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- [S47] Sevier County, Tennessee and its Heritage, Sevier County Heritage Book Committee, (1994, Don Mills, Inc.), 370.
- [S84] E-Mail, Virginia Ann Varnell [ K5andGIN@aol.com], 14 Sep 1998.
Richard Varnell and his family left Franklin Co., VA in 1787 and went immediately to Sevier Co., TN. Accompanying him was Spencer Clack and his family. The Clacks and Varnells sold their Franklin Co., Virginia land in 1787 prior to their leaving Virginia. These families along with Rev. Elijah Rogers and David Nelson were instrumental in forming the Forks of the River Baptist Church in Sevierville.The earliest Varnell records reside in the surviving church minutes. The Varnell Family settled in the wide Gist Creek Valley which is now on the Chapman Highway and about one and a half miles NW of Sevierville. Richard Varnell and two of his sons, Richard and William, obtained land entries on Gists Creek in 1807. These Entries were the basis for several land grants that were issued in the Gists Creek Valley. To be eligible for an entry a person would have to have on the land in 1796 when the area became the state of Tennessee. Other Varnells that could have been children of Richard also lived in the area around 1800 and were Joseph who went to the Indian Territory 30 miles west of Knoxville and then to Victoria, TX, Jessie who married Margaret Dixon and went to Arkansas, Sarah that married John B. Guinn and went to Georgia and Alabama, and John Varnell who married Margaret Shaw and whose children married into the McGaughey Family and went to Varnell, GA. These Varnells were all born in Virginia between 1771 and 1783.
William Varnell, son of Richard Varnell had 9 children and 3 of them migrated westwardly to Rhea Co., TN by 1822, to McMinn Co., TN by 1829, to Cherokee Co. AL by 1840, and to Hamilton County, TN by 1843. These three sons married daughters of David Nelson who also lived on Gists Creek. Lydia married Pleasant Pierce and this family gave land for the Pleasant Hill Church on Gists Creek and they remained in Sevier Co., TN and are buried at their church. Pleasant Pierce died after 1860 because he was in the 1860 Knox Co., Tennessee census. His tombstone record is that he died in 1855 and it was misread.
Two sons, Isaac and Thomas, went to Bradley Co., Tennessee in 1838 after the Indian Removal. The Indian Removal was also known as the Trail of Tears.
Josiah Varnell , also a son of William who also remained in Sevier County, Tennessee, had three sons in the Civil War and all were in the 3rd TN Cavalry and captured at Sulfur Springs, AL. One was Albert Varnell who lived near Pleasant Hill Church. Near the end of the war he was on the Sultana with many Sevier County and Blount County soldiers when it exploded in the Mississippi River. About 1500 soldiers were killed. This tragedy was equal to the Titanic tragedy. Albert was not killed but lost an ear. He returned to Sevier County where he died in 1921 and is buried at Valley View Church in Knox Co., TN. Another son in the Civil War was John Roberts Varnell he died in 1922 and is buried at Wesley's Chapel Cemetery in Jefferson County, TN. The third son in the Civil War was William R. Varnell who died in 1874 and is buried at Old Gists Creek Cemetery in Sevier County, Tennessee under a military marker. He returned from the war on the steamer, R. C. Wood, and not the Sultana.
In late life around 1880 Joshia moved a few miles away into Jefferson County, Tennessee and is buried there today.
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