TATE

married . Unknown [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Although he has not yet been proven to be the progenitor of the Tates of Russell and Washington Counties, VA, he is a likely candidate. John was wounded in the siege of Londonderry Apr. 1689 and suffered ill effects the remainder of his life. His parents left Scotland and settled in Ulster.

There is a tie between the Tates and Beatys in Augusta Co. VA. One John Tate had land in Beverley Manor, Augusta Co., VA in 1749 and lived near Francis Beaty who had land in both Beverley Manor and Bordens surveys of Augusta Co.

On 10 Oct 1769 Francis Beaty Gent. Of Mecklenburg Co., NC Power of Attorney to John Tate, brother-in-law, of Augusta Co., VA to sell land belonging to Francis Beaty, including land purchased of John Kerr on Flat Spring Branch, adjacent to other land where I last lived before moving to NC. Also 200 acres adjacent to Charles Berry. Wit: Robert Gray, John and James Beaty. Ref: Chronicles of Scot-Irish in Virginia, by Lyman Chalkley, Vol. 3, p.501; Mecklenburg Co., NC Will Book G, p.81; Kershaw Co., SC Will book C, p.20; Book 1, p.31. Mrs. Edwina Epperson Muff.

The Tates are a tangle to unravel. There are two lines that may spring from John Tate and Sarah Beaty. John Tate II or Jr. mentioned in Augusta County is the one who married Mary Mitchell. His descendants tended to stay in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, VA and marry into other Scot-Irish families of the Shenandoah Valley i.e. the Campbells, McClungs, Stuarts, Finley, and Alexanders.

The other line is Robert Tate, whose wife isn't known at this time, but he eventually settled in Washington Co. VA. His three sons, Col. John Tate, Robert Tate, and William Tate all played prominent roles in the history of Southwestern Virginia. They lived in four frontier counties(1) Botetourt Co., until 1772; (2) Fincastle Co., January 1773 to January 1777; (3) Washington Co., January 1777 to May 1786; (4) Russell Co., May 1786 until their deaths. They didn't move, but their land changed with formation of the counties.

Robert's descendants were the Traveling Tates. Their offspring founded Tatesville in Pulaski Co. KY or settled in Warren and Grundy Co. TN and DeKalb Co. AL. Robert's grandchildren ended up in Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma.

To make things even more confusing, they married women named Mary and named their sons John, Robert, William, and Joseph. Because of this, it isn't hard for generations to be confused. For example, Robert Tate of Washington/Russell Counties married Mary ? and had Joseph, Alexander, John, Aaron, James and Robert Jr. He is confused with his nephew, Robert Tate, son of John Tate and Mary Mitchell. This Robert married Margaret McClung and had about 11 children. Some researchers have combined these two Robert's families. See what I mean about a tangle of Tates?

Some researchers have the parents of Col. John Tate, Robert Tate, and William Tate as being Robert Tate born 27 FEB 1691 in New Kent Co. VA and died 1759 in St. Paul's Parish,Hanover Co. VA. But given the ties to Augusta Co. and the intermarriage with the Mitchells by William Tate, brother to Col. John and Robert, this may not be likely.

Hopefully DNA testing will clarify some of these lines.

John married Sarah Beaty. Sarah was born 1687, Ulster, Ireland. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: F20FBD0568E6450999405A88E0D0A9B4279F

James married Mary CAMPBELL. [Group Sheet]

James married Nancy CAMPBELL. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: C37B682A077F4EF697DDA2AFF52BC8ADF43E

Notes:

Source: Mentzel, Laura and Ethel Updike. Tate Families of the Southern States. p 169, 170, 185.

John was born in Northern Ireland and came to the colonies with this father in 1730. John Tate or Tait came to Augusta Co. VA from Pennsylvania. [Note: Some researchers have the location as being Bedford Springs in Lancaster Co. PA and Cumberland Co. PA, but this has not been documented.] He married Mary Doak and had five sons, James, John, William, Robert, and Thomas, plus a daughter whose name is not certain.

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Source: Riley, Agnes. The Pioneer Tate Family of Augusta County, VA. This booklet was first published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 1969,
Vol 57, issue 3, p 179-192.

She indicates John Tate was born 1722 in Ireland, immigrated to Bedford Springs, PA and m Mary Doak in 1743. They had; Thomas, James, Eleanor, John and William Tate.

Recent research presents a convincing argument that John Tate's wife was actually Mary Mitchell. Please look at her record for the documentary evidence.

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Source: History Of Augusta County,Virginia; by J. Lewis Peyton; 1st addn. 1882; Pub. by Samuel M. Yost, Staunton, VA.

I received these notes from the owner of the book: "There are 6 short paragraphs dealing with the Tate family. The Tate section begins as follows, "The Tates came from the north of Ireland to Penn., and thence to Augusta about 1745. The first immigrant left four sons, James, William, John, and Robert. The descendants of the first brothers married among the Van Lears, Ewings, Moffetts and Finleys, of Augusta and Rockbridge."

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Site owner's note:

The Tates are a tangle to unravel. There are two lines that may spring from John Tate and Sarah Beaty. This John Tate descendants tended to stay in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, VA and marry into other Scot-Irish families of the Shenandoah Valley i.e. the Campbells, McClungs, Stuarts, Finley, and Alexanders.

His brother Robert Tate, whose wife isn't known at this time, eventually settled in Washington Co. VA. His three sons, Col. John Tate, Robert Tate, and William Tate all played prominent roles in the history of Southwestern Virginia. They lived in four frontier counties(1) Botetourt Co., until 1772; (2) Fincastle Co., January 1773 to January 1777; (3) Washington Co., January 1777 to May 1786; (4) Russell Co., May 1786 until their deaths. They didn't move, but their land changed with formation of the counties.

Robert's descendants were the Traveling Tates. Their offspring founded Tatesville in Pulaski Co. KY or settled in Warren and Grundy Co. TN and DeKalb Co. AL. Robert's grandchildren ended up in Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma.

To make things even more confusing, they married women named Mary and named their sons John, Robert, William, and Joseph. Because of this, it isn't hard for generations to be confused. For example, Robert Tate of Washington/Russell Counties married Mary ? and had Joseph, Alexander, John, Aaron, James and Robert Jr. He is confused with his nephew, Robert Tate, son of John Tate and Mary Mitchell. This Robert married Margaret McClung and had about 11 children. Some researchers have combined these two Robert's families. See what I mean about a tangle of Tates?

Some researchers have the parents of Col. John Tate, Robert Tate, and William Tate as being Robert Tate born 27 FEB 1691 in New Kent Co. VA and died 1759 in St. Paul's Parish,Hanover Co. VA. But given the ties to Augusta Co. and the intermarriage with the Mitchells by William Tate, brother to Col. John and Robert, this may not be likely.

Hopefully DNA testing will clarify some of these lines.

LAND RECORDS

Source:This land record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley.

John Tate
Date: Nov 19, 1747
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Property:309 1/2 acres in Beverley Manor; corner to James Lynn and John Tate; corner to David Steel.
Remarks: Acknowledged by Geo. Brackenridge 18 Nov 1747 and Ann releases dower. 27 current money Virginia.

Apr 5 1749, William Beverley sold 344 acres in Beverley Manor to John Teat adjoining James Linn, Steel's land, John Lockhart, and Brackenridge's line. (Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 2 p 273.)

May 22 1750, his adjoining land was mentioned in a deed from James Lynn to Andrew Lynn: 269 acres in Beverley Manor, on Samuel Doak's line, Buffler Hill; corner on John Teat and Samuel Wilson. Teste: Andrew Cowan, Elijah McClenachan, John Ramsey. (Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 2 p 286)

In 1750, John Tate's brother-in-law John Greer died in Augusta Co. Among the purchasers at Greer's estate sale were John Teat [Tate], John Mitchell, Thomas Teat [Tate], and Francis Beaty. (Augusta Co. VA Will Book 1 p 26)

Jun 28 1755, John Teat [Tate], plantationer, bought 160 acres in Beverley Manor from his brother-in-law Francis Beaty, surveyor, for £25 on Borden's lines, surveyed for James Lockhart, gent., being the place known as Beatey's well place. Witnesses, David Hay, John and Patrick Campbell, Thomas Teat [Tate]. (Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 7 p 338)

Nov 20 1759, Tate's land was mentioned in a deed from Helenor (Helander) Mitchell to Robert Mitchell in Beverley Manor, on Robert Wilson's line; corner John Teate [Tate], David Doack's [Doak] land; Jno. Lockart's corner. Teste: James Kowan. (Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 8 p 357)

John Tate
Date: Mar 18, 1760
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Property: 309 1/2 acres in Beverley Manor; corner James Lynn; corner David Steel.
Remarks: 67.10.0. Grantor, Thomas Baird/Beard.
(Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 8 p 359)

John Tate
Date: Nov 18, 1760
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Property:
200 acres in Borden's tract; corner to tract sold by Francis Beaty on Flat Spring Run; corner Thomas Berry.
Remarks: 5 shillings. Property conveyed by Borden, Jr., to David Kerr and by David and Katherine to grantor.

John Tate
Date: Aug 19, 1766
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Property: 180 acres; corner John Tate, Thomas Tate's line.
Remarks: Delivered to Nathaniel Steel, Apr 1773.

Mar 16, 1768
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Property: 202 1/2 acres in Beverley Manor, part of the tract Nathaniel formerly lived on; corner John Tate's land; corner John Fulton.
Remarks: Delivered to David Steel, 16 Nov 1771.

John Tate
Date: May 17, 1768
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Property: 200 acres; corner James Lynn and John Tate.
Remarks: Delivered to Pat. Campbell, 4 Aug 1773.

