Circumstantial evidence in this case would suggest that the Haston family lived in the same area, in late 1797, where they lived later, in 1800.

Nathaniel Hays, the plaintiff, in this case was known to have lived in south Knox County, south of the Holston River.  Also, two of the witnesses who were called to testify for Hays, William Haslet, Jr. and William Haslet, Sr., were known to have lived in this area south of the Holston. 

The case summary mentions that William Haslet, Jr. "rode in to the Island" to track the blood of the cows whose tails David Haston was accused of cutting.  Was this an island covered when Fort Loudon Lake was created in the early 1940s?  Or, could this be the large island a mile or so up river that is now called Dickinson's Island, where an airport for small planes now exists?

• Governor John Sevier's Journal

"After Tennessee became a state on June 1, 1796, the Governor was required by law to live in the capital; however, his family did not arrive in Knoxville until the following year." "Governor Sevier liked farm life, and did not agree with most residents of the capital city that log houses were passé. He purchased a plantation south of the river, not far from his former militia headquarters near the Indian towns, and christened it 'Marble Springs.' There he built a log house very similar to Plum Grove (his Washington County home), and surrounded it with outbuildings." 

Source:  Page 49 of Knoxville by Betsey Beeler Creekmore, published 1991 by the East TN Historical Society

John Sevier's Knox County plantation was located south of the Holston, opposite Knoxville, approximately 4.5 miles from the home of Daniel Haston's family.  Numerous references in the John Sevier journal suggest that John Sevier and Daniel Haston lived in the same general neighborhood.

• Tuesday, June 23, 1796:  "Mr. Haislet Junr. reaped part of the day.  Haislet Senr. a whole day."*  Note:  These are probably the men (William Haslet, Jr. and William Haslet, Sr.) who witnessed against David Haston in the 1797-1798 Knox County "cow tails" case.  They, almost surely, were Knox County neighbors to the Daniel Haston family in late 1797.  However, it appears that, on this date, John Sevier was reaping on his Plum Grove plantation on the Nolachucky River, about ten miles from Jonesboro, TN, a plantation that he continued to own after moving to the Knoxville area. *Source:  Journal, page 188
• Friday, August 12, 1796:  "Let Suza Haiston have 1 dollar recd. from her melons &c to the amt. of 4/."*  The journal seems to indicate that Governor Sevier was in Knoxville at the time of this payment to Suza Haiston.  Was this Suza a member of the Daniel Haston family?  Perhaps he purchased vegetables from them and Suza stopped where he was staying at the time, in Knoxville, to collect what he owed or delivered vegetables to him.  Or, perhaps John Sevier paid her as he passed the Haston home on the way to his Marble Springs farm.  *Source:  Journal, page 189.
  Note:  On Thursday, October 20, 1796, John Sevier "paid unto Mrs. Hairston 3 dollars in full of all accompts." (Journal, page 191)  Was this "Mrs. Hairston" the same lady as "Suza Haiston?"
• To travel from Knoxville to his Marble Springs plantation, John Sevier apparently took the ferry that was originally owned by Alexander Cunningham, then later by Samuel Cowan, and later by Richard G. Waterhouse (and others later).  This ferry landed south of the Holston very near where the Haston family lived.  Both Samuel Cowan and a member of the Cunningham family (James Cunningham) were associated the "timothy lot" court case involving land where the Hastons lived.  According to his journal, Sevier paid "Roddy the ferryman 15s 4d" on Wednesday, December 5, 1798 (page 255) [Also, May 6, 1799 & January 10, 1800].  Was this one of the Roddys with whom the Daniel Haston family was associated?  He must have been employed by Samuel Cowan who owned that ferry at the time of these entries. 
  Source of Cunningham-Cowan-Waterhouse ferry information: Tennessee Anthropologist, Volume XVI, Number 2, Fall, 1991.

