The time period of this genealogy spans the first beginnings of white settlement prior to 1839 when Cherokee County was established until the present. Major categories of families include the following surnames: Adams, Arrowood, Blair, Blythe, Davis, Dockery, Graves, Hampton, McDonald, McKeehan, Nipper, Palmer, Parker, Patterson, Sylvester, Tucker, Walls, and Welch. From the index page, you will find these families located alphabetically as links under the two divisions of "The Old Home Places." Other related surnames can be easily accessed using the Related Surname Index. As time permits, still other links will be added with additional kinfolks who lived around Valley River in Cherokee County, NC at one time. Many of the family group records included here represent families whose roots were in Valley River, but they migrated to other states.

~ Shane Ratledge, our son, B.S., ETSU 2002,
Computer Science and Information Systems ~

As soon as possible, I will add photos, military service records, wills, other primary records, Cherokee Indian claim applications, ancedotes, and family stories as links. For your viewing convenience, all photos will be listed alphabetically under "Photograph Album" as well as being accessible links on each particular family group record.

I am thankful for the opportunity to share my research with family and friends through the free webspace provided by Rootsweb. Very special thanks and appreciation is due our son Shane Ratledge, pictured above, for helping create this website, for teaching me html, for providing skills necessary to maintain it, and for explaining Corel Photo House so I could draw my own graphics. Were it not for his persistence, expertise, and encouragement, I would never have attempted this.

Enjoy!

Sandra Ratledge

Homespun
Graphics
by
Sandra Ratledge

This site is dedicated to the memory of my parents,
Tommy and Beulah (Cline) Nipper.