THE ANDES Family of Sevier County, Tennessee
Roy C. Siple
Vienna, Virginia
June 23, 2009
When my cousin Gina Fox asked me to write an article on the Andes Family of Sevier County as a companion to the Murphy Family of Waldens Creek article in the Smoky Mountain Historical Society Journal Summer 2006[1], I debated on what to write. Much of the Sevier County Andes family line has been well documented by Edythe Andes Fox Inman in her 1982 History of the Andes Family.[2] Also, in the Murphy Family of Waldens Creek paper, the link between the Andes and Murphy families was noted and discussed.
So, I decided to concentrate on Andes family ancestral data that has surfaced since Edythe Andes Fox Inman wrote her book; touch on the Civil War records of my great, great grandfather John Wesley Andes; and include some details on the ancestral lines of John Wesley AndesÕ wife, Sarah Catherine French.
Throughout this article I have chosen to use the family name spelling variation from the record or source noted. Andes will appear as Antes, Andess, Andis, and Anders; French also as Frantz; Rule also as Ruhl; and Koontz as Kuns, Coontz, Kunse, Kouns, Kuntze, and Kounts.
Lastly, I would like to recognize and thank Larry Fox of the Smoky Mountain Historical Society for his editorial review, thoughtful comments, and corrections provided for this article.
Wilhem Antes
Wilhem Antes is listed as a passenger, aged 28, on the English ship ÒFriendshipÓ which arrived in what is now Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wilhem signed the Oath of Allegiance, required of all German immigrants, on October 12, 1741.[3] Little is know of his early life after his arrival to America and he does not appear in church or land records until he was in Frederick County, Maryland. In December 1766 he purchased 247 acres of land in Frederick County.[4] Wilhem Antes was instrumental in the organization of the Rocky Hill Lutheran church in 1767-68 and was a teacher/leader from 1770-1780.[5] Baptismal records for several of his 12 known children are also found in the Frederick County church records. WilhelmÕs will is dated February 15, 1783 in Frederick County and he divided his land is equally among his twelve children.[6],[7]
- Mary Catherine Andess
- Andrew Andess
- Matthias Andess
- Christina Andess
- Peter Andess
- John Andess
- Adam Andess
- Catharine Andess
- Elizabeth Andess
- Margaret Andess
- Frederick Andess
- Charity Andess
Wilhem Antes died March 5, 1783 in Frederick County; his inventory is dated March 24, 1783 and the estate was settled at a much later date.[8]
Peter and Magdalena Kenstrick Andes
The fifth known child of Wilhem Antes, Peter, was born May 14, 1766 and baptized October 5, 1766 at the Monocacy Lutheran Congregation and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick County. The baptism record lists PeterÕs parents as Wilhem Antes and Elizabeth with sponsors Peter Krebell and Anna Elizabeth.[9]
Sometime before 1787, Peter Andes moved to Rockingham County, Virginia, probably with older brother Andrew Andes and other family members and neighbors. In 1787 Peter was charged with tax on one horse.[10] In 1788 he is listed in the Militia Vouchers for all men who were above 16 years of age in Captain TromboneÕs Company, No 10 as Peter Andis, 1 tithable and 1 horse.[11] In 1789 he married Madlen Kenstrick, in Rockingham County. The marriage record indicates consent by Hans Kenstrick and bond by Andrew Andis.[12] Mary Magdalena Kenstrick was born about 1760 and was possibly the daughter of John Kenstrick.
