1780 Cumberland Compact & Signers - do the signers have WikiTree profiles?

Question

In looking for information about the Cumberland Gap, I encountered a page created by Kari Lemons about the Cumberland Compact and its signers:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Cumberland_Compact

From that page:

On May 13, 1780 the following pioneers signed the Cumberland Compact. The document provided guidelines for a constitutional government until North Carolina was formed in what was then Davidson County in 1783.

Not a lot of the signers on the list are linked to a WikiTree profile. Seems like a pretty cool mini-project, if anyone is interested in working on it.

I tagged this question with Appalachia also because two of the counties that the page is categorized to are in Appalachia: Smith County and Macon County (apparently where at least one signer died).

I contacted Kari & she was ok with one or both projects (Tennessee & Appalachia) working off the page.

So... do any of the names sound familiar? Can you help discover whether or not they have a WikiTree profile already? If so, does it need a biography and/or sources? If not, can you find sources to create a profile with bio for the signer? 

If you're interested, post who you're looking into as an answer to this question. And thanks in advance!

Cheers, Liz
a PL for both the Appalachia Project & the Tennessee Project

Answer 1

Not taking them on, but searched WikiTree for possible profiles for

Robert Goodloe - Found only one in the right age-range, but he was further east (in Granville County before/during the revolution): https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Goodloe-89

William McWhorter - No probables.

William Woods - Lots of possibles but no probables, in my opinion.

edit - added to my original answer about a search for a WikiTree profile for Goodloe ... unsuccessful searches for both Woods & McWhorter.

Answer 2

Maybe these two:

Andrew Crockett

James Crockett

Comments

Maybe not - the profile for James has him born/died in Virginia. Andrew's profile puts him in Tennessee well after the compact was signed:

1799 Moved with his family to Davidson (now Williamson) County, Tennessee, near Brentwood

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I would need to better understand the details around the Compact and the lives of these two to find the direct evidence connecting them.  But here are two documents who seem to to think that we have the right Andrew.

http://www.ltandrewcrockett.org/biography-of-lt.-andrew-crockett.html

https://www.brentwoodtn.gov/home/showdocument?id=115

No sources provided of course.

I will fish around some more.

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Wrong James, it appears there are two brothers named James.

James B. Crockett 

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ooh - you're right! The Bio of Lt.  Andrew Crockett includes the following:

Andrew and James Crockett were the only ones of those ten "first settlers" in what is now Brentwood who were also among the 249 signers of the Cumberland Compact (May 1, 1780 at Ft. Nashborough.) That suggests that they were the representatives of the area that is now Williamson County in the councils of the early Cumberland Communities. 

Which is a bit at odds with the military service given for the LT in the same bio:

Service: 1775- 1799 Montgomery, Augusta and Wythe County, Virginia Militia.

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Yeah, and it says 249 signers but there were apparently 256.  So maybe there was some older source that this came from?

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So the profiles, and likely the family, needs reviewed for correct sourcing.

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i know better than to search/skim... reading closer, the VA militia service & settling in Brentwood area is connected:

Andrew and his brother, James were among a group of Virginia Militiaman who came to the mid- Cumberland area in 1775 in connection with Judge Richard Henderson's Transylvania Land Company and General George Rogers Clark's strategy to bring in VA militiamen as settlers to secure western territories for America and to prevent the British from attacking the colonies through the western "back door."

Thanks so much for finding these docs!

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And... in WikiTree, Andrew has two brothers named James. I think that the correct one is Crockett-669 - James B Crockett (1749-1826).

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Samuel's wife Esther is now taking a bow as winner of the small world award... I encountered a story of Samuel Crockett and Esther Thompson, daughter of Rev. John Thompson, while reading https://www.brentwoodtn.gov/home/showdocument?id=115 ... and I was JUST working on that family! Specifically, on the profile for the Rev's daughter who married John Finley - see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Thomson-12738 for info & sources about her father (Samuel Crockett married her sister Esther). The Reverend "was called to Augusta County in the late 1730s."

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I love these stories.  I classify them under Serendipty and Synchronisity.  Either that or you have spent a lot of time in that time and location.

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all of the above LOL.

