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ADDENDUM
This addendum will build a database in support of the Stephen W. Rutledge family track west from Virginia through Tennessee to Tyrone, Missouri where Stephen and Mary lived out their lives.
This addendum adds information to what we believe was this families migration pattern west. Some assumptions are taken with respect to natural geographic passageways.
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The Wilson and Rutledge
families were members of Hickory Cove Church between 1820 and 1836.
Church Records. Several other churches in that general area were by the ministers referred to as "sister churches." The nearest historical town was Burem which is north of Rogersville. Rogersville is shown in the yellow zone to the left and Surgoinsville is located in yellow to the right. These towns still have many resident Rutledges Highway 11 (red) bisected Hawkins and Grainger Counties and generally followed the old Federal Road. Rutledge (Grainger County) Tennessee today is 20 minutes drive from Rogersville. |
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This Township Plat was trimmed top and bottom to center on the area north of Rogersville where the Rutledge and Wilson families lived. See an area map The church the family attended is near the crossroads at center of the map. |
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Grainger County was mentioned as a Rutledge county and they are found
in census 1820 thru 1850. None are connected (so far) to our group.
Rutledge the town was named after General George Rutledge who actually lived in Sullivan County which was, just east of Hawkins County. He and his son, George Washington Rutledge both married ladies from Hawkins county. This map shows show main roads passing through Grainger from Hawkins County. Highway 11 in part follows the old 1700s Federal Road from Virginia to New Orleans. Sometime between 1836 and 1850 our Rutledges moved to Bledsoe County. They could have come part way on the Holston River by riverboat, but probably by horse and wagon down to Knoxville, then west to Bledsoe County. |
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Knox County just southwest of Grainger County is also bisected by
highway 11 (old Federal Road). At Knoxville the Holston and Broad rivers join to form the Tennessee River. Highway 11, by far is the shorter migration route, and river continues toward the southwest, the road passing through Pikesville, Bledsoe County, Tennessee. The Tennessee River passes through Dayton (formerly Smith's Crossing) to the east of Bledsoe County a few miles, where a good old road also leads from Dayton west to Bledsoe County. |
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1850 census Davidson Co. TN, South Nashville Dist,
Septima (Sexta MIDDLETON) Rutledge F (W) 50 SC Arthur (Middleton) M (W) 27 SC |
Hse. 1094/1098, p. 250-B, l. .., 14 Oct 1850 m. Henry Middleton RUTLEDGE F m. UNDERWOOD, ADAMS |
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Blount County below Knox County is also known as a Rutledge county, but relationship
unknown. I might also mention in Knoxville a road named Rutledge Turnpike leads west from the city. It was mentioned above that our Rutledge family may have turned west at Knoxville, but another good route was south down the Federal Road to Blount County then west to Sequatchie and Bledsoe Counties. Looking at the map of the big area between Hawkins County and Bledsoe County (map), it was a very long trip by horse and wagon, and it would have been no less tasking if transported by riverboat on the Holston and Tennessee rivers. Highway 11 ran through Hawkins County and Bledsoe County, so it might have been the best and shortest way to go. |
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Rhea County at the Tennessee River | ||
Born 1833 in Hawkins County, Stephen stated two facts about Hawkins County in his diary. 1. The family lived near the Holston River. 2. A classmate was known as Sally White Apron. According to the 1850 Statewide census, Stephen W. Rutledge at age 17 is living in Bledsoe County with his parents and siblings. 1850 State census listing extraction of all Rutledge families in the state. by courtesy of cousin Darryl Gardner Find families of brothers Lorenzo Dow and Thomas F. Rutledge in Bledsoe County. We are looking for the other brother Emanuel and sister Lucy. Emanuel and family appears in the 1850 census back in Hawkins County.
