Mr. Carrick had brought his family to a plantation near what is still known as Carrick's Ford across the Holston, now the property of Capt. James Boyd.  This was about the center of the territory of Lebanon congregation, and at a convenient distance from his church near Gilliam's.  This church building was at first very small and was built of unhewn logs about twenty feet square, covered with boards, weighted down by saplings; had neither windows or floor.  It stood a little west of the present building, and the road leading up the Holston, in the angle made by the Dandridge Road; it was not large enough to contain the worshipers who came weekly from a great distance, in good weather, and always on communion occasions.  The services were held in a grove of cedars near it, the minister was very popular, his hearers increased daily by fresh immigration, the membership was quite considerable and in 1793 it became necessary to build on a larger scale, and of more improved appearance.  

     One of the members, the late Francis Alexander Ramsey, offered nine acres of land for a Presbyterian congregation, the site for the church edifice was an eminence in the center of a beautiful grove of cedars and other trees, covered by vines forming a dense arbor and a shady bower which excluded the sun.  On this charming spot was erected a building perhaps 40 by 60 feet.  It was made of large straight, well hewn logs, meeting in the center in grooved pillars, which were supported and held together at the top by suitable girders across the house.  It was well covered with shingles and was well floored.  The pulpit was placed in the northern side, near to which was a small window, but without sash or shutter, one of the congregation was Dr. Cozby, who had an elegant double pew, and several other members put in pews of pretentious style, but convenient and commanding appearance, much of the floor was occupied by benches or puncheons, hewn from the surrounding forest and improvised for seats.  The space between the logs were well clinched and daubed with mortar and neatly covered over with lime, rather whitewashed.  For many years this was the most imposing structure in the country surrounding it.  

     After its occupancy the first church became the session house, the grounds around had long been used as a cemetery by first settlers, the trappers and traders, and afterwards by the soldiers.  Among the first Christian interments here was that of Mrs. Carrick.  It occurred on the day of the contemplated attack upon the infant Knoxville by the Indians, Sept., 1793.  All the inhabitants who would bear arms had gone to its defense, and relations and remains of Mrs. Carrick were brought down in a canoe, on the Holston River and deposited in the church yard, attended and buried by women only.  Her grave is easily pointed out -- a tombstone erected long since by the faithful care and piety of her grandson, the late Samuel Carrick White of Knoxville.  This is the oldest graveyard in the county and has become historical from its early date and respectability and worth of those who were buried in it.

Transcriber's Note:  The first burial in Lebanon-in-the-Forks cemetery took place during an Indian raid on White's Fort in 1793.
The women conducted the burial in the absence of the men.

     Mr. Carrick was frequently applied to for medical advice and professional treatment.  He became Dr. Carrick as well as Rev. Carrick, and readily he became a proficient in the art of healing.  I can still recollect his stealthy pace, calm voice, and his quiet manner in the sick room when in attendance in that capacity.

     But deferring to another page, further remarks about the first pastor and one of his ruling elders of Lebanon I proceed to mention others of the first bench of elders according to their seniority.  Capt. Jas. Cozby was one of the first emigrants in this part of Tennessee.  I think he came here from South Carolina.  He said he had seen service under Sevier, both as captain and private.  Indeed in many of his campaigns that officer had reimpressed Cozby into a surgeon on his staff: I think he was with him at King's Mountain.  I know he was with him in several of his Indian campaigns where he exhibited cool courage and daring adventure, not less as an officer and soldier in action and pursuit, but as a surgeon also.  

     Tradition has preserved many of his achievements in each capacity -- one of which I may not omit to chronicle here.  An American soldier had been shot by an Indian lurking in ambush by the side of the trail; he was wounded in the abdomen.  The ball had reached the abdomen cavity without probably touching any of the vitals of the viscera.  He stuck to his horse and reached the station before he fell to the ground.  He was bleeding profusely and ready to faint.  Cozby was sent for and brought to him promptly.  The ball could not be found; it had probably lodged in the cavity of the abdomen, a coagulation had formed, and he was supposed to be bleeding inwardly.  Dr. Cozby called for some warm water and diluting some fresh sweet milk with it poured the mixture through a funnel inserted in the wound into the cavity.  By the aid of assistants standing around the wounded body was carefully taken up and well shaken and tossed about.  The coagulation was dissolved and liquified by this treatment.  The patient was turned face downward, the fluids escaped, and the soldier recovered.  Dr. Cozby was bold in his surgery and fearless in action.