I'll have to re-find it, but the disconnect in the numbers is explained in one of the websites I looked at.

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found it - on the page linked from the list of 255 names on the WikiTree Space page... http://www.cumberlandpioneers.com/cumberlandcompact.html

We have seen the number of signers given from 244 to as many as 256.  The critical variable is the duplications which are shown on each of the four pages.  We believe that the individual pages were perhaps circulated about the settlement and base this on an analysis of the handwriting along with ink characteristics.  See Cumberland Compact Signers Notes which support the total signatures as 248.

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Cool find. Thanks!

Answer 3

The intro seems misleading. According to a brief history lookup, Davidson County (now TN) was created by NC legislature in 1783, a long way from Cumberland Gap, not so far from Cumberland River.  Are they hinting that people previously at Elizabethton (near Cumberland Gap) are involved, having moved to Nashville or Clarksville?

I have been getting  BigY DNA indications of relationship to the Bledsoe family, probably from 17th century England.  Otherwise, I would have no suspicion.

A Martin Hardin is my late wife's double 6th ggf. Her lines would have migrated through Cumberland Gap subsequent to TN and KY statehood. Possibly a son or nephew is the one in question.  

As I have known Rounseville (various spellings) DNA cousins and ancestors (grandfather's middle name), and the name doesn't appear so common, those might be related.  I had no idea of them coming in this area.

I'll look for these.  I suppose it's possible they include revolutionary veterans from NE.

Givens may be related to the builder of my house.  Not a recommendation.

Comments

[[Bledsoe-352|Isaac Bledsoe (1735-1793)]] probably the signer, state park named for him

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good point. I think the lead-in you mean is quoting the Wikipedia article, which could have been better written.

Elizabethton belongs with Watauga Association, formed by settlers along Watauga River. Cumberbland Compact was by settlers along the Cumberland River (see the map on [this page]).

From Wikipedia: The Watauga Association (sometimes referred to as the Republic of Watauga) was a semi-autonomous government created in 1772 by frontier settlers living along the Watauga River in what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee. ...

The Articles of the Watauga Association likely influenced the Cumberland Compact (drafted in 1780), the main link between the two pacts being James Robertson, who in 1779 led a group of colonists into what is now the Nashville area. The Clarksville Compact, drafted for the Clarksville settlement in 1785, may have also been inspired by the Watauga Association (the Clarksville Compact even adopted the laws of Virginia, even though the settlement was clearly within the territory of North Carolina). In the mid-1780s, some former Wataugans (especially John Sevier) played a key role in the establishment of the failed State of Franklin.^[10]

From the source of the list of names - http://www.cumberlandpioneers.com/cumberlandcompact.html

This document, signed in May 1780 by the first settlers on the Cumberland River established a provisional government for the isolated colony, provided for the election of twelve representatives from the eight stations, provided for a Sheriff, a Clerk, a Militia, and for the adjudication of causes, the administration of estates, and the awarding of executions. Power was vested in a tribunal of Judges or General Committee. Samuel Barton was a signatory and was named as one of these first judges.

That source has a page of links, which led to the page noted above for a map. It also had a page of references that might be of interest: http://www.cumberlandpioneers.com/reference.html 

And I can't help myself ... here's a bit more (from Wikipedia's article on Nashville) - I LOVE how much I learn from working on projects in WikiTree!

In 1689, French-Canadian trader Martin Chartier established a trading post on the Cumberland River, near the present-day site of the city.^[27] In 1714, a group of French traders under the command of Charles Charleville established a settlement and trading post at the present location of downtown Nashville, which became known as French Lick. These settlers quickly established an extensive fur trading network with the local Native Americans, but by the 1740s the settlement had largely been abandoned.^[28]

In 1779, explorers James Robertson and John Donelson led a party of Overmountain Men to the site of French Lick, and constructed Fort Nashborough. It was named for Francis Nash, the American Revolutionary War hero. Nashville quickly grew because of its strategic location as a port on the Cumberland River

Which reminded me of another mini-project in WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:The_Overmountain_Men_and_their_descendents

edited to fix a formatting oops

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p.s. if you meant the lead-in that I wrote in posing this G2G question... I did encounter Kari's page on the Cumberland Compact while searching for information about the Cumberland Gap. My apologies - the only connection I was referring to is that Kari's page turned up in the links that Google returned when I searched for Cumberland Gap.

