Notes for Zaccheus Roberts

Notes for Zaccheus Roberts

!"A Brashear(s) Family History, Vol 3" by Charles Brashear: "died about three hours before day," says his Bible. Nancy and Zaccheus were married at the mouth of George's Creek on Saluda River near Greenville, SC. Her sister, Rebecca (Brashears) Roberts, was present at her wedding. The Zaccheus Roberts Bible has been donated to the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville. In 1944, Memory Lester made a copy.

Zaccheus and Nancy moved from South Carolina to the Clinch River with her father, Robert Samuel Brashears. In July 1799, Zaccheus Roberts bought 50 acres of bottom land on the south side of Clinch River from McClean and Hackