faubioncemetery


FAUBION CEMETERY, COCKE CO. TENNESSEE

Neddy Mountain is located directly East of Bridgeport, Tennessee where the French Broad River makes a swooping bend and just North of Hwy 25/70. Hwy 25/70 is the highway from Newport to Hot Springs, North Carolina. Approximately 1/2 mile to the West of Neddy Mountain is the land where our forefather Jacob Faubion and his wife Diannah Rector made their home when they first settled in Tennessee.

Just to the North of this bridge is where one of the first bridges in Cocke County was built across the French Broad River near present day Bridgeport, Tennessee. It was built by our Jacob "The Dutchman" Faubion.

There are two Faubion Cemeteries in Cocke County. One is still currently used and it is located on Good Hope Road just to the west of Hwy 340. Hwy 340 comes South out of Parrottsville at the library. This cemetery is located closest to Freshour Hollow Road. The above photograph was taken standing in this cemetery.

The second cemetery is the oldest, I believe, and it is located also on Good Hope Road about a mile and a half from the other one. The easiest location to describe directions for this cemetery is by coming out of Newport. Take Hwy 32l from Newport heading towards Greeneville. Turn right on Good Hope Road and go about 2 miles. The landmark to look for on the left is the French Broad Baptist Church. Once you reach there it is just a little over a 1/2 mile to the home of Robert Reece, the first white house past the church on the right. The cemetery is located behind his home up the hill by this big barn.

This area is where the location of our original family home of Jacob & Diannah once stood. This house was then the home of William Faubion & Rosannah Perthena Ayers. William rebuilt the home later and was then known as the "Haunted House" This is the home that William built.

Compare the tree line in the above haunted house photo with this photo & the placement in this photo of where the house was located. To the right is the old barn & to the left of the barn is the cemetery. Also, notice the ridge along the road in both photos.

This is standing in the cemetery looking towards the road and the land where the house would have been.

This is the land behind the cemetery.

There has been a lot of discussion on the GenForum site regarding the condition of this cemetery. Many of you have never seen this cemetery and I wanted you to have an opportunity to see the deplorable condition it is in. I am hoping it will stimulate a group effort of our family to do something about it and try to preserve it. As you can see it is extremely overgrown with briars and stickers, a number of stones are completely down and need to be repaired and put back in place. This is a very historic cemetery since our Faubion family were some of the earliest settlers in Cocke County. I found two stones that are completely unreadable that were never even mentioned in the cemetery records. I also have found some errors in the transcription and found one that was completely missed.

There also was a comment made in the cemetery transcription that Parthena Ayers tombstone was unreadable. I was able to get a fairly good reading from it, but I will go back and re-take the photo and really try to study it this time to see if I can determine her birth date. However, I am able to see that she was born in Dec 8th and believe the year could be 1785.

The large stone to the right of the tree is my 4th great grandfather, William Faubion & behind the tree is Rosannah Parthena Ayers stone. I descend through their son, Matthias Wall Faubion and Matilda C. Wells. Their only surviving child was Margaret Jane Faubion. She married Henry Girdine Balch and their daughter, Daisy Balch married Samuel S. Whitaker. Daisy & Samuel are my great grandparents. Their son, Ugene E. Whitaker is my grandfather.

To the left of the above photographs is another section of the cemetery which has an iron fence around it. There are no visible stones in this section and according to Mrs. Reece there were some standing when they bought the place in 1956. I would venture to say that there are stones under the dirt that could be found. This may have been the original section of the cemetery. Mrs. Reece also showed me an old log building next to their house a short distance which was supposed to contain some logs from the original house.

According to the cemetery inscription taken in about 1972 and published in "Sacred to the Memory" by Duay & Nancy O'Neil, I will list those and make corrections and additions of what I found.

Margaret Jane Faubion Balch b. 23 Jan 1851 d. 5 Mar 1890. Daughter of Matthias W. Faubion & Matilda C. Wells. Wife of Henry Girdine Balch, who died & is buried in Russett, Oklahoma. 2nd great grandmother of Carolyn Whitaker.

A.E(mma) daughter of William and C.(Charlotte Stephens) Faubion b. 11 Aug 1844 d.25 Aug 1844 **correct DOB 14 Aug 1844

Infant son of M.W. & M.C. Faubion b. 17 Sept 1849 d. 17 Sept 1849 (son of Matthias & Matilda)

Robert, son of M.W. & M.C. Faubion age 1 yr 5 mo 5 days d. 22 Nov 1857 (birthdate calculates 17 June 1856) I didn't find his stone yet.

