Visiting the Homes of My Ancestors

The Taylor House
The first glimpse I had as I walked up Main Str toward the house. It stands beside a large old church.

Yesterday, Jimmy and I drove up to Jonesborough, TN.  I had wanted to go back up since we had taken the long way around into Asheville once and saw the sign on the road that directed visitors into the historical district of the old town, where a cabin that once belonged to the sister of one of my great-grandfathers stands.  Well, make that several greats. I call them my ancestral grandfathers so I don't have to go check exactly how many greats to write in each time I mention them.  It also depends on who we are relating them to.  I will try most of the time to say they are my mother's gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather, etc.  But for my grandsons....at least 3 more greats must be added. LOL
Anyway....George Rowland, son of Henry (Halley) Roland, (Mom's Gr, Gr-grandfather) married a Sarah (Sally) Edwards.  Her father, James was the son of John Jackson Edwards, Sr.  John Jackson Edward's sister married Captain Christopher Taylor, who moved his family to the Watauga territory of North Carolina in the late 1700s. It was the house the Taylors built and lived out their lives in, that I wanted to go see. It is a log cabin that was listed in 1972 on the register of historical houses, during a time when restoration or preservation of historical was a new idea. The house was dissasembled and moved from it's historical site, about 1 mile from where it is now.  Well, some sources read that it was 1 mile from town, and some put it within a two mile radius of where it now stands.  So I am not exactly sure, from how the sources read, if it still is only a mile away, but there are condos there now.

 Once on the new location, on Main Street in downtown - designated to become a tiny park, the log cabin was reassembled and rechinked. New shingles and landscaping finished the outside, while period funiture dressed the inside. The lean-to that had been on the back of the house was removed, possibly taking it back to its original size. Also the out buildings that were on the property were not moved to the new downtown spot.  Details and more pitures with history are given at This is the Place/Edwards.  After John Jackson Edwards divorced his wife of 22 years, Mary Ruth Crabtree Edwards, he moved to live with his sister in Jonesboro, TN for a while.  She and her husband Christopher Taylor ran their house as an Inn. The pictures here, are ones Jimmy and  I took at the site in downtown. While I sat there on the steps, I felt the same connection I often feel when I realize, my ancestor once lived in this house and I am humbled and proud. I am so thankful for their lives, for their courage to live through hardship and be the trailblazers of a new nation. This little community forged documents that are considered the first declaration of Independence from the heirarchy of England. It was written even before the national one written in the colonies proper, which led to the formation of a new nation.  Who knows if some of those ideas didn't come from discussions held in this very house?  What I do know is that this, one of the oldest remaining log houses in Tennesse, is very special to me. I am so glad we finally took the trip up to see it first hand.

  The house is featured at the Jonesborough Museum of History.  We also drove around there, and were allowed to take pictures inside.  I thought the story boards in the history room were very good. The books and references were also better than most, including some on the internet. Also, here, is a picture of just a few of the many resources which back the story of the Taylor House.  I occasionally find minor discrepancies between references, but most seem to reflect the same timelines and titles etc.

A brick walk runs up to the front door
and around to the back.

Driving by we can see this little house in perspective to its neighbors.  By law the distance between floors had to be at least 8' ceilings. Even though two stories, it appears rather small for a family with 13 children who also roomed boarders!

A replica of the house at the History Museum

The one thing we couldn't find was the buriel site of Mr. Taylor and John's sister.  I was hoping to use them to verify names, and dates.  Many of the oldest of the 1700s buriel sites in the city cemetery were heavily grown over by vines.  It was impossible to get into there to examine them.  Someone was cutting back at the vines a little at a time, but a fallen tree stopped even that effort.  I am going to do more research to discover the exact location and return at some point to try once more to get picts.  Maybe I will also take a weed eater, or portable hedge trimmer. 

This is the original location of the house with fences and the stone <edging.

There was great info in this
Washington Co. Historical Assoc book.

This story board at the museum shared details of how
the house was moved and rebuilt.

Varied books and phamplets feature the log house.
I still can't believe that my ancestral grandfather was able
to live here for a while in the days of Daniel Boone and Andrew Jackson!
Sooooo coool.

For more info:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tncjones/taylorpc.htm

http://www.historicjonesborough.com/history/history-jonesborough-tn.php

http://www.tngenweb.org/washington/cemetery/cemT_U.htm