RARE MANUSCRIPT SURVEY REFERENCING "FOUNDING FATHER OF NASHVILLE" JOHN DONELSON

East line of the Continental Boundary. Manuscript survey map. [Tennessee?], late 18th-early 19th century. 2 pages, approx. 8 1/8 x 7 7/8 in. 

An interesting land survey that mentions noteworth Tennessee surveyor and land speculator, John Donelson (1718-1785), regarded today as one of the Founding Fathers of Nashville. A Virginian by birth, he surved in teh House of Burgesses during the Revolutionary war, and afterwards operated the Washington Iron Furnace in Franklin County. 

He became one of Tennessee's first pioneers, moving to the Watauga settlements in what was then part of the Washington District of North Carolina. In the winter of 1779-1780, Donelson led a large group of settlers down the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and co-founded Fort Nashborough, which would eventually become Nashville. 

The map here shows several rivers or creeks with an area marked "Disputed land" as well as a spot marked "Black foxes Camp a larger spring" at the lower edge. A note near the lower edge reads, " Rhodes actually surveyed by J. Donelson near field first settled." And another partially legible note reads: "J. Donelson...located this for himself..." The verso bears the inscription: "It can be proved by Jocturn & others that John Donelson the surveyor of Rhodes tract said that he surveyed Rhode's on the East fork of the West fork.

A fascinating Tennessee survey with the opportunity for more discoveries. 

[American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]