GwinJohnJaneWalker.htm

Acknowledgements: This sketch would not have been possible without the patience, love, and support of my wonderful wife, Sharon--who has endured countless lonely hours while I genealogized--and the tireless efforts of hundreds of my cousins and other friends and relatives, many of whose names are not yet even known. Some of these include my father’s brother, Uncle James Basset Gwin II, whose forty-plus years of work I inherited just before he died in 1984; Fifth Cousin James T. "Jim" Wall, known to many of us as host of his magnificent page and source of much of the information on my webpages; Double-fourth Cousin Barbara Ward, who inherited the old photo album from which we’ve seen the faces of so many of our family [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/Index2PhotoAlbum.htm]; Double-fifth Cousin Michael S. "Mike" Walker; and many, many others whose names appear on the various pages of my website.

[www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin]

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“A little more to the right, Johnny! Just a hair more! There--perfect! Pull’er tight and stake ‘er down!” The 66-foot-long chain snapped taut, and the sounds of the boy’s hatchet driving in another stake echoed across the bottom land. In seconds the first link of another chain was looped over the stake, John was astride his father’s horse again, and off he slowly rode, carefully laying down more of the chain until its 66-foot length too was reached. Stretching the chain and sighting it along the line of the other, he awaited the signals from Mr. Mark Moore, the county’s surveyor, to make final adjustments and drive the next stake.

Several chains later he reached the next target, a large red oak tree, and John Gwin rested himself and the mare in the tree’s shade as Mr. Moore gathered up his transit and rode to the tree to meet him, collecting the chains as he came. He would reset his transit, and together they would start the next leg of the survey.

As he waited, John watched his neighbors’ slaves working the land across the huge field. The sun was hot, but all the farmers in the cove had been waiting--some for several years--to get their lands surveyed. All winter this had been the talk of the valley, and now he, John Gwin, was getting to be a part of it, serving as chain carrier for some of Mr. Moore’s surveys. It was amazing to him how quickly the surveys were getting done, often several farms in a day.

By 1807, the Wear Valley of Sevier County, Tennessee, was getting downright crowded. Practically all of the land in this cove, then called Crowson’s Cove (after its first white inhabitant, Aaron Crowson--pronounce the “crow” in Crowson to rhyme with “cow” and “wow”, not “grow” and “show”), had been claimed, granted, and settled, and now, in that spring and summer, it was finally being surveyed. A large farm--249 acres near the center of the cove (see the web page below for a map of this and other Crowson Cove farms)--had been granted to John’s dad, Isham Gwin, for the going price of one dollar an acre.

www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/CrowsonsCovePlatMaps.htm

Isham had farmed this land for several years with the help of his slaves. The morality of slavery had been another hot topic of discussion in those days, and as he rested briefly in the shade of the red oak, watching the black people working the land, John wondered on which side of the question his dad would come down.

The above story is my imagination of what may actually have happened based on the following documents:

1. The recorded deeds of some twenty land grants for Isham Gwin and some of his Crowson’s Cove (today’s Wear Valley) neighbors, surveys for which were done in the spring and summer of 1807 by Mr. Mark Moore, one of the chain carriers for whom was Isham’s son John Gwin (Microfilm, Greene County Genealogical Archives, Greeneville, TN);

2. A biographical sketch of one of Isham’s grandsons, William W. Gwin, in which it is recorded how Isham’s changing views on slavery led him to free his own slaves, sell his farm, and move to the new, free state of Indiana (Geneological and Biographical History of Keokuk County, Iowa, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1903).

John M. Gwin

.--+-+-/|\-+-+--.

Isham Gwin had been born somewhere in Virginia. Oral tradition had it that his father was Richard Gwin of the area near Jamestown who had married Sarah Chesley, also of the area, sometime in the latter half of the 18th century. They undoubtedly had several children, and it’s likely that John knew at least some of these paternal aunts and uncles. We only know for sure of Isham at this point, who, as a young single man, had struck out from home (Jamestown area?) and headed west, settling for at least a short time in Montgomery County, Virginia. It was there that he met and married Mary Canterbury in the mid 1780’s.

