Seventh Generation

66. Absalom RUTHERFORD Sr.^191,192 was born in 1763 in Albemarle Co., VA. He signed a will on 6 February 1831 in Knox Co., TN.¹⁹³ The will lists his wife, Mary and gives her the plantation, all the stock, household and kitchen furniture, farming utensils and Negroes... suring her widowhood. If she remarries she only gets one third of the land and the house where she now lives. Absalom,Jr. got the land and building where he now lives. Sons James and Absalom got all the land. He left a negro girl (6 year old Mary) to his daughter Nancy Kearns. If the wife dies or remarries the Negroes are to be given to daughters Ann Graves, Mary Peterson, Sary Clapp, and Ceny Underwood. If they cannot reach a satisfactory divide they were to be sold except for the Negro serserved for his wife. He also said to give his son-in-law, Christopher Shipley, one dollar out of my estate when he calls for it. He also lists three grandchildren James, Ann and William Peterson who were living with George Graves and the children of my daughter Esther Peterson, wife of WIlliam Peterson fifty dollars each at the time they come of age. Mary, his wife, was appointed executor and witnessed by John Bayless, William Sawyers and A. E. McHaffie.
He died on 28 June 1841 at the age of 78 in Knox Co., TN.¹⁹² Will proven for name at place on date. Absalom declared under oath 22 Sep 1832 that he was born in Albemarle Co., Va., in 1763. He enlisted in the militia in Wythe Co., Va., for a term of service of eighteen months under the command of Capt. William Bentley. He participated in the battles of Guilford Courthouse, Camden (wounded here - broke right leg below the knee), Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs. Absalom was allowed a pension and after his death his wife Mary made application for a pension 18 May 1844 and made application for bounty land 24 Mar 1855. Land records in Wythe Co., Va. show that Julius Rutherford and his wife Rhoda conveyed 200 acres of land on Mine Mill Creek 23 Nov 1790 to Absalom. Absalom received his discharge at Yorktown, VA. and there met the girl who became his wife. Absalom followed her family to TN; stole her away near Knoxville; married, and settled near House Mountain on a tract of 600 acres of land. --Information from page 210 of Rutherford book. The 600 acre grant is the land the Corryton was built on.
Pension Records, Group A., No. 15 A, R9113, General Services Administration, Washington, DC.
Mary MCBRIDE and Absalom RUTHERFORD Sr. were married in February 1790 in Grainger Co., TN.¹⁹² Near Blaine.

67. Mary MCBRIDE was born in 1771 in NC.

Children were:

33
i.
Sarah RUTHERFORD.
ii.
Ann RUTHERFORD was born on 7 December 1791 in VA. She died in 1869 at the age of 78.¹⁸
iii.
Delilah RUTHERFORD was born on 11 April 1793 in Knox Co., TN.¹⁹²
iv.
Mary RUTHERFORD was born on 25 January 1795 in Knox Co., TN.¹⁹²
v.
Absalom RUTHERFORD Jr.¹⁹⁴ was born in 1797 in Knox Co., TN. He died in 1851 at the age of 54 in Knox Co., TN. Absalom, Jr. Died before 1850. His widow and children were enumerated on the 1850 census in Knox Co., Tn. he was reared near House Mountain, now Corryton, TN and inherited the dwelling house and the east one-half of his father's farm on Flat Creek in 1841.
vi.
James RUTHERFORD was born in 1806 in Knox Co., TN.¹⁹⁵
vii.
Esther RUTHERFORD¹⁹⁶ was born about 1801 in House Mountain, Corryton, Knox Co., TN.¹⁹⁷ Esther was mentioned in her father's will. Absolom Rutherford wrote: "I bequeath unto my three grandchildren James Peterson, Ann Peterson and William Peterson... children of my daughter Esther Peterson, wife of William Peterson."
viii.
Nancy RUTHERFORD was born about 1806 in TN.¹⁹⁸ She appeared in the census in 1880 in District 4, Knox Co., TN.¹⁹⁸ Nancy KEARNS Self F W W 74 TN Occ: Keeps House Fa: TN Mo: TN
Prior KEARNS Other M S B 24 TN Occ: Servant Fa: TN Mo: TN
ix.
Sena Newell "Senith" RUTHERFORD¹⁹⁹ was born in 1809 in Knox Co., TN.^200,201,202 She died in 1869 at the age of 60 in Union Co., TN.^{191,200,202,203} Prominent TN article has her death 1867.
Sena Newell Rutherford was named as a daughter of Absalom Rutherford in a sketch which appeared in 'Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans' in 1888. The subject of the sketch was her son, Hon. Washington Lafayette Ledgerwood. The name of her husband, Samuel Ledgerwood, his date of birth and death, and the names of their seven children were included in the sketch. Sena was described as a woman of great industry and deep in undoubted piety. She also had a mind of her own. When Samuel objected to her going to the home of her father, Absalom Rutherford, when her first child was due, she went anyway, accompanied by a servant.