This couple met and married in Hamilton County Tennessee which was, at that time only, on the east side of the Tennessee River. The Cherokee Nation was across the river. For some time, however, there had been agitation to affect a treaty to remove the Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River. So John and at least two brothers moved across the Tennessee even before the Cherokee removal.

John and Margaret had twelve children. Eight of their children were girls. One son died who had never been named. He was buried in the Roark Cemetery near where John and Margaret lived and reared their other children.

Their youngest child was John Lewis. He was born July 4, 1846, the anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. Our area was being settled by soldiers who had fought in the war with Great Britain to gain our independence from England. Also lands had been granted to soldiers in the War of 1812 with Great Britain.

Confusion and dissatisfaction had been brewing for a long time over many topics and finally the War Between the States broke out. The sons of John and Margaret would be involved. Most of East Tennessee sympathized with the Federal Government, but many families sided with the Secessionists or the Southern Cause. Many families were divided as were their friends and neighbors.

All three sons of John and Margaret joined the Union forces. William died of measles in the early part of the war. He was buried in Nicholasville, Kentucky. James W. aim) Roark had been on a foraging expedition; had stepped on a loose plank in a barn loft and had fallen on a wagon. The fall had broken two or three vertebrae but he managed to crawl to Bill's grave and to plant a little tree to mark the spot. Jim, a cripple the remainder of his life, was offered a pension which he refused, saying he did not need it. John Lewis never saw his brother Bill after enlistment, but saw Jim in Georgia before mustering out. Jim never married. He lived until September 16, 1905.

After the surrender of Fort Donnellson on the Cumberland River and Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and the capture of Nashville, the state capital, on February 23, 1862, a group of young men found their way to Nashville to enlist in the Union Army.

Among these "boys" and young men, from Birchwood, who safely maneuvered their way to Nashville and enlisted in Company E, 5th Tennessee Inf. on March 2, 1862 and served until April 4, 1865 were:
John L. Roark, John B. Roark, Archibald McCallie, Mason McClanahan, William
Raney, Charles Gamble, John C. Lane, James E. Johnson, Samuel A. Smith, William Smith, and Joel A. Talley

John Lewis Roark was too young to enlist, but he was also too young to go back home alone.
He also knew Lt. Nat Witt and Col. Shel Spears. He took part in the battles on Lookout Mt.,
Missionary Ridge and others. He drew a pension until his death on July 14, 1941 at age 95.