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- [S106] The Mountain Press, 17 Sep 2012.
Upland Chronicles: Gatlinburg named for a man of, well, little respect
by CARROLL McMAHAN
Most cities are named in honor of a local hero or a prominent national figure, Gatlinburg however is an exception. Curiously, the community populated by settlers with names such as Ogle, Huskey, Reagan, Bohannon and Whaley was named for Radford Gatlin, a controversial man who amassed more detractors than he did allies.
The brief period Radford Gatlin resided in Gatlinburg undoubtedly left its mark. However, Gatlin was such a lightning rod, over the past century and a half it has become difficult to separate fact from fiction.
According to the 1850 Sevier County Census records Gatlin was born in Georgia about 1798 and his wife Elizabeth was born in Tennessee about 1802. The census listed Radford as a merchant with an estate worth $500.00.
Gatlin moved from Jefferson County, where he was engaged in numerous petty lawsuits with his neighbors, to the Tuckahoe Creek Community in Sevier County. While living there he represented the twelfth Civil District in the Sevier County Court.
Following a revival, Gatlin and his wife joined the Paw Paw Hollow Baptist Church. Within a year, the church ordained Gatlin as a minister. He also became the assistant church clerk and wrote the minutes.
Soon Gatlin played a major role in a dispute that resulted in a split-up of the church. The controversy arose over the issue of whether to support missionaries. Things got so out of hand that “fist fights broke out in the church yard.” As a result Radford and Elizabeth Gatlin were “thrown out” of the church.
On July 3, 1854, Gatlin sold his Tuckahoe Creek farm and soon afterward moved to the White Oak Flats community. Initially he purchased 50 acres from Elisha Ogle. Within a few months he somehow obtained an additional 5, 000 acres, which was recorded in a Tennessee land grant dated October 30, 1855. Much of the acreage claimed by Gatlin was already settled.
Soon after coming to White Oak Flats Gatlin organized a church that he called the New Hampshire Baptist Gatlinities, teaching a doctrine similar to that of the Primitive Baptist of today. He attracted a sizeable following but the organization was short lived.
He was regarded as overbearing in his manners and was often unpleasantly antagonistic in expressing his opinions, especially in favor of succession, though prevailing sentiment in the community was ardently pro- Union.
Subsequently, he was forbidden the use of the only church house in the settlement for his preaching. For a time after this he preached in the open, under a large oak tree. His congregation soon dwindled and he gave up on the attempts to hold services.
Despite his growing list of enemies, somehow Gatlin managed to have the first post office located in his store and Richard Regan became the first postmaster. Possibly because Gatlin owned the building, the name chosen was for the post office was Gatlinburg.
On April 24, 1958, a mail route was established between Sevierville and Cashier’s Valley, South Carolina by way of the new “Gatlinburg” post office; the mail contractors were Daniel W. Reagan and J.S. Conner, who received $309.00 per annum for the weekly roundtrip of 176 miles.
Although few records of Gatlin’s activities in White Oak Flats are known to exist, there is strong evidence that his relationship with his new mountain neighbors may have deteriorated over Gatlin’s attempt to change the main road through the settlement.
Apparently Gatlin was able to get the Sevier County Court to appoint a jury of view to mark out an alteration in the road to run immediately from the north bank of Roaring Fork Creek and running as near as possible with the river to the upper end of Gatlin’s property.
Nothing was done about the road change, but Gatlin was persistent and the following year requested the court to appoint a second jury for the same purpose. Obviously the change proposed by Gatlin was for his own benefit.
Trouble with the White Oak Flats natives came when both Radford and Elizabeth were indicted by the Sevier County Grand Jury for assault and battery of Thomas Ogle Sr. The fight occurred on June 10, 1857. Separate trials were held in the circuit court.
