rotted and decayed. On the last trip in the mid 70's in the company of Keith's son, Bob Eads, the house had rotted away leaving only the foundation stones. It is a curious fact of life that only those who actually lived in the old house show any interest in walking the three quarters mile back from the road to inspect the old foundation stones overgrown in weeds. But to those who did live there the sight brings back a flood of memories.
The following information about my mother's parents and their ancestors has been obtained chiefly from THE JARNAGIN COLLECTION by Glenn Susong Clark, Clark Publications, Indianapolis as referenced in an earlier section.
Thomas Jarnagin was born in Virginia near Annapolis, Maryland on July 26, 1746. He married Mary Witt in 1767. Mary Witt was born in Halifax County, Virginia on April 4, 1753. She was the daughter of Charles and Lavinia (Harbour) Witt. Noah was the oldest of eleven children born to Thomas and Mary. The children were: Noah, Lavinia, Chesley, Martha Priscilla, Rhoada, Anna, Jeremy, Patsy, Benjamin, Preston Bynum and Pleasant. Thomas Jarnagin had served in a North Carolina regiment during the Revolutionary War and had risen to the rank of captain. In 1783 an entry was registered for 3,960 acres in the name of Captain Thomas Jarnagin (he originally spelled his name Jonakin). This deed was filed in Raleigh, North Carolina since the tract did not become a part of Tennessee until 1796 when it became a part of Jefferson County, Tennessee. Later, although Thomas had considerable land holdings, his primary business was not farming, but a mill for grinding flour, a barrel and keg manufacturing factory and a distillery. An inventory of his property at his death listed over a hundred barrels of flour and seventeen hundred gallons of whiskey. Thomas Jarnagin apparently was an enterprising business man and provided very well for his family. He acquired several tracts of land in eastern Tennessee. Thomas Jarnagin died on February 26, l802 at Mt. Harmony on Long Creek in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Mary also died in Mount Harmony on August 6, 1829. They are both buried in unmarked graves on the Jarnagin farm at Mount Harmony.
Noah Jarnagin was the oldest child of Captain Thomas Jarnagin and Mary Witt. He was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia on July 9, 1768 and served briefly as a Revolutionary War soldier at age sixteen. As a young lad he had been a chain bearer for F. A. Ramsey in the surveying of eastern Tennessee in the vicinity of Long Creek and the Nolichucky River. In 1783 Noah's father, Captain Thomas Jonakin (later the spelling was changed to Jarnagin), made an entry for 3,960 acres of land by