East Tennessee is part of Appalachia. At the end of the French and Indian War, colonists began drifting into the area. In 1769, they first settled along the Watauga River. During the Revolution, the Overmountain Men defeated British loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain. The State of Franklin was formed in the 1780s, but never admitted to the Union.
Catharine (Kate, Granny, Granny Katie) Humphreys Smith was born March 17, 1781 according to the John Smith family Bible. She was born in Washington County, Virginia. Massengill questions this date because of later census and pension records. Her parents were David Humphreys and Elizabeth Hart.
She married John Smith on September 4, 1808 in Sullivan County, Tennessee. Their children and life together are described in detail in the section on John and Catharine Smith.
At the time of the 1850 census, she was living with the Deck family and remained there until her death.
She applied for her husband's military pension on December 5, 1853 when she was 65 years old.
in her last years it made her head swim to ride in a wheeled vehicle, and in order that she might visit among her descendants that they would place a feather bed on a sled and take her that way.
She died when she was 94 years old on July 3, 1881 was buried with her husband in the Smith-Cross Cemetery in Sullivan County. The Reverend James Knicely Hancher preached her funeral service.
Smith-Cross Cemetery is located near Piney Flats on private property at Boone Lake, Tennessee
Sullivan County is in far northeast corner of Tennessee between North Carolina and Virginia and was originally part of those states. It was formed in 1779 when it was divided from Washington County.
Washington County, Virginia was formed from Fincastle County in 1777. It originally contained Sullivan County, Tennessee.
The American folk hero,David "Davy" Crockett(1786 – 1836), grew up in East Tennessee.
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