About 1805, Peter and Magdalena Andes came to Sevier County along with other families from Rockingham County. When they arrived in the Sevierville area, the families built a fort consisting of a block house, where they lived until each family was able to establish their own farms. Peter Andes selected a site about a mile down the Little Pigeon River from Sevierville on the now State Route 66/Governor Winfield Dunn Parkway. He then built a log house.[13]
Magdalena Andes died August 7, 1805, not long after arriving in Sevier County. She is buried in the old Sevierville cemetery, now Church in the Forks Baptist Cemetery, with her grave marked by a fieldstone ÒM.A.Ó Peter died September 16, 1824 and was buried by his first wife and his grave is marked by a fieldstone inscribed ÒP.A.Ó[14]
Peter and Magdalena AndesÕ fourth of seven children was John B. Andes who was born November 12, 1797 in Virginia; probably Rockingham County. He was baptized in the Ršders Church in Rockingham County.[15]
John B. and Letty Murphy Andes
John B. Andes was a farmer by trade and married Letty Murphy on November 27, 1823. Letty was a daughter of Robert Murphy and her possible ancestry is discussed in the authorÕs article on the Murphy Family of Waldens Creek.[16] John B. and Letty Andes are listed in the 1850 federal census, recorded on September 6, 1850 as John and Letty W. Anders in the Eastern Subdivision 12 in Sevier County.[17]
Name Age Occupation Place of Birth
John Anders 58 Farmer Virginia
Letty W. Anders 57 Tennessee
Elizabeth Anders 23 Tennessee
Sarah Anders 21 Tennessee
Alexandria Anders 18 Tennessee
Rily Anders 15 Tennessee
John Anders 13 Tennessee
Isaac L. Anders 11 Tennessee
James Anders 8 Tennessee
(The John B. Andes farm is three households from John and Hetty Nichols. Their son John Nichols, aged 18 at the time, would later marry Annie Trotter, daughter of Archibald (1801-1873) and Susannah Butler (1802-1855) Trotter. John Nichols would die in the Civil War and his widow Annie would marry John H. Murphy of Waldens Creek. One of their children will be William Lawson Murphy who, in 1895, marries Addie Andes in Sevierville.)
John B. Andes died June 5, 1880 and his wife followed him on November 12, 1886. They are both buried in the Shiloh Cemetery.[18]
Captain John W. Andes, Company K, 2nd
Tennessee Cavalry (Union)
John B. and Letty Andes had eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. The ninth child was John Wesley Andes, born May 28, 1838 in Sevier County and listed as a 13 year old youth in the 1850 census. John W. Andes grew up on his fatherÕs farm and attended the local Sevierville schools. When he became of age, John also turned to farming and continued that vocation until the beginning of the Civil War.
The events that led to the hostilities of the American Civil War had a pronounced effect in East Tennessee and Sevier County. As John W. Andes later noted:
In many respects it was different here in east Tennessee from other portions of the Union. Separation here meant more than an attempted secession of one section from the other, for families were divided; father against son, brother against brother; some for the Union, some for a Southern brother against brother; some for the Union, some for a Southern Confederacy. People who did not live here can have no adequate idea of the excitement that prevailed.[19]
In the fall of 1862, John W. Andes, two of his brothers, and hundreds of Sevier County men made the trip to Kentucky to enlist in the Union Army. The trip and exploits during the Civil War are detailed in the book Loyal Mountain Troopers, The Second and Third Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry in the Civil War, Reminiscences of Lieutenant John W. Andes and Major Will A. McTeer. Sponsored by the Blount County Genealogical and Historical Society, this publication is a compilation by the author, Charles S. McCammon, of a series of articles by John W. Andes and Will McTeer for the Knoxville Daily Chronicle of their reminiscences during the war. John W. AndesÕ first article appeared on December 20, 1878 and Will McTeerÕs February 16, 1879.[20]
John W. Andes enlisted in the Army on October 16, 1862 and was made a 2nd Lieutenant, Company K, 2nd Tennessee Cavalry, Army of the Cumberland. The military history of the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry is well documented and included action in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The unit was engaged in the Battle of Chickamauga and the Battle of Nashville. John W. Andes served throughout the war and was discharged from service on July 14, 1865 as a Captain.[21]
John W. AndesÕ younger brother James H. Andes who was a Sergeant in Company K, 2nd Tennessee died in the City Hospital at Murfreesboro on January 29, 1863. An older brother Alexander S. Andes also died three months later at the City Hospital. John W. Andes had gone to see his brother Alexander before his death and describes the circumstances in one of his articles for the Knoxville Daily Chronicle.