Isham and Mary had started their family almost immediately, moving to what was then Greene County, North Carolina, and what--not long after, in 1796--became Sevier County, Tennessee. Exactly where--whether in Virginia, North Carolina, or en route between--their first three children were born is not yet clear to this writer. But “Polly” (Sarah?), ca. 1787; Elizabeth, 1788; William, ca., 1790; and John, Nov 1792 (and definitely in western NC--i.e., what would soon become eastern Tennessee), were born first and probably in that order. Polly would marry the younger-than-she Tom Walker around 1815; Elizabeth would marry David Denton (who had bought a small farm up the cove from Isham, by the way, which was also surveyed in 1807); William would marry Susanna Beard; and John would marry, on April 8, 1812, Tom’s sister Jane Walker, all four in east Tennessee.

Isham and Mary lived on that farm for another dozen years or so before they would move to Indiana, and the rest of their kids were born in that interim right there on the Crowson’s Cove farm in Sevier Co., Tennessee. Virginia Jane was born fifth in 1795; Isham, Jr., came along in 1797; in 1799 an unknown child--possibly named Chesley--was born; then in 1804 came the very well documented Richard Walton; and finally the last three arrived in quick succession, all daughters: Nancy, Sarah, and Minerva, born respectively in 1805, 1806, and 1807.

Virginia Jane would marry at least twice, first to Joseph Tipton and second to Benjamin Weathers; Isham Jr. married at least twice as well, first on 1 Mar 1824 in Orange Co., IN, to Betsy Snowden and in 1819 to Mary Likens; Chesley--or whoever he was--may have married, but to whom is a mystery; Richard married Nancy Watkins who bore him 15 kids; Nancy and Sarah married the brothers Squire and William Huston from Kentucky; and Manerva married Elijah Wright and likely inherited her parents’ large Orange Co., Indiana, farm, where she, Elijah, and their family were living when her mother died in the mid 1850’s.

In fact, by that summer of 1807, young John had already been an uncle for at least three years, David’s and Elizabeth’s son Allen Denton having been born 16 July 1804 there in Crowson’s Cove. Will and Susanna may have been married by then as well--they were definitely married by June of 1813 when they joined the Miller’s Cove Baptist Church a few miles away.

And for sure John Gwin, who was born--either right here on this farm or near there--in November 1792, had helped the surveyor and Crowson’s Cove neighbor, Mr. Mark Moore, measure some of those claims that spring and summer of 1807 as a fifteen-year-old “chain carrier”.

.--+-+-/|\-+-+--.

When John’s dad, Isham, was called to preach the gospel a few miles up Cove Creek (then called Walden’s Creek) and across the divide into Tuckaleechee Cove, Blount County, it is almost without question that John and the whole family dutifully made the weekly trek with him. Tuckaleechee Cove Baptist was a sister church to their own Wear’s Cove Baptist, which had no doubt sent him and his family there with its blessing.

Jane Walker, daughter of Thomas Walker of Tuckaleechee Cove, was an attractive young lady in those years, and on 8 April 1812, she and John were married by her brother Joseph, a Justice of the Peace. Their original marriage certificate, which document I've held in my hands, can still be seen in the vault of the Blount County Courthouse Archives.

Why they were not married by John’s dad, a Baptist preacher, is unknown to this writer. Did John and Jane have a falling out with their families? Rumor has it that the Walkers may have been Quakers, and if so, perhaps neither set of parents was really behind what may have been their interdenominational marriage.

Another very possible reason for a rift may have been a disagreement over slavery. The opening paragraph of a biographical article on Isham’s grandson, William Watkins Gwin, son of Richard Walton Gwin, reads as follows:

WILLIAM W. GWIN -- It is now our privilege and pleasure to trace the life of one of Keota's most honored citizen (sic--author intended "citizens") from the time his grandfather came to this county (sic--author intended "country") over a century ago, until the present, when the grandson after a successful life is spending his remaining days in peaceful contemplation of the past and hope of the future. Isaam (sic--author intended "isham") Gwin, grandfather of William W. Gwin, was a native of Ireland (sic--we're fairly confident that it was ISHAM'S grandfather who was the immigrant, not Isham) ; his wife was Mary Canteberry (sic--author intended "Canterbury"); he left the land of his birth when very young, and settled with his wife in Tennessee about the time it became a state (sic--actually at least 4 years before). By trade he was a miller (sic--this is the only indication we have that Isham was not a planter) and by profession a Baptist preacher. Although a slave holder, the practice was abhorrent to his nature, and in 1820 he freed his slaves and moved to Indiana, that he might be in a state opposed to slavery, and in this state he died. He was the father of ten children...

