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.
John McCorkle was born about 1789 in Sullivan County, Tennessee. He was the son of Samuel McCorkle.
According to the 1850 census, John was a saddler.
John married Polly Cunningham on October 13, 1813.
John and Polly's children included:
Mary Jane McCorkle (1816, married David Graham Vance),
James McCorkle (1821, married Nancy Hampton),
Samuel B. McCorkle (1822, married Margaret Britton),
Nancy McCorkle (1827, married William Oliphant),
Francis
McCorkle (1828, married Samuel Prothro),
John
McCorkle (1831), and
David
McCorkle (1836).
At the time of the 1830 census, John McCorkle was in Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee.
The household consisted of
a man and a woman between 30 and 39
a man between 20 & 29
a boy between 15 & 19
a boy and a girl between 10 & 14,
2 boys and 3 girls between 5 & 9
On the 30th of April, was issued the first paper ever established in America for the sole purpose of advocating the abolition of slavery...In 1836 Judge Emmerson published a directory of his patrons in the town [of Jonesborough], which included ... saddlers, James Brown and John McCorkle....(from Goodspeeds History of Washington County)
In the 1850 census the household consisted of:
John McCorkle 61
Mary McCorkle 52
Nancy McCorkle 23
Francis M McCorkle 22
John McCorkle 19
David McCorkle 14
John, Jr. died in 1860 and is buried at Mount Bethel Cemetery in Greene County Tennessee where his sister, Nancy Oliphant is buried.
John, Sr. died in 1881 in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee where his daughter, Francis Prothro, was living. He was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery.
