State of Franklin

But it would not be until the 1760s when the first white settlers would set up homesteads in the area. Among them was John Honeycutt who built the first cabin on Roan Creek. He hosted many famous frontiersmen including James Robertson and Daniel Boone (Tennessee Historical Society, 2021), the latter of which was is reasonable for the naming of Roan Creek according to local folklore. (The Tomahawk, 2010). By the 1770s Joseph Gentry, who Gentry's Falls is named for, opened up an ironworks in the area and the population soon climbed to 150. Around this time the settlers sought the protection and representation of being part of a statehood and petitioned North Carolina to annex the region. This application was accepted, however right after the Revolutionary War North Carolina was deeply in debt and so they ceded a sizeable portion of the modern day East Tennessee in order to satisfy those debts. This included the Johnson County area, and was don with the intention of becoming the 14th state in the United States. (Arthur 1996)

This cession came with the stipulation that congress would be responsible for the land after two years. Something congress was hesitant to agree with, while they were deciding North Carolina rescinded their offer. This set in motion a series of events that would eventually lead to the populations living in the disputed area to declare themselves the independent State of Franklin, so named after the famous inventor and statesman. The Union never officially recognized the State of Franklin, and this resulted in a session from North Carolina and the establishment of a de facto government that lasted for about 5 years before the land became part of North Carolina once more. (Caruso 2003)

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