"WILLIAM W. GWIN", GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY of Keokuk County, Iowa, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1903, p. 264.

In the analysis of this writer, the slavery issue had grown to a level far beyond a topic of casual conversation, and Isham, though a slaveholder, having grown to hate the institution, likely was quite outspoken everywhere he went--at home, in the community, and from the pulpit--against the practice of enslaving fellow humans.

Finally, then, sometime before 1820, Isham had had enough. He resigned his pastorate, freed his slaves, sold the farm, and moved, lock, stock, and barrel across Kentucky to the new free state of Indiana where he’d never again come in contact with people living as slaves. Most of the rest of his family and even some of his neighbors moved with him. Showing up in Harrison County in 1819 with his Crowson’s Cove next-door neighbor to the west, Kinsey Veatch, Gwin and Veatch planted a church there.

As new counties quickly developed, the newcomers moved a little more to the west, first to neighboring Crawford County, then to their last stop, Orange County. Isham was the first pastor of Providence Primitive Baptist Church he helped establish on 7 Aug 1819 in Orange County's Greenfield Township. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/GENEALOGY/INDIANA/ProvidencePrimBapCh.htm]

But sons William and John and their families did not make the exodus to Indiana with their Isham and Mary and the rest, choosing instead to move to Alabama. This move to the south--coupled with the fact that neither is mentioned in Isham's will--give fairly solid evidence of an aforementioned rift in their relationships.

.--+-+-/|\-+-+--.

Young men from the coves, hills, and “hollers” of east Tennessee were signing up for military service about then, too. Several John Gwins fought with Col. Andy Jackson’s volunteers from 1812 through 1814 in the Creek wars in Alabama and Florida, and we are not sure, of course, but fairly confident that our John was one of them. That would explain why he and Jane did not have children right away--he would not have been home to father them.

Perhaps because he saw the beauty of Alabama during his stint there, after his tour of duty John took his bride from the Wear Valley to the wilderness of middle Alabama before it was a state. Going with them were at least his older brother William and wife Susannah and their family, all of whom show up in the 1820 census of Dallas Co., AL. Possibly their younger brother Isham II and his wife Mary and their family went to Alabama as well, as shadows of an unaccounted-for Isham Gwin are seen floating through central Alabama documents from time to time; if this is the case, however, he clearly went first to Indiana with his father’s group and married Betsy Snowden and Mary Likens there before moving to Alabama.

Regardless, all of John’s and Jane’s nine known children were born in middle Alabama. Mary, Thomas, and Isom were born outside Dallas County--probably in Shelby County where John first recorded a land purchase in what's now Wilsonville. Isom’s date of birth on 17 March 1817 is the only one of those three verified (from his tombstone), but the other two are older--if the 1830 census information is correct. William (namesake for his uncle) was the first to be born in Dallas County (18 Dec 1820), and was followed by Sarah, Ann, Martha, Chesley Richard, and Louisa.

Mary would marry Drury Hampton Roark and have one son, Walter, who would die in the July 1863 assault at Gettysburg. Drury would die early as well, and his widow would marry second the widower Abel Turner, by whom she would bear Anna Turner. Anna would later marry her own first cousin, Rufus King Gwin, son of Mary’s brother William and Roseanne. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/GwinMaryDRoarkATurner.htm]

Thomas’ records are still not located, but a cousin wrote that Old Cahawba Director Linda Derry had once sent him a copy of a newspaper clipping which told of a Thomas Gwin helping to put out a fire in a lumber yard in Bogue Chitto, Dallas Co., AL.

Isom would marry Mary Burdine Wilson, oldest daughter of Nathaniel Burdine Wilson and Jane Jones, both of South Carolina. Isom, no doubt named for his paternal grandfather, would become a landowner, slaveholder, and Protestant Methodist, living in and near the now-disappeared Town of Athens (between Safford and Martin’s Station). Isom died at age 33, and his widow would marry a widower--her pastor, the Rev. John Steadman, who likely preached Isom’s funeral. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/gwinisommarybwilson.htm]

William would marry Roseanne Carlisle Jones “Roe” Wilson, younger sister of Mary B., Isom’s wife. Will and Roe would become my gg-grandparents. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/GwinWilliam.htm]

Sarah and Ann would marry the Basset brothers, Louis and Joseph. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/BassetLouisSarahGwin.htm] and [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/BassetJosMAGwin.htm]

Martha would marry the widower, Jesse Comelander, and inherit several stepchildren. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/comelanderJessMartGwin.htm]