Sep 9 1768, both John Tate and his son John Tate Jr proved the will of Robert Wilson. Witnesses, Robert Mitchell, John Tate Sr, John Tate Jr; proved in court by John Tate and John Tate Jr. (Augusta Co. VA Will Book 4 p 106) On Feb 2 1769, Robert Wilson's estate was appraised by John Tate, Robert Alexander, John Fulton, David Doack. (Augusta Co. VA Will Book 4 p 108)

Oct 10 1769, Francis Beaty of Mecklenburg Co NC, Gent, gave power of attorney to his brother-in-law John Tate to sell all lands belonging to Francis, including land bought of John Greer, on Flat Spring Branch, joining the other land where Beaty last lived; also 200 acres joining Charles Berry. Teste: Robert Gay, John and James Beaty. (Augusta Co. VA Will Book 16 p 501)

1771 and 1772 brought the deaths of the husbands of two of John's sisters. On Feb 1771, Tate was a witness to the will of his brother-in-law John Mitchell; will proved in court Aug 20 1771. (Augusta Co. VA Will Book 4 p 120)

Nov 5 1771, Samuel Doak wrote his will, leaving John Tate and John Finley to advise the executors. The witnesses to Doak's will were John and James Mitchel, William Tate, John Tate Jr. Will proved May 19 1772 by James Mitchel and the Tates. David Doack qualified with John Tate, Nathaniel Steel. (Augusta Co. VA Will Book 4 p 123)

Mar 18 1772, John Tate and Mary sold [land?] to James Tate. Teste: William Campbell. Wm. Livingston. Thomas Tate. (Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 18 p 516)

May 15 1779, John and Mary Tate sold [land?] to Hance Patton. (Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 22 p 558)

Mar 11 1786, John Taite [Tate] Sr sold 400 acres to Thomas Stevenson delivered to Jacob Swallow Jun 1 1787, patented to said John Taite [Tate] on Pine Run, a branch of South River near South Mountain. Teste: Samuel McConkey, Anthony Mustoe. (Augusta Co. VA Deed Book 25 p 574)

WILL ABSTRACT

John Tate's will, dated Nov 21 1792, probated Apr 1 1801: to third son John; to oldest son Thomas; tract to John and Isaac Tate, sons of James deceased, his grandsons; daughter Eleanor Stuart; son Robert Tate; executors, son Robert Tate and son-in-law Benjamin Stewart.
[Augusta Co. VA Will Book 1 p 250]

Source: Johnson, Charles A. A narrative history of Wise County, Virginia Norton, Va.: Norton Press, 1938, p. 235.

Nov 21, 1792
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Remarks: John Tate's will--Third son, John; oldest son, Thomas, tract to John and Isaac Tate, sons of James, deceased, his grandsons; daughter, Eleanor Stuart; son, Robert Tate; son Robert and son-in-law Benj. Stewart, executors.
Book date: CC1-41
Prove date: Apr 1, 1801

Buried:
This may be the grave of John Tate at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Fishersville, Augusta Co. VA.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=tate&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=48&GScnty=2810&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=97125145&df=all&

Died:
Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850
Name: John Tate
Date: 1 Apr 1801
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Notes: This probate record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley.
Remarks: Robert Tate, executor of John Tate, bond.
Description: Decedent
Book: CC1-81

John married Mary Mitchell Abt 1741, Pennsylvania. Mary (daughter of Thomas Mitchell and Eleanor (Helen)) was born ca 1710, Ulster Irelend; died Aft 1802, Augusta Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Elizabeth married William McConnell. [Group Sheet]

Sarah married James Mitchell. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Excerpts from Tate Families of the Southern States, Volume II, by Laura Mentzel and Ethel Updike, 1984

There were several families of the name Tate in southwestern Virginia before the Revolution and some were not related. There was an early Robert Tate, in Washington County, VA, who was probably the ancestor of the Col. John Tate, Robert Tate, Jr. and William Tate who settled in Washington County, VA, in 1772. This Robert Tate estate was taxed in 1794, indicating that he had passed on prior to that date.

Augusta County, VA was formed in 1738 and comprised a great part of Virginia. Botetourt County was formed in 1769 and Fincastle County was formed in 1772. Washington County was formed in 1776 and Russell County was formed in 1785, where they eventually found themselves living. Robert Tate Sr. died prior to 1794, however his son, Robert Tate, Jr., continued to be called "Jr." In November 1804, in Russell County, VA, a power of attorney was granted by Sarah Hanley to her friend Robert Tate, Jr. to "receive rent due me" on land in Orange County, NC; witnessed by Richard Davis, Robert Tate, Jr., and Aaron Tate. Robert Tate and Aaron were brothers, thus it seems there were several generations of Robert Tates in the area. This early Robert Tate was probably the father of Col. John, Robert Jr. and William Tate.

UNSURE PARENTAGE

Some researchers have his parents as John Tate and Sarah Beaty. Other researchers has his parents being Robert Tate born 27 FEB 1691 in New Kent Co. VA and died 1759 in St. Paul's Parish,Hanover Co. VA.

Hopefully DNA testing will clarify some of these lines.

ULSTER SCOTS/SCOTS-IRISH HISTORY AND HERITAGE

Robert Tate is documented ancestor of this line. Based on my DNA results, he most likely is of Scots-Irish heritage.

The terms Scots-Irish / Ulster-Scots refer to those Scots (mainly of Presbyterian stock) who settled in Ulster (the location of modern-day Northern Ireland) from the early seventeenth century. From these 200,000 original settlers, many are still in Ulster but over 2 million of their descendants eventually reached America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand & South Africa among others.

Many Ulster-Scots (Scots-Irish) are descended from Border Reivers, the lawless clans of the border between Scotland & England, where a lifestyle of raiding and marauding was the only way to survive. Tait/Tate/Teet is a Border Reiver name. However, Tates were also found in the area around Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland so it's unclear where our Tates originated in Scotland.

Owing to their geographical position the Border Reivers were frequently harassed by passing armies who, at the very least, would require provisioning, often without payment, but who were more often hell bent on destroying everything before them and causing as much damage and misery as they could. Crops were destroyed, homesteads burnt and the people murdered or dispersed.

It is no coincidence that these people, having their crops regularly destroyed and their livestock stolen, looked for other means of sustaining themselves and their families... They took to reiving.

For over 400 years between the 13th & 17th centuries, warring families from both sides of the lawless border valleys would carry out deadly raids on each other. These skilled warrior horsemen would live a life of looting, arson, murder & rustling. The life of the Border Reiver was not necessarily ruled by his allegiance to the English or Scottish Crowns, but more likely by his allegiance to a family surname. The history of the Border Reivers has many similarities to that of the American Wild West. It produced its share of outlaws and broken men, corrupt officials, greed, misery and struggle for survival.

In 1603 James VI of Scotland became James I of England. He immediately set about unifying the two countries and started by bringing the Reivers under control. Many Reiver families were faced with the choice of hanging or accept exile across the Irish sea to the wild badlands of Ulster as part of James' Plantation project to bring the Irish natives under control.

For King James it presented him with a problem and an opportunity. As a man and a king he was no more sympathetic to Gaelic traditions and culture than his Tudor predecessors on the English throne. While still King of Scots he had been preoccupied with the problems posed by his own minorities in the Highlands and Islands, whom he once described as "utterly barbarous."

The first large-scale migration of Scots into Ulster in written history was the Hamilton & Montgomery Settlement of May 1606. That saw the trickle become a flood, tens of thousands of Lowland Scots poured into Ulster. It was in Ulster that Celtic Ireland had made its last stand against a foreign invader, ending the Nine Years War. It had been a particularly bitter struggle, and Ulster had been devastated.

Scottish lairds Hamilton & Montgomery aquired lands in Counties Antrim & Down from An Irish chieftain, Con O'Neill. James Hamilton was a university don and a spy; and Sir Hugh Montgomery, his partner, was an Ayrshire laird. Together they helped Conn O'Neill escape from Carrickfergus Castle, where he had been imprisoned for rioting, and offered to obtain a royal pardon for him in return for a share of his substantial estates in Antrim and Down.

The northeastern counties of Antrim and Down, within sight of the coast of Scotland, are described by contemporary writers as "all waste and desolate." Hamilton & Montgomery set about encouraging a re-population on their new lands, which had been depopulated due to the English/Gaelic wars. The resulting large migration was not a plantation, not an invasion, nor a conquest but a settlement.

Hamilton & Montgomery did not wrest a fertile, cultivated and prosperous region from Gaelic proprietors. They came instead to a country devastated by war and famine, they created the bridgehead through which the Scots were to come into Ulster for the rest of the century.

Having seen the successful settlement of Scottish families in counties Antrim & Down by Hamilton & Montgomery, King James I was inspired to attempt another. He hoped the planting of loyal subjects would stop the threat of rebellion. The king was also worried that if a Spanish army invaded Ireland they would find support among the native Irish. The king was now in possession of vast underpopulated territories in six counties in Ireland when other Irish earls fled. Scottish and English families were encouraged to re-locate to Ulster. James now had a way of driving a Lowland, Protestant and English-speaking wedge into the heart of a Gaelic and Catholic world.

To Scots the North of Ireland was only a three hour boat ride away. Many had heard about the success of the Hamilton and Montgomery settlement and had hopes they would find new and better lives. Some saw the opportunity to acquire their own estates. Farmers hoped to build new and bigger farms & landless laborers hoped to acquire their own small piece of land for farming. They were ordinary Scottish families, seeking a new life. They were mainly Presbyterian in faith and outlook, and overwhelmingly Scots-speaking in language.

This was just the beginning as these first Ulster-Scots settlements were built upon over the following centuries, through constant fresh migrations which both increased the size of the Ulster-Scots community and enriched their heritage and traditions.

Land hungry Scots crossed the North Channel in ever increasing numbers. What they found would have daunted all but the hardiest spirits: "for in all those three parishes [Glenabbey, Donaghadee and Newtonards] thirty cabins could not be found, nor any stone walls, but ruined roofless churches, and a few vaults at Grey Abbey, and a stump of an old castle in Newton, in each of which some gentlemen sheltered themselves at their first coming over." But the land was good and largely unfarmed, as the native Irish economy had been pastoral rather than arable. Land was granted to men known as "undertakers," who pledged themselves to bring over settlers from England and Scotland. Settlers were also encouraged by the promise of long leases, far better than the unfavorable terms in their native Scotland, where short leases acted as a disincentive to good husbandry and improvements. Plantation, the Scots were soon to show, could be made to work, especially when it was supported by adequate military force.

Native Irish chieftains, deeply resentful of their changing circumstances, took to the wilds as outlaws, and as "woodkernes" represented a real threat to the more isolated settlers, many of whom were wiped out in midnight raids. The descendants of the Scots migrants were later to face a similar threat on the American frontier. While the Irish raiders were tough, the Scots were even tougher.

Despite the woodkerns, and the wolves, the Plantation survived and prospered. In 1634 Sir William Brereton, in a journey through Ayrshire noted that: "Above the thousand persons have, within the last two years past, left the country wherein they lived and are gone for Ireland. They have come by one hundred in company through the town, and three hundred have gone on hence together, shipped for Ireland at one tide?" By 1640 it is estimated that as many as 100,000 Scots had settled in Ulster compared with some 20,000 migrants from England.

The Scots brought a strict Calvinist doctrine, which by the late 1630s was taking a firmly Presbyterian shape, as opposed to the Anglican church favored by the king. Later in the century an Anglican opponent of the puritans had an impact of Scottish Presbyterianism on Ulster. Charles I, James' son and successor, attempted to force Scotland to accept the English forms of worship, took a path that led directly to the Civil Wars. This had a profound effect on the Protestant settlers in Ulster. Although the Scots had originally been made welcome by the English Lord Deputy in Dublin, their enthusiasm for Presbyterianism made them politically suspect. Confronted by official hostility they faced an even greater threat in 1641 when the native Irish rose in revolt, venting years of frustration on the bewildered and badly frightened settlers.

