Source: Roots of Roane County, TN by Snyder E. Roberts - page 74
Mrs. E. M. Wells in her "History of Roane County", p. 155, gives the genealogy of the Jesse Byrd family with him as the father of one son and one daughter, and states that he came from VA, settled at Kingston, and established the first ferry at that point in 1795. Historian Walter Pulliam wrote a scholarly feature article for the "Harriman Record" entitled, "Col. Robert King Byrd--The Greatest Roane Countian" (grandson of Jesse Byrd) in which he repeats Mrs. Wells' statements above, and which may be perfectly correct, but need to be review in consideration of other known facts.
Jesse Byrd was born in Franklin County, VA in 1764. Goodspeeds "History of East Tennessee, Sevier County," p. 835, says that Jacob Byrd (Bird) settled in present Sevier County in 1785 at Byrd's Crossroads, and the first Sevier Court met November 8, 1794 and Jesse Byrd was chosen Register and served in that office for 1794-96.
Jesse Byrd's name is not on the 1799 petition to create Roane County, but is on the effective petition of 1801. His name is on the Roane 1802 militia and tax list. Roane deeds A, p 140 dated 1802 shows Jesse Byrd bought a lot from Edmund Waller. He bought two lots from Robert King in 1804, and A. p. 210 dated 1804, he bought 200 acres from John Smith T. on the sough side of Clinch River. He was not among the first, but served as a Justice of Peace for many years. Jesse Byrd was a trustee of Rittenhouse Academy.
Jesse Byrd was evidently a fine man, but he made some bad business decisions for which he suffered. In 1804, he mortgaged his tavern to Solomon Geren. Book B, p 394 dated 1807, Jesse Byrd sold to Neilson, King and Smith his tavern, stables, kitchen, etc.
In September 1831, Jesse sent a petition signed by nine of his friends to the State Legislature. It tells the sad story. Jesse had badly over-extended his resources in anticipation of making much money when Kingston became the Capitol in 1807. When this failed to materialize, he found himself with a vast amount of commodities which he could not sell. He was broke. He worked hard to pay off his debts, but as an old man in 1831, he petitioned the Legislature to partially relieve his losses with a grant of land south of the Tennessee River. The Legislative action was to mark the petition "Unreasonable".
In the petition, Jesse stated that he was old and had a wife and "three" daughters to support. In the Roane 1830 census, a Joseph Byrd (b 1770-80) lived nearby --possibly a brother. [Jesse - 0000100001-00120001]
Jesse's son, Joseph, was born 1795, and served as Roane County Sheriff 1832-38. He was well-to-do. He acquired much land including the old Benjamin Pride home site. (F., p. 514) in 1821. Joseph was the father of 13 children, one of whom was Col. Robert K. Byrd.
Jesse Byrd died in 1847, and his wife a few years later.
[This article is excerpted from a section of the book about early ferries. There was a ferry at Kingston prior to 1797. ]