Chesley would first marry a Bogue Chitto preacher’s daughter--who would bear him all his children--Mary Frances “Fannie” Elizabeth Bell, and second the widow Paralee (nee Blevins) Whitfield, with whom he would live for over 42 years. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/gwinChesleyR.htm]

Louisa would marry the printer, William McKnight, in a double wedding with Mary and Abel at John and Jane’s home. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/gwinjohnjanewalker.htm]

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We know John owned quite a bit of Alabama land in and around the state's first capital and the county's first seat, Cahawba, where he had a wheelwright shop. He is mentioned in Anna Gayle Frye’s book, Memories of Old Cahaba, on p. 41:

Occupying the block on Oak Street, between First South Street and Capitol Avenue, was Academy Square, with its Indian mounds. Across the street, in front of the Academy on the corner of First South Street, was the residence of John Guiwn (sic), another old landmark of early days. Adjoining the Guiwn place, at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Walnut Street, was the Presbyterian church.

In the 1850 US Census of Cahaba Town, Dallas Co., Alabama, John and Jane were living in residence 585--an “almost-empty nest”--with their newly-wed youngest son (and likely John’s wheelwright partner), Chesley Richard, 22, and his bride, the former Mary Frances Elizabeth “Fanny” Bell, 20, daughter of the Primitive Baptist Pastor Bell of Bogue Chitto.

585/585 John Gwin----58--M--Wheel Wright--1,200--Tenn
-----------Jane-----------56---F-------------------------------Tenn
-----------C. R.----------22---M--Wheel Wright-----------AL
-----------Frances E.----20---F-------------------------------AL

According to the diary of John’s pastor, the Rev. James L. Cotten, Chesley and Fannie had married in Bogue Chitto 21 March 1850, probably at her parents’ home:

THURSDAY 21ST [Mar. 21, 1850] This morning after breakfast thought I would go to my room to study, but found Maj. Hays waiting for a talk, but after some time he left me and I turned my studies upon the Epistle to the Romans. Took dinner at bro. Lovett's and visited the prisoners. Baloom wishes me to visit him oftener. Visited Mrs. Wm. Lapsley and Mrs. Craig. Mrs. Henry Crocheron fortunately was not in the carriage when the horses ran away and broke it to pieces. Preached to a small congregation from Rom. 1:1-7. Bro. Meridith was out. He was married this week. Charley Guinn gets married to night to a Miss Bell in Bouge (sic) Chitto. Don't feel very well. Service at Church was dull. Poor Goldsby is raging. [www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/cottendiaryexcerpts.htm]

We know John was a spiritual man, serving as Bible class teacher in his church at Cahawba and mentor to his young, unmarried pastor, the Rev. J. L. Cotten, who once referred to the elder Gwin as “my pastor”. The following excerpts are also from Cotten’s diary:

THURSDAY 26th [April 26, 1849] Yesterday went to Selma and stopped at Sister Hornes, where bro. J.Y. Ramsey and family are boarding. After dinner walked with bro. R. to the burying ground and visited the Masonic Institute under the supervision of bro. Wright. The people in Selma have some jealousy of the R. Road from this place to Marion. Started rather late but by riding tolerable fast got home by sunset. Had class-meeting. The brethren seem to feel much interest in the properity [sic] of the church that is those present; but alas! so few come out. Two bro. Guinns [John and his son William], bro. Ulmer and bro. Francis are class leaders.

MONDAY 29th [July 29, 1850]
In a state of painful suspense and fear. if I am repulsed by Miss C. it will be a very severe wound. Sister Ulmer is quite depressed in spirit. Miss C. has gone to the country. Friends sat and conversed with me to night until 12 Oclock. Bro. Guinn is my pastor. He knows my trials and counsels wisely and sympathizes with me. Under my troubles I have support of Grace.

We know John kept at least one slave, his “old man, George”. Since John was a wheelwright and not a planter, it is most likely George was a house servant instead of a field hand.

TUESDAY 28th [May 28, 1850] Rode out to Dr. Saltmarsh's and Col. Matthew's this evening. Few out at Prayer meeting. Bro. Quinn (sic) and wife were kept away by a sudden attack of sickness upon their old man George. Docter U. says he thinks he will die soon. May grace sustain Bro. Guinn. It is a rare thing for him to be absent from service.

