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Letter from Charles Palmer of Newport, TN My family and I visited the Conner Cemetery, at Birchwood on September 5, 1998. We also met and had a wonderful visit with Reba Wilson. Reba and I discussed the route of the trip of our ancestors on the river and I told her I had some ideas on this. I feel that Rankin, a community on the river near the old homestead in Bybee (Palmer Holler) is the most logical place for the origin of the trip. Apart from the close proximity to the homestead, there is the convergence of three rivers. These are the main body known as the French Broad, the Pigeon which enters at a place just above Rankin, and the Nolichucky, known for it’s prominence in the Davey Crockett legends. The abundance of water in this area makes a good place to set up such a trip. I have marked what I think is the route so that it can be distinguished. I learned from Reba’s mother’s book that they spent some time on Jolly’s Island, but I don’t know much about Jolly’s Island. Maybe someone in the area could fill us in on some of the background. I enjoy the Newsletter. I feel like the man on the Andy Griffith program who read the local paper and felt like he knew everyone.  Appendix B, Pioneer Days, Stories of the Conner-Roark Ancestry by Mrs. Laura Roark Shropshire, Revised Edition - 1992 Cocke County was not an ideal place for large farms, and especially when those they had were divided between children of such large families, like so many of them had. Thanks to J.L. Shutz, grandson of Robert Cureton who married a daughter of Maximilian Conner, for the following story. "An amazing episode developed in 1834. A large number of East Tennessee families decided to move west seeking greener pastures. The plan was to go to the Mississippi Valley by boat. A fleet of flatboats was built and the expedition got under way with many families on board. Thomas and Emily Palmer, Jeff Moore and wife, Mariah Adkins Moore (sister to Emily), Max Haney and Martha Palmer Conner and their 2 children, and Martha was expecting a third child. Richard Cureton and wife, Elizabeth Conner, Lewis Cureton and wife, Winnifred Conner, Richard Jr. and Robert Cureton, also son Thomas Palmer, Jr. with his wife and children plus five Palmer sons; Bill, Washington, Abraham, Caleb, John, and Jackson made up the group of migrating families. All of the Curetons, must have left also, as there is no further mention of any of them in Greene County records. It isn't known exactly when they left Cocke County in 1834, but it was probably winter time. The voyage was ill-fated. When they arrived at the mouth of the Hiwassee River, the Tennessee River was completely frozen over, and wagons could be driven across the ice. The expedition was forced to land on Jolly's (Hiwassee ) Island and wait for the river to thaw. On January 6, 1835 Thomas Conner was born on Jolly's (Hiwassee ) Island. Many of the pilgrims stayed in this area permanently. Thomas Palmer, Jr. must have been one of the guides for this expedition, because in 1814, he and a companion had walked from Horseshoe Bend, where he fought the Indians with Andrew Jackson, back along the Tennessee River, and back to Cocke County. It took them two years to return, as they had malaria and had to rest a great deal. They had to get their food from the forest. After the thaw, some of this group, including the Curetons, went on as far as Sequatchie Valley. Sometime later Richard Cureton, Jr. and Robert Cureton and probably Richard Cureton, Sr. came back home, settling this time on the Cocke County side of the River." | Return Home | Great Links | Calendar | History Page | |
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