     Capt. Cozby was humane, and kind and sympathetic in private life, and in domestic and social circles he was exceedingly so.  He, his sons, and his negroes assisted at the erection of every immigrant's cabin and in the clearing of every new field.  The newcomer was ever greeted with cordial welcome to the backwoods, and every art of beneficence that was extended to the stranger was cheerfully and gracefully performed without ostentation.  He was a very good man and shed tears of joy when Mr. Carrick, as he left Gilliam's Station, promised the surveying party that he would stop as he came back and preach to them.  Capt. Cozby settled south of French Broad river, a mile or two below Mr. White's settlement, on the opposite side of the French Broad, near Gillespie's Island, on an excellent farm now since owned by Humer (1902 by Geo. French).  His first house is, I believe, still standing, and should be preserved as a memorial of the past and more exciting days.  

     Soon after its erection a Cherokee outbreak occurred and a large number of these savages were seen about nightfall hovering around it.   His wife, two daughters and two gallant sons composed the family.  There were also some negroes in the adjoining cabin, used as the kitchen.  The Indians soon surrounded the building as if to carry them by assault.  Cozby was well known as a brave, determined man, and they kept at a respectful distance and did not come within reach of the rifles in the house -- besides the darkness of the night prevented a good sight of the assailants.  They could be seen occasionally moving from point to point, assuming a maneuvering attitude, brandishing their arms, uttering shouts of defiance, and their horrid war -- whoop.

     Cozby within his castle assumed the tone of a commanding officer to the platoon of soldiers -- ordering one to go to that end of the house, another to guard the entrance, another to fire from the roof of the kitchen.   One of the daughters, Jane, was asked in a loud-toned voice to run the rest of that lead into bullets of all sizes wanted.  These orders and commands and like them, were persistently given in a calm voice in an authoritative manner for some time, when the savages were seen as they quietly withdrew without firing a gun, unable to take possession, as they afterwards said to soldiers that his house was a garrison full of soldiers, supplied with ammunition.  The Indians that thus menaced Cozby's house went on to Casteel's, a mile further, and perpetrated the dreadful massacre of the family, as narrated in the pages of the Annals of Tennessee.  The Presbyterian Elder and humble Christian, about 1890 emigrated to Rhea County, where he died at the house of his son-in-law, William Smith, at Smith's Cross Roads.  

     Another of Lebanon's first Elders was John Adair, Esq.  He came, I think, from Sullivan County, and was the entry taker in the new country around and below him.  To the discharge of the duties of his office large sums of money were constantly accumulating on his hands.  These were faithfully deposited in the treasury of North Carolina.  On the invasion of that state by Lord Cornwallis, in 1780, Sevier and Shelby embodied the militia of the trans-mountain counties to resist the invaders of the country east of Blue Ridge.  On account of the exceeding scarcity of money these two colonels found it almost impossible to equip the troops.

     In their dilemma Sevier went to the entry taker and suggested to that officer the use of the public money lying unemployed in his hands.  To this suggestion or request, Adair made this noble and pertinent reply, "Col.   Sevier, this money belongs to the impoverished treasury of North Carolina, and I have no authority to appropriate a dollar of it to any other purpose.  But if the country is overrun by the British and Tories, liberty is lost; take it; if by its use the country can be saved, I can trust that country to vindicate me and legalize my conduct." The money was taken, and the troops equipped for the distant campaign.  Never before or since has a public fund been more judiciously expended, more honestly or usefully applied.  Without its use, Mr. Thos. Jefferson could never have said that "The victory of King's Mountain was the joyful enunciation of American Independence." Than this instance of the virtuous and unselfish spirit of John Adair there has never been a more heroic illustration.  