John’s son, Isom, a Dallas County justice of the peace at Athens, also held several slaves. Whether he held more is not known, but the following ten were willed to Isom’s widow, Mary B., and two daughters, Mary and Martha, when he died in December 1853 at the early age of 36.

"We the undersigned being appointed by the Hon. Probate Judge for Dallas County to appraise and divide the Negro property belonging to Isom Gwinn, deceased, also to assess the value of the Hire for the present year, of the Negros belonging to said deceased which were retained in the possession of Wm. J. Smith, Admstr, after being duly sworn have made the following appraisement, division and assessment--(the differense [sic] of the different lots to be made equal by the three heirs one to another--)
Viz-
Lot No 1--allotted to Mrs. Mary B. Gwinn consisting of
                      Boy Jeff valued at $1,300.00
        "          "    " Billy   "         "    815.00
        "         " Girl Ann     "        " 1,025.00
        "      "Old Woman Maria"   "    370.00
                                                 ________
                                                  $3510.00

Lot No 2--allotted to Mrs. Mary Jane Smith
        "          "    "   Joe    "         "     $1380.00
        "         "      " Jane     "         "      720.00
        "         "      " Adam "      "         1150.00
                                                     _________
                                                       $3250.00

Lot No 3--allotted to Mrs. Martha Gwinn
     "          "    "         George "     " $1780.00
           "         "      " Emily   "     "        820.00
           "         "      " Mely     "     "       700.00
                                                       _________
                                                       $3300.00

For the hire of certain Negroes as aforementioned we assess as follows--
Viz--
George-----$350.00
Joe-----------275.00
Jeff------------56.25
Maria---------50.00
Billy--------- 22.50
               $853.75
        [signed:]

            John D. Adams
[www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/gwinisommarybwilson.htm#isomgwintenslaves]

By the 1860 census, however, John and Jane were no longer living in their own home, instead showing up in the Cahawba home of a Mr. and Mrs. Grice along with two of the Gwin grandchildren: Mary’s son Walter J. Roark (who would fall at Gettysburg 1 Jul 1863) and Martha’s daughter Elizabeth Comelander, both 15. John’s and Jane’s son William and his wife, RoseAnn Carlisle Jones Wilson Gwin, had left Cahawba and were living in Bibb County with their young family in 1860.

We know Jane died about 1865 (perhaps as early as 1864 but definitely by the 1866 Alabama Census, where John appears alone) and was buried in the New Cemetery at Cahawba beside her daughter, Louisa, and Louisa’s husband, Will McKnight.

At one of the pages on my website, www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/gwingravephotospage.htm, one can see the photos I took of the gravestones of William and Louisa Gwin McKnight and her mother, Jane Walker Gwin, at the New Cemetery at Cahawba, Dallas Co., Alabama.

John the widower appeared next in 1870 living with William and Roseann Gwin in Wilsonville, Shelby County. He lived there some seven more years, dying on 7 Mar 1877 at the age of 84 years and 4 months.

Photographs of John’s and Jane’s gravestones, as well as those of some of their children and grandchildren, may be seen at this web page:

www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/gwingravephotospage.htm

-- John M. Gwin, February 2009 --

*Res.*	*Name*	*Age*	*Sex*	*Race*	*Occ.*	*Real* *Prop.*	*POB*	*JMG* *Comments*
545	Abel Turner	50	M	W	Carpenter	$800	NC
	Mary Turner	33	F	W			AL	Mary Gwin, widow of Drury Roark, now married to Abel Turner; Mary's end is unk. to me, for in ten years her only son Walter (below) will be living with her parents in the home of another couple (the Grices) and her only daughter, Anna, will be living with her sister Louisa and her husband, William McKnight.
	Anna Turner	4/12	F	W			AL	Annie Turner, who will marry her first cousin, Rufus King Gwin, and raise her family in Florida where she'll die and be buried.
	Wr. J. Rowark	8	M	W			AL	Walter Roark, Mary's son by her first marriage, who will die in 13 years at Gettysburg while fighting for the CSA.