During the wars the Ulster Scots had played a full part, assisting, among other things, in the famous siege of Londonderry. Among their rewards they could expect, at the very least, a measure of religious toleration: after all, the revolution settlement had at last conceded the right of Scotland to a Presbyterian church after years of Stewart persecution. But the Ulster Presbyterians were in caught in a paradox: though the reign of William of Orange brought a measure of calm, they were still subject to a religious establishment in Dublin, which remained strictly Anglican in outlook. During the reign of Queen Anne the Presbyterians, though part of the victorious Protestant party, were to find themselves just as outcast as their despised Catholic neighbors.

The successive wars had the effect of once again depopulating the fields of Ulster as many of the original settlers had been killed or had returned to Scotland for their own safety. Adding to the troubles in Ulster was a series of terrible harvest failures in the 1690's in Scotland caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland resulted in hundreds of thousands of famine refugees fleeing their homeland.

An appeal was made for fresh settlers, with twenty-year farm leases being held out as bait. Thus began the last great wave of Scots migration to Ulster. In the decade up to 1700 up to 70,000 of these refugees from all over Scotland migrated to Ulster. This was to be the biggest single influx of Scots into Ireland. The permanent Scots imprint on Ulster is crystal clear and this last wave was among the most significant, especially for the future of America and the creation of that unique outlook that was in time to be known as Scots-Irish.

By 1707, the year that the Scottish parliament merged with its English cousin, the Protestant colony of Ulster was a hundred years old. The differences that had existed between the original settlers, whither Scots or English, had largely ceased to exist. It is now possible to discover a distinct Protestant Ulster identity. Religion provided the common bond, rather than race, uniting dissenters of differing faiths, though it is also true to say that the Scots settlers had acquired a cultural domination over their English counterparts. Though loyal to the crown, they were a people who, through decades of adversity, had become self reliant, and never quite lost the feeling that they were surrounded by a hostile world: "They learned from hard experience," one commentator noted "that one must fight for what he has; that turning the other cheek does not guarantee property rights; in short, that might is right, at least in the matter of life and land ownership." In the early years of the eighteenth century they found themselves once again under attack, though this time from a totally unexpected direction.

In 1704 the government of Queen Anne, dominated by the Anglican High Church party, passed an act that had a direct bearing on the Ulster Scots. All office holders were obliged to take communion in the Established Church, a measure which at a single stroke virtually wiped out much of the civil administration in the north of Ireland. It was even seriously suggested that Presbyterian ministers could be brought before Anglican church courts, charged with fornicating with their own wives. The worst features of the new legislation was removed by the Toleration Act of 1719, but the damage had been done, and full discrimination against the Presbyterians was not finally ended until the middle of the nineteenth century.

The Ulster Presbyterians had endured-and survived-past waves of religious discrimination, and would most likely have continued to thrive in the face of official hostility. But in the early years of the new century they were faced with an additional challenge, one that threatened the whole basis of their economic existence in Ireland. By 1710 most of the farm leases granted to the settlers in the 1690s had expired; new leases were withheld until the tenants agreed to pay greatly increased rents, which many could simply not afford to do. Rather than submit to these new conditions whole communities, led by their ministers, began to take ship for the Americas: a new exodus was about to begin.

It looks like Robert Tate may have been in that first wave of Ulster Scots immigration. It's unclear if was born in Ulster Ireland or Augusta County, VA. More than likely he was born in Ulster. We don't know if his parents immigrated with him, stayed, or had already died before he left. Based on the history of the Ulster Settlement we know why he came.

As the years passed thousands of people crossed the Atlantic from Ulster, just as their ancestors had crossed the North Channel from Scotland a century or more before. However, by 1750 the pace of migration began to slow, as relatively normal conditions returned to Ulster after years of economic dislocation. The period of calm was all too brief. In 1771 a fresh wave of migration began, once again induced by the greed of the landlords, which was arguably to have serious consequences for the security of the British Empire in North America. Faced with a fresh series of rent hikes, local people at first mounted some resistance, gathered together in an organization known as the Hearts of Steel; but the landlords had the law and the army on their side. In the short period left before the outbreak of the American Revolution a further 30,000 Ulstermen left for the colonies, joining some 200,000 who had already made their homes there earlier in the century. The contemporary image of the Ulster Protestant is most commonly that of the Orangeman, with all of his exaggerated loyalty to Britain and the Crown. For the dispossessed of the 1770s the opposite was true: they had lost everything, and came to America with an intense hostility towards all things British.

For the original Quaker and Puritan settlers of the thirteen colonies, largely English in origin, the emigrants of Ulster, an increasingly common sight, were usually described as "Irish." To counter this misconception the newcomers adopted the older description of ?Scots?. It was in this semantic exchange that a new breed took shape: they were the "Scots-Irish."

For many years these people had lived on a frontier in Ireland, and it seemed natural for them to push on to a new frontier, where land was both plentiful and cheap, introducing a new urgency and dynamism into a rather complacent colonial society. Before long these "backwoodsmen," distrustful of all authority and government, had established a hold on the western wilderness, fighting Indians and wolves in much the same way that they had once fought wolves and woodkern.

The Ulster-Scots did make it to the America colonies via other ports through-out the 17th century. However it was in the early 18th century that the Scotch-Irish of Ulster really began arriving in the new world in massive numbers. There were five great waves of 18th century Ulster emigration to America: in 1717-18; 1725-29; 1740-41; 1754-55 and 1771-75. In 1717, the year ships were officially chartered for 5,000 men and women to head to Pennsylvania, a severe drought completely destroyed crops on the Ulster farmlands. The 18th century Scots-Irish emigrants sailed to America from the ports of Belfast, Londonderry, Larne, Newry and Portrush, the ships arriving on a regular basis at Philadelphia, New Castle (Delaware), New York and Charleston. It's estimated up to a quarter of a million Scots-Irish emigrated across the Atlantic from the north of Ireland through the 18th century.

Most Scotch-Irish immigrants were educated, skilled workers. Even though many paid for their emigration by becoming indentured servants they were well equipped to lead successful, independent lives when their period of servitude ended. Many easily blended into American life.

The Scotch-Irish settled in the middle colonies, especially in Pennsylvania where the city of Philadelphia was a major port of entry. Over subsequent decades, the Scotch-Irish migrated south following the Great Philadelphia Road, the main route used for settling the interior southern colonies. Traveling down Virginia?s Shenandoah Valley, then south into the North Carolina Piedmont region, they reached South Carolina by the 1760s. Settlers here often became frontiersmen and Indian fighters. These hardy resolute emigrants became first citizens of American frontier lands, opened up in the movement from the eastern seaboard regions of the New World.

With the outbreak of the Revolution in 1775 the Scots-Irish, in interesting contrast to many of their Scottish cousins, were among the most determined adherents of the rebel cause. Their frontier skills were particularly useful in destroying Burgoyne?s army in the Saratoga campaign; and George Washington was even moved to say that if the cause was lost everywhere else he would take a last stand among the Scots-Irish of his native Virginia. Serving in the British Army, Captain Johann Henricks, one of the much despised "Hessians," wrote in frustration "Call it not an American rebellion, it is nothing more than an Irish-Scotch Presbyterian Rebellion." It was their toughness, virility and sense of divine mission that was to help give shape to a new nation.

Twenty-five of the American generals were of Ulster descent as was up to half of the revolutionary army. One famous force of regular soldiers was the Pennsylvania Line and it was composed almost entirely of Ulstermen and the sons of Ulstermen. The turning point in the war was the Battle of King's Mountain in South Carolina on 7 October 1780. A body of American militiamen defeated a British force twice its size and took 1,000 prisoners. The five colonels in the American force were all Presbyterian elders of Ulster stock and their men were of the same race and faith.

When the Scots-Irish emigrated to the colonies, they brought with them their tradition of making whiskey and fighting authority. By 1776, over 250,000 Ulstermen had come to the colonies.

In 1791 the federal government imposed a tax excise on whiskey. The tax levvy was higher for small family run distillers than it was for bigger mass producers. This angered the mainly Scots-Irish farmers as it effectively eliminated any profit from the sale or barter of an important means of income and became the lightning rod for a wide variety of grievances against the new federal government. The settlers in Pennsylvania refused to pay and the uprising that followed was to be known as the Whiskey Rebellion.

The settlers of Western Pennsylvania whom refused to pay broke out in armed rebellion. At some times, the rebellion had a force of seven thousand armed militia troops. To restore order to the ensuing Whiskey Rebellion, George Washington sent the Continental Army. The 13,000 federal troops sent to the western Pennsylvania area was the first test of the power of the new United States government.

Although the army was successful in temporarily ending the rebellion the political problem remained. To avoid further troubles with the tough and stubborn Scotch-Irish settlers, and break up their center of resistance to taxation, Washington made a settlement with them, giving incentives for those who would move to western Virginia.

Pioneers were offered sixty acres of land in Kentucky (at that time a western part of Virginia). To gain the land all the settler had to do was build a permanent structure and raise "native corn." No family could eat sixty acres worth of corn a year and it was too perishable and bulky to transport for sale. The Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania knew well how to make whiskey, and they used the rye of Pennsylvania to make the beverage. By switching the base of the beverage to corn, the problem of getting rid of a bulky grain that was too expensive to ship was solved.

Bourbon County, Kentucky, became a primary shipping port for this new corn whiskey and distillers such as Reverend Elijah Craig began shipping their whiskey in charred oak barrels which gave it a mellow caramel colour. Soon all corn whiskey which was aged in charred oak barrels and shipped from this port became known as "Bourbon" whiskey.

The Scotch-Irish character traits such as loyalty to kin, extreme mistrust of governmental authority and legal strictures, and a propensity to bear arms and to use them, helped shape the American identity.






Birth:
possibly Ulster, Ireland or Augusta Co. VA

Robert married . Unknown [Group Sheet]

Notes:

From Augusta Colunty, VA records:

Hays, David

No 72 Augusta County Court Clerk's office, to wit: David Hays, a free man of colour, about 54 years of age, five feet ten inches & a half high, black complexion, no visable scars or marks; emancipated by John Tate and Isaac Tate on the l9th June 1798; and now registered in this office. Given under my hand with the Seal of the Court affixed this 24th day of November 1823. Vincent Tapp, DC AC

Renewed June 20th 1838 with additional description of "left eye put out" N. K. Trout DC

Notes:

From Augusta Colunty, VA records:

Hays, David

No 72 Augusta County Court Clerk's office, to wit: David Hays, a free man of colour, about 54 years of age, five feet ten inches & a half high, black complexion, no visable scars or marks; emancipated by John Tate and Isaac Tate on the l9th June 1798; and now registered in this office. Given under my hand with the Seal of the Court affixed this 24th day of November 1823. Vincent Tapp, DC AC

Renewed June 20th 1838 with additional description of "left eye put out" N. K. Trout DC

Other Events:

• _UID: B7E86BC478414745AC80258B458D84175CC3

Notes:

Thomas Tate
Date: May 17, 1756
Location: Augusta Co., VA

This probate record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley.
Remarks: William Smith's appraisement by John Mitchell, Robert Wilson and Robert Alexander - Widow Howston, Thomas Tate, John Brownlee, widow Fulton, owe by accounts.
Description: Debtor Book date: Augusta Co. VA Will Book 2, page 145.

