| Notes |
- NOT to be confused with John Tate, Esq. (1749-1802) of Augusta County, Virginia, s/o John Tate and Mary Mitchell, who married Jane "Jinney" Steele [or Jane Berry, according to some researchers].
The following bio sketch appears on Find A Grave:
John Tate was a son of Robert Tate and Mary [Doak]. About 1766 in Virginia, he married Mary Bracken, daughter of John Bracken and Martha Green.
In November of 1772, at age 29, John and his family settled in the Moccasin Valley of what is today known as Russell County, Virginia, about 15 miles southwest of present Lebanon. Sometime around 1776, John and his neighbors built a fort on his land for protection against Indians. It was known as Tate's Fort and is mentioned by early emigrants to Kentucky and Tennessee.
In October 1780, John as militiaman of (then) Washington County, participated in the successful Revolutionary War battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina.
In 1789, John became Captain in the 2nd Bat., 72 Reg. Of the Virginia Militia.
In 1795, John became Major in the 2nd Bat., 72 Reg. Of the Virginia Militia.
By 1801, John became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue for Russell County, and served two years.
In 1802, John became Lt. Col. Commandant of the 72 Reg., 3rd Division of the Virginia Militia, and since has become known as Col. John Tate. His appointment was by James Monroe, Governor of Virginia and later President of the United States.
In 1826, at over 80 years of age, John again became Sheriff and Collector of Revenue for Russell County, and served another two years.
The following notes were rolled over into New Family Search from a file written by Rod Fugate on 3 April 1999:
Subj: VA Russell, Frontier Forts [At the time his email was rfugate103@aol.com]
"John Tate settled on Big Mockerson [Moccasin] Creek on a spur of Clinch Mountain on the Holston River in November 1772. The land in the Moccasin Valley on which John Tate first settled was Botetourt County. Shortly thereafter it became Fincastle County (Jan. 1773-Jan. 1777). In 1777 Fincastle County was discontinued, and the land became part of Washington County. (Jan. 1777-May 1786).
"In 1786, John's original settlement near Lebanon became present day Russell County. John obtained his first land grant of 145 acres from the Royal Company of Virginia. The land was surveyed 12 December 1774 by John Floyd, Deputy to Colonel William Preston, Surveyor of Fincastle County. Around 1775-1776, John and his neighbors built a fort for protection against Indians on his land. The fort was called Tate's Fort and was known by early travelers to Tennessee and Kentucky." The colonel's daughter Hannah married Rod's 4th great grandfather Colbert Fugate.
Addendum by Carol Bays, 4th great grand niece of Col. Tate. Another of his daughters, Lydia also married a Fugate. His name was William Fugate, and his name is found on old land records of Russell County. Their son Uriah married Drucilla, daughter of Solomon John Frazier. Solomon's grandson Dale Frazier was my great grandfather. He grew up in Scott County and with Darthula Bays had two sons, the younger of whom was my grandfather Robert Bays. Their first son James Bays was born in 1866, shortly after the Civil War, when Dale was still in his late teens. Dale didn't marry my great grandmother. He later went on to another state to marry a girl there who was 10 years his junior.
Back around 2012 I was doing research on the Bays, Frazier, Fugate and Tate families. My 4th great grandfather William Bays (who was in his mid-teens) served in the Pittsylvania County Militia around the time of Lord Dunmore's War in 1774 under Captain Joseph Martin, Jr. Many of the men remained with Capt. Martin when the Revolutionary War started. Martin's forts were built closest to Cumberland Gap down in Lee Co., VA. Rye Cove fort and Blackmore's fort were closer to the Clinch Mtn. range. William Bays eventually owned property on Clinch Mtn. Here is an interesting mini history of Blackmore's Fort from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~varussel/other/forts.html:
"This is the 'small fortification' that Captain Russell wrote Preston was being built at Blackmore’s at the mouth of Stony Creek, but which in time grew to be the second most important fort on the frontier. It was built on the lands of Captain John Blackmore, who along with his brother Joseph had come from Fauquier Co., VA, with their families to carve out homes in the wilderness in the year 1772.
"Being more exposed, it was attacked by Indians more often than Moore’s and many people were killed and captured in and around this fort. The fort stood on the north side of Clinch, just outside the village of Fort Blackmore. It was to Blackmore’s that all the people came when the forts in Powell Valley were evacuated in 1776, just prior to the outbreak of the Cherokee War, as did the people from Rye Cove Fort. It must have been of large proportions, but no one has left any known description of this fort. According to Samuel Alley who was born in sight of the fort in the year 1801, it was torn down and no vestige of it remained in 1887, when he paid a visit to his old home and found the ground where the old fort stood being tended in corn. However, nearby stood an apple tree planted by his father which to that day was known as the 'John Alley Apple Tree.'
"Across the road in a fringe of trees and brush, and slightly northeast of where the old fort stood is the old fort graveyard, with rows of small, uncut stones marking the final resting place of those who died from either the stroke of disease or tomahawk in the long ago. Always known as Blackmore’s Fort, the village today, almost two centuries later still bears the name except in the reverse order of Fort Blackmore."
There is a "Paul Harvey Rest of the Story" about Hannah Tate Fugate mentioned above. Since this is a Latter-day Saint database where these particular records are recorded, I will not shrink from relating a spiritual experience I had around 2012. I had been working the Frazier and Fugate lines, as well as reading up on the forts of Southwest Virginia. I know that my 4th great grandfather William Bays served with Capt. Martin, probably at Rye Cove, then Blackmore's and eventually at the Long Island of the Holston. That's why I also believe he participated in the Battle of King's Mtn., though there's no record of it. However, his brother in law John Barker, also from the same Pittsylvania Co. Militia company, was at King's Mtn.
During this time period in 2012 when I was studying the history of the forts, early one morning I had a dream. A man who identified himself as Col. Tate appeared to me. He was dressed in a dark blue jacket with a double row of brass buttons. On his head was one of those flat brimmed round dark hats with a ribbon around the brim that reminded me of what the sailors of that era wore. He seemed very eager to convey some information to me and was concerned that I wouldn't remember it when I woke up. So with a certain amount of exasperation, he threw his hands out toward me three times and repeated, "Tate! Tate! Tate!"
Later that day after I woke up, I dutifully worked my way through about five generations of family lines to cross over to his name, since he is related to me by marriage (his daughter Hannah and my 3rd great aunt Lydia being sisters). He was right--I didn't recall specifically what he asked me to do. Another distant relative had entered his name and that of his children (although I discovered today that people have messed with those files, with half of his kids listed with their mother, and half without her listed). I'll have to fix that. At the time I was looking into those files, I discovered that LDS ordinance work had been done for all of Col. Tate's kids except Hannah. I realized that he wanted me to submit her name for temple work and have her sealed to him and his wife, since their other kids were sealed to them. It was such a sweet feeling to know that I could unite this family of one of our early Revolutionary heroes. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the restoration of priesthood powers in our temples today. --Carol Bays
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1743 - 1828 (85 years)
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