*Res./Fam.*	*Last name*	*First name*	*Age*	*Sex*	*Race*	*Occ.*	*Real* *Prop.*	*Pers.* *Prop.*	*POB*	*JMG* *Comments*
575 / 567	McKnight	W. I. (J.?)	42	M	W	Printer	--	$600	SC
	McKnight	Louisa	26	F	W				AL
	McKnight	Elizabeth	13	F	W				AL	I speculate that this is either William's daughter by an earlier marriage or his younger sister.
	Turner	Anna	10	F	W				AL	Somewhere between 1850 and 1860, Mary and Abel must have died
	Brown	Z.	21	M	W				GA

*Res.*	*Name*	*Age*	*Sex*	*Race*	*Occ.*	*Real* *Prop.*	*POB*	*JMG* *Comments*

*Res./Fam.*	*Last Name*	*First Name*	*Age*	*Sex*	*Race*	*Occupation*	*Real* *Prop.*	*Pers.* *Prop.*	*POB*	*JMGComments*
736 / 736	Gwinn	I.	33	M	W	Farmer	$900		AL	Isom (spelled this way because of the spelling on his and his daughter Mary Jane's tombstone--see below) Gwin
	Gwinn	Mary B.	34	F	W				SC	Mary Burdine Wilson Gwin, daughter of Nathaniel Burdine Wilson and Jane Jones, my ggg-grandparents, and sister of Roseanne Carlisle Jones Wilson, my gg-grandma.
	Gwinn	Mary J.	12	F	W				AL	Mary Jane Gwin, wife-to-be of William J. Smith; she is buried in the cemetery sw of Orrville across the road (Co. Rd. 21) from the old St. Luke's Episcopalean church that once stood in Cahaba; mother-to-be of Robert Isom Smith, her only child.
	Gwinn	Martha R.	6	F	W				AL	Martha Roseanne Gwin, who will marry first Madison "Matt" Holley and second Bryant Brown Lester.

*Res./Fam.*	*Last Name*	*First Name*	*Age*	*Sex*	*Race*	*Occupation*	*Real* *Prop.*	*Pers.* *Prop.*	*POB*	*JMGComments*
437 / 429	Steadman	John	59	M	W	Clergy (MP)	$9,400	$30,410	GA	Rev. John Steadman, most likely the pastor of the church Isom and Mary attended in Athens and who most likely preached Isom's funeral. When his wife died, he married Isom's widow, Mary. The fact that this is Orrville Beat (post office is Orrville) does not mean they lived in Orrville, though that is possible. They may have been living still in the Athens parsonage of the Methodist Episcopal church at what is now Martin's Station.
	Steadman	M. B.	43	F	W				SC	Mary Burdine Wilson Gwin Steadman, widow of Isom Gwin.
	Walker	J. F.	27	M	W	Farmer	$1,000		AL
	Walker	E. M.	26	F	W				AL
	Walker	J. B.	5	M	W				AL
	Walker	L. E.	3	F	W				AL

*Residence*	*Last name*	*First name*	*Age*	*Sex*	*Race*	*Occupation*	*Real* *Prop.*	*POB*	*JMG* *Comments*
547	Guinn	William	29	M	W	Carpenter	$800	AL	William Gwin
	Guinn	Roseann	28	F	W			AL	Roseann Carlisle Jones Wilson Gwin
	Guinn	Elizabeth	7	F	W			AL	Mary Ann Elizabeth Gwin, bride-to-be of Robert Guy Lochridge
	Guinn	William	3	M	W			AL	William Sutton Gwin, groom-to-be of Ida Eliza Basset

