| 4. |  Timothy Reagan was born 1750, Anne Arundel County, Maryland (son of Timothy Ragan and Rachael Nelson); died Abt 1825/1830; was buried White Oak Flats Cemetery, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, Tennessee. Notes:
Timothy Ragan, grandson of Timothy Ragan - Colonial Ancestor was probably born in the Elk Ridge community. His parents have not been identified, but research on this continues.
In his youth, he was probably taught to read and write by his mother, and was taught the art of farming and blacksmithing by his father. So this was one of his lifetime occupations. He was also a carpenter and as most men did in those days, he could do almost any chore needed in daily life.
An early church census verifies their birth years. The census was taken in St. John and Prince George Parishes, Prince George County, Maryland on 31 31 August 1776 and listed; Timothy Ragan, age 26, and Elizabeth Ragan, age 16. No children were listed.
Traditions say that Timothy had four brothers who all served in the Revolutionary War and afterward moved to Tennessee. Other Reagans found in that early period include: Jeremiah in Washington County, Daniel in Greene County, Charles in Blount County, and James in Sevier County and a James in Knox County. These men were all of an age to have been Timothy's brothers but no definite connection to any of them has been made.
Timothy Reagan served in the Revolution with the Continental Troops of Maryland. He was seriously wounded at the Battle of Brandywine and again later in the war. Muster roll records found in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Show that he served as private with Captain John Eccleston, in the 2nd Regiment of Maryland Troops, commanded by Colonel Thomas Price. The records also show that he was left at a hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania, on 12 September 1777, the day after the Battle of Brandywine. He was reported as still being in the hospital six months later. No records of a pension or bounty land grants were found.
Timothy's name is found on the 1783 tax lists of Pittsylvania County, Virginia with five people in his family at that time. He does not appear on the tax lists for 1785.
His name is found in Caswell County, North Carolina, in the January and April counts of 1786. There were then seven persons in his family: a male age 21-60, 3 males under 21 or over 60, and 3 females.
Two grants of land, located in Caswell County, North Carolina, were recorded for Timothy Reagan. The first was issued in 1791 to Timothy Regan for 200 acres "on the waters of Fish Pond." Disposal of this land was recorded in
Caswell County, North Carolina Deed Book 'H', pages 110/11. The deed says "THIS INDENTURE made the thirteenth day of October and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety two Between Timothy Regan of the County of Caswell, North Carolina of the one part and Solomon Clark of the said County and State of the other part..." The second grant, dated 3 December 1795, was issued to Timothy Ragan and John Grant for 157 acres of land "on waters of Wolf Island." Records of disposal of this land have not been located yet but it is believed that Timothy moved to East Tennessee very soon after this date of 1795.
No mention of his name has been found in early records of the counties of Washington, Sullivan, Hawkins, Greene, or Jefferson. He is said to have joined a group of pioneers who pushed farther into the Indians' lands and built the settlement around the Shield's Fort, later Lawson's Fort, in Sevier County Tennessee. The late Joe A. Sharp, County Historian, believed this fort was located on Middle Creek. The date was probably a little later than the
settlement of Sevierville.
The State of Tennessee began issuing land grants in 1806 and the earliest found for Timothy Reagan was surveyed in 1807. According to the State Archivist, both land grants still in existence for Timothy were for purchased land, not bounty land. The first grant was surveyed 26 February 1807 and was granted 22 May 1810:
"... a certain tract or parcel of land containing fifty acres and one hundred and sixteen poles lying in the County of Sevier in the District South of French Broad and Holston on the waters of Middle Creek there being due and chargeable on said land the sum of fifty dollars and seventy-three cents with interest thereon..."
This tract joined the lands of Jennett (Shields) Tipton, widow of Joshua Tipton and the land of John Marshall. The second grant was entered 13 May 1824 and granted on 6 August 1824. This land joined a corner of Nancy Robinson's land:
"... or parcel of land containing twenty-five acres, lying in the County aforesaid. Beginning at a white oak on a line of said Reagan's old survey..."
Since this tract joined the old survey it is believed that this is where Timothy lived until his death, or until he went to live with his son, Richard, who had settled in White Oak Flats now Gatlinburg.
His great grandson, John H. Reagan, described Timothy as a tall, fine looking man, strong and having great vitality even in his older years. He was loved and respected by people and was fun-loving and witty. Being an Irishman, he enjoyed a practical joke now and then. A story handed down through the years tells that although he had built the stocks for the jail in Sevierville, he pretended that he did not know how they operated and persuaded the sheriff to sit in them to demonstrate for him. When the sheriff did he promptly locked them and enjoyed the fun at the sheriff's expense. (Wonder what happened when the sheriff did get out!)
We don't know the exact date of Timothy or Elizabeth's death. That he was living in 1824 is indicated by the entry of the land record above. Neither of them appear on the 1830 census of Sevier County so it is assumed their deaths
occurred before that date.
Family traditions say that Timothy Reagan was buried in an unmarked grave at White Oak Flats Cemetery, Gatlinburg, Tennessee near where the first person buried, in the lower left hand corner of the old part of the cemetery, looking up the Graveyard hill from the gate.
Timothy and Elizabeth Reagan had a large family, some say ten sons and one daughter. The North Carolina census indicates there were three females in the family in 1786 so there may have been more daughters in the family. Most of these children moved from Sevier County farther to the West and South. The oldest son, Richard, remained and was one of the first settlers of White Oak Flats, now Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
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Reference:
"Smoky Mountain Clans", Donald B. Reagan, 1978, p 1-3.
"The Book of Ragan/Reagan", Donald B. Reagan, 1993, p 396.
Timothy married Elizabeth Trigg Abt 1775, Prince George County, Maryland. Elizabeth (daughter of Clemant Trigg and Mary Ann Fouracres) was born 1760, Prince George County, Maryland; died Abt 1825/1830, Sevier County, Tennessee. [Group Sheet]
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