Robert Samuel Brashear and Phoebe Nicks
FIRST KNOWN WHITE SETTLERS OF ROANE COUNTY, TN.
Robert Samuel Brashear is registered with First Families of TN
Brashear Creek, facing Brashear Island
Source: Roots of Roane County, Tennessee 1792-, by Snyder E. Roberts, 1981
The Brashear(s) families are of French origin and have been researched extensively on a national scale. The Brashear family’s contribution to Roane County may be restricted mainly to ROBERT SAMUEL BRASHEAR and his clan who settled in Sugar Grove Valley in 1794. His story is of importance because he, his sons and sons-in-law, were the first to actually settle in present-day Roane County according to documentary proof thus far produced.
On 11 August 1794, ROBERT SAMUEL BRASHEAR, "of Hawkins County, Tennessee" registered a deed from Reed and Swagerty for 640 acres on Poplar Creek and Clinch River, in a section of Knox County that would later become Roane County. (Knox Co. Deeds Book c, pg 15). Witnesses to the deed were PHILLIP BRASHEAR (son), ROBERT GILLILAND (son-in-law) and ELIAS ROBERTS (son in law). The land was on the west side of the Clinch river, where Cherokee title was not "extinguished" until 1806.
Robert Samuel Brashear, the son of ROBERT and CHARITY DOWELL BRASHEAR, was born 20 Aug 1731 in Prince George County, MD. About 1754, he married PHOEBE NICKS (1738-1811), daughter of JOHN AND MARGARET EDWARDS NICKS. (Phoebe died in NC, but body brought to Roane County for burial).
In 1794 Roane, their nearest neighbor would have been the troops at Fort South West Point five miles away. Certain soldiers from South West Point came courting, and Robert S. acquired at least one son-in-law in 1797, DANIEL MASON, and probably in 1801, NATHANIEL MASON. The nearest neighbor to the northeast would have been THOMAS FROST, SR., the first known settler in Anderson County.
ROBERT SAMUEL died in 1815 (estate probated 15 January 1816) at the age of 84, and was buried beside his beloved Phoebe in the Brashear Graveyard. He left both a Will and a Bible, which name his children, however there is some confusion about one child. His will names "my daughter ELIZABETH SATTERFIELD" but mentions no MARGARET. His Bible lists MARGARET as born 17 May 1758, but does not mention an ELIZABETH. Some researchers believe this daughter was named MARGARET ELIZABETH and had married JEREMIAH SATTERFIELD and was living in Giles County in 1815. Or, perhaps the Margaret born 1758 was deceased by 1816.
Children of Robert Samuel and Phoebe Nicks Brashear:
1. PHILLIP BRASHEAR b 17 Dec 1755 NC d Roane before 1815. Rev War Soldier The 1790 SC census shows his family with 2 daughters. Names unknown. The daughters may have been MINERVA and MARY ELIZABETH.
2. ISAAC BRASHEAR b 23 Oct 1760 NC, d before 25 Jul 1833 in Perry Co. TN Rev. War Soldier. Wife or wives unknown. He had nine known children, most of whom moved to other Tennessee counties further west, and Arkansas. In 1801, ISAAC BRASHEAR signed a petition to create Roane County from a portion of Knox County.
Also on the petition are relatives and in-laws of Brashear family: JOSEPH HANKINS, STEPHEN RICE, BASIL BRASHEAR, JOHN BRASHEAR, ROBERT SAMUEL BRASHEAR, DANIEL MASON, NATHANIEL MASON, JOHN GILLILAND,
3. CAPT. SAMUEL BRASHEAR b 6 Aug 1763 NC d 25 Nov 1829 Sullivan County. Rev. War Soldier. He married in 1786 MARGARET EAKIN. They had 8 children. Their descendants inter-married with the BALL and COMBS families in southeastern KY. Margaret died in Perry Co., KY. See also, http://www.angelfire.com/oh/myfamilygenes/brashears.html
4. MARGARET ‘PEGGY’ BRASHEAR b 12 Dec 1766 NC. She married ALEXANDER W. MAHAN. . They lived near her father in SC in 1793, then moved to Roane in 1794. They were in Cumberland KY for a time, where Peggy probably died.
5. PHOEBE BRASHEAR b 8 July 1769 NC. She married first (1801 Knox Co.) NATHANIEL MASON, possibly a brother to DANIEL MASON. She married secondly , STEPHEN RICE, who had been in Roane County from an early date. It may be this PHOEBE whose death is listed in the Brashear Bible as 1839. On 11 June 1814, Stephen and Phoebe Brashear Rice gave their power of attorney to John B. Rice (who had married Sarah "Sally" Brashears, d/o Isaac Brashears), to collect Phoebe's share of the estate of Quinton Nicks.
6. REBECCA BRASHEAR b 1771 NC. married ELIAS ROBERTS. They were in SC and made the move to Roane with the clan. ELIAS leased and occupied before 1798, a 500-acre tract astride Poplar Creek at the present Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant site. On 4 June 1799 he bought this tract from STOCKLEY DONELSON. He died in 1806 from unknown cause and Rebecca lived another 50 years, continuing to operate the farm until her death in 1859. They had 10 children.
[Elias Roberts is shown as a First Families of Tennessee ancestor - #3916. All descendants of Robert Samuel would be eligible too]
7. NANCY BRASHEAR b 11 May 1773 d 12 July 1850 Roane County. She married ZACCHEUS ROBERTS (1753-1826) Rev. War Soldier. They bought 50 acres of bottom land on the south side of Clinch River in July 1799.
8. MARY ‘POLLY’ BRASHEAR b 13 March 1776 NC d 1819 Roane Co. She married first, ROBERT GILLILAND. They had two children—ROBERT SAMUEL GILLILAND who was the second Sheriff of Roane county, and JANE GILLILAND HAGGARD. MARY ‘POLLY’ married in 1797 DANIEL MASON by whom she had six children.
9. ELIZABETH BRASHEAR b. ? m JEREMIAH SATTERFIELD
10. BAZZEL (BASIL) BRASHEAR b 8 May 1781 in present-day Sullivan Co, TN. He married, in 1800, MARGARET ‘PEGGY’ HORTON. After his father’s death, Bazzel was evidently the leader of the remaining Brashear clan until his death 10 Aug 1826. After Bazzel’s death, his widow, PEGGY, emerged as the matriarch. Bazzel inherited Robert Samuel’s land and family Bible. Nine children.