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.
James Gregg was born about 1759 in Carroll County, Maryland. He was the son of Joshua Gregg.
He married Rachel McClellan.
John Gregg, Sr. (1785, married Julia Annis King),
Abraham Gregg (1790, married Janette Alison),
Jane Gregg (1792, married James Harvey King),
Nathan Gregg (1794),
Samuel Gregg (1797),
William Gregg (1799),
James Gregg (1801, married Mary Johnston),
Annis Gregg (1803, William Burton Childress, Jr. son of William B. Childress),
Rachel Gregg (1806), and
Mary Gregg (1809).
The Greggs came to Tennessee about 1779.
He was one of three original elders ordained by Reverend Samuel Doak in 1782 in the New Bethel Presbyterian Church. He was the first teacher in Piney Flats, Tennessee.
In 1829, Abraham Gregg was witness to and executor of John Smith's will.
In 1830 Rachel Gregg was head of household in Sullivan County, Tennessee. The household consisted of
a woman between 60 & 69
3 women and a man
between 20 & 29
an enslaved man between 25 & 35
During the Cherokee removal in 1836-1837, Abraham Gregg was first lieutenant in McClellan's company.
At the time of the 1840 census, Abraham Gregg and James Gregg in Buffalo Ridge, Washington County, Tennessee.
The Cherokeewere indigenous people who lived in the southern Appalachian mountains. European Americans called their towns in eastern Tennessee, the Overhill Towns. The towns included Chota, Tellico and Tanasi.
In 1776, the Cherokee planned to drive settlers out of the Washington District. The settlers were warned and stopped the first attack at Heaton's Station. The second attack was stopped at Fort Watauga. In response to these attacks, the militia burned Tuskegee and Citico.