     All honor to the memory of the good old Christian patriot.  The remains of Adair's Station can still be seen about four miles northeast of Knoxville, near where he was buried in 1822.  The station was long the depository of supplies for the troops who constituted the guard of emigrants to Cumberland and the west, and is still one of the historic places.  Its first proprietor continued as an elder of Lebanon until after the organization of a Presbyterian church at Knoxville, where without demitting his sacred office or his functions in the new congregation, reverenced for his old age, his piety, and public and private virtues, he attained a vigorous old age, and as late as January, 1811, was able to ride on horseback from his residence to Kingston in one day, between forty and fifty miles.  He deserves a monument; no, he has it already in the hearts of his countrymen.

     Among the earliest immigrants to the country around Lebanon was James Armstrong; I think he came originally from South Carolina, as early as 1787 or '88; he cleared and cultivated a field on his grant above the mouth of Swan Pond Creek.  At first he did not reside upon the place, but lived at Capt. Cozby's, and thus had to cross the French Broad river to get to his work.  I do not know that he was ever one of the Elders or even a member of Lebanon.  He died soon after his first settlement, but I knew his widow well; she was a constant hearer of Mr. Carrick, and esteemed him highly, was well indoctrinated in the Presbyterian system of faith and order.  The original residence was down near the south bank of Holston and not upon the public road where her son, Major Aaron Armstrong, has since built and resided.  The mother of this large family lived to an extreme old age, and died esteemed and respected by all who knew her as wife, mother, neighbor, or professor of religion.  The parents were both buried in the family graveyard on the old place.

     The next in seniority is Robt. Houston, Esq.  He came from the settlement of Abbeville District, South Carolina, and brought with him to the frontier, energy, virtue, intelligence, and good principles for which that Scotch-Irish population has always been distinguished.  Probity, honor, industry, thrift and laudable ambition were some of these characteristics.  Mr. Houston resided with his kinsman, Mr. Armstrong, but after some time purchased the Cold Spring property.  After his marriage to Miss Davis, he ever afterwards made it his pleasant home.  He never connected himself with Lebanon, but attended it frequently and contributed liberally to its buildings, and support of the gospel.  As a citizen, he was public spirited and influential, he was appointed by Governor Blount the first Sheriff of Knox County.  

     Adhering to the usage of the old Palmetto State, opening the court with magisterial dignity with a drawn sword, walking with official formality, conducting the judges covered with their robes of state from their lodgings to the courthouse, dispersing the crowd of bystanders as he advanced, and then the court was opened with due form and becoming ceremonies.  South Carolina inherited and adopted these forms from the mother country, and her son here in the backwoods was unwilling to abandon them.  Mr. Houston was tall, muscular and graceful, and made a very favorable impression on the people.  But this ceremony and etiquette was not in consonance with the past practice in Jonesboro and Greeneville, where the fierce democracy had so long remained.

     But as the Territorial regime was now inaugurated by Governor Blount, the frontiersman acquiesced in the seeming necessity for the innovation, around Knoxville; order and law, civilization and good manners began to take the place of violence, insubordination and lawlessness.  After 1796, when the Territorial Government ceased to be, and the new State of Tennessee was admitted as one of the sovereignties constituting the Union, Mr. Houston was elected by its Legislature as Secretary of the State.  To this office he was elected biennially several terms, and performed its duties faithfully and well.  But the sceptre had departed from Judea, and the seat of government being transferred elsewhere from Knoxville, he became a private citizen, still retaining, however, the position of County Magistrate, conferred upon him by the Legislature.  He became the justice to adjourn court of Knox County, and I believe, known sometime as its chairman.  

     After the war of 1812, a treaty was held on Hiwassee river with Cherokee Indians.  It is known as the Calhoun Treaty, being conducted on the part of the United States by Hon. J. C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War.  One of the provisions of this treaty required the appointment of an agent to represent the interests of the State of Tennessee.  That appointment involved duties of great responsibility and importance.  This was conferred by Mr. Calhoun, the Secretary of War, upon his old neighbor and co-temporary, Samuel Houston; when his official bond was prepared at the war office for approval, Mr. Calhoun observed to Col. Williams, one of the United States Senators, "I do not want the bondsmen named, I would endorse Mr. Houston's bond myself, I have known him always." It need not be added that the duties of his appointment were faithfully discharged, and to the entire satisfaction of all parties.  

