The Tipton Family

The Tipton Family is a Tennessee historical marker in Carter County.

Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park,1651 W. Elk Avenue, Elizabethton (Carter County), TN

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The Tipton family was among the earliest and largest landowners in the Watauga Settlement. The first Tiptons arrived by 1775. Four years later they owned nearly 3,000 acres in Carter County with major landowners being Major Jonathan Tipton, Joseph Tipton, Colonel John Tipton, Samuel Tipton, Isaac Tipton, and Thomas Tipton. Sammuel Tipton founded Elizabethton, Tennessee, where he and Thomas Tipton established an iron factory. Side 2 - The Tiptons played significant roles in the country's founding. Major Jonathan Tipton signed the Watauga Petition and fought in the Battle of King's Mountain. Joseph Tipton was a delegate at the 1788 North Carolina Convention. Captain Jacob Tipton was killed at St. Clair's Defeat where his brothers, John, Jonathan, and William served in his company. Thomas Tipton was in the Carter County Militia.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1776 · Map Of North And South Carolina With Their Indian Frontiers. (Northern Section) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1778 · The Western Parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1796 · Kentuckey. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1814 · Kentucky (Mathew Carey, 1814) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1823 · North Carolina (Lucas, 1823) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

The Tipton Family

Historical maps covering this location

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