Thos. Tate
Date: Mar 21, 1759
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Property: 299 acres in Beverley Manor; corner Nicholas Leeper.

This land record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley.
Remarks:130
Description: Grantee

Thomas married Jane (Jean) CAMPBELL Oct. 1764, Augusta Co. VA. Jane (daughter of Major Charles Campbell and Margaret Buchanan) was born 1749, Tinkling Spring, Augusta Co. VA; was christened 02 Apr 1749, Tinkling Spring, Augusta Co. VA; died 27 Feb 1819, Augusta Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: D95ADAAF05EC48CAA210D6C311CF3DB0D71D

Notes:

Source: This probate record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley. Vol 1. p 262.

Will of James Tate

Page 177 3d October, 1780. James Tate's will--To wife and children. estate to be kept together for their support and education. Executors, wife Sarah, Benj. Stuart, John Tate, Jr., William Tate. Teste: Thomas Tate, John Tate, Jr., Jenny Tate. Proved, 21st August. 1781. by Thomas and Jane Tate. Executors qualify.

Vol. 1, p.604 SEPTEMBER 16, 1788 John Tate, aged 14, orphan of James Tate, chose Robert Tate his guardian, and James is also appointed guardian of Isaac Tate.

Vol. 1, p. 328 SEPTEMBER 16, 1790 Alexander Hall appointed guardian of Elizabeth Tate, orphan of James Tate.

Date: Jun 19, 1798
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Remarks: James Tates estate distributed by Benj Stuart and Jno. Tate, executors, to viz: Wife Sarah, sons John and Isaac, daughters Polly, Patsey, Sally.
Description: Decedent's Son
Augusta Co. VA Will Book 8 p 307

-----------------------

Mentzel, Laura and Ethel Updike. Tate Families of the Southern States, 1984. p 170.

Vol. 2 - Tate's heirs vs. Tate's executors--O. S. 144; N. S. 50--Bill, 28th July, 1803. Complainants are, viz: Thomas, John, Isaac, Mary Tate, Andrew Steel and Elizabeth, his wife, and Sarah Tate. In 17__ a contract was made between John Tate, father of Thomas, of one part and Thomas and his brother, James Tate (deceased), of other part, by which Thomas and James were to assist in building a mill. John, Isaac, Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah are children and legal representatives of James (or John?). John died testate, devising part of mill to his son John, part to orator Thomas, and remainder to orators John and Isaac. James Tate died 178_ testate. John Tate, Jr., lately died testate. Suit against executor of John Tate, Sr., and of John Tate, Jr., for accounting. Thomas Tate removed to Holston. Answer 1804 by Jane Tate, widow and executrix of John Tate, Jr., and by Samuel Finley, who married Polly Tate, daughter of said John. Jane married John about 1774. Samuel married Polly about 1796-1797. John Tate, Sr., died March, 1801. Deposition 23d July, 1804, of Hugh Fulton in Flemingsburg, Ky. Hugh did not marry the widow of James Tate. Charles Tate deposes in Washington County, 9th March, 1805: Is son of Thomas Tate and grandson of John. Nancy Tate deposes ditto, is daughter-in-law of John Tate. James Tate was killed at Battle of Guilford, 1781. Hugh Fulton, Sr., deposes in Augusta, aged 77 years. The contract about mill was made prior to 1774. Alexander Hall deposes ditto, was brother of James Tate's wife. William Tate deposes 27th June, 1804, in Washington County, brother of Thomas and James. William moved from Augusta in 1782-83. Alexander Stuart deposes 28th January, 1804, in Augusta, aged 70. James Tate died 1780. His wife, Sarah, married Hugh Fulton in 1785, and they moved to Kentucky about 1781. Peter Alexander deposes 25th October, 1805, in Woodford County, Kentucky.




Buried:
Grave location and tombstone photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=tate&GSfn=james&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=29&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=54500310&df=all&

Grave information note:
Commanded a company of Augusta County Virginia militia. He was killed in the New Garden skirmish, near the Quaker settlement . Re-interred at this site in 1891.

James married Sarah [Sallie] Hall. Sarah was born 19 Dec 1751; died Bef 1799. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 01BEF785BDD34B25969F3A491F15AF6B41F3

Notes:

Nov 21, 1792
Location: Augusta Co., VA
Notes: This probate record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley.
Remarks: John Tate's will--Third son, John; oldest son, Thomas, tract to John and Isaac Tate, sons of James, deceased, his grandsons; daughter, Eleanor Stuart; son, Robert Tate; son Robert and son-in-law Benj. Stewart, executors.
Book date: CC1-41
Prove date: Apr 1, 1801

Died:
Wilson, Howard McKnight. The Tinkling Spring, Headwater of Freedom. (Privatetly published by The Tinkiling Spring and Hermitage Presbyterian Churches, pub. Fishersville, Virginia), pg. 467.

Eleanor married Benjamin Stuart ca 1765, possibly Augusta Co. VA. Benjamin was born 1737, Pennsylvania; died 12 Dec 1808, Tinkling Spring, Augusta Co. VA; was buried , Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Augusta Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

In in Augusta County tax lists from 1792 through 1790 During his lifetime, this John was known as John TATE Jr to distinguish him from his father and as John TATE, then he was Esq. from 1791 to 1801 for the rest of his lifetime.

Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800. (Rosslyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Printing Company, 1912-1913 in Three Volumes).

Vol. 2 - Finley vs. Tate--O. S. 280; N. S. 99--Bill by Samuel Finley and Mary, his wife, daughter of John Tate, who died December, 1802, testate. John's son, Isaac, removed to Kentucky. John at death left following children, viz: Oratrix Mary (married at that time). Nancy also married then to Adam McChesney, Ellen, Drusilla, Jane, Elizabeth, Clorinda, one other daughter and two sons, all since dead under age, unmarried and intestate. Nancy McChesney died soon after her father, leaving an only child, Jane Eliza McChesney. Her husband, Adam McChesney, has also died, leaving Jane Eliza his only heir and infant. Ellen is now wife of John Finley of North Carolina. Drusilla has married John D. Ewin of Rockbridge. Jane has married Jacob Vanlear of Augusta. Elizabeth and Clorinda are unmarried (latter is infant).

WILL ABSTRACT

Page 252.--18th April, 1801. John Tate's will--To wife and children, whole estate to be kept together for their benefit. Executors, wife Jinney, friends Robert Tate, Samuel Finley, Isaac Tate. Teste: John Tate. 3d; James Henry, Wm. Fulton, Geo. Berry. Proved, 27th December, 1802. Jinney, Robert, and Sam. qualify.



Buried:
Grave location and tombstone photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=TATE&GSiman=1&GScid=552495&GRid=53753624&
Inscription:
PVT, VA Militia, Revolutionary War
Plot: Row 4, 3

John married Jane (Jinney) Berry. Jane (daughter of George Berry and Agnes Hall) was born Bef 1751, Augusta Co. VA; died 1835, Augusta Co., VA; was buried , Old Providence ARP Church Cemetery, Spottswood, Augusta Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: D9179E6B16DD4359BCFADD3CE2D05D78DE7C

Notes:

Tate Families of the Southern States, Volume II, by Laura Mentzel and Ethel Updike, 1984

William Tate settled in Washington County about the time, John and Robert did and is thought to be a brother. He was on the tax rolls for 1784. On February 20, 1793, Joel Hobbs and wife Margaret sold 145 acres on both sides of Big Moccasin Creek, a spur of Clinch Mountain on the Holston River to William Tate. It would seem that he was not a public spirited man, however, there are so many acts attributed to the other William Tate over this period that I wonder if this William Tate was active, but the other William has received all of the credit, living in the same county as they did. He lived within five miles of Col. John and Robert Tate. He executed his will, September 15, 1803 in Russell County, VA, probated October 25, 1803 by wife Elizabeth.

References: VA Tax Rolls; Russell County Deed Book 1, page 254, Will Book 2, pages 42, 43.

-------------------
James Striegel Tate Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives 1742 - 1980

On May 1, 1782 Washington County Virginia issued land grants of 250 acres to Robert Tate and 100 acres to John Tate, both on Moccasin Creek. On February 20, 1793 William Tate bought 145 acres on Moccasin Creek adjoining the 424 acres granted to Robert Tate.

Robert and John were active in County militia and government affairs from 1781 to their deaths. William can find himself to farming. William died testate on Sept. 15, 1803. The two of Roberts and one of John sons were witnesses to his will. He named the widow, four sons and a daughter. Robert junior. It was named executor.

Moccasin Creek was located in Botetourt County prior to 1773; in Fincastle County from January 1773 to January 1777; in Washington County from 1777 to May 1786; in Russell County May from 1786 to present

--------------------------
WILL OF WILLIAM TATE
Russell County, Virginia
Will Book 2, Pages 42-43
Executed 25 Oct 1803

In the name of God Amen
I William Tate of the county of Russell in the state of Virginia, being in a weak and infirm state of body but of sound mind and desirous of settling my worldly affairs do make this my last will and testament giving and bequeathing as follows:

After my lawful debts and funeral charges being paid Item, To my wife Elizabeth Tate the land that I now live on during her natural life; After the decease of my wife Elizabeth I give and bequeath to my son William Tate that part of the tract of land aforesaid including the house thats now live in and with an with a direct course from the west side of the house to the sugar camp and a direct course with the west side of said house crossing the creek to the line of said land including the upper end of said tract.

Item, To my son Joseph Tate and my son Robert Tate all that part or tract of land from the house aforesaid with the aforesaid conditional lines including the lower end of the above tract of land.

Item, To my wife Elizabeth Tate one besion mare & one grey mare, three cows and two calves, eleven head of sheep and all the hogs that now own and all my household furniture now belong to me and all the tools and emplements belonging to me during her natural life exepting the grey mare which my son Robert is to have when he arrives at twenty one years of age and all my moveable property that is not otherwise directed after the death of my wife Elizabeth shall be disposed of as herein after directed that is to say to my son Isaac Tate my son Joseph Tate my son William Tate my son Robert Tate and my daughter Peggy Tate each to have equal share.

Item, To my son William Tate one sorrel horse colt.

I do further appoint Robert Tate Junr. Executor of my estate; confirmed and subscribed by me this 15th day of September 1803.