Source:  Journal of Governor Sevier (1790-1835) as transcribed by John H. Dewitt and published in the Tennessee Historical Magazine on pages 156-194 in Volume 5, #3 (October 1919) & on pages 232-264 in Volume 5, #4 (January 1920) & on pages 18-67 in Volume 6, #1 (April 1920).

 

John Sevier's Regular Commute from Home to Knoxville and Back At one point, John Sevier began to build a house ("mansion") in Knoxville, but ran out of money and gave up the idea because he disliked debt.  He sold his lot and unfinished house and... ...retired to his farm, where he ever afterward lived, making his home, when obliged to be in Knoxville on official business, with his son-in-law, Major McLellan.... Near the main road leading to Sevierville*, and about five miles from the city of Knoxville, in a deserted and worn-out field, are the ruins of an old log station [as of 1887]. It was in a secluded and picturesque region, where a copious spring gushes forth from a spur of Bay's Mountain.  The surrounding land was bought by Sevier when, about 1790, he took up his abode on the frontier, to be nearer to the hostile Indians.  The buildings he at once enlarged, and he kept on adding to them year by year--one log-house being tacked to another--till the structure more resembled a hamlet than a single dwelling.  Here he lived ever after his futile effort at building a town mansion, in a style of rustic simplicity, going into town about every morning, and returning at night, and always on horseback.... Source: Pages 309-310 of John Sevier as a Commonwealth Builder by James R. Gilmore (reprint from the original 1887 edition). *In his Annals of Tennessee, Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey stated that the John Sevier home was located on the road to Sevierville.

 

John Sevier and Daniel Haston from Same Area of Virginia John Sevier and Daniel Haston came from the same area in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  John Sevier's father owned a tavern in what developed into New Market, VA--where John Sevier was born in 1745.  Daniel Haston (born about 1750) grew up east of the Massanutten Mountain from New Market, VA (near what is now Luray, VA)--about 10 miles away.  Later, as a young adult, Daniel lived on top of the Massanutten Mountain in Powell's Fort Valley and New Market would have probably been the closest market town to him, at that time--about 10 miles away.  And Daniel's wife, Christina Nave, and her family lived less than four miles north of New Market on the valley road.  Thus, it is very possible that Daniel Haston and John Sevier were acquainted prior to John Sevier moving away from New Market, to the Holston River Valley of what became Tennessee in the early 1770s.

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• Cunningham Family Evidence

There is abundant evidence (Knox Co, TN court records, deeds, etc.) to prove that there was a well known Cunningham family that lived south of the Holston and opposite Knoxville in the 1790s and early 1800s.  The progenitor of this family was Paul Cunningham, who was one of the original commissioners of Knoxville and died on March 8, 1805 in Knox County. 

According to Cunningham researcher, Sharon Webb, Paul Cunningham "settled across the river, about three miles from Knoxville."  She also states that his "final resting place is in a family cemetery overlooking the bluffs along the Tennessee River in South Knoxville."  Source:  "Cunningham Family and Paul Cunningham Letter (Knox Co, TN, 1796)," an article in the December, 2002 issue of Tennessee Ancestors (Volume 18, Number 3). 

Location of Cunningham Family Cemetery - South Knoxville, TN

The same Nathaniel Hays who took David Haston to court in the "cow tails" case, took Paul Cunningham to court for a dispute regarding property boundaries.  The Hays vs Cunningham case reveals the following information regarding where these neighbors of Daniel Haston lived:

• Nathaniel Hays
  • South side of the French Broad River, property line began on the river bank
  • Adjacent Paul Cunningham, Senior
  • Adjacent to Archibald Rhea lands
• Paul Cunningham, Senior
  • Near Knoxville
  • South side of the Holston River, property line began on the river bank
  • Some "rock house" on the Holston was a marker point
  • Near, but does not cross the Meadow Branch
  • Adjacent to William Haislet
  • Adjacent to Cowan; along this line to the river
  • Originally called the Baker improvement
  • Purchased from James White in mid-1780s

