Samuel DENTON

Samuel DENTON born 1734 in Orange County,New York
Samuel was a Revolutionary War Soldier in the NC Continental Line and received bounty land in White CO, TN. By 1769 both Abraham III and Samuel had joined a wagon train from the Shenandoah Valley to Lord Granville's land sale in North Carolina. This wagon train was made up of the then current younger generation of the Plumleys, Weavers, Moores, Hoggs, Dentons, etc.

These, the growing-up children of the original immigrants to the Virginia frontier were marrying and developing families of their own and hungered for land of their own. They could not afford the local land and family holdings were not large enough to divide among all of the children.
When Lord Granville began to advertise his land for sale, it was a new frontier to these young families. Tax lists and early censuses show that Samuel settled in what is now Granville CO while Abraham III settled in Caswell CO. Each chose to settle near where their wives and relatives bought land. -- the Moores around Samuel and the Hoggs around Abraham III's family.

He married Elizabeth Chastain. He also married Margaret MOORE. Margaret MOORE, died in Granville CO, NC. They had the following children:

A 1. John DENTON John DENTON 1759-1842 Was born on 17 Jun 1759 in Shenandoah CO, VA. Died on 2 Jul 1842 in Monroe CO, TN. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the Hopewell Church Cemetery, five (5) miles from Madisonville, Tennessee. John DENTON married Mary MOORE
From Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files:" "John, Mary, W352, NC & VA? soldier was b. 6-17-1759 in Shenandoah CO, VA and at age of 15 moved to the Watuga River in what is now Washington CO, TN and lived there
at enl. & lived there 8 years then moved to the Nolichucky River in TN for 8 years then moved to Cocke CO TN. or 8 years then moved to Monroe CO, TN and sol appl there 18 Jun 1833 and wid appl there 30 Jan 1844 aged 77 in Feb 1843, sol & wid had m. 1 Apr 1782 and she was b. 27 Feb 1766, sol d 2 Jul 1842,

In the year 1779 or '80 he volunteered while living on Nolachucky River in what is now Washington CO, TN. in the Cavalry under Col. John Sevier to go against the Cherokee Indians.
When the company was raised, Joseph Bullen was elected Captain and applicant 1st Lt. in which offices they served. About 270 men were under Col. Sevier who marched from Long Cedar Springs -- in what is now Blount CO, TN, where they had an engagement with the Indians and killed 12 of them and wounded many more.

He killed one Indian whom he had pursued some distance and from him he took a new gun with "Georgia Rex" on the barrel and a new tomahawk, said to have been furnished by the British. He then under Col. Sevier marched back to Buckingham Island in French Broad, where they were joined by Col. Campbell from VA with about 300 men.
They then all marched down the Tennessee River in what is now Monroe CO and killed several Indians in the campaign. In this campaign he was engaged as 1st Lt. at least one month and a half. He received no discharge and no pay and served in all eleven months.

And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion after the investigation of the matter and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department, that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary soldier and served as he states. Jeremiah Frazer, Thomas J. Caldwell, William James, William Tipton."
He married Mary MOORE on 8 Jun 1782. Mary MOORE was born on 27 Feb 1766, the daughter of Martha "Mary" Denton and Dr. James Moore.
She died after 1850. Buried in Hopewell Church Cemetery.
"Sworn to an subscribed on the day and year above written before me a Justice of the Peace for the County aforesaid and I further certify that the said Mrs. Mary Denton is from bodily infirmity unable to attend court.
I further certify that the family record attached to Mrs. Mary Denton's declaration was in her possession and I saw it taken from her family Bible. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 30th day of January Eighteen hundred and forty four. George Snider, JP."

This infomation is from the Roster of Soldiers and Patriots of the American Revolution Buried in Tennessee. Ref. DAR #459180; Pen-Files W-352; 1834 P.L.W. Monroe County, TN Records; AL Children of John DENTON and Mary:

B 1.Phebe DENTON b. 15 Feb 1783 B 2.Sarah DENTON b. 1 Feb 1786 married Joseph Padget B 3.Reuben DENTON b. 22 Jan 1788 died 1851 B 4.Martha DENTON b. 21 May 1790 B 5.Abigail DENTON b. 11 Mar 1792 married Jackson Denton B 6.Polly DENTON married __ Taylor B 7.Isaac DENTON b 1794 died July 1883 married 1st 1815 to Elizabeth Gwin, married 2nd to Mary J. __
Isom DENTON son of (David and Elizabeth Gwin DENTON) married on July 17, 1825 to Elizabeth Lincoln a first cousin to Abraham Lincoln.

