 Dec 1813
on James Landon, $25, due 30 Nov 1810
on Henry Newton, $177.92, due 23 Feb 1822
on Joseph Wyatt, $42.12 which may be discharged in house joiner work on Tipton’s farm. Due 1 May 1829 one bill of sale on said Joseph Wyatt for the following property: one lot of house joiners & cabinet maker tools, all his housewhole and kitchen furniture, to have and to hold until the above note is satisfied.

N.B.: “My mother was Elizabeth Carter McInturff and her mother was Abigail Vandeventer, second wife of Adam McInturff. My mother was born in Carter Co., Tenn., near Carter Station, but her parents were born in Virginia but I don’t remember where.” (Undated letter from Minerva Pugh Raymond Dobson to Kenneth C. Tomlinson) “My father, born in Carter Co., was Samuel Tipton Pugh, son of Jonathan. I don’t know who Jonathan’s father was but he had two brothers still living in Tennessee when we came away. Their names were Solomon and David Pugh, so you see the early Pughs were religious.
“My grandmother Pugh was Minerva Tipton and I was always told that she was a granddaughter of Col. John Tipton of the Revolutionary War. I don’t know what her father’s name was, but she had a brother, Abraham Tipton, who was a Mason and when I was a little girl about the close of the Civil War I can remember his being buried with Masonic honors at Blountsville, Tenn. and the Masonic Lodge at Blountsville will no doubt have a record of his name. A letter to the secretary of the Masonic Lodge at Blountsville might get the name of my great-grandfather Tipton which is the only missing link between me and Col. John Tipton.”

N.B.: Some in MS believe that John Tipton, Jr. was the father of Isaac Tipton, born 4 Jan 1801, Sullivan Co., TN, died in 1853, DeSoto Co., MS, married 5 Sep 1822 Elizabeth Anderson, born 4 July 1806, died 1885, Nesbitt, MS. (Ervin Charles Tipton, We Tiptons and Our Kin, 745, 746, 750, 751 includes Isaac.) No Isaac was named in John’s will.

See:
John T. Barnett, “Biography of the Barnett Family,” ca. 1890, in The Illustrious Robisons, 165
J.H. Bell, Tipton Family of the USA, 4.056
C.B. Heinemann, The Tipton Family, Library of Congress, 318
“Tennessee Ancestors,” East Tennessee Historical Society, Vol. 5, No. 2, Aug 1989, #167, John Tipton, Jr.; #177, Col. John Tipton, Esq.; #66, Jonathan Tipton; #84, Joseph Tipton; #119, Jacob Tipton; #134 Samuel Tipton; #144, Isaac Tipton; #161, John Tipton, son of Joseph.
Mary Hardin McCown, Soldiers of the War of 1812 Buried in Tennessee: John Tipton, II, on Gen. Andrew Jackson’s staff at New Orleans.
G.R. McGee, History of Tennessee, 102-103: John Tipton, II, represented Washington Co., TN in the Territorial Assembly in February 1794. John Tipton, II and his son Abraham served in the War of 1812. (There seems to be a confusion of Johns here.)
Selden Nelson, Knoxville Sentinel 11 Apr 1908, extracted in Bulletin of the Wautauga Association of Genealogists Vol. 6, No. 1, 1977, 13. Gov. Willie Blount appointed John Tipton, II to the Committee of Military Affairs during the War of 1812. John Tipton was on the committee that prosecuted impeachment charges against Judge William Cocke. When a woman sought a divorce, John Tipton “almost always voted in favor of the woman.” Nelsen identified the children of John Tipton, II as Abram Butler Tipton, Betsy, Emily, Louisa and Eula. (Betsy was named as Elizabeth S. in John’s will; Emily, Minerva; Louisa R., Lucinda; Eula, Edna.)
Evelyn Snapp Thompson, “John Tipton, Jr.”, “The Laurence Snapp Family of East Tennessee,” 37 Dolphin Drive, Treasure Island, FL 33706, 1996.
Charles Dawes Tipton, Tipton: The First Five American Generations: A Short History of the TIpton Family, Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1998: ACB G, pages 104, 126, 127, 128, 130, 264-267
Ervin Charles Tipton, We Tiptons and Our Kin, 745, 746, 750, 751
W. Hord Tipton, The Tipton Family History, 98, 806
Kenneth C. Tomlinson, Col. John Tipton and Capt. Jonathan Pugh of Shenandoah Co., VA and Washington Co., TN: Some of Their Descendants Represented by Members of the Tipton, Pugh, Barnett and Related Families, 1924.
Edythe Rucker Whitley, Nashville: Judge John H. DeWitt put through the Tennessee General Assembly a bill authorizing the state to place a marker at the grave of John Tipton in the Old City Cemetery at Nashville.

3 thoughts on “eZine

  1. Storianne Tipton

    My relative is the brother of John Tipton, Meshack Tipton of TN, who was the first frontiersman in Glide, Oregon. Please call me as I’ve been researching my family tree. My cell (503) 530-0971 I now live in Franklin TN.

  2. Ernie Hall

    I am researching Joshua Tipton, Forgotten Revolutionary Patriot. His wife Janet Shields filed for her husband’s service in the Revolutionary War. She was granted a pension as a half-pay pensioner which was started on 20 April 1815. This pension is recorded under Tennessee in the Act of March 18, 1818 book.
    I would like to see him proven as a Sof the American Revolution. Any ideas?

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