*DATE*	*EVENT*	*SOURCE*
*1792*
7 Nov 1792	John is born...	Tombstone
(same)	...somewhere in what is now East Tennessee but then was North Carolina (probably in the Wear Valley--aka Crowson's Cove--of Sevier County, TN) [Actually, Cousin Alice Foster-Blevins states that he was born "in the Carolinas," but John himself told every census taker from 1850 to 1870 that he was born in Tennessee, so I combined both pieces of info to arrive at this speculation.]; in July 2003 I found the 249-acre farm of John's father Isham Gwin in Sevier Co., Tennessee--the farm was surveyed and the deed granted in 1808, but Isham's family had been there prior to the survey, and I believe John was born there "in Crowson's Cove on the waters of Walden's Creek..."	Speculation, 1807 deed of Isham Gwin
ca.1796-97	Jane is born in TN, [prob. Blount Co.]	1850 US Census*
*1812*
8 Apr 1812	John, 19, and Jane, 15, are married by Joseph Walker, J. P., in Blount Co., TN	County record; I've held this marriage license in my hand and have a copy of it as well.
1812-1814	John likely serves with a TN vol. unit in War of 1812, likely in AL against the Creek Nation [I base this on the fact that many if not most or even all of the young men of the day were involved in this campaign, and also on the fact that though they were married in 1812, J & J didn't start having kids until around four years later, probably because they were separated by his service. Further, while at Horseshoe Bend Nat'l. Monument, I saw the names of three John Gwins on rosters of Tennessee Volunteers for several units.]	Speculation (see bold type)
ca. 1815-16	John, 23, and Jane, 19, move to Cahaba, Dallas Co., AL, almost certainly with at least one brother, Wm. Gwin [Clearly J & J did move from TN to AL at this time, and I speculate that the William Guinn who appears in Dallas County about the same time as J & J likely traveled with them from TN.]	Speculation (see link)
*1816*
1816	Cahaba area becomes one of first election precincts established	MOOC, Fry**
17 Mar 1817	Possibly third child, Isom, is born in [probably Shelby Co., AL] (age 37 at date of death, 7 Dec 1853) (John = age 24)	Obit, Dallas Gazette; gravestone
1817	Alabama Territory is organized (John = age 25)	World Book
*1817*
ca. 1817	Probably first child, Mary, is born in [Dallas Co., AL] (age 33 in 1850 census) (John = age 25)	USCen.1850*
1817-1820	Probably second child, Thomas, is born in Dallas Co., AL	USCen.1830*
1818	Dallas Co. formed from Montgomery Co.	MOOC, Fry**
*1819*
1819	Constitutional Convention meets in Huntsville, draws up Territory's first constitution	World Book
1819	Cahaba incorporates, lays out lots, selects sites to build government buildings	MOOC, Fry-p11**
14 Dec 1919	Alabama becomes 22nd State (John = age 27)	World Book
1820	Cahaba has 2 newspapers, a land office, State bank, stores, private boarding houses, hotels, etc.	MOOC, Fry-p13**
*1820*
8 Dec 1820	Fourth child, William, is born in Dallas Co., AL (John = age 28)	USCen.1850* and unk. birth record
1825	Rivers overflow, flood Cahaba (John = age 33)	MOOC, Fry**
Jan 1826	Capital is moved to Tuscaloosa, AL; Cahaba all but abandoned	MOOCFry-p14**
*1826*
ca. 1826	Fifth child, Sarah, is born in Dallas Co., AL (John = age 34)	USCen.1850*
ca. 1827	Sixth child, Mary Ann, is born in Dallas Co., AL (John = age 35)	USCen.1850*
ca. 1828	Seventh child, Martha J., is born in Dallas Co., AL (twin of Chess?) (John = age 36)	USCen.1850*
ca. 1828	Eighth child, Chesley R., is born in Dallas Co., AL (twin of Martha?) (John = age 36)	USCen.1850*
*1832*
ca. 1832	Ninth child, Louisa A., is born in Dallas Co., AL (John = age 40)	USCen.1830*
1833	Fry's research uncovers this name in Cahaba among many others: John Guiwn (sic)	MOOCFry-p16**
1833	Second flood inundates Cahaba (John = age 41)	MOOCFry-p16**
*1836*
1836	Prosperity returns to Cahaba, remains until the end (late 1860s)	MOOCFry-p18**
1837	Son Isom and Mary Burdine Wilson are married	gravestone in the cemetery across the road from former site of St. Luke's Episcopal Church at Martin's Station, Dallas Co., AL
Dec 1837	Work is authorized to be begun in early 1838 on the Cahaba and Marion RR (see 1859 entry, below)	Newspaper account of the meeting, held at Marion, Perry Co., AL
ca. 1838	Isom and Mary B give John and Jane a grandchild--Mary Jane Gwin is born (John = age 40)	1850 census of Dallas Co.