Sarah, daughter of M.W. & M.C. Faubion b. 1 Jul 1854 d. 10 Nov 1866 **correct DOB 4 Jul 1854. Also name is on tombstone Sarah E. (middle name Elizabeth)

Matthias Wall Faubion b. 15 April 1818 d. 12 Sept 1910 ERRONEOUSLY RECORDED AS Thomas W. Faubion. On same stone w/wife Matilda

Matilda C. Wells Faubion b. 31 Oct d. Mar **correct birth date 31 Oct 1824 d. 16 Mar 1885. Matilda is the daughter of Robert Pinkney Wells & Elizabeth Weaver of Buncombe Co. North Carolina. Elizabeth Weaver is the daughter of John Weaver & Elizabeth Biffle, who were the first pioneers to settle in the section of Buncombe County now known as Weaverville.

The following Michaux graves is the brother-in-law, niece & nephews of Matilda C. Wells Faubion. Her sister, Margaret Jane Wells married Dr. Joseph G. Michaux. It is not currently known if Margaret is buried in this cemetery with her husband. However, we do know that at least one of their daughters, Amelia Elizabeth Michaux married David Augustus Beam in Cocke Co. 1882. Some of their children went back to Buncombe Co. NC. From the book "The Faubion's" by Sarah Faubion Pangle, we also know that when Sarah had her foot injured by an ax handle flying off that Dr. Michaux was the attending physician.

Dr. Joseph G. Michaux b. 8 Oct 1815 Virginia d. 26 May 1891

Robert W. Michaux b. 15 Dec 1853 d.5 Jun 1887 - son of Dr. Joe & Margaret Jane Wells

Joseph Michaux b.6 Sep 1864 d. 3 Sep 1870 - son of Dr. Joe & Margaret Jane Wells

Allena C. Michaux b.1852 d.April 1877 25 yrs 11 mos 8 days? - daughter of Dr. Joe & Margaret Jane Wells

William Faubion b. 10 Jun 1783 d. 25 Sept 1839 ***correct birth date 16 Jan 1783 death date 26 Sept 1839

Note in the transcription: There is an identical stone next to the one for William Faubion, Sr which is probably that of his wife. It is, however, Illegible. My note: As you can see I was able to get a reading on the stone

Perthena Faubion b. Dec 8 1785 d. 3 Jun 1847 Also, note the spelling of her first name PERTHENA. NOTE: Numerous photos with a digital camera were taken of Perthena's stone. Her death date has been erroneously recorded in our family histories as 1851, however, it is clear on the digital photos she died 1847. She was supposed to have died living with Tilghman's family. However, she is not listed on the 1850 census with Tilghman.

William son of William & C. (Charlotte Stephens) Faubion b. 17 Sept 1857 d. 16 Jul 1858 **correct name on stone William S. correct birth & death dates b. 17 Sept 1850 d. 16 July 1852

Wm M. son of M.W. & M.C. Faubion b. 24 Jun 1860 d. 10 Aug 1860. He is a son of Matthias and Matilda. This child has never before been recorded in our family history as a child. I was quite surprised when I made this discovery.

There are several field stones and are completely illegible. I feel quite certain that Jacob Faubion & Diannah Rector are also buried here. This was our original Faubion land of 200 acres purchased in 1794 by Jacob & Diannah. It is also my feeling that several of their other children are buried here since they died quite early in Cocke Co. Tenn. Those dying early that I suspect are also buried here are: Sarah Faubion Broadhurst d. 14 Mar 1808; Henry Faubion d. 24 Dec 1803; Elizabeth Faubion McPherson d. 14 Jun 1808

PROGRESS IN CLEANING THE CEMETERY

Stone of Matthias & Matilda Wells Faubion which has been in this state of being buried for at least 50 years that we know of. We now have it sitting upright, thanks to Mr. Pete Hayes of Newport. Pete took it upon himself to donate his time to set Matthias stone for me. If you should need monuments for your loved ones, please show Pete our gratitude and purchase stones from his company. You may contact Pete at Cocke County Monument, 376 E. Broadway, Newport, Tenn phone 423-623-1394. They are located across the street from the Stokely Memorial Library. standing upright the backside of the stone.

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Copyright 26 Dec 2001 Carolyn Whitaker