EXCERPT FROM BOOK
Mary Ann Roark
Mary Ann Roark-the first child ofJoseph and Juda Ann Roark-was born January 20, 1834. At the time of her birth, her parents were living in their cabin on the farm of Joseph’s brother James on the north bank of the Tennessee River in Hamilton County, Tennessee . Her father was a farmer – twenty years old – and supported his wife and new daughter by assisting his brother in farming the 200 acres owned by James Roark along Sale Creek.
Mary Ann was just over three years old when her parents moved across the Tennessee River in 1837 into a new homestead cabin along Grasshopper Creek in the public lands of the Ocoee District of southeast Tennessee. At the time of the move to her father’s 40-acre homestead entry, Mary Ann and her sister Elizabeth – younger than Mary Ann by eleven months – were the children of the family.
A brother, named Timothy for his paternal grandfather, had been born the year before but had died shortly after his birth. In addition to the two sisters, however, the family also included Jeanette Clingan, age 10, whom Joseph and Juda had taken into their home in 1834, after her parents had died. Jeanette, or Jane as she was known to the family, was raised to maturity as a close member of the family and was considered a sister by Mary and the rest of the children.1
Mary Ann was raised in the cabin on Grasshopper Creek, and as she grew she saw her father acquire other farm lands and become a successful farmer in the Salem Community. Mary Ann was a healthy and attractive girl with the auburn hair of her father. Just prior to her fifteenth birthday, her father took advantage of the services of an itinerant photographer early in 1849 and had a portrait made of Mary Ann.
Shortly after the picture was made, Mary Ann announced her plans to marry Robert Beane Scott. She was just fifteen and Scott was nineteen . Robert Beane Scott was born April 18, 1829, in Hamilton County, the youngest child of Goodman Scott and Lydia Beane Scott. His parents had been married in 1818 in Grainger County, Tennessee, his mother being the second wife of Goodman Scott. Lydia Beane was from the family of early Tennessee settlers – the Beanes were skilled gunsmiths and makers of the famous “Kentucky rifles.” Goodman Scott had obtained a grant for 80 acres in the Ocoee District in 1841 on Grasshopper Creek just a quarter mile north of Mary Ann ‘ s home.2
Mary Ann Roark Circa 1849
By the time of their marriage, Robert Scott had developed a reputation as a hard worker and one who would provide well for his family. In the early years of his marriage, he felt a divine call to the ministry and devoted his life to service as a Baptist minister. In the era and geographical location of his ministry, Baptist pastors were expected to support their families through farming or some other occupation. Robert Scott chose to farm for his livelihood and, in this, he was assisted by his father-in-law in a gift of farm-land. The location and the size of the farm given to the Scotts cannot be determined since the deed was not recorded; however, Mary Ann was to maintain possession of the farm after Robert’s death and would sell it to her brothers as part of her father’s estate settlement.
END OF EXCERPT