     Residing nearer as he did to the Knoxville church than to Lebanon, Squire Houston continued to attend the latter, until advancing years had incapacitated him from active life.  He became in his old age a still more diligent reader of the Bible and Scott's Commentary upon it, and the more private duties of religion: he always welcomed his friends with his usual pleasant smile-became paralytic in his old age and died in peace with all men.  He was buried on the top of the eminence south of his old residence.  He left a numerous posterity; one of his great grandsons is now, 1875, an elder in Lebanon Church, Geo. A. McNutt.

     Among the very earliest immigrants was Devereaux Gilliam.  He came, I believe, from Virginia; his wife was of one of the oldest families of that state; her name, I believe, was Ellis.  They were pioneers of this then wilderness frontier.  His large grant of 800 acres extended from the station at the confluence on the French Broad river to Swan Pond Creek, an affluent of the latter.  The grant was dated, I think, as early as 1786.  When first seen by the Anglo-American explorers this beautiful spot was still a canebrake, interrupted only by wigwams or shanties which stood on the level land now belonging to Lebanon Church.  These shanties, or camps rather, were made both sides and roof of the tallest canes, coming together at the top in the form of cones and were of various sizes.  The constant debris from the decayed cane leaves accumulating from year to year had formed a circular elevation around each cone nearly twelve inches high, when I first saw them, six or eight in number and perhaps ten or twelve feet in diameter at the ground.  It was said that these simple structures had been built and occupied by peltry men, trappers, and traders, who navigated the river between the Spanish and French trading establishments at and above the Muscle Shoals, with beaten paths radiating from this cluster of shanties in all directions.  

     Up each river, one very plain path reaches to Swan Pond and Beaver Dam, near the Stone House, afterwards erected by Col. F. A. Ramsey.  A still plainer path extended through the canebrake to the landing on the river bank.  The mound of tumulus when first seen was not only covered with cane, but large full grown trees, and of the slowest growth.  I recollect well a very large walnut stump that was two and one-half feet wide through the base; it was an irregular ellipsis and at the east end of the base was extended so far as to make the ascent to the top of the mound easy.  The height was 17 feet in 1823, and the margin around the summit was probably three feet high, with a considerable depression or cavity in the center.  

     On the southern front of this beautiful mound stood the residence of Mr. Gilliam.  It was 24 feet long by 18 feet wide.  It was two full stories, made of well hewn logs and covered with shingles fastened on the laths with hammered nails.  It was a very large and deep old-fashioned chimney and fine fireplace, and at first was the most pretentious house in the new country, and was soon used as a station by cutting portholes in the cracks between the logs.  Through these, rifles of the frontiersmen commanded both rivers and the adjoining heights.  A ferry was here early established which continues to the present day and the free use of it was granted to the worshipers at Lebanon, granted at first by Mr. Gilliam, has been ever since awarded to the successors.   I do not know that he ever belonged to the church, though he contributed to its support liberally.  

     He was a gentleman of the old school, of considerable culture and lofty aspirations.  One of his daughters married Mr. Hugh Dunlap, an adventurous immigrant of solid worth.  Mrs. Dunlap, I think, was a member of the church.  They raised a very numerous family, which afterwards became distinguished in Tennessee and the great west.  The oldest son, Gilliam Dunlap, received his education at Ebenezer Academy under the instructions of Rev. R. Ramsey, studied law, represented Knox County in the Tennessee Legislature, went to Texas where he became Secretary of the Treasury of the Lone Star Republic.  Two other sons, Hugh and William C. Dunlap, were also educated at Ebenezer, studied law, went west and each attained a seat on the judicial bench in West Tennessee.  One of them represented his District in the U.  S.  Congress.  Other sons of Hugh Dunlap and the grandson, Devereaux Gilliam, became prominent in their native state and the youngest was but recently Treasurer of Tennessee.  Lebanon claims them all, as the good old primitive stock at Gilliam's.

     Archibald Rhea, Sr., was one of the Elders of Lebanon.  His residence was immediately at Gilliam's, across the French Broad.  The family was from Virginia.  Cherokees gave the early settlers on that side of the river constant trouble and alarm.  His house stood about 400 yards from the bank of the river, near to high water mark.  There being no spring on that part of the plantation, a well was dug close by the house or station, as it was also called, so that in case of a siege the beseiged might still have a supply of water.  After peace was made the buildings were moved out to the spring near the residence of Hon. C. Jones.  The well was then filled up and can no longer be seen.  Mr. Rhea is represented to have been a very worthy and pious man, but as he died in 1793, little is recollected of him.  In 1826 a cedar head-board with his name upon it and the date 1793 is still standing, at the head of his grave near the back door of the present church.  