In the same room in the hospital was John W. Nichols. A few days before their deaths I called to see them. They were both aware that they must die. They were born near each other, in the same neighborhood in Sevier County, on the same day. They went to the same schools together, professed religion at the same time and place, both joined the Methodist Church at the same time and place, and were afterwards licensed as exhorters at the Church at the same time. They were married about the same time, and up to within a short time before leaving for Kentucky to join the Federal army, where they had some difference which resulted in a lawsuit their warm friendship for each other had never been broken. This had not been settled when they left home, but they went away at the same time and traveled all the way to Kentucky together, joined the same company, and always messed together, both took sick about the same time, and were sent to the same hospital. Mr. Andes died April 29th, 1863, and Mr. Nichols May 3rd, a difference of four days in the time of their deaths. Before I visited them, they had talked over their differences and fully reconciled them. They were both Christian men, and died in the full triumph of faith. They told over to me the story of their reconciliation, and desired me to see their widows and ask them to carry out their pledges and to meet them in heaven.[22]
John Wesley and Sarah Catharine French
Andes
On June 27, 1867, two years after the end of the Civil War, John W. Andes married Sarah Catherine French in Knox County, Tennessee.[23] John W. and Sarah Andes managed a farm near Sevierville for many years. In 1890, John W. Andes was appointed pension agent by the commissioner of pensions located in Knoxville. In 1901, the family moved to Knoxville where John W. Andes continued his pension work as well as a notary public. He died in Knoxville on November 25, 1919 and was followed by Sarah Catherine Andes on January 5, 1924. They are both buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Knoxville.
John W. Andes and Sarah Catherine Andes had ten children; two died in infancy. Their third child and oldest daughter was Addie Elizabeth who married William Lawson Murphy, as previously noted in this article. The Andes family is shown in the following photograph taken in front of their farmhouse near Sevierville.
John
Wesley Andes Family, Sevierville, Date about 1890
Standing (L to R) Ulysses
Sevier, Ethel Dorothy, Frank Henderson, Addie Elizabeth, and Rose Belle
Seated (L to R) John Wesley
and Sarah Catherine
Seated on ground (L to R)
Ernest William and John Wilburn
Sarah Catherine French AndesÕ Ancestors
The 1850 federal census of Subdivision 15, Knox County, recorded on October 1, 1850, has the following listing.[24]
Name Age Occupation Birthplace
Michael French 50 Farmer Virginia
Dorothy French 48 Tennessee
Margaret French 21 Tennessee
Caleb French 18 Farmer Tennessee
Joshua French 16 Tennessee
Jacob French 14 Tennessee
Marshal French 12 Tennessee
Adeline French 8 Tennessee
Sarah C. French 4 Tennessee
French Family Ancestors.
Sarah Catherine French, born April 22, 1846, was the daughter of Michael French (1799-1867) and Dorothy Pauline Koontz (1802-1879).[25] Two households down the road in the 1850 census are listed the family of Jacob French (1799-1882) and his wife Sarah. Jacob French was the twin brother of Michael French and his wife Sarah Koontz (1806-1889) was the younger sister of MichaelÕs wife Dorothy. Twin brothers married sisters! All four and other French relatives are buried in the New Salem Cemetery in South Knox County.
Michael and Jacob French were born June 19, 1799 in Botetourt County, Virginia and were sons of Peter French and Rosanna Rule. By 1816 Peter French had moved his family to a farm he bought on Stock Creek in the southern part of Knox County, near the boundary of Blount County and not very far from Sevier County. This farm was just a mile down the road from the home of John Sevier, first governor of Tennessee.[26]
Peter and Rosanna French lived in a German community in Virginia, but by the time they came to Tennessee they were much involved with the Methodist Church and established the New Salem Church. Rosanna is said to have suggested the name, and is the first person to be buried its cemetery, which is located directly in front of the present church building.[27] By October 1983, Rebecca French Freeborg had placed a memorial to Peter and Rosanna French in the New Salem Church cemetery to mark their burial spots. The memorial is included in the photograph below.