At the trial for Elizabeth, Thomas Ogle Sr. testified “she struck me in the hand with a stick she had been striking the cattle with, but when I came up she hit me in the hand with a pine stick. I took hold of the stick and jerked her on the ground. The defendant was striking at me several times with the stick and she hit me in the hand as I caught the stick.”
Mrs. Gatlin was convicted and fined one dollar.
Gatlin’s trial occurred later and also resulted in a conviction, but he was granted a new trail that again resulted in conviction. His fine was one dollar as well. The feud between the two families escalated when Gatlin appealed both cases to the Tennessee Supreme Court rather than pay the modest fines. The high court affirmed the decisions of the local court.
Not long after the fight Gatlin’s barn and stables were burned up along with his grain and horses, and his cattle killed in the woods. Gatlin brought an arson charge against Levi Ogle and Thomas Ogle, but after five days’ investigation the Sevier County grand jury brought no indictments.
The frivolous law suits against the Ogle family continued one after the other until Gatlin finally decided to leave town. In fact, he moved without ever paying his one dollar fine and his bondsmen had to pay it.
As years passed stories about Gatlin’s brief sojourn in Gatlinburg were enlarged and embellished, with telling, until he became an almost legendary figure. Many of the stories that have been circulated cannot be proved.
When Gatlin’s slave woman became sick and died it was whispered that he had killed her.
Outspoken in his advocacy of the Confederate cause, Gatlin was constantly speaking out in favor of it. One night after he had delivered a particularly bitter speech, he was visited by a band of masked men, given a severe beating and ordered to leave the community.
Most of his land was subject to prior claims; therefore he was unable to establish a valid claim and left Gatlinburg a poor man.
He went from Gatlinburg to Strawberry Plains where he opened a school. Gatlin remained there until December 1863 when Federal troops captured the place. Gatlin, a strong Southern sympathizer, ran away to Atlanta.
By 1865 he was connected with the provost Marshal’s office of the Confederate States of America. When the war was over, without property or means of earning a livelihood, and growing old, a friend in South Carolina took Radford and Elizabeth to his home in Union, South Carolina.
No known records exist to substantiate the time and place of his death but it is likely that he died and was buried there in Union, SC.
The story often told that Radford Gatlin was the only man in Sevier County who voted to succeed from the Union in 1860 could not possibly be true. While the results was overwhelmingly pro-union, there was more than one person who voted to succeed.
There have been stories told about Gatlin which cannot be proven and others that have been greatly embellished. However, it would be hard to find a town named in honor of someone who was less respected than Radford Gatlin was in Gatlinburg.
— Carroll McMahan is the Special Projects Facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or email to cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or email to ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S112] Census, 1840.
name: Radford Gatlin
residence: Not Stated, Jefferson, Tennessee
page number: 312
nara publication number: M704
nara roll number: 526
film number: 0024546
digital folder number: 004410739
image number: 00631
- [S112] Census, 1850.
name: Radford Gatlin
event: Census
event date: 1850
event place: Sevier county, Sevier, Tennessee, United States
gender: Male
age: 52
marital status:
race (original):
race (standardized):
birthplace: Georgia
estimated birth year: 1798
dwelling house number: 942
family number: 942
line number: 34
nara publication number: M432
nara roll number: 895
film number: 444851
digital folder number: 004206053
image number: 00189
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Radford Gatlin M 52 Georgia
Elizabeth Gatlin F 48 Tennessee
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
groom's name: Radford Gatlin
groom's birth date:
groom's birthplace:
groom's age:
bride's name: Elizabeth Daniel
bride's birth date:
bride's birthplace:
bride's age:
marriage date: 05 Jun 1818
marriage place: Greene, Georgia
groom's father's name:
groom's mother's name:
bride's father's name:
bride's mother's name:
groom's race:
groom's marital status:
groom's previous wife's name:
bride's race:
bride's marital status:
bride's previous husband's name:
indexing project (batch) number: M71296-1
system origin: Georgia-EASy
source film number: 159051
reference number: bk p
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