William X Tate

Robert Tate Junr.
John Tate
Samuel Tate

At a court held for Russell County the 25th day of October 1803. This instrument of writing was exhibited in court as and for the last will and testament of William Tate deceased and proven by the oaths of Robert Tate Junr. And John Tate and Samuel Tate witnesses hereto and ordered to be recorded. And on motion of Robert Tate Junr. Executor therein named certificates is granted him for obtaining Setters Testamentary in due form he having first made oath and entered into and acknowledged his bond in the sum of two thousand dollars together with John Tate his security conditioned as the law directs.

Teste

Nathan Ellington DC

William married Elizabeth Mitchell. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The Tates are a tangle to unravel. Robert's grandparetns are most likely John Tate and Sarah Beaty. His parents, John Tate II or Jr. and Mary Mitchell's descendants tended to stay in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, VA and marry into other Scot-Irish families of the Shenandoah Valley i.e. the Campbells, McClungs, Stuarts, Finley, and Alexanders.

Robert, who married Margaret McClung, has been confused by researchers with his uncle, Robert Tate, who settled in Washington Co. VA and had three sons, Col. John Tate, Robert Tate, and William Tate all played prominent roles in the history of Southwestern Virginia. Robert and Margaret McClung had about 11 children who had deep ties to Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, but some researchers have combined the uncle and nephew Robert's families. See what I mean about a tangle of Tates?

Uncle Robert's descendants were the Traveling Tates. His offspring founded Tatesville in Pulaski Co. KY or settled in Warren and Grundy Co. TN and DeKalb Co. AL. Robert's grandchildren ended up in Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma.


GENEALOGY SOURCES:

Riley, Agnes Graham Sanders. The Pioneer Tate family of Augusta County, Virginia. National Genealogical Society Quarterly (National Genealogical Society). (Vol 57, Issue 3 (Sep 1969)), 181, Secondary quality.
giving 8 Mar 175? and place

Source: Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800. (Rosslyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Printing Company, 1912-1913 in Three Volumes).

Vol. 2 - Marriage Bond: 1794--April 15, Samuel Wallace and Robert Tate, surety. Samuel Wallace and Mary Tate, daughter of Robert Tate.

Page 252.--18th April, 1801. John Tate's will--To wife and children, whole estate to be kept together for their benefit. Executors, wife Jinney, friends Robert Tate, Samuel Finley, Isaac Tate. Teste: John Tate. 3d; James Henry, Wm. Fulton, Geo. Berry. Proved, 27th December, 1802. Jinney, Robert, and Sam. qualify. [Note: John Tate was Robert Tate's brother].


Buried:
Grave location and tombstone photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=tate&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=48&GScnty=2810&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=37798699&df=all&

Robert married Margaret (Peggy) McClung. Margaret (daughter of John MCCLUNG and Elizabeth Parks ALEXANDER) was born 05 Oct 1755, Augusta Co. VA; died 23 Sep 1839, Augusta Co., VA; was buried , Bethel Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Middlebrook, Augusta Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 3961D352607F4A68A477C080F68E6ED8750B

Notes:

Source:COLONEL JOHN TATE OF RUSSELL COUNTY By Leland Burdine Tate, Historical Society of Southwestern Virginia, Publication 10, 1976.

From 1743 to 1772, John Tate was born, reared, married to Mary Bracken, and lived in places as yet unknown to the writer, a seventh generation descendant.

In late November, 1772, at age 29, John and his family settled in the Moccasin Valley of present Russell County, Virginia, about 15 miles southwest of present Lebanon. He told the time of settlement in a deposition of 1810 for the court case of George Fugate vs. Nancy Mahon and others.

As a resident of the Moccasin Valley, John lived in four frontier counties:
1. Botetourt Co., late November and December, 1772 - less than two months
2. Fincastle Co., January 1773 to January 1777 - four years
3. Washington Co., January 1777 to May 1786 - over nine years
4. Russell Co., May 1786 to December 1828 - over forty-two years

John's first tract of land of 145 acres from the Loyal Land Company of Virginia was surveyed December 12, 1774, by John Floyd, Deputy to Col. William Preston, Surveyor of Fincastle County, who lived at present Blacksburg. The date and description of that survey is in the former Fincastle County records, Montgomery County Clerk's Office, Christiansburg, VA.

About 1776 or before, John and his neighbors built a fort on his land for protection against hostile Indians. It was known as Tate's Fort, and is mentioned by early emigrants to both Kentucky and Tennessee. In Shane's Historical Collection of Kentucky papers, Volume 1, page 224, and in Williams' Early Times in Tennessee, and perhaps alluded to by John Tate in his deposition of 1810 for the case of Fugate vs. Mahon, where he is quoted as saying that Frances Fugate (deceased), who lived five miles from him, "did as the rest of us did, defend our land and families, and lived on the land in dispute (1772-1781) except for the time forted."

In October 1780, John as militia-man of Washington County, participated in the successful Revolutionary War battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina, and his name as a participant is recorded by Lewis Preston Summers in his History of Washington County and Southwest Virginia. (In command at King's Mountain was Col. William Campbell, whose wife Elizabeth was a sister of Patrick Henry, and after Campbell's death, the wife of General William Russell, for whom Russell County was named.)

In November 1781, John was appointed with others to appraise the estate of Francis Fugate (deceased), who was killed by a fall from his horse. The other appraisers were William Huston, John Wood, and Robert Tate, another ancestor of the writer, who lived about three miles below John in Moccasin Valley.

In February 1782, John was appointed with others to view and cut out the road down Moccasin Valley from Little Moccasin Gap in Clinch Mountain on present U. S. 19 between Abingdon and Lebanon to Big Moccasin Gap on present U. S. 23 near Gate City. Also in 1782 his second tract of land of 100 acres was surveyed and recorded in the records of Washington County at Abingdon.

In May 1786, with the formation of Russell County, John was appointed an overseer of the poor, a constable, and a Lieutenant in the militia.

In 1787, John became a "Gentleman Justice" on the Russell County Court or governing board, by appointment of the Governor of Virginia, where he served with great devotion to duty for most of his remaining life of 41 years. Again and again he rode his horse to successive places of county government meetings at Castlewood, Dickensonville and Lebanon; served many times, one to three days per month, sometimes presided over and wrote the minutes of the meetings, and signed them more than 150 times with a bold and attractive signature. By virtue of his position as Justice, he was often referred to as John Tate, Gent., or John Tate, Esq. In 1787 he was also appointed Captain in the upper militia of the Moccasin Valley; and that year he took the Oath of Allegiance to the newly drafted Constitution of the United States.

As Gentleman Justice, Col. John Tate's duties included the issuance of marriage licenses, witnessing recordings of deeds and land sales, levying taxes, and other responsibilities.

In 1787 with the formation of Russell Co, he was appointed "Justice of the Court" or governing board where he served with distinction the remainder of his life. In that year too, he was also appointed Capt. of the militia of Moccasin Valley and that year he took the oath of allegiance to the Constitution as was the requirement after the Revolutionary War. He was thrice Sheriff of Russell Co and died intestate Dec 15 1828, age 85 years. (Tate Families of the Southern States, Volume II, by Laura Mentzel and Ethel Updike, 1984)

In 1789, John became Captain in the 2nd Bat., 72 Reg. Of the Virginia Militia, and also served as Superintendent of an election in his locality.

In 1795, John became Major in the 2nd Bat., 72 Reg. Of the Virginia Militia.

In 1800, John had his cattle mark recorded, and the Russell County Court ordered that no person in the county have the liberty of marking with a swallow fork in the left ear, except John Tate.

By 1801, John became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue for Russell County, and served two years. His securities were Henry Dickenson, County Clerk; Nathan Ellington, Dickenson's deputy and son-in-law; John M. Estill and Harry Smith. His deputies were John and Zachariah Fugate, Cummings Gilmer, George Powers, John Sewell, and Andrew Williams.

In 1801, John was appointed with Samuel Ewing as one of the commissioners for Russell County to meet with the commissioners for Lee County to superintend and run the dividing line between the two counties. (Lee County had been formed from part of Russell County in 1792.)

In 1802, John became Lt. Col. Commandant of the 72 Reg., 3rd Division of the Virginia Militia, and since has been known to many as Col. John Tate. His appointment was by James Monroe, Governor of Virginia, and later President of the United States.

In 1809, John again became an overseer of the poor, and served by re-appointments 15 or more consecutive years.

In 1810, Col. John Tate was taxed on one slave.

In 1813, John and several other persons, including a teacher, Thomas Birch, sent a petition to the Legislature of Virginia, requesting that a school already in operation with thirty students be established officially as Amity Hall Academy. John and nine other ancestors of the writer were signers: John and three other ancestors of the writer were trustees. The petitioners said they were "duly impressed by the consideration that in all free states intelligence was the life of liberty, and that they were desirous to cooperate with other counties in the state to promote the grand cause of education."

Col. John Tate's farm is described in the 1815 Russell County Tax Assessments:

JOHN TATE, one farm on Moggason [Moccasin] Creek, 245 acres having thereon one dwelling house of wood, one story and a half, 20 feet by 16 feet, one barn of wood, three stables, three corn houses, one smoke house, one loom house, one kitchen, one milk house, valued at $1000.

In 1819, John and his grandson Robert Fugate, became Executors of the estate of Colbert Fugate (deceased) who married John's daughter Hannah, and who had been a farmer, part-time county official, and three times a member of the Virginia Legislature.

In 1825, John, as the senior Justice among 31 present for a special meeting in Lebanon, helped to appoint unanimously James P. Carrell the second Clerk of Russell County; thereby promoting a very able and interesting person who, with limited formal schooling but with training experience and the skillful use of books, became one of the best clerks in Virginia, a part-time Methodist Minister, song-book compiler and publisher, land buyer and seller, money lender, patron of education and benefactor of students. (In 1836, James P. Carrell gave five times the usual gift of $100 to help start Emory and Henry College, ten miles east of Abingdon at Emory, VA; and Carrell's help to John A. Kelly, an Emory and Henry student of the 1830's, led to a gift of nearly two million dollars for Emory and Henry College in the 1960's from the Carrell-aided student's grandson, Frederick Kelly. To the writer, this is a very significant series of creative historical events stemming from James P. Carrell's appointment by John Tate and other justices in 1825.)

In 1826, when over 80 years old, John again became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue for Russell County, and served two years, which apparently reflects his stamina and stability as a person, his dynamic interest in public affairs, and the esteem which he had as a senior citizen. His Securities were Charles Carrell, James Dixon, Zachariah Fugate, Harvey Gray, John Jessee, Benjamin Sewell, and John Smyth - the last three of whom are other ancestors of the writer. One of his deputies was his grandson, John Fugate, who later moved to Missouri.

Col. John Tate died December 15, 1828, at 85 years of age, and is buried in a Tate and Burdine cemetery in the Moccasin Valley, 15 miles southwest of Lebanon on some of his former land now owned by the writer and his brother, Thomas E. Tate of Haleyville, Alabama.

