Show i Little Journeys in I a Americana A. A I o f i ti Y By fly LESTER n. n COLD y s. s I The Lost State of Franklin Frankln I H. T 1 1 ou ou nu ever nr heard the story slon of or the Lost State I 1 of Franklin I Few Fl tint that we fir had hud i once n state tate named Homed I li that thul It existed for a n brief I time thus and And Anel have hn you OU 1 ever pr hoard board of the In Maiming eons nn the tran strange tribe of p people Ople who lived In that bunt lo lost t state stilt an and whose orl origin ln has never ne Il been een solved 1 The flue state of or Franklin occupied generally 1 chat liat hut Is now eastern lIstern Ten Ten- nl's ee It was wa organized In i lived ell n a brief fluid and turbulent existence and passed out of ot hI history tory In 1753 Few maps mals show It anti few records record exist telling of Its passing passin glory In the tiel beginning of the thO push of settlers over O the tIe bills hills North orth taro Caro uro linns linn's boundaries were not flied fixed to the Iho westward Theoretically they I extended onward to some distant Indefinite In In- definite point toward the Felli setting II I sun fun I I Straggling tra adventurers crossed the mountains I They settled mill and were I far detached In those days from the mother statene state The ne story tury of or the lie state of Franklin begins In 1701 liGI when the district u was ns thrown open to tu 1 llIn against t the tyranny of the royal governor goy gov of North Carolina sent over O by ley England led It'll to the organization of nf the settlers along the tiel Watauga river rimer Into Inlo the association Hue Due ue to their Isolation they the were less leIs d III directly red Iy by the ulu ue Revolutionary war than the coastal settlements settle settle- ments Freedom won von however ho the Iho settlers organized n II distinct stale gel on August t I. I 1784 1754 Work of If organization was fully completed II at fit a n I second Nond meeting on December 14 of the tho same ume year jear lIr and John Joha Sevier was node made governor The first legislature legislature legis legis- lature sat Fat III In Jonesboro In liS 1755 Factions developed and n a part of the people wished to revert reverl to the time sovereignty o of North orth Carolina A bloodless revolution was fought out nt at the polls In May MIlY liSS and the lost The North orth Corn Caro Carolina ling lina legislature passed an act ud of ob oh- livion However l that tint state ceded the tery ter ler territory to be the United States In liS 1759 and In 1790 liDO the territory of Tennessee Tennes Tennes- see se was urns formed Settlement followed with a rush and ond In ti 1790 G the territory terri tory became a n slate Now ow the When the settlers came callie Into the mountain fastnesses fast nesses flosses of what today is eastern Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Ten Ten- they found round a II curious tribe of people there They were obviously oh not ns liS the settlers were Neither did dill they seem to bo ho They hal hail no negroid characteristics though the they were dark and swarthy 8 and they certainly were not of Indian descent Unschooled and primitive they knew little of their origin Some Somo thought they might he be descendants of some detached group of ot Portuguese geese guese while others I saw II IV In them trace of the Moors In the generations genera enera lions that they had bad been there In their Isolation their language ii what whatever lint hilt ever It was had bad degenerated Into a patois The They lived to themselves es exclusively exclusive exclusive- ly and resented Intrusion For many ninny years jeara they were not reo recognized as ns citizens and were denied the right to vote Suffrage Sun was as not given ghen to them until after the downfall of the Confederacy For bor generations In Tennessee Ten TIn tIle the were the time bugs bu bug bugaboos of ot Tennessee Tennesee childhood and milD many a n had bad little boy has hus been ben threatened threat ened The will get you If you dont don't watch out ns as In their to their they were loyal loal clan Some clue clime to their origin nay may maytie tie Ie found In the word ord coming com corn in log ing out of northern Africa which loosely means comrade mate male or rom com panion Hut But how did that African word get to the mountains of eastern Tennessee fennessee generations ahead ahlI of the That Is the rn mystery try I I S. S 1929 Letter teler t B a Colb 1 |