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These HARDINs appear in {{Ancestry Record|3006|1062}} I haven't found a record of their lines. The ROUNSEVALs appear there as well.  They aren't profiled as descendants of my Plymouth Colony ancestors.

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Tim, I'm not a member of Ancestry, so I can't comment on those. But I checked out the profile of Isaac Bledsoe (Bledsoe-352) & I agree - I added a link to his profile from his name on the space page.

Answer 4

I found a couple more profiles & added links to them from the space page, but I also created a category that now has all of the profiles linked from the space page - except one: Sampson Williams (1762-1841) - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Williams-92421 (see the Research Notes).

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Cumberland_Compact_Signers

Answer 5

My grandfather was a signed, Peter Grancer Luna/Looney.  I will try to get the info on  Wikitree soon.

Comments

how cool!

Thanks for posting. Once you get him added to WikiTree, we can add the profile to the category & link to the profile from the space page.

Cheers, Liz

Answer 6

Hello , here is another signer of the document

Joesph Denton  my 5th great grand uncle, also not seeking to particpate in the project, just thought I let you know, of another signer, 

Comments

Thanks Janine!

Answer 7

Maybe this guy, profile needs work, possible merge.

Philip Alston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Alston_(counterfeiter)

Comments

I didn't add him - text of the profile says the Wikipedia article "may be of this person" & "This Philip Alston may have been confused with another Philip Alston".

Answer 8

Liz,

Have you access to this source? It seems to provide some references.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/1770_1790_Census_of_the_Cumberland_Settl/tFdph437RykC?hl=en&gbpv=0

Comments

Here it is.

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2748973M/1770-1790_census_of_the_Cumberland_settlements

and on Ancestry.

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3006/

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weird - I can usually access Google Books, but apparently not this book. (I'm not on Ancestry & OpenBooks doesn't seem to have an online copy available either.)

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oops. I had the book checked out and forgot to return it!

Answer 9

Anderson, John P2-C3-L9

See note 2, page 251.  He marries Stockely Donelson's Widow (Elizabeth (Glasgow) Martin

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Papers_of_Andrew_Jackson_1770_1803/ApR9H9w_UN8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22John+Anderson%22+cumberland+compact&pg=PA251&printsec=frontcover

Elizabeth profile on WikiTree.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Glasgow-2055

More work needed.

Answer 10

My 4th great grandfather was Peter Grancer Looney and he is my DAR Patriot.  He also signed the Cumberland Compact and his name is listed in the Tennessee State Library and Archives.  His profile on WikiTree is #193.

I don't know how to add this info to his profile.  I did send the info to Linda Davis who manages his profile.

Comments

Hi! Looking into several duplicate profiles, I think that the Peter represented by [Looney-193] is not the one who signed the Compact. DAR has records for two Peter Looneys & the other one (Looney-128) looks like a better candidate. 

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or not. I just realized that both of the DAR records show they were in the Cumberland Settlement.

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pretty sure the Jon Luney signer is Looney-143. Family histories say his first cousin is the Peter who signed... there are three contenders: Looney-193, Looney-128, and Looney-179. (All three are John Looney-143's first cousins.)

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Thank you for this info.  Peter Looney's were mentioned in the Looney family research I was reading.

Answer 11

Hi, I can help. I'm very new to WikiTrees, I'm much more familiar with Ancestry. I have at least two ancestors that signed this document (Donelson and Harrod, possibly more) and lots of free time. I don't mind working on this and seeing how far I can get and what I can figure out. I might need some guidance with the WikiTree aspect, until I'm more comfortable which shouldn't take long!

Comments

Welcome to WikiTree Molly! Your ancestors have WikiTree profiles... the following links are from the [space page]:

53. Donelson, Jn'o C. P1-C1-L4

99. Harrod, Ja's P2-C1-L20

See the space page for links to the pages the have the signatures & and explanation of the "code".

Donelson's profile looks very developed* (even though it's a bit light on footnotes), but you might want to work on building sourced profiles that connect you to him.

