Greene County, Tennessee developed from the Nolichucky settlement. It was formed in 1783 from part of the original Washington County, North Carolina.
Some of the first Quakers in Greene County, Tennessee settled about a mile north of Rheatown on the Nolichucky River. At first they were called "the little meeting at Nolachuckey." In 1794/95 this meeting became the New Hope Monthly Meeting and and the area was later called Quaker Knobs. When New Hope was founded, the Lost Creek Friends were also included in their membership. It was founded by direction of Westfield Monthly Meeting (Tom’s Creek) l in Surry County, North Carolina.
Beginning in 1804 some of the members migrated to Ohio and Indiana.
The Society of Friends (Quakers) began in England in the 1650s, when they broke away from the Puritans. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Friends to live and practice their faith.
The Nolichucky River flows through Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is a tributary of the French Broad River. During the 1770s, European Americans established the "Nolichucky settlements" in what is now Greene County, Tennessee.
The Village Messenger
Fayetteville, Tennessee
06 Oct 1824, Wed • Page 2
Early Members
Ballard, Moorman
founding member
Barrett, James
founding member
Beals, David
Beals, John Bowater
founding member
Beals, Jacob
founding member
1787 - 1875 in VA, s. of Daniel Beals and Mary Squibb, m. Sarah Ellis (1788-1840) d. of Ellis Ellis
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.
from The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee - Greene County
About 1790 a large number of Friends or Quakers began to come into the [Greene] county from Pennsylvania and North Carolina, although a number of person of that faith had come several years before. Among the pioneers were William Reese [Reece/Rees], Garrett and Peter Dillion, William and Abraham Smith, Solomon, David and John B. Beales, Samuel and Mordecai Ellis, Abraham Marshall, Samuel Pearson, Samuel Stanfield and George Hayworth [Haworth].
The first religious services were held on the eleventh day of the ninth month, 1791. Other meetings were held from time to time, and on the twenty-eighth day of the second month, 1795, New Hope monthly meeting was organized about one mile west of Rheatown where a house of worship was erected. A church house was also erected on Lick Creek at an early day.