B 8.Elizabeth DENTON B 9.John DENTON Jr. married Luvenia Tipton B 10.Abraham B. DENTON Sr. born Jan 22, 1798 in Tenn. died after 1860 married Dec. 12, 1819 to Nancy Shrewsberry Allen born Sept. 5. 1804 died 1863 the daughter of John and Nancy Mattox Allen. Children of Abraham B. DENTON Sr. and Nancy:

D 1.Elizabeth DENTON b. 12 Dec. 1820 died Sept. 10, 1840 married A.B. Odell (Odle) D 2.John A. DENTON b. 9 Aug. 1822 married Mar. 2, 1842 to Margaret Odell D 3.Tipton DENTON b. 27 Aug. 1824 D 4.Mary Ann DENTON b. 19 Aug. 1826 married Sept. 26, 1844 to Jeremiah Thomas D 5.James DENTON b. 22 Nov. 1828 married Lucinda __. D 6.Emilia DENTON b. 26 Sept. 1830 married __ Templin D 7.Abraham B.DENTON Jr. b. 10 Dec. 1832 married Maranda Gray b. 1839, the daughter of George and Margaret Gray. Children of Abraham B.DENTON Jr. and Maranda:

E 1.Tennessee DENTON b. 24 Dec 1859 married Alexander Clevenger E 2.John Dillon DENTON b.31 Mar. 1861 died 1897 married Feb. 2, to Sallie Bryant E 3.Mary Florence DENTON b.7 Oct. 1862 married Leander Bailey E 4.Emma DENTON married West Ledford E 5.Alexander DENTON E 6.Isaac DENTON died in Texas E 7.Lucinda DENTON. died 1914 in Texas married John Manua E 8.James DENTON E 9.Edward DENTON E 10.Sarah DENTON married Chas. Mulford E 11.George DENTON

D 8.Nancy DENTON b. 21 Mar. 1835 married __ Lawson D 9.William A. DENTON b. 12 Nov. 1837 married Fannie Rutherford D 10.Isaac J. DENTON b. 25 May 1840 D 11.Amanda Matilda DENTON b. 28 Aug. 1842 married Sept. 21, 1870 to Brummit Bryant Jr. D 12.Sarah DENTON b. 10 Oct. 1845 married Jim Stuart
B 11.William DENTON b 1800 died 1856, married Amanda Allen B 12.Rebecca DENTON B 13.Anna DENTON died 1895, married Joseph Catheart "Possibly one daughter married Charles Doncho"
A 2. Jonathan DENTON A 3. Martha DENTON A 4. Mary DENTON A 5. Rebecca S. DENTON A 6. Margaret DENTON A 7. Benjamin DENTON A 8. Jacob DENTON Jr A 9. Rebecca DENTON A 10. Jemima DENTON

Jemima DENTON was born in 1770 in Dunmore CO, VA. Died in 1863 in Pendleton District, SC. She married John CHASTAIN Jr. in 1788 in Pendleton Dist. SC. John CHASTAIN Jr was born in 1766 in Buckingham CO, VA. Died in 1845 in Pendleton District, SC. Canup, Evylene Anders, "The Family of Dr. Pierre Chastain".
John CHASTAIN Jr. came with his father to Tennessee, then later settled in Pendleton District, SC, near Pumpkintown.
John Jr. was blind in later years and was called "Blind John Chastain." He died in Pumpkinville. John and his wife are buried next to his father and mother at the old Chastain Cemetery No. 1. All their children were born in Pendleton District, SC.

(Box 13 #174, Probate Judge Office, Pickens, SC): On 6 Jan 1845 letter of admn. was granted to Littleton Akins. Left a widow Jemima Chastain and five children. On 17 Jan 1848 paid James and Martha Allen share $32. (One place James Allen wife's name is Elizabeth.) Received from Edward Chastain on old account $3. Received of Maxwell Chastain on old account $19.

On 30 April 1847 John C., Samuel D., James, Matilda, Nancy Allen, Ervin Simmons of Habersham CO, GA appointed Nolen L. Meroney their attorney to receive their part of the estate of John Chastain, dec'd. of Pickens District SC. Cit. Pub. at Bethlehem Church. Children of Jemima DENTON and John CHASTAIN Jr.:
C 1.Rebecca A. CHASTAIN C 2.Rebecca CHASTAIN C 3.Elizabeth CHASTAIN C 4.Mary CHASTAIN C 5.John CHASTAIN Jr C 6.John Abner CHASTAIN C 7.Rev. Maxwell Denton CHASTAIN C 8.Virginia Jane CHASTAIN C 9.Nancy CHASTAIN C 10.Robert Edward CHASTAIN
A 11. Samuel DENTON Jr. Elizabeth CHASTAIN

JOHN HAMILTON CHASTEEN DENTON (1840-1913) grandson of Samuel and Elizabeth Chastain Denton John Hamilton Chasteen Denton, born 1840 died 1913, and wife Albertine lived at Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest on Little Santeetlah Creek, North Carolina, the only white family ever to live in this forest.
Sometime after 1890, John Denton (six feet five and one-half inches, a rough and tumble fighter, a Confederate soldier who had survived the first Battle of Bull Run
and the Siege Of Vicksburg) whipped some 20 men in front of the old Court house at Robbinsville, NC with scale weights, stovewood, and rocks.