Col. John Tate's wife, Mary Bracken, died in 1817, and is buried near him. The children of John Tate and Mary Bracken were:

Robert Tate, 1768-1844, who married Winnie Atkinson and moved to Pulaski Co., KY.

Hannah Tate, 1772-1844, who married Colbert Fugate and lived in Russell County, Virginia, just southwest of her parents in the Moccasin Valley.

Samuel Bracken Tate, 1775-1845, who married Jane Owens and moved to Pulaski County, Kentucky.

Jane Tate, 1770s-1823, who married Henley Haddix and moved to Kentucky.

Martha Tate, 1780-1847, who married John Buster and moved to Kentucky

Isaac Tate, 1780s-?, who married Peggy Walton of Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1809, and lived in Russell County until 1833, then in Kentucky and Missouri.

Lydia Tate, 1785-1854, who married William Fugate and lived in Russell and Scott Counties, Virginia

Numerous descendants of Col. John Tate and Mary Bracken and their children have lived and still live in various parts of the United States.

-------------------

GENEALOGICAL SOURCES

The Tate Family of Russell Co., VA by David Farris, Gateway Press, 1986

In a deposition dated 24 February 1810 for the court case of George Fugate vs. Nancy Mahon; John Tate stated that he settled on Big Moccasin Creek on a spur of Clinch Mountain on the Holston River in November 1772 and that Francis Fugate family then lived on the land. The land was located in Botetourt County, and that Francis Fugate, deceased, who lived five miles from him, " did as the rest of us did, defended our land and families, and lived on the land in dispute (1772-1781) except for the time forted."

The land in the Moccasin Valley on which John Tate first settled was Botetourt County, then shortly thereafter became Fincastle County. (Jan. 1773- Jan. 1777) In 1777, Fincastle Co., was discontinued, and the land was then in Washington County. (Jan. 1777- May 1786) In 1786, John's original settlement near Lebanon, became present day Russell County.

John obtained his first land grant of 145 acres from the Royal Company of Virginia. The land was surveyed 12 December 1774 by John Floyd, Deputy to Colonel William Preston, Surveyor of Fincastle County.

Around 1775-76, John and his neighbors built a fort for protection against Indians on his land. The fort was called Tate's Fort and was known by early travelers to Tennessee and Kentucky.

John enlisted in the Washington County Virginia Militia and Patriots during the American Revolution and fought in the Revolutionary Battle of King's Mountain, 8 October 1780, in South Carolina. John Tate's name is found in the "History of Washington County and Southwest Virginia" by Lewis Preston Summers. The Washington County Militia was commanded by Colonel William Campbell who led them to victory against the British Forces. Colonel William Campbell was married to Elizabeth Henry, sister to Patrick Henry. She then married General William Russell, (for whom Russell Co. was named), after the death of Colonel Campbell.

A Land Treasury Warrant, survey recorded 1 May 1781 for $9,059, Washington County, gave John an additional 100 acres of land. In Nov. 1781, John Tate, Robert Tate, William Huston and John Wood were appointed to appraise the estate of Francis Fugate deceased, who was killed by a fall from his horse. John Tate in February 1782, was among the ones who were appointed to view and cut out the road down Moccasin Valley from Little Moccasin Gap in Clinch Mountain (present US 19) between Abingdon and Lebanon to Big Moccasin Gap (present US 23) near Gate City. With the formation of Russell County in May of 1786, John Tate was appointed constable and an overseer of the poor. He was also a Lieutenant in the Militia.

In 1787, John was appointed Captain in the upper Militia of the Moccasin Valley. He also took the "Oath of Allegiance" to the newly drafted Constitution of the United States. By appointment by the Governor of Virginia, John Tate served as a " Gentlemen Justice " on the Russell County Court with devotion for the rest of his life. Because of his position as Justice, he was referred to as John Tate; Gent., of John Tate; Esquire. John rode his horse to various places of county government meetings at Castlewood, Dickensonville and Lebanon, serving one to three days per month. He often presided, wrote the minutes of the meetings, and signed them with an attractive, bold signature.

Still in the Virginia Militia in 1789, John became Captain of the 2nd Battalion, 72nd Regiment. In 1792 when Lee County had been formed from part of Russell County, John was Appointed as one of the commissioners for Russell County to meet with the commissioners for Lee County to superintend and run the dividing line between the two counties. In 1800, John recorded his cattle mark with the Russell Co., Court. His cattle mark was a "swallow fork" in the left ear. John became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue serving 2 years in 1801.

James Monroe, the Governor of Virginia, later President, appointed John Tate to become Lieutenant Colonel Commander of the 72nd Regiment, 3rd Division of the Virginia Militia in 1802. Again in 1809, John was an overseer of the poor and served by re-appointments 15 or more consecutive years. In 1813, John and others, requested that a school be established officially as Amity Hall Academy. John was one of the signers and one of the trustees.

In 1819, John and his grandson, Robert Fugate, became executors of the estate of Colbert Fugate, deceased. Colbert Fugate married his daughter Hannah. Colbert was a farmer, part-time county official, and 3 times a member of the Virginia Legislature.

John as the senior Justice among 31 present for a special meeting in Lebanon in 1825, help start Emory and Henry College, 10 miles east of Abingdon at Emory, Virginia.

At the age of 83 in 1826, John again became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue for Russell County and served 2 years. This was his third term as Sheriff.

On the Tate Farm at Zumbeg, 15 miles southwest of Lebanon, in the Moccasin Valley, a moss-covered slab reads:

"Col. John Tate, died December 15, 1828, aged 85 years, and Mary Tate, his wife, died March 13, 1817, aged 75 years."

Inventory of his estate 11 Feb. 1829, wit: Martin Fugate, David Jessee and John Olson. At the sale 13 Feb. 1829 were: John Fugate, Hannah Fugate, Uriah Fugate, Hiram & John Owens, Elisha Price, John, Joseph, Robert and William Tate.

Administrator of estate, Robert Tate, a deed of 9 Dec 1829 is signed by: Robert Tate, Hannah Fugate, Samuel Tate and the heirs of Jane Haddox or Haddin, dec'd, John Buster and Martha his wife, William Fugate and Lydia his wife. To his son Isaac Tate, Hannah the widow of Colbert O. Fugate, etc. John Tate gave Isaac Tate a tract of land but did not deed it to him, consequently after his death in 1828, the family met and signed a deed to Isaac conveying the 108 acres on which he then lived to him, the deed dated 9 Dec. 1829.

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Source: The Tate Families of Russell County, VA, by David Farris, Gateway Press, 1986

Col. John Tate of Moccasin Creek

Col. John Tate was born in 1743 and migrated to Moccasin Creek in southern Virginia in 1772.

In a deposition dated 24 February 1810 for the court case of George Fugate vs. Nancy Mahon; John Tate stated that he settled on Big Moccasin Creek on a spur of Clinch Mountain on the Holston River in November 1772 and that Francis Fugate family then lived on the land. The land was located in Botetourt County, and that Francis Fugate, deceased, who lived five miles from him, " did as the rest of us did, defended our land and families, and lived on the land in dispute (1772-1781) except for the time forted." (The Tate Families of Russell County, VA, by David Farris, Gateway Press, 1986)

Moccasin Creek was named by Daniel Boone after he saw Indian moccasin tracks in the area in 1769. From the formation of colonial Virginia to the present, Moccasin Creek found itself in four Virginia counties: Botetourt County in 1772, then Fincastle County in 1773. Then Washington County was formed from Fincastle in 1777. The Moccasin Creek area later found itself in the new Russell County when it was formed from the northern part of Washington County in 1785.

The association of John and Robert Tate with this Tate family stems from the similarities in the family names, but more importantly, from their departure to Orange County, North Carolina. This connection can be made through John Tate's wife Mary Bracken. Mary Bracken's grandfather, William Bracken, emigrated from England in 1699, landing in Philadelphia aboard the "Britannia" of Liverpool. He settled in New Castle, Delaware where he became well enough off to give land to his sons. John Bracken, Mary's father, sold his land in 1763 and left New Castle. He moved to Orange County, NC were he is recorded in 1766 and died in 1770.

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James Striegel Tate Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives 1742 - 1980

On Dec. 12, 1774 John Tate received a grant of 145 acres on Moccasin Creek about three miles from the land grant of Robert Tate.

On May 1, 1782 Washington County Virginia issued land grants of 250 acres to Robert Tate and 100 acres to John Tate, both on Moccasin Creek. On February 20, 1793 William Tate bought 145 acres on Moccasin Creek adjoining the 424 acres granted to Robert Tate.

Moccasin Creek was located in Botetourt County prior to 1773; in Fincastle County from January 1773 to January 1777; in Washington County from 1777 to May 1786; in Russell County May from 1786 to present.

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Tate's Fort

When Col. John Tate settled in Moccasin Creek, Indians were troublesome. Families had to live in stockade forts from Spring through Fall. The nearest fort for the Tates of Moccasin Creek was Houston?s fort, several miles away. The following article describes Tate?s Fort, which was built on Col. Tate's land in 1776, which not only housed the families from the Moccasin Creek area but also transient families traveling through the Cumberland Gap to new settlements in Kentucky.

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FRONTIER FORTS OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA, By Emory L. Hamilton, from Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, Number 4, 1968, pages 1 to 26:

Tate's Fort on Moccasin Creek in Russell County was another the early historians completely overlooked, and only two historical references brought it to light. The first made by Mrs. Samuel Scott of Jessamine Co., KY, who in referring to her stay on the Clinch makes this statement: We moved out of Tate's Fort, close on Moccasin Creek, over to Holston to get ready to come to Kentucky. This was in the spring of 1780 and she joined a party of emigrants to Kentucky in 1784. The other statement was made by Captain John Carr, of Sumner Co., TN, who was born on Carr's Creek in Russell Co., Va, in 1773, and moved with his widowed mother to the Cumberland settlement in 1784. In speaking of the year 1776, he states: My father settled on Big Moccasin Creek with some 15 or 20 families from Houston's Fort. The Indians were so troublesome that we built a "new fort". It was called Tate's Fort, where we forted in summer and returned home in winter. Carr's statement needs some clarification and he does not mean that his father settled on Moccasin Creek in 1776, but that it was this year in which they moved out of Houston's Fort where they had refugeed in the past and built a new fort for their convenience. His father had settled on Moccasin Creek much earlier for John, himself, was born there in 1773, and his father died there in 1782. This, then, places the construction of Tate's Fort in the year 1776.

MILITARY SERVICE

Col. John Tate in the Military

Col. John Tate served in the militia of Washington Co., Va and then, in 1786 when Russell County was formed from Washington Co., in the new county's militia. The battle at King's Mountain in October 1780 is the first reference of Col. Tate's military service (History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1870, by Lewis Preston Summers, 1903) where he is listed as a soldier of the American Revolution from Washington Co., Va that participated in the action at King's Mountain.

