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Green Clawed By
Bear
Lewis Green
came
about 1773 and settled on the Clinch someplace between Dungannon and
Fort
Blackmore. While living here he went out on a hunting trip and was
almost
clawed to death by a bear.
In 1854,
Captain
John Carr who had formerly lived on Carr's Creek in Russell County,
Virginia,
and who had moved to Sumner County, Tennessee in 1784, wrote the
particulars
of this event to Dr. Lyman C. Draper, saying:
"I did not
know
Green who was clawed by the bear, but frequently heard the particulars
related by Green's son, Zachariah Green, and my brothers. Green lived
on
Clinch. He and two more men were hunting on the headwaters of Kentucky
on Sandy River, where the circumstances took place. He was nearly torn
to pieces by a bear. His company or comrades had no idea of his living
and ungratefully came off and left him. They reported he was dead on
arriving
in the settlements. They had left plenty of meat at the camp and by the
kind attention of his only companion, a faithful dog who licked his
sores,
he recovered, and after some months he came to the settlement, contrary
to the expectations of every person who was acquainted with the
circumstances,
and to the disgrace of the two men that were with him, whose names I
have
forgotten. My recollection is that he (Green) died upon the Clinch."
Old Lewis
Green
did not die upon the Clinch as Carr remembers, but in the fall of 1784,
Green and part of his family, with others, started himself to the
Nashboro
settlement upon the Cumberland in Tennessee. He became sick upon the
way
and died on the Blue Spring Road, which road is unknown to this writer.
At the time of his illness and death on the road to Cumberland, Lewis
Green
was accompanied by his daughter, Sarah Green, the wife of Josiah Payne,
and others. His son, Zachariah seems to have already been in Sumner
County.
Prior to
leaving
the Clinch, Lewis Green had made a will and placed it in the hands of
Benjamin
Nicholson in the event anything happened to him. Whether Nicholson was
just a friend or a kinsman is not known, but this will was placed on
record
in Washington County, Virginia. In 1785, wherein Lewis mentions his
son,
Zachariah Green, and divides his property equally among all his
children,
but does not name the other children.
Upon arriving
at
Nashville, Sarah Green Payne, on April 7, 1785, appeared before the
court
with others of the party and proclaimed a noncuptative will for Lewis
Green,
stating that while he lived with her and her husband on the Clinch that
Lewis made a will which he left with Benjamin Nicholson, charging him
not
to make any record of this will until he heard from him for when he got
to Cumberland he should alter his will, wherein he had stipulated that
a Negro named Charles should be sold and the money equally divided
among
all his children. That all his children were married and gone from him
and all had received their share except Zachariah, whom he wanted to
have
Charles, if he had lived to alter his will. This noncuptative will also
shows that Lewis Green died in October of 1784, and that the
depositions
were taken at the request of Josiah Payne who was to act for Zachariah
Green in his absence. Where Zachariah Green was at this time is not
known
to this writer.
Among the
children
of Lewis Green was Zachariah Green, James Green who was killed by the
Indians
in 1782, Lewis Green, Jr., Sarah Green who married Josiah Payne, son of
Matthew and Mary Payne, and Nancy Green who married Peter Hutchinson
(Nancy
is now thought to have been a daughter of James Green, brother of Lewis
Green.)
It is of
interest
to note that Dr. Lyman C. Draper in his notes states that the story of
Green being clawed by the bear was known to and told by Daniel Boone.
This
being true, then the event must have occurred in either 1774 or 1775,
that
being the dates of Boone's stay in the Clinch area.
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