Harrod's profile is also developed, but even lighter on footnotes - it also appears to consist of cut/paste bios from other sources (which isn't allowed - see [this help page]). Kari (the manager of the profile) is an active and supportive WikiTree member - you might want to send a trusted list request from Harrod's profile and ask if it would be ok for you to work on redoing the profile. (Or you might want to create a personal workspace for yourself and work on it there,** asking Kari and/or G2G for help as you go.)

  * There's a section that says "Needs Sources", which has a verifiable statement, with a source. You might want to post a comment asking what is needed. (The source seems to support the statement, if questioning whether or not Donelson & Robertson ever shook hands, as the statue portrays). His Wikipedia article also supports the statement, sorta:

There, together with James Robertson, Donelson co-founded the frontier settlement of Fort Nashborough. This later developed as the city of Nashville, Tennessee. ~ Wikipedia: John Donelson

Perhaps instead of a Needs Sources heading, the heading could be "Founding of Nashville" and cover salient points. Also, someone with a Wikipedia article qualifies for the Notables Sticker - see the template page for the sticker for coding. Since the profile is a "project-protected profile" (PPP), managed by the US Southern Colonies Project, post a comment on his profile to ask about what is needed for "Needs Sources" or if it might be changed to "Founding of Nashville", adding info from the Wikipedia article, and also if it would be ok to add the Notables Sticker.

** To create a space page, in the mini-menu at upper right of a profile page, click Add & then New Thing. I would suggest that you name it something along the lines of Herod-269 Workspace ... then you can reuse it for other profiles that you'd like to work on away from the "live" profile (this is done quite a bit for pre-1500 profiles; when the revised biography is ready to go live, you just have to check for any changes made to the profile since you copied it to your workspace). Anyway. The This bit from an older version of the Magna Carta Project Checklist might be helpful:

For the ideal, see The List posted by the Biography Builders project.

"Genealogically Defined" is a good goal (but not always possible with pre-1500 folks).

For the basics, see Help:Biographies.

There's also the following, from the main page for the Appalachia Project:

To accomplish this goal is simple: Add (or enhance existing) Profiles, Write, Source and Connect.

1. Add Appalachian-related profiles, checking for existing profiles to avoid duplication. If any duplicate profiles exist, request merges.
2. Clean up GEDCOM residue and fix broken links. For example: The DeCoursey gedcom and the Howe(1) gedcom have a tremendous amount of work needed.
3. Write comprehensive, well-sourced biographies.
4. Add any relevant categories to Appalachian profiles.
5. Connect Profiles to the WikiTree tree. 

To Make a Profile Complete for the Appalachia Project, you need Reliable Sources, Complete Biography, Stickers and Categories

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d'oh! And _then_ I thought to look at your profile and see if you had a tree yet (in my defense, I was a Greeter for many years, and when someone says they're new, I think "just signed up", not signed up and already created their tree!).

Anyway, I see that you _are_ connected to James Herrod-189, which will need to be merged with Harrod-1053. Which way the merge should go (Herrod or Harrod) depends on primary sources- if there is one for his birth/baptism, go with that spelling. Otherwise, I would be inclined to go with Harrod (which is how his signature on the Compact was transcribed, but looking at it - [this page], 1st column, 20th line - it could be either, since the G of the previous signer runs through that letter).

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Thank you so much for all your help, I’ll start making corrections in the morning. One thing I know is that he should be merged, and it should be Harrod. I’m sorry for so many mistakes, I’ll catch on!

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You're doing great! Much better than I did my first few weeks! I joined in the days when you had to be invited, and I was constantly asking my poor sponsor an endless stream of questions... but while the learning curve is steep (well, I found it to be), it goes really fast - the more you play, the easier it gets.

Cheers, Liz

Answer 12

According to my ancestry, I believe David Rounseval is my GGGG grandfather. There is a document where he and Isaac Rounseval were to receive 640 acres in the Cumberland Gap

Comments

they're both listed at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Cumberland_Compact but not linked to WikiTree profiles - do you know if they have profiles?

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found them!