Battle at King's Mountain, 7 October 1780 by A. W. Tate

During the first three years of the Revolutionary War, the British fought the Americans in the northern colonies. In late 1778, the British shifted strategies and began a campaign to secure the southern colonies beginning with an invasion of Savannah, Georgia on 29 December. The British plan was successful for the most part with a significant victory at Charleston, South Carolina followed by the complete overrunning of South Carolina and Georgia. The British won another battle in mid-1780 at Camden, South Carolina, which allowed the British to move easily into North Carolina, taking Charlotte in September, 1780.

In preparation for taking the remainder of North Carolina, the British commander, Cornwallis, sent Major Patrick Ferguson with about 1000 men to Gilbert Town, NC at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ferguson was to protect the left flank when Cornwallis began his move northward through North Carolina. To protect the left flank, Ferguson had to ensure the mountain folk, or Overmountain men, did not interfere with the British plan. (In his public communications from Gilbert Town, Ferguson referred to the Overmountain men by the more derisive terms "backwater men,dregs of mankind, and barbarians". Ferguson warned the Overmountain men that if they interfered, "he would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country to waste with fire and sword."

Ferguson's attempt to intimidate the hill folk failed -- the Overmountain men responded to the threat in typical mountain fashion; they attacked. Within days, 900 men comprising the militia of five counties of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, including John Tate and 400 other men from Washington Co., Va, mustered and moved out toward the British. Ferguson learned the militia was crossing the mountains towards him so he moved his 1000 men southeast to King's Mountain, a flat hill about 60 feet higher than the surrounding terrain, with steep, heavily wooded sides where, from a military standpoint, he should have been secure.

The American militia caught up with Ferguson at King's Mountain on 7 October and began attacking the British relentlessly, overwhelming the enemy in just 65 minutes. The victory was complete; every enemy soldier on the mountain was killed or captured. Ferguson at one point in the battle tried to break through the American lines on horseback and was felled by no less than eight bullets. He is buried on King's Mountain. After the battle, the Overmountain militias returned to their respective home counties and returned to their civilian pursuits.

King's Mountain was the turning point in the war. The American victory stalled Cornwallis' move northward, which gave the main American army sufficient time to recover from the earlier losses at Savannah and Camden. After King's Mountain, the Americans won victories at Cowpens, SC and Guilford Courthouse before ultimately defeating the British at Yorktown in October, 1781.

72nd Regiment of Russell County

In 1786, Russell County formed from Washington Co. The new county's court gathered in May of that year to set up the county structure including the county?s militia. The Russell County militia was designated the 72nd Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Virginia State militia.

The area north of the Clinch Mountains that became Russell Co. in 1786 had been for militia purposes one of the battalions of Washington Co.?s 70th Regiment. When Russell Co. was established, its militia was designated the 72nd Regiment.


In May 1786, the Russell County court appointed 31 officers to the 72nd Regiment as follows:

Colonel 1

Lt. Colonel 1

Major 1

Captain 9

Lieutenant 10

Ensigns 9


John Tate was designated one of the 72nd Regiment's ten lieutenants; his brother Robert was named one of the first Ensigns.

Under Militia laws of Virginia, all militia men were required to attend four company musters, one battalion muster and one regimental muster in each year. Failure to attend any one of these musters without a valid excuse resulted in the assessment of a 75 cent fine, levied by the regimental court of enquiry that sat in November of each year. The court would give the county sheriff a list of offenders for collection of these fines the following year.

In 1789, Lt. John was promoted to Captain of 2nd Battalion of the 72nd Reg. of the Virginia Militia.

In the month of December, 1792, Captain Tate and forty men were passing though the wilderness on their way to Kentucky, when they were attacked by a company of Creek and Cherokee Indians, which was one of the last large scale attacks in the area as Indian hostilities would cease after 1794. ( History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1870, by Lewis Preston Summers, 1903)

In 1795, John Tate was promoted Major of the 2nd Battalion, and then in 1802, Governor James Monroe of Virginia appointed John Tate Lt. Colonel Commandant of the 72nd Reg., 3rd Div of the Virginia Militia. From the date of that appointment, John Tate went by the title Colonel. Col. John Tate served as Commandant until 1806.

Governor James Monroe left office late in 1802 to serve in Thomas Jefferson's cabinet. Monroe became the fifth US President in 1817.

Buried:
Grave location and tombstone photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=48420583

John married Mary BRACKEN 1766, Washington Co. VA. Mary was born 1742, New Castle Co. DE; died 13 May 1817, Russell Co. VA; was buried , Tate-Burdine Cemetery, Lebanon, Russell Co. VA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _UID: 31403E22DA074CBEA16CB0DCF9B5787EF9F2

Notes:

DAR ID Number 149364 has Robert's DOD as 1832.

Robert Tate
Date: Nov 21, 1792
Location: Augusta Co., VA

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Tate Families of the Southern States, Volume II, by Laura Mentzel and Ethel Updike, 1984

Robert Tate was not as active in civic affairs and less is known of him.

Robert Tate Sr. received a land grant of 174 acres in Fincastle, County, VA on December 13, 1774 on Big Moccasin Creek, North Fork of Holston River. On April 20, 1784 he received a land patent of 250 acres in Washington County, VA on both sides of Big Moccasin Creek on a spur of Clinch Mountain on the Holston River some three miles from Col. John Tate. In 1781 he and his brother, John swore allegiance to the United States in Washington County, VA. In 1781.

In Nov. 1781, John Tate, Robert Tate, William Huston and John Wood were appointed to appraise the estate of Francis Fugate deceased, who was killed by a fall from his horse.

The following legal petition was filed in 1785 and signed by several Tates.

This is a petition asking the House of Delegates of VA to place a line "fixed along Clinch Mountain and Montgomery line to the Carolina line" to separate them from Washington Co. These inhabitants include those of Clinch River, Moccasin Creek, Powels Valley, north branch of Holstein River, and "others." Dated Dec. 9, 1785. Washington Co., VA, is in the far southern section of VA, just before the border into TN and not far from NC. Signers of this petition are: John TATE, Thomas TATE, Robert TATE, Jr., Rober TATE, Sr.

He was an Ensign of the Militia in 1786, while his brother, John was a Lieutenant.

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MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

Sources: Fincastle County, VA, Deed Book, page 80, 81; Russell County, VA will Book 2, page 132; Deed Book 5, pages 537, 539; History of Southwest VA, by Lewis Summers, page 389, 843; David Faris; Leland B. Tate letter; April 1783 to View Road; May 1786 Robert Appointed Ensign or 2nd Lieutenant of Militia; April 1787 Appointed Full Lieutenant.

Robert Tate was a contemporary with and associated in many court affairs with Col. John Tate. Robert Tate's will did not mention that most of his children were minors, but they were. On October 10, 1816, John Tate and wife Dicey, James Tate and wife Ruth, Robert Tate and wife Susannah, Alexander Tate and wife Delilah, Aaron Tate and wife Betsey and Marady Price and wife Polly, all of Warren County, TN, of the first part to Joseph Tate of Russell County, VA, the home place. The same land this Robert Tate acquired in 1774 and 1784, adjacent to Richard Davis and Hullams, witnessed by John Rodgers and Reuben Berryman. All of the males signed, and Mary (Polly) Tate signed her right of dower to her son Joseph Tate.

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Source: Excerpts from Rebels, Saints and Sinners, An Ancestral History of the Southern States, by Dennis Armfield Tate, 2000

He received a land grant of 174 acres on December 13, 1774 on Big Moccasin Creek, North Fork of the Holston River in Fincastle County, VA. It begins near Hansonville and is a long valley extending to near Big Moccasin Gap in Scott County, VA. The Valley is paralleled by Clinch Mountain on the South and Moccasin Ridge on the North. Moccasin Valley adjoins Washington County, VA at the top of Clinch Mountain and Scott County, VA to the South. Big Moccasin Creek extends the entire length of the valley flowing into the north fork of the Holston River near Big Moccasin Gap. The story is told that early settlers coming through the valley found Indian moccasin footprints in the soft mud on the banks of the creek. This, the name Moccasin Creek and later Moccasin Valley. The naming of the creek has been attributed to Daniel Boone in about 1769.

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Sources: Annals of Southwest Virginia 1769-1800 by Lewis Preston Summers, Page 843; Copies of Washington County, VA court minutes, Minute Book 1, pages 113, 144 and 188.

Robert Tate, who, resided in Washington County, VA, assisted in establishing independence while acting in the capacity of a Surveyor of the Road and as a member of a Jury, qualifying him for service as a patriot in the Revolutionary War. He was a Surveyor of the Road from May 14, 1781 until April 16, 1783. He service on a Jury in 1782.

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Source: Heritage of Russell County, VA 975.5755 D3h

It is also probable that Robert served with the "Kings Mountain Men" a group of militia formed in his area, however we have not yet found documentation to support this. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has a concise application on Robert Tate and list all of his sources regarding his service. Descendants have been admitted into the association.

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Brand of Robert Tate's livestock:

Ordered that Robert Tate's mark for his livestock a crop in the right ear and crop of the left ear be recorded. Washington County, May 16, 1782.

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LAND RECORDS

On Dec. 13, 1774 surveyors for Fincastle County Virginia surveyed a tract of 174 acres on Moccasin Creek in what is now Russell County, Virginia This tract was granted to Robert Tate.

On May 1, 1782 Washington County Virginia issued land grants of 250 acres to Robert Tate and 100 acres to John Tate, both on Moccasin Creek. On February 20, 1793 William Tate bought 145 acres on Moccasin Creek adjoining the 424 acres granted to Robert Tate.

Moccasin Creek was located in Botetourt County prior to 1773; in Fincastle County from January 1773 to January 1777; in Washington County from 1777 to May 1786; in Russell County May from 1786 to present.

August 19, 1799 - Robert Tate - 68 ac - part of Treasury Warrant 2398 dated January 26, 1798 - on the Laurel Fork of Grassy Creek, part of the waters of Clinch River - near the head spring of said fork [Russell County, Surveyors Book]

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WILL, ESTATE, AND PROBATE RECORDS

Source: This probate record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley.

