Jerry and Linda Butler

The last will and testament of Robert Samuel included the following bequeaths: land to son Bazzel; one dollar each to children (and their heirs, etc.) Elizabeth, Phillip and Peggy; other property and estate to children Bazzel, Nancy and Polly - after debts, including funeral costs; to children Isaac, Samuel, Phoebe and Rebecca one hundred fifty dollars each - to be paid by executors as soon as it can be collected from the state. Bazzel was named sole executor on this will dated October 14, 1815.

August 11, 1794: Robert, no longer a young man, came from Hawkins County Tennessee (then and today located northeast of Knoxville), and on that day, he registered a deed (purchased with "pounds of Virginia money") from William Reed and Abraham Swagerty, for 640 acres in Knox County - a part of which is now known as Roane County, which is southwest of Knoxville. According to documents (and accepted as proof), Robert Samuel to witness the recording were his son Philip Brashear and sons-in-law Robert Gilliland and Eli as Roberts. This 640-acre tract ran just west of Clinch River.

Robert Samuel, referred to - with good reason - by his son Bazzel as "the rolling stone", lived in Maryland as a young child. At 11, his family moved to Virginia; when he was 15, they went on to North Carolina; by 1785 he'd moved his family to South Carolina and at some time between that date and 1794, again relocated to Tenn essee.

Children
Philip BRASHEAR b: 17 DEC 1755 in Guilford County, N. Carol ina
Margaret "Peggy" BRASHEAR b: 27 MAY 1758 in N. Carolina
Isaac BRASHEAR b: 23 OCT 1760 in Guilford County, N. Carolina
Samuel BRASHEAR b: 6 AUG 1763 in Guilford County, N. Carolina
Elizabeth BRASHEAR b: 14 DEC 1768 in Guilford Cou nty, N. Carolina
Phoebe BRASHEAR b: 8 JUL 1770
Rebecca BRASHEAR b: 9 JAN 1771 in Guilford County, N. Carolina
Nancy BRASHEAR b: 11 MAY 1773 in Guilford Cou nty, N. Carolina
Mary BRASHEAR b: 13 MAR 1776 in Guilford County, N. Carolina
Basil BRASHEAR b: 8 MAY 1781 in Sullivan County, Tennessee

BRASHER FAMILY
Compiled by David L. Donahue, P.O. Box 218, Parsons, TN 38363-0218
ddonahue@netease.net

FIRST GENERATION

1. Robert Samuel[1] Brashear. Born, 20 Aug 1731, in Prince George Co, MD. Died, 15 Jan 1816, in Ro ane Co., TN. Burial in Brashear Cem., Sugar Grove Val., Roane Co., TN.
   "The Brashear families are of French origin and have been researched extensively on a national scale by experts in genealogy for many, many years.

Troy L. Back's book 'The Brashear Story' is the best of the publications but it flounders on the Roane County portion of the story. The Brashear family's contribution to Roane may be restricted mainly to Robert Samuel Brashear and his clan who settled in the picturesque Sugar Grove Valley in 1794. His remarkable story is of prime 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. . . .

"Robert Samuel Brashear, the son of Robert and Charity Dowell Brashear, was born August 20, 1731 in Prince George County, Maryland. He left Maryland when he was eleven years of age, and moved with his parents to Fairfax County, Virginia. When he was fifteen the family moved to what is now Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina. The Breashears families were very active members of the Buffalo Presbyterian Church which was founded in 1756, and presently occupies an entire city block in Greensboro. The Brashears were also active in county government. On August 8, 1760 Robert Samuel received North Carolina grant no. 171 (Book 14, p. 337) for 381 acres on both sides of Buffalo Creek. About 1754, Robert S. Brashear married Phoebe Nicks (1738-1811) daughter of John and Mary Nicks. All of their ten children were born in Guilford County with the possible exception of the youngest one. In [1779] Robert S. received a grant for 3 00 acres on a branch of Reedy Creek in what is no