New Salem
Cemetery, Knox County, Tennessee
Peter French was born possibly in Germany. He came to America about 1776, and married Rosanna Ruhl, another German immigrant, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Rosanna was the daughter of George and Rosanna Shipley Ruhl and was born in Hessen, Germany.[28] The parents of Peter French are believed to be Peter (ca 1735-1789) and Barbara French. Peter seniorÕs will is dated December 22, 1787 and was effective in 1789 in Washington County, Maryland.[29]
Koontz Family Ancestors
While Sarah Catherine FrenchÕs paternal ancestors lived in Knox County, the maternal side of her family resided in Blount County. Dorothy Pauline Koontz was born October 30, 1802 probably at her father Adam KoontzÕs farm in Blount County.
Adam Koontz or Kuns as his last name is often spelled in the Blount County records, was probably born in Virginia and was in Blount County by November 1798 when he was screened to be a juror in the Blount County court of pleas.[30] He was taxed in 1800 and in 1801 for 400 acres of land.[31] Adam purchased 61 acres from Joseph Cresswell for $150 on June 24, 1811.[32] On March 1820, for $461, Adam Kouns purchased 129 acres of land on the water of ÒEllejoyÓ Creek from James Williams.[33] During 1824 to 1826 Blount County land survey records indicate that Adam Kuns owed various lots of land along the ÒElijoyÓ Creek neighboring Blount County residents James Wilson, Martin and William McTeer, Richard Williams, Robert Murrin, and Thomas McAfee.[34] On January 29, 1831, Adam Kounts sold 179 acres of land on ÒEllejoyÓ Creek to James Julian for $479.[35]
From these land records, it appears that Adam Kuns owned a considerable amount of land in Blount County. Adam KunsÕ wife was Mary, last name unknown, born August 17, 1768, died December 1831, and buried in the Eusebia Presbyterian Church cemetery. Eusebia is one of the oldest cemeteries in Blount County and the oldest grave dates to 1790.[36] Adam Kuns was dead by September 7, 1840 when his court appointed apprenticeships for Douthard and Williamson Dailey ended.[37] Although his tombstone is not recorded, Adam is probably buried in the Eusebia Cemetery next to his first wife Mary.
After Adam KunsÕ death a Blount County indenture registered September 15, 1847, noted the splitting up of his land to the following children:
1. Michael Kouns
2. Katherine who married James Julian and living in Murray County, Georgia
3. Dorothy of Knox County who married Michael French
4. Ann who married Anderson H. Crowder, living in Roane County, Tennessee
5. Sarah, wife of Jacob French of Knox County, Tennessee[38]
Adam Kuns was a son of Henry and Dorothy Kounts of Washington County, Virginia.[39] Henry Kounts owned 330 acres of land, surveyed on June 10, 1786, on the Middle Fork of the Holston River.[40] Henry died before September 22, 1798 when an Inventory and Appraisement of his estate listed his wife Dorothy as the administratrix.[41]
On January 10, 1811, the Washington County court acknowledged the sale of Henry KountsÕ 330 acres for $1000 and named his children on the indenture:
1. Adam Kounts and wife Mary
2. Henry Kounts and wife Tylpha (probably Zilpha Roach)
3. John Kounts and wife Sarah
4. Catherine and husband Robert Murrin
5. Margaret and husband Lambert Reid[42]
As previously noted, Adam Kuns was in Blount County by 1798 and was followed shortly thereafter by his siblings and their families. Adam, John, and Henry Kunse, as well as Robert Murrin and Lambert Reed were taxed for land in Blount County in 1801. Around 1800, Òa group of German families settled on Cooked Creek. Among others were Halfley, Kunse, Nyman, and Thomas, most of whom came form southwest Virginia, Lambert Reed married Margaret Coontz, January 10, 1799, in Washington County, Virginia.Ó [43]
The author has recently found a 1769 marriage record in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania for Heinrich Kuntz and Dorothy Pragunier. Further research will reveal if this is the Henry and Dorothy Kounts who lived in Washington County, Virginia.
Michael French Dorothy
Pauline Koontz French
Date Unknown
Date
Unknown
Michael French
Headstone Dorothy Pauline Koontz French Headstone
New Salem Cemetery
New Salem Cemetery