     His son, Archibald Rhea, Jr., was his successor in the eldership, some several years after.  He continued to reside at the same place.  He was an excellent man and a devout Christian.  He acted as precentor for the congregation; he also taught music as a science, and was not only an excellent singer but an experienced and successful teacher.  His classes generally met him in the church.  The sessions were always opened and closed with prayer by him, or by the minister if present.  During recess or intermission of his school Mr. Rhea never allowed his scholars to indulge in any noisy amusements in or around the house of God.  He said "there must be perfect quietness maintained." This injunction was never allowed to be violated.  He had a sweet, clear enunciation and gave out the hymns in public worship with great calmness and precision.  I recollect on one occasion at church he came to the stanza:

So impressible was he and his emotional nature so excitable, that his voice trembled, he bursted into tears, handed the book to the preacher and sat down weeping, powerless and subdued by his feelings.

     Mr. Rhea was married to one of the daughters of Governor Sevier, and one of the sons of the Governor had married a sister of Mr. Rhea.  This relationship brought the two families much together.  The Governor's ladies always occupied Mr. Rhea's pew in the church, while the Governor always sat at the head of Dr. Cozby's more fashionable pew at the opposite side of the house.  About 1815 Mr. Rhea moved to Knoxville where he became the precentor again for Rev. Thos. Nelson pastor of the Presbyterian church here.  He then moved to Alabama, and while there he died.  I think I have heard that a son of his, James White Rhea, became a ruling Elder of some church in North Alabama.

     Jeremiah Jack came from Maryland, I believe, from Williamsport on the Potomac.  He first settled near his wife's brothers, Thos. and Allen Gillespie, on the Nollachucky, as Chucky was called by aborigines.  The immigration to this neighborhood was so great and so rapid as to exhaust the supplies of breadstuffs, and Mr. Jack and William Rankin descended the French Broad and Holston, now the Tennessee river, in canoes, well supplied with articles of clothing of domestic manufacture, and adapted to the wants of the Cherokees on the Tennessee.  Descending to that unknown country these adventurers penetrated Choto and other villages of the Indians on its banks.  After some delay they succeeded in bartering their clothing for as much corn as their canoes could carry, and thus supplied the pressing demands for bread at home.  On their return voyage they landed their canoes in the sluice of the Island above the month of the French Broad, afterwards known as Jack's Island.

     He was so pleased with the situation as to remove the rest of his family the next year with all his effects by boat on the French Broad river and settled permanently on the surrounding lands.  He was a member of Lebanon church.  He was a quiet, inoffensive man and much given to hospitality: raised a large and respected family, was appointed early to the magistracy, saw service in several campaigns against the Indians, was a brave man and a patriot, and about 1825, at a very advanced age, died and was buried in Lebanon cemetery.   One of Jeremiah Jack's sons, after his father's death was elected an Elder.  He continued to serve the church in his capacity for several years, when with many others of the connection he moved to Alabama and there died.  A son of his, John Jack, Esq., is now a deacon of Lebanon Church.

     Captain Alexander Campbell was another of the earliest immigrants of this frontier.  He belonged to the tribe of that name, that previous to the American Revolution had settled in the Wolf Hills, near the present Abingdon, and that did such effective work under their kinsman, Col. William Campbell, at King's Mountain and Guilford Court House, N. C.  Capt. Alexander Campbell was in both these important hard fought, and I may say, decisive battles.  He died early, leaving a numerous family, seven daughters and three sons.  He and his wife were buried in the family graveyard of Squire Benjamin McNutt, on a farm adjoining his land.  He built a large house, well furnished.  The nails used were hammered.  His residence was the place now occupied by his son, James Campbell.  Another son, John Campbell, Esq., was several years after elected Elder in Lebanon church and Magistrate of his Civil District, the duties of which were performed acceptably to all.  In 1863 the federal invasion of East Tennessee occurred.   Squire John Campbell was compelled, as he thought for safety, to withdraw to Georgia, and later Alabama, where he died, May, 1876, and was buried in Salem M. E. S.  Church cemetery, Cherokee County.

