Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1867-09-05
Aumoraus Reparttueut.
HOW TENNESSEE WAS SETTLED.

eyes,. said Tom, ssthere she Is
esWho?'' said I. "Did never tell you,"
said Tom, ssabout that old woman you see
over there buying snuff and calico at the
corner grocery? Well, you know this part
of the country West Tennessee) was set
tied originally by old Virginians and a
large sprinkling of people from the State of
Buncombe, in North Carolina you know
the State of Buncombe, don't you" We
confessed our ignorance of geography, and
Tom went out of his way to tell us that
Buncombe was situate in that region of Tar
river which burnt up some time ago, and
consisted of four counties known as Upper
and Lower Hog Thief, Promise Fair, and
Never Pay. "But, as was going on to
tell, the way this part of the country hap
pened to be settled was this: Some families
from Virginia, in moving out West, passed
through the State of Buncombe. They all
had regular old-fashioned covered road wag-
ons, the hind wheels of which were, as usu-
al, much larger than the fore wheels. A
wagon Of any sort was something new IN
those parts and everybody turned out along
the road to see them; a great many follow
ed them, expecting every moment to see
the big wheels overtake the little ones. In
this way, they kept on: until they got clear
over west of the mountains, and not having
oyer sense enough to get back, settled down
right there" aLook here, Tom, said one,
eyou don't intend we should believe that 2
aPledge you my word it's true as preach
ing-yes. )" ssBut what about the old wo-
man, Toni" said one ofthe party. "Well, y
said he, s'she was one among those first
ones who followed the wagons from Bun
connbe. After she had been out here about
ten or fifteen years, her father died in old
. Virgins and left parcel of negroes to be
divided among his children. There war mt
many negroes in this settlement, and those
who did have them were looked upon as
sort of aristocrats. Sc when that old wo-
man heard of her fortune she at once made
arrangements to get the chattels, and one
Monday morning, bright and early, she and
the old man harnessed up the only horse
they had, put their best feathe? bed in the
bottom Of the wagon, and started for Vir-
ginia to bring their negroes home. After
weeks of travel they reached the old home
stead, and secured their share of the COM
mon fortune in the shape of an old negro
wench by the name of Nancy. They pla-
ced her right in the middle of the big feath-
er bed and hauled her all the way back to
West Tennessee. They of course had to
walk, but that was nothing; they were the
proud owners of slaves and could afford to
do a great many things that their poor
neighbors could not.
"When they arrived home the old woman
was SO proud of being called Miss Betsey
that she would 60 to the door of the log
cabin and call to Nancy, who was in the
kitchen, N-a-n-c-i-e; and the answer would
invariably come back, sWhat do you want,
Miss Betsey?' 'Nothing at all; only want
to hear you call me Miss Betsey.' Fact"
said Tom, ssand one time I was there just
after they got home. Eli and some more
of us were going up on the crooked fork of
Little Sandy to fish, and stopped to get a
little water to mix with something one of
the boys had in jug. Nancy was down
at the spring just under the hill doing the
washing, and the old woman went out in the
back yard, and yelled at the top Of her
voice sN-a-n-c-y! and way under the hill I
heard the answer, What do y-o-u-
want, Miss B.e-t-s-e-y?' Then the old
woman sung out again, 'Oh, nothing l only
wanted to hear you call me Mss Betsey
from the s-p-r-i-n-g!"
By this time everybody was laughing fit
to kill themselves, except Tom, whose face
was without wrinkle. eyes, sir" said
he, 81 believe in ancestry; nothing like
knowing where we all sprung from. Come,
boys, if Judd has any schnapps left let's
take drink .a<
N. 0. Crescent.