Remarks: John Tate's will--Third son, John; oldest son, Thomas, tract to John and Isaac Tate, sons of James, deceased, his grandsons; daughter, Eleanor Stuart; son, Robert Tate; son Robert and son-in-law Benj. Stewart, executors.
Description: Executor
Book date: CC1-41,
Prove date: 1 April, 1801

Robert Tate
Date: Apr 1, 1801
Location: Augusta Co., VA

Remarks: Robert Tate, executor of John Tate, bond.
Book date: CC1-81

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WILL OF ROBERT TATE
Russell County, Virginia
Will Book 2, Pages 122-123
Executed 03 Feb 1807

Be it remembered that I Robert Tate of the county of Russell in the state of Virginia being in a very weak and infirm state of body but of sound mind and desirous of settling my worldly affairs do make this my last will and testament giving and bequeathing as follows, viz:

Imprimis,
1st I do give to my wife Mary Tate one negro woman named Luce and one negro boy named Jim and also one negro boy named Sulas and also four cows and calves two two year old heifers one two year steer and also two bay horses and one gray horse, and also all my household furniture and also all my stock of hogs and also the land I now live on and also all working tools thereto belonging except that piece or parcel of land lying on the south west side of the mill dam Beginning at the big spring thence with the dam to the saw pit thence to the cave by the big sink hole thence to the line where it crosses Ovaltons road and also do give to my wife Mary Tate one still and the complements thereto belonging and also all my flock of sheep and also one yearling steer to hold during her natural life or widowhood then at her death or marriage to be divided between my son Joseph Tate and my son Alexander Tate and my son Aaron Tate and my daughter Polly Tate reserving to my wife Mary Tate her third part only in case she should marry.

Item, I give to my son John Tate and my son James Tate that piece or parcel of land above mentioned lying south-west of the mill dam and bounded as above directed, only that my son John Tate and my son James Tate do pay my son Robert Tate a ten pounds horse each at the time they receive the land.

Item, I give to my son Robert Tate one negro girl named Ryah and also one mans saddle.

Item, I do direct that the above mentioned part of my estate except the land be appraised but not sold and also do except the negro girl named Ryah which I gave to my son Robert Tate.

Item, I do direct that one mare and colt and one two year old mare, three steers, one two year old heifer and four of the ____ size of the big barrows to be sold to discharge my debts.

Confirmed and subscribed by me this twentieth day of July one thousand seven hundred and ninety _____.

Robert X Tate (Seal)

Test: Robert Tate junr.
Isaac Tate
John Tate

At a court held for Russell County the third day of February 1807.
This instrument of writing was exhibited in court as and for the last will and testament of Robert Tate dec'd and proven by the oath of John Tate one of the witnesses thereto and the hand writing of Robert Tate junr. another of the witnesses proven by the oath of the said John Tate and William Fugate and thereupon ordered to be recorded. And on motion of Mary Tate who made oath according to law and together with Richard Davis and Colebird Fugate her securities entered into and acknowledged their bond in the penalty of $2,500 conditioned as the law directs administration with the will annexed is granted her on the said decedents estate in due form.

Teste Henry Dickenson C.R.C.

Sources: Virginia Historical Magazine, Page 194 states that Robert Tate, (died on July 29, 1806) beneficiaries, wife, Mary; children, Joseph, Alexander, Aaron, Polly, John, James, Robert executors (none) (Mary Tate, administratrix); Testator signed by mark, witnessed, Robert Tate Junr., Isaac Tate, John Tate, Probated February 3, 1807, Page 132, Abstracts of Wills of Russell County, Virginia from 1803 to 1850 by Elihu Jasper Sutherland Will Book B1.

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ESTATE INVENTORY

On Page 148 of the Russell County, VA Will Family History Library 33826, An Inventory of the Personal Estate of Robert Tate, deceased dated March 5, 1807 appears:

One Stud horse, 36 pounds sterling; one brown mare, 24 pounds sterling, total 60 pounds sterling. One bay gelding, 36 pounds sterling; one brown jack horse, 24 pounds sterling, total 60 pounds sterling; one sorrel two years old, 12 pounds sterling; one bay filly 3 years old, 15 pounds sterling; one dun colt 7 y, total 18 pounds sterling, 12 shilling; one still, one worm, and one funnel 9 pounds sterling; six wash tubs, 1 fleakabout, 1 barrel and 1 keg, 2 pounds, 13 shilling; 1 large kettle and scale 6 oz., 1 pot and 1 cale ly 3 pounds and 12 shilling; five cows 1 calf, 18 pounds, 5 head of 2 year old cattle, 10 pounds, total 28 pounds; two iron pot racks, 1 pound, 4 shilling; one cutting knife, steel screws and box, 15 shilling; one mulatto girl named Janet, 60 pounds, one set of smith tools, 11 pounds and 2 shilling, twenty head of sheep, 9 pounds, 1 Negro boy named Jack 75 pounds, total 84 pounds, 4 yearlings 3 pounds 6 shilling, one corn harrow, 1 pound, total 4 pounds, 6 shilling. One drag harrow 1/2 belonging to Joseph Tate, 18 shilling, two carshars ploughs #1 clevis, 3 pounds; 4 pair of gears, 5 pounds, 8 shilling; total 8 pounds and 8 shilling. One pair stretchers and one pair double trees, 1 pound, 4 shilling; One big wheel, 15 shilling, one hand saw and one foot auger, 24 shilling, total 1 pound sterling and 19 shilling, one fros?, one iron wedge, 1 inch auger & 1 drawing knife, 17 shilling.

Two chisels, 1 gauge, 1 claw hammer and one round shavs, 12 shilling; three cast boxes, two jack planes and one ford plane total 1 pound sterling and 4 shilling; one sang hoe, 1 twisted link, 1 gig, 2 bells and bell collars, 10 shilling; one old chest and old iron lumber, 6 shilling; four stirrup irons, 1 scythe anvil, 1 inshars and one chisel, 10 shilling, 6 pence, one scythe and cradle, 3 grass scythes and hangings, 2 pounds sterling and 6 pence, two yearling skins 1 y two mash tubs total 1 pound sterling, 4 pence; one wagon, 12 pounds, one log chain, one crowbar, 3 1/2 lbs of iron and two clevises, 13 pounds sterling, 10 shilling and 15 pence; three axes, one mattock, four weeding hoes, one shovel plough, and one sledge hammer, 3 pounds sterling, 6 shilling; two men's saddles and two bridles, 4 pounds sterling and 16 schilling, one side saddle and bridle 6 pounds, four iron pots, 3 dutch ovens and 3 pair of pot hooks, 3 pounds, 15 schilling; one iron pot rack, one pair fire tongs and one fire shovel, 1 pound sterling and 4 schilling, one loom, three slays, one quill wheel dividing bars, 2 pounds sterling and 8 schilling. Total 409 pounds sterling, 17 schilling 2 1/4 pence

/s/ Joseph Sampson, Jonathan Wood and John Wood, witnesses

The foregoing inventory continued March 20, 1807, one whip saw and filings, 2 pounds, 2 schilling; one broad axe 15/total 2 pounds sterling, 17 schilling; one flat iron 4/6, 4 sickles 1y, 1 pair saddle bags 15y, total 1 pound 9 schilling 6 pence; two pewter dishes, 3 casons, eight plates and 25 spoons, 4 pounds, 10 schilling, two coats, 1 waist coat, 1 pair shoe buckles and one small trunk, 3 pounds 12 shilling, two pair old cotton cords and pair wool cords, 13 shillings 6 pence, one pair tow cords 16, razor and strap 6, nine books 18/total 1 pound, 1 schilling 6 pence; one coffee mill and coffee pot 6/ two hackles 10/ total 16 schilling; two bottles 3/ 1 bottle with camphor 4/6; one jug owl 2/9 schilling 6 pence, one large delf dish, 2 plates and 2 earthen crocks, 16 schilling, six punch bowls 11/ two pitchers 6/ total 17 schilling, eleven saucers, eight tea cups, one cream jug, seven tea spoons and one pepper box 7 schilling; three tea pots, 1 sugar pot and one half pint mug, 8 schilling; one vinegar cruet, one have gill glass and one half pint tumbler, 3 schilling.

Inventory of Tate's Estate continued: One fire glass and one pair candle snuffers, 1 schilling, one pewter 9, 1 small tin bucket and 1 tin skimmer, total 11 schilling; half a dozen tin cups, 1 tin quart, 1 tin humpet and strainer, total 7 schilling, 6 pence; 4 3/4 blue cotton yarn 24, 4 vials 2/ one pair shears, 1 pound 6 schilling 6 pence; three spinning wheels and one check reel, 2 pounds 11 schilling, one lindsey hunting shirt, 1 lady shirt and 1 waist coat, 6 schilling; one looking glass 6/; 7 chairs and table 16/ ; 1 large trunk, total 2 pounds 6 schilling, two beds, steads, and furniture below stairs 12 pounds sterling, three beds steads, cords and furniture above stairs, 18 pounds; one woman's saddle and surcingle, 1 pound, 4 schilling; seven knives and nine forks, 6 schilling; 12 lbs feathers 36/; 1 pair steelyards 24/; 1 man;s had 2/; 3 pounds 2 schilling; one small sorrel mare, 17 pounds; 1 Negro girl names Riah; 100 pounds; total 117 pounds; twenty three out hogs, 8 pounds 17 schilling 6 pence, 2 in the pen 19/6 total 9 pounds, 12 schilling; two barrels, one churn, one dye tub, one vinegar cag, one honey cag and one can total 18 schilling; one middle 16, one meal sifter 16, one santhern, 6 pence, total 3 schilling, 6 pence; one ball scythe and one candlestick 7 schilling 6 pence, Total of this page 188 pounds 2 schilling.

/s/ J. Sampson, John Wood, Z Fugate /witnesses/

The foregoing Inventory still continued October 31, 1807; one bay mare and colt; bell and collar, 21 pounds, one small filly one year old, 9 pounds; 1 old sorrel horse, 12 pounds, total 21 pounds; one bay filly two years old, 16 pounds, 10 schilling, Total 58 pounds and 10 schilling plus 188 pounds 2 schilling and 4909 pounds 17 schilling and 2 1/2 pence for a total amount of 655 pounds 9 schilling 2 1/2 pence. We the underneath commissioners being first duly sworn for that purpose do certify that we have appraised the personal estate of Robert Tate deceased, and find the same to be as above stated. Given under our hands this third day of November 1807.

/s/ J. Sampson, John Wood, Z Fugate, Mary Tate Administratrix. At November court 1807, this inventory and appraisement of the estate of Robert Tate, deceased was produced in court and ordered to be recorded, Testa: /s/ Henry Dickenson C R C.

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James Striegel Tate Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives 1742 - 1980

"I have wondered why there was so much time (over six months) between Robert's death and the processing of the Will for probate. My own belief is that a number of the heirs were in Tennessee looking for place to which they would migrate.

At some date, after February 3, 1807, Robert's widow, Mary and all their children, except Joseph, moved to Warren County, Tennessee. They were all listed on the tax rolls of Warren County TN for the year 1812.

On October 14, 1816, all of the children sold their inherited interest in 177 acres of land to their brother Joseph, who stayed on the family home place in Virginia. Their mother relinquished her dower rights on the same date. This action is the last record we have a Polly Tate and her husband, Meredith Price and of Mary Tate, their mother. The remaining children, Alexander, Aaron, John, James and Robert (H.) Jr., all continue to appear in the public records of Warren County, Tennessee and of Grundy County, Tennessee that was founded from Warren County in 1844."

Robert married Mary 1774, Rockbridge, VA. [Group Sheet]