Watauga County, North Carolina, History of. (With Sketches of Prominent Families.)

Even though this Watauga County was not created until 1849, this book covers well back into the period of the Old Watauga Settlement of Sevier. John Seiver along with many early pioneer settlers, moved into the area. First leasing and later purchasing these lands from the Cherokee Indian Nation back in the 1770’s.  This book consists of: the first settlement, Indian raids, churches, Revolutionary & Civil War activities, geological data, legislative & other officers, population & agriculture statistics, place names, schools, but also intertwines his book with numerous names of early settlers, biographical sketches, and anecdotes about county residents. The author even includes a chapter about Daniel Boones who was believed to have spent many a year hunting along the Watauga River.  Of special interest to the genealogists are the biographical sketches of the following families: Adams, Baird, Banner, Bingham, Blackburn, Blair, Brown, Bryan, Bryant, Cable, Coffey, Cottrell, Councill, Critcher, Davis, Dugger, Eggers, Elrod, Farthing, Franklin, Gragg, Greene, Greer, Grider, Grubb, Hagaman, Hardin, Harman, Hartley, Hayes, Hodges, Holtzclaw, Horton, Ingram, Isaacs, Lenoir, Lewis, Linney, Lovill, McBride, McGhee, Mast, Miller, Moretz, Morphew, Norris, Penley, Perkins, Presnell, Reese, Rivers, Sands, Shearer, Sherrill, Shull, Smith, Story, Swift, Tatum, Tester, Thomas, Todd, Trivett, Tugman, Van Dyke, Vannoy, Ward, Watson, Welch, Wilson, Winebarger, Winkler, Woodring, and Yountz.