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.
Another of the children of Elijah Cross It was John Cross, who was often called "Big John" to distinguish him from some of the others by that name. He was a shoemaker by trade. He lived on the south side of the South fork of Holston River about one-half mile below the Collins Mill, about one mile from the mouth of Beaver Creek.
He married Adeline Shoun, of Johnson County, Tennessee. She was a very pious women. Often when her pastor, the Methodist Circuit Rider, would hold his monthly meeting at Devault's Schoolhouse (near my old home), she would just run over with emotion and shout out in the "meetin." I have been told that when she was at work around her house, singing as she worked, she would often shout. . . .
After the death of his wife, Adeline Cross, Big John Cross married the daughter of David Hall. He died several years ago, but she is still living. He was about eighty years of age when he died. Her maiden name was Florence Hall.
There were two Beaver Creeks in early Washington County, Virginia. One (also called Shallow Creek) flowed through Bristol and emptied into the South Fork of the Holston River in Tennessee. The other was a south branch of the North Fork of the Holston River in current Smyth County.
The American folk hero, David "Davy" Crockett (1786 – 1836), grew up in East Tennessee.
