Dandridge Revolutionary War Cemetery

Goodspeed's History of Tennessee reports that in 1793 the Jefferson County Court instructed five men to select a site for the county seat.  Some meetings had been previously held at the home of Jeremiah Matthews four and one-half miles west of Dandridge.  After checking two or three possible locations, they decided the town should be established in "the neighborhood of Robert Henderson's Lower Meeting-house."

There was already an established "burying ground" (the term "cemetery" was not often used in early times) and a log church on the north corner at this location.  The church and burying ground were probably already a common meeting place for people of the area.  The church organized in 1785 later became the Hopewell Presbyterian Church and continues by that name today.  The burying ground has become the Revolutionary Cemetery, and this location has remained the heart of the town for more than two hundred years.

The restoration and beautification of the Revolutionary Cemetery was the first service project of the Martha Dandridge Garden Club, which was organized in 1927.  The graveyard was overgrown with weeds and covered with scrub brush and trash at that time.  The Garden Club planted trees and shrubs. Benches of native stone were built after the clean-up.  In 1930, the present monument was erected as a memorial to some of the local Revolutionary soldiers buried in the graveyard.  Miss Lurana Franklin, a long-time Maury High School teacher and well-known historian, did the necessary research to select the names for the marker.

The flagpole and flag were added at a later time.  Care of the graveyard is still a project of the Martha Dandridge Garden Club.

The following is a little information about the five men listed on the monument.

JOHN BLACKBURN was born in Smith County, Virginia, 27 January 1741.  He married Janet Mathes in 1765 and died in Jefferson County 23 April 1818.

• Member of first Jefferson County Court, which met 23 July 1792.
• Member and elder of Hopewell Presbyterian Church in 1816, as recorded in the earliest Session records now available.
• Soldier of the Virginia Militia in 1776-1783 and participated in the Battle of Kings Mountain.
• Lived in Washington County, Virginia during the Revolutionary War.

ABEDNEGO INMAN was born in England 1 July 1752.  He married Mary Ritchie and died in Jefferson County 2 February 1831.

• Foreman of the first grand jury for Jefferson County in 1793.
• Appointed by Governor John Sevier as a member of the first county court after Tennessee became a state in May, 1796.
• Served in the Indian and border warfare probably in the late 1780's.
• One of the soldiers from the Wautauga and Holston settlements who went to Col. Clark's assistance when Georgia was overrun by the British.
• Member of Hopewell Presbyteran Church.

SAMUEL LYLE was born 27 May 1747 in Rockbridge County, Virginia.  He married Elizabeth L. White in 1784 and Margery Hadley in 1797 in Jefferson County.  He died in Jefferson County 12 August 1834.

• First Trustee of Jefferson County (1796 - 1815) commissioned by Governor John Sevier after State of Tennessee was organized in 1796.
• Private during the Revolutionary War and wounded at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, S.C.
• Lived in Virginia during the Revolutionary War.
• Member of the Hopewell Presbyterian Church.

RICHARD RANKIN was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania 4 November 1756.  He married Jane Steele, of Pennsylvania, and died in Jefferson County 5 May 1827.

• Arrived in Tennessee 8 January 1786 and settled on the headwaters of Dumplin Creek soon afterward.
• Farmer and blacksmith.
• Brother of Samuel Rankin, also of Dumplin Creek.
• Member of the Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Militia.
• Lived in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, during the Revolutionary War.
• Member and an elder of Hopewell Presbyterian Church.

SAMUEL RANKIN was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in August, 1758.  The birthdate on the cemetery monument is incorrect.  He married Jane Isabelle ("Aunt Ibby") Petty and died in Jefferson County 13 December 1834.

• One of the pioneer settlers of Dumplin Valley in Jefferson County, with his brothers Richard and Thomas, about 1786 or shortly afterward.
• Member of the Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Militia and fought in the Battle of Cowpens, SC.
• Lived in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, during the Revolutionary War.
• Member and elder of Hopewell Presbyterian Church.

The names of these Revolutionary Patriots honored here by the Garden Club Monument are not found in any cemetery list, but their burials here are attested by church and family records.

The book Stories in Stone: Jefferson County Cemeteries, by Templin and Henderson (Vol. II, 1988), lists about fifteen inscribed stones in the Revolutionary Cemetery found in 1987.  The authors state, "In addition to the above, there are at least sixty burials marked with uninscribed fieldstones."

Apparently, the soldiers listed above are in this category, so we will probably not know their exact burial places within this cemetery.