• David Rounsaval (abt.1735-aft.1800)
• Isaac Rounsavall (abt.1761-abt.1846)

from Susan Stallings' website:

"In 1780 he [David Rounsavall] journeyed by river with a party of about 40 boats under the command of Col. John Donelson from Kingsport, TN by way of the Tennessee River, the Ohio, and finally the Cumberland River to establish what is now Nashville, TN in May 1780. David and first son Isaac, were two of the original signers of the Cumberland Compact on May 13, 1780."

Answer 13

It’s possible that Blakemore-102 and Blakemore-300 are the John Blakemore, Sr. & Jr. on the list.

Comments

yup, they are! Thanks!!

Answer 14

Hugh Leeper would be this fella if someone wants to link him:
Hugh Leeper (1757-1820) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

That George could be this this one:
George Leeper (1753-) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

James Leeper is this one:
James Leeper (1755-1781) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

All three are sons of Andrew Leeper, who is son of Immigrant James Leeper James Leeper (1695-1763) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree
 

It is my sibling lineage, profile owner of this branch is Demetrius, who might know more about George.

This is the record that explains all three of them, not sure how to get it to source link correctly on G2G:

In the 1780 census George was in Davidson.<ref>

'''1780 Census''':

"Davidson, Sumner, and Tennessee Counties, U.S., Census of the Cumberland Settlements, 1770-1790"<br/>

{{Ancestry Sharing|8978724|7b22746f6b656e223a225a4a6a554441476f767a585859684f565a596b767a4356475552694e5738413357364b664552455a7167303d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d}} - {{Ancestry Record|3006|1496}} (accessed 10 January 2024)<br/>

George Leeper in Davidson.

</ref>

Looks like a great many of those other signers are also detailed in the record.

The big list of folks on there, here is a direct Ancestry link to the reference which should solve a lot of them in pretty short order, or give one awesome leads: Ancestry.com - Davidson, Sumner, and Tennessee Counties, U.S., Census of the Cumberland Settlements, 1770-1790

Comments

Thanks! I've linked to their profiles from the space page & added the category to their profiles, but didn't check to see if the citation you provide was also on their profiles. Please add it as appropriate. And thanks again!

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P.S. I'm not a member of Ancestry, so I cannot access the information given at the direct link, but thank you for providing it, as it will surely help someone who is a member!

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Humm, it might be good for whomever is running/working on the project to know about the whole reference, since a great many of the signers are in the the record set.  Or put it into one of the project pages involved, to save people a lot of work otherwise?  I did not find it in the indexed records of FS, though it might be in the images section when you do the atypical manual search of the image pages?

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are you referring to the direct link?

Ancestry.com - Davidson, Sumner, and Tennessee Counties, U.S., Census of the Cumberland Settlements, 1770-1790

The space page links to this G2G question, so people can find it since you've added it here.

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Thank you Doug!

Answer 15

My 6th-great-grandfather Andrew Lucas has a profile.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lucas-4766

Comments

Cool! Thanks for linking his profile & others.

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I'm wondering if the Edward who signed was Robert's brother, not his son? Son Edward would have been 18, not 21, based on his WikiTree profile (born 1762). But I cannot find anything about legal age for petitions in 1780, so not sure if an 18-year-old could sign or not. While the source information states that the Edward who signed was the heir-in-law of Robert, that may be someone's speculation rather than something from a primary record.

The WikiTree profile of the brother Edward says that he built his home in Shepherdstown, Jefferson County in 1797, so he could have been one of the settlers who signed the Cumberland Compact in 1780.

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only two other profiles found so far were under 21, per their WikiTree profiles...

• Isaac Rounsavall's WikiTree profile has "about" 1761, with nothing to indicate why c1761 vice c1758/9.
• Thomas Cox was born in 1761 according to his WikiTree profile & Find a Grave memorial (with source citation/pictures).

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and I just caught up with some other profiles linked from the space page that had not yet been added to the category and found another "under age" signer. So perhaps being 21 was not a requirement. Seems fair, since the Compact said "males sixteen or older were subject to militia duty" (according to the Wikipedia article).

Answer 16

John Montgomery (Montgomery-11822) married Phoebe Ramsey, daughter of my 6th g-grandfather, Josiah Ramsey.

Comments

Thanks Leslie! I've updated the space page & added his profile to the category.

Cheers, Liz