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1850 Census Bledsoe Co. TN, Eastern Dist, Hse. 250/250,
p. 370-A, l. 7, 11 Sep 1850. Thomas (F?) RUTLEDGE 47 wagon maker. Jane (HALL) 27 m. POPE, RUTLEDGE Nancy J(ane) 19 m. ....... MILLER Stephen (W.) 17 m. Mary MASSEY Sarah A(nn) 15 m. James R. MASSEY Joseph B. 12 Mary 10 m. BAUMAN/BOWMAN Cornelius 8 Catherine 6 m. Frank SULLIVAN NOTE: Catherine is listed as born in Arkansas. John 3 Harriet (E) 2 m. HOWARD |
1850 Census Bledsoe Co. TN, 9th Dist, Hse. 228/228, p.
368-A, l. 35, 9 Sep 1850 Lorenzo D.(ow) RUTLEDGE 37 Mary (MOLSBEE) 34 Children: Sarah A. 14 George 12 Elizabeth J. 11 Charles M. 8 Nancy C(atherine) 6 m. Andrew Wade DUTTON Valentine 4*
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NOTE: We know that Stephen's parents and his uncle Lorenzo Dow Rutledge and his family lived in Bledsoe County in 1850. We assume near Pikeville in census enumeration district 9. In 1851 the Massey family lived somewhere in Sequatchie County just across the river. Stephen's diary stated, in 1851 he crossed the Sequatchie River to witness the hanging of a convicted murderer named Godfrey. Mary Massey was also crossing the river as her horse faltered and threw her into the water. Stephen fished her out and as she caught her breath she blurted out, "I am Mary Massey from Sequatchie." What a nice love story. Later that year Stephen age 18 and Mary age 16 were married. Where were they married? |
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They loaded their wagon and moved to Henryville, Lawrence County
where in 1852 their first child Mary was born. Mary died young. At this point the chronology of births becomes confusing because in 1853 John B. Rutledge was born in Alabama. Two Alabama counties are close to Lawrence county, so best guess is John was born in either Lauderdale or Limestone counties which are immediately south of Giles and Lawrence Counties. As a young man in 1873 John married into the Roark family.
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1855 the family is next door in Giles County east of Lawrence County
for the birth of their third child Sarah. Sarah grew up and around 1875 married into the Marsee family. 1858 the family back in Lawrence County for the births of two more children: Virginia was born 1858, but died young. Chelnessie, my great grandmother, was born 1860 in Lawrence County. Chelnessie 1975 in Tyrone, MO at age 16 married Henry Mentlo Owen when he was 18 years old. The Owen family came from Smith County, TN. to Tyrone sometime before 1875. |
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In 1861, from Stephen's diary, his family was in Bledsoe County On June 8, 1861 Tennessee was voting on whether to withdraw from or support the Union. He and a friend were monitors at the polling place in Pikeville, Bledsoe County. When the polls were closed Stephen and friend voted Union. Their votes became public knowledge and men of the community threatened to hang them unless they joined the Confederate army, which they did. Stephen first guarded bridges over the Duck River, then his unit marched to Fort Donaldson where he was captured and imprisoned in Illinois. Later he was shipped down river to Arkansas and exchanged for Union prisoners. He was ordered to Georgia where he was again captured in 1863 near Rome, Georgia and placed on a Federal prison train. Stephen and a friend escaped from the train during a water stop, bought clothes in a store and walked home to Tennessee avoiding Federal Troops on the way. His diary told how they avoided capture and arrived home safely. |
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After the Civil War in 1864 and back safely in Lawrence County, James
(Harve) Rutledge was born.
James grew up in Tyrone, MO and married a Quackenbush. In 1867 Jerome Rutledge was born. Jerome grew up in Tyrone, MO and married a Urbeck. Jerome also became a preacher. |
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Sometime after 1867 the Rutledge family moved to Tyrone, MO. where
the kids grew up and married. After the 1850 census these records do not explain what happened to Stephen's dad and mom, uncle Emanuel or aunt Lucy. In 1850 Lorenzo Dow and brother Thomas F. Rutledge families lived in Bledsoe County, not in the same enumeration districts, but near enough to visit each other.Lucy and Emanuel are not found in the records of Bledsoe County. Emanuel was a preacher there in Bledsoe it seems and a deacon in the Hickory Cove Church. They were older and may have stayed in Hawkins County. Jerome, the youngest child, became a minister at a Elk or Big Creek church just north of Tyrone. |