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
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The photograph at left is of Nathaniel Taylor Tipton (1821-1877)The following article was written by Mary Goddard of Littleton, Colorado. Mary was born and raised in Covington, Tennessee, seat of Tipton County. Ms. Goddard cites her sources for the article: Eliza R. Tipton Keathley (1863-1952) Laura T. Keathley Goddard (1894-1986) True Tales of Tipton by Gaylon Neil Beasley. Tipton County Historical Society, Covington. 1981 Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture. Tennessee Historical Society. Nashville. 1988 Ms. Goddard is a member of The Tipton Family Association of America and a descendant of Nathaniel Taylor Tipton |
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, 1st 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.
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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.
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Pictured at right is John and Elizabeth Snapp Tipton’s house in Blountville, Tennessee. The house is located on the old stage coach road from Abingdon, Virginia to Knoxville. The stage coach stepping stones used to climb into the stage are still visible in front of the house. This is the oldest freestanding house in Blountville. It was re-assembled from a farm location into town about 1796 although the exact date is unknown. |
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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