Nathaniel Hays and Paul Cunningham had been involved in a previous (1800-1801) Hamilton District Superior Court case (Nathaniel Hays vs Solomon McCampbell and Paul Cunningham) involving a similar property boundaries suit.  From the narratives of that case, we can learn more about the land that they possessed:

• Nathaniel Hays purchased his land from Solomon McCampbell in 1792.
• Hays land was on the south side of the Holston (as well as south of the French River, as per the Hays vs Cunningham case).  It seems that the banks of both of those rivers formed part of his property lines.  His land met the property lines of Haislet and Archibald Rhea on the river bank (seems to refer to the Holston River bank).
• His land was only about 1 1/2 miles from Knoxville (as was the home site of Paul Cunningham).
• Paul Cunningham purchased his land (640 acres) in 1785 from James White, who had purchased it from a Captain Baker.  Paul Cunningham then sent his sons, Alexander and James, to improve it and develop it.
  Note: Alexander Cunningham started a ferry from this land (that later was sold to Samuel Cowan and later to Richard G. Waterhouse, and others later).  This was the ferry that John Sevier used in his trips from Knoxville to his plantation home, which was located in this south of the Holston, south of the French Broad area.
• Cunningham's land had about 500 feet of frontage on the Holston River.
• Paul Cunningham moved his family to this land in December 1797.
• Cunningham's land adjoined Haislet land along a "Meadow Branch" which belonged to Haislet.
   

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• Journal of Richard G. Waterhouse
  
  Richard Green Waterhouse (1775-1827): Tennessee Pioneer by Elizabeth Waterhouse Layman (Wolfe City, TX: Henington Publishing Co, 1996).

Although the Richard G. Waterhouse (RGW) journal does not mention Daniel Haston nor any of his family members, Waterhouse lived in this "south of the Holston, south of the French Broad" area and operated the ferry that was started by Alexander Cunningham.  He often referred to the area as "Iredell."  His sojourn in this specific area overlapped that of Daniel Haston for approximately four years.  They had several (probably many) common acquaintances and lived near each other, thus they must have known each other fairly well. 

• RGW had dealings with James Charter, who was John & Mary Wood's land agent and was mentioned in the Samuel Cowan vs Joseph Haston "timothy lot" case.
• He had many very close dealings with the sons and daughters of Phillip & Mary McComesky Roddy.
• Rented the ferry owned by Samuel Cowan, before his death (ferry originally owned by Alexander Cunningham).
• He had close dealings with the William ("Fighting Billy") Tipton family and married his daughter, Polly.  William Tipton was one of Daniel Haston's securities for the James Roddy estate settlement.
• Buried his son in "Mr. Cunningham's Burying Ground."  This was probably the family cemetery on John Cunningham's property, as described in Sharon Webb's article (see above).  If so, it overlooked the Holston (Tennessee) River on a bluff across the river from Knoxville. 

The Ferry from Downtown Knoxville to "South of the Holston, Opposite Knoxville" Some Key Facts: At Tennessee River mile 647.8 (where the Star of Knoxville Riverboat Dock is now located) Early owners: -Alexander Cunningham (July, 1792) -Samuel Cowan (January, 1798) -Richard Waterhouse (1803) - Waterhouse called it "the public ferry" (maybe the only ferry) -Robert Craighead (1805-1806) -Thomas Humes (January, 1806) -William or Samuel (?) Montgomery (by or before 1815) The south side landing called "the Flat Landing" by Richard Waterhouse, in his journal. James White was allowed to run another ferry, at the same location, but only from north to south: -James White (1795) -Hugh Lawson White (January, 1798) Sources:   Tennessee Anthropologist, Volume XVI, Number 2, Fall 1991.  "Tennessee River Ferries" article by Tony Holmes. Richard Green Waterhouse (1775-1827): Tennessee Pioneer by Elizabeth Waterhouse Layman (Wolfe City, TX: Henington Publishing Co, 1996)