     Another Scotch-Irish Presbyterian immigrant to Lebanon was George McNutt.  I think he was born in Ireland, and from his name I suppose him to have been originally from Scotland.  Be that as it may, he inherited that innate love for liberty, the rights of conscience and of self-government for which his sect and his nation have always been distinguished.  He early took the side of the Colonies in the American Revolution, and at its close was one of the pioneers who formed a settlement in Irish Bottom on the French Broad river, that is now in Jefferson county.  From this place at an early date he moved by water and settled at the old McNutt residence on the north side of the Tennessee river, still in possession of his grandson, Robert Houston McNutt.  He was one of the Elders of Lebanon church during the pastorate of Dr. Carrick, up to the incumbency of his successor, Rev. Isaac Anderson, in 1803, after which date he attended occasionally both at the courthouse at Knoxville and in Lebanon, acting as an Elder and sometimes as precentor at both places, instead of Squire Rhea.  He had a clear, melodious voice, very grave appearance.  He was married and left a numerous posterity, some of whom reside in the country around Lebanon and Knoxville.  He has left the savor of a good name as their inheritance.  His grave is on the hill west of his old home, McNutt cemetery.

     Of the surveying party which first met Rev. Mr. Carrick at Gilliam's, it is also tradition that Francis Alexander Ramsey was there as their surveyors.  He did not reside in that neighborhood, but having an entry laid upon the Swan Pond tract of land by grant from North Carolina, dated 1786, he was now there to run the lines of his own and other claimants.  His family was at his residence on Little Limestone in Washington County, near Salem church, under the pastorate of Rev. Sam'l Doak.  He was of Scotch-Irish descent.  His father, Reynold Ramsey, was a soldier in the army of Washington, which composed the defense of freedom, and was with the illustrious commander at Trenton and Princeton.  In his twentieth year he left his father's home without anything but his horse and his surveyor's compass as his patrimony: on Limestone Creek he found an uncle, the brother of his mother, John Alexander, who had preceded him in reaching the backwoods, on Chucky river.  Here young Ramsey was received with a cordial welcome not only from his uncle but also from numerous Pennsylvanians, then residing on this frontier.  

     Soon after his arrival the difficulty between North Carolina and her trans-mountain counties took place; cession of all her vast territory, extending from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, to the Congress of the Confederacy and by refusal or failure of that body to accept the cession thus made by North Carolina, the inhabitants of the country then ceded were left in a condition of political orphanage.  A convention was immediately called and met at Jonesboro, to consult over the alarming condition of the country, and to adopt such measures of relief, as should extricate the western people from existing embarrassment.   Of this convention, F. A. Ramsey, though only in his twentieth year, was elected Secretary.  John Sevier was unanimously elected Governor, and continued in the exercise of his office, for four years, the whole period of the existence of the new State; during this time new counties were erected.  

     In the enumeration of the Franklin leaders it would be infidelity to historical truth by this writer, a filial impiety, not to mention Col. Francis Alexander Ramsey, the youthful Secretary of the Franklin convention, besides her civil and military offices filled by him under that government.  He was a member of the Council of State, and that body was entrusted with that delicate duty of negotiating with the parent State the question of separation and independence.   On one of his missions to the seat of government of North Carolina on official business, Col. Ramsey passed through Mecklenburg County.  There he formed the acquaintance of Jno. McKnitte Alexander, Esq.  He had been an active whig in the Revolutionary War -- was one of the Secretaries of the Charlotte Convention, May 19 and 20, 1775, was a founder and ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Hopewell in that county.  One of his daughters, Miss Margaret Alexander, became his wife and came with him in 1789 to Limestone; here was his home when not professionally absent, till 1792 or 1793, when be removed to Swan Pond and began the cultivation and improvement of that large and beautiful property.  

     It had been for many years the favorite resort of trappers and hunters who came there to procure beaver pelts and feathers of swans and other aquatic birds.  This place was first seen by Col. Ramsey in 1786, when with an exploring party, and upon which was laid his first land warrant.  This pond was a small but beautiful lake of placid water, extending from the Beaver Dam to the present residence of Alexander and Robert Armstrong, on one of the arms of the pond, and on the other arm of the pond nearly to the late Jas. Pickle's residence, these covering a large area of submerged land and enclosing between its two arms a considerable extent of upland in an insular position still known as the island field now owned by Dr. Vaun Anderson.  It could be reached only by canoes.  The depth of the lake varied from one to six feet; it was at first perfectly clear; over this the swans, wild geese and ducks, swam in joyful serenity, being in many places beyond the reach of the rifle ball.  The flocks of this game were very large, almost beyond present belief, the noise made by them after the report of a hunter's gun was frequently heard at Gilliam's and Gillespie's Stations.  The pond was made by beavers that had constructed a dam across two or three spring branches, tributaries to the creek below, hence called Swan Pond.  This dam was probably once higher than when I first saw it; it was then four feet high at the highest point, and lower as it approached the uplands which it connected.  There was admissible ingenuity, skill and sagacity displayed, not only in its construction, but in its boundary.

     But I wander; F. A. Ramsey, wishing to drain the land, and use it for husbandry and safeguard for health, cut a wide ditch from north to south transversely to the Beaver Dam and the lake disappeared with all the game, and the land was converted into meadows, and the dam almost obliterated.  After this, 1796 and 1797, the present stone house was erected.  In its plan and erection an English artist from London was the architect.  His name was Thos. Hope.  The model on the building was long preserved as a sight for curious and antiquarian.   The old building is still standing and is well preserved in all its departments from basement to attic.  Like some of the baronial castles which Mr. Hope had seen in England, the structure is stone, it is gothic in style with narrow windows, and elegant cornice, beautifully finished at its corners.  It was in 1797 decidedly the finest, most elegant, and most costly edifice in the State of Tennessee.

     There occurred the great revival of religion at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century.  In this great and glorious outpouring of the spirit Lebanon participated.  The instrument by which the revival was brought about was the Rev. James McGready, still known everywhere in the southwest as "The Revivalist." November, 1790, emigrating with his family to the west from North Carolina, he was overtaken by an early and most inclement winter.  Col. Ramsey invited his family and himself to become his guests till the ensuing spring.  The invitation was accepted, and for a few months Mr. McGready occasionally supplied the pulpit of Mr. Carrick at Lebanon and ministered during the time of his visit at Swan Pond to the new settlement and in the region around about.  This man's labors in the new fields to which providence introduced him as a missionary were most abundantly blessed by Gospel seed at the newly erected Shunem, situated in the upper end of Knox County and elsewhere, where Presbyterian congregations were afterwards founded.

     In the meantime Mr. Carrick had become the President of Blount College, preparatory to the assumption of the new duties devolved on him as President; he began occasionally to preach in Knoxville, and eventually from his farm moved to that place as his permanent residence, but continued his pastorate in Lebanon till the Presbyterian Church in Knoxville was organized.   Several of his bench of Elders, viz: James White, Geo. McNutt, Esq., and John Adair, Esq., were transferred to the new organization in 1802.  The pastorate of the Knoxville church was fully assumed and that of Lebanon demitted.  In the board of Trustees in Blount College, Mr. Carrick was surrounded by four of his original board of Elders, namely: Col. White, Col. Ramsey, Squire McNutt and Squire Adair, as trustees of the literary institution which interests he was now called to promote.

     Rev. Isaac Anderson succeeded Mr. Carrick as pastor of Lebanon, about the year of 1803 or 1804 while he was yet a young man.  While he was not remarkable for culture and attainments, he was remarkable for his mental endowments, his great genius and intellectual capacity; he was a profound thinker, a thorough theologian, and an ingenious metaphysician, fond of the polemics of the pulpit, and earnest, emphatic piety.  Lebanon was under his pastorate, but unlike his predecessor he gave but half his time or services to this congregation and, the other half to Washington Church, ten miles away.

All HTML code on this page was created by and copyrighted 1999-2004 to Billie R.  McNamara.  All rights reserved.  Please direct all questions and comments to Ms. McNamara.  Background graphic image was borrowed from Fred Smoot.  Used by permission.  Photo of Lebanon Church memorial by Kenneth Dunlap.  Also used by permission.

This page was last updated January 2, 2004 .
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