The fight started in the George Walker General Store, where John Denton had been leaning up against the store counter as he and other men talked.
Bob McElroy, Sheriff or Clerk of the Court, approached and demanded that John Denton pay his Poll Tax a $2.00 tax to be paid by each adult male citizen.

John Denton replied that it had already been paid, and he had the receipt at home. McElroy called Denton a liar. Whereupon Denton knocked McElroy to the floor with his fist,
McElroy jumped up, and with one swoop of his Bowie knife, slashed off John Denton's long beard, just below his chin.
Denton fumbled behind him for something with which to hit McElroy, got hold of a heavy cast iron scale weight, the center of whic was filled with lead, and hit McElroy in the chest, knocking him cold.

Others in the store took up the fight, and it spilled out onto the porch, at one end of which was a neat stack of oak stovewood. John Denton grabbed stick after stick, busting heads like a madman. Others came running from the Court House,
either to join in the fray or watch as John Denton fought two, three, or four men at one time.
The Court House Square was not paved, and there was a plentiful supply of rocks weighing three or four pounds each. Now out of stovewood, off the porch and down on the ground,

John Denton, who never used a rifle to kill a turkey or pheasant, made use of his favorite ammunition, rocks.
Denton threw a rock at John G. (Pird) Tatham, missing his head by a hair. The rock hit the front of the store with such force it busted the weather boarding and bounced back, hitting Justice of the Peace Nathan Green Phillips, an old Confederate Army Captain, just where his suspenders, or gallowses, crossed.

Phillips had been shouting, "Peace, men, peace, men." and waving his arms in an effort to stop the fighting. Capt. Phillips, now injured, fell to the ground and, unable to rise, had to crawl home on his hands and knees.
Many times afterward, John Denton expressed regret that his friend Capt. Phillips had been injured.
Rona Tatham said she saw Uncle Pird Tatham heading for the house, obviously to get his pistol which was hanging on the back porch,

and knowing what would happen, she got there first and hid the pistol in the wood pile.
The fighting subsided and the crowd melted away, but for years afterwards, the citizens of Robbinsville and vicinity had a healthy respect for John Denton, and no Graham County official was ever again known to try to collect Poll Tax twice from John Denton!

John Denton got his first hog, a sow about to whelp a litter of pigs, for $3.00, the sum he was paid to split 1,000 chestnut fence rails for one of the Stewarts on lower Big Santeetlah. He completed the job in two days.
Denton used a pair of bulls (not steers) to log and farm his new ground on Santeetlah. Arthur and Forrest Denton said their father always had to "lead" the bulls into the logs, while he drove the jay grab, because once hitched to a log, the bulls were off and there was no stopping them until they reached the icy landing.
About 1907, while he and son Grover were cutting timber on West Buffalo, John Denton had an accident which left him a cripple for the rest of his life. Part of a tree fell on him, and his left leg was broken.

Dr. Robert J. Orr set the leg and applied splints of stout hickory held in place by strips torn from bed sheets, but after the morphine wore off, John Denton complained that the pain was unbearable, and taking his pocket knife, he cut the bandages holding the splints. The leg healed crooked, leaving him a cripple.
Afterwards, Denton, tall, gaunt, with his pigtails and hair flowing, using two walking sticks, visited old friends in Robbinsville, Andrews, and Murphy, walking through the woods from Santeetlah, and after his wife died, from Snowbird,
where Cub, Forrest, and Charlie built him a one-room cabin in the upper end of Cub's fields.

About 1912, John Denton was granted a Confederate pension by the State of North Carolina for service during the Civil War as a private in Company D, 3rd Tennessee Infantry, raised at Benton, Polk County, TN in 1861.
He had his check sent to Andrews, the nearest bank, and with the $200.00 in back pay, he bought a service for eight of 1847 Rogers Sterling from Bruce Fisher, who had it on display in his store in Andrews.
With the silver in its velvet-lined cherry wood box in a sack tied to his shoulder, Denton headed for his one-room cabin on Little Snowbird.

Mrs. Cub Denton and daughter Alma said when they had large numbers of guests for dinner, they would borrow the Sterling,
always returning it to John Denton in the cherry box. He buried it someplace before he died, but it was never found.
John Denton's bear trap was found by an employee of the Forest Service. Vie Denton has his grandfather's hunting axe, a small but stout one blade chopping axe, carried in a leather sling and case. Somebody removed Denton's muzzle loader rifle from his cabin in his absence, and it was never found.

After the Dentons left their home, others began to use the house, and fearful of forest fires, the U.S. Forest Service decided in the 1940's to tear down the old log house, thinking it would take only a few hours. Actually it took four days.
John Denton had not only notched and fitted the logs to make a snug, warm house for his family but had bored holes with a large screw auger and then driven in locust pins to tie the logs together with a vise-like grip.

John Denton, wife Albertine, son Cub who died in 1911 from a ruptured appendix, and several other members of the Denton family are buried in the Denton Cemetery on Little Snowbird at the Forrest Denton place.

(from The Andrews Journal, Wednesday, July 5, 1972)