27 Dec 1838	Daughter Mary marries Drury H. Roark in Cahaba (John = age 46)	unk. record
18 Mar 1841	Daughter Sarah marries Louis Basset in Cahaba	LDS IGI file
*1842*
12 May 1842	Son William marries Roseann Carlisle Jones Wilson in Cahaba (John = age 49) [Evidence suggests that her father, N. B. Wilson (see Cotten Diary entry for 21 Jul 1850), and her uncle, E. B. Wilson ( see newspaper notice), were colonels in the Alabama militia, and later that William himself had also attained that rank (see obituary for Thomas Wilson Gwin).]	Dallas Co. Marriage Record
ca. 1842	Mary & Drury give John & Jane grandchild #2--Walter Roark is born (age 8 in 1850 census)	USCen.1850*
19 Jan 1843	Daughter Mary Ann Gwin marries Joseph Lavalette Basset	LDS IGI file
3 Nov 1843	J & J's grandchild #3, Emily Ann Basset, is born to Ann and Joseph in Cahaba, AL; she will live to age 74 and die 12 Dec 1917 in Ennis TX	Cara Macon Hilliard
*1846*
ca. 1846	Son-in-law Drury Roark dies, Cahaba; daughter Mary is a widow ca. age 29 (John = age 54)	unk. record
22 Apr 1847	Dau. Martha J. m. widower Jesse Comelander (John = age 55)	unk. record
1849-1855	Six-year span of the entries I have from Rev. Cotten's diary (John = age 57-63)	Cotten diary
17 May 1849	Dau. Mary m2. to Abel Turner; dau. Louisa A. m2. William J. McKnight (John, 57)	Cotten diary
16 Oct 1849	John and Jane Gwin sold to their daughter-in-law R.C.J. Wilson Gwin's uncle, Ezekiel B. Wilson, for one thousand dollars, six lots of land in Cahaba numbered 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, and 222 (except approximately the eastern halves of lots 217 and 218) as recorded in the *Dallas Co. Record Book N* on pp. 195 and 196. Was this to have something extra to give to their daughter Louisa and her new husband, Wm. McKnight?	*Dallas Co. Deed* *Record Book N* pp. 195 and 196.
20 Mar 1850	Son Chesley R. m. Frances E. "Fannie" Bell in Bogue Chitto (John = age 58)	Cotten diary
Summer 1850	Newlyweds Chess & Fannie in are living in John's and Jane's home in Cahaba	USCen.1850*
*1853*
7 Dec 1853	Son Isom, ca. age 37, Justice of Peace, dies in Dallas Co. (John = age 61)	Obit, Dallas Gazette
March 1855	Last entry I have from Cotten diary--John, 62; Jane, 58; & William are still living in Cahaba	Cotten diary
28 Jan 1859	Dau-in-law Mary Burdine Wilson Gwin (Isom's widow) m2. to the man who is probably her pastor, Rev. John Steadman	LDS IGI file
1859	Railroad is built from Cahaba to Marion (John = age 67) Perhaps this is the year it was completed; however, work was authorized in Dec 1837 to begin in Jan 1838 (see 1837 entry above)	MOOCFry-p67**
*1860*
24 Jul 1860	Son Wm. and family recorded in Oakleyville, Bibb Co., AL (John = age 68)	USCensus 1860
Summer 1860	John and Jane are living in Cahaba at the home of W.G. and Eliza Grice (reason unclear--perhaps Jane is ill; also living there are g'son J.W. Roark and step-g'daughter Elizabeth Comelander, each 15)	USCensus 1860
11 Jan 1861	Alabama secedes from the Union (John = age 69)	World Book
1 Jul 1863	Grandson Walter Roark is killed in Battle of Gettysburg, ca. age 21 (John = age 70)	MOOC, Fry**
13 Jan 1864	Granddaughter Emily Ann Basset marries G. Thomas Macon in Cahaba, moves to Texas	Cara Macon Hilliard
16 Feb 1864	John and Jane sell for $800 the east half of Lot Seven in Cahaba to Conrad Hildebrandt who had been residing there. Was this to help pay for Emily's wedding, or perhaps to give them something for their wedding?	*Dallas Co. Deed* *Record Book T* p. 740
*1865*
Spg 1865	Another big flood inundates Cahaba just before the surrender (John = age 72)	MOOCFry-p68**
9 Apr 1865	Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox (John = age 72)	World Book
1866	Courthouse is moved to Selma (John = age 73)	MOOCFry-p68**
1864-1870	Sometime in this decade, Jane dies, is bd. in the New Cemetery at Cahaba. Also bd. there are dau. Louisa and her husband William McKnight	saw undated graves Jan 2002
*1870*
Feb 1870	John is living in Wilsonville at home of Will & Roe (John = age 77)	USCen.1870***
7 Apr 1877	John dies and is buried in Wilsonville, Shelby Co., AL, age 84 yrs. and 4 mo.	Grave Photo
29 Apr 1889	William dies and is buried in Wilsonville, Shelby Co., AL, age 68	Grave Photo
29 Mar 1907	William's widow Roe dies in Tampa, FL, is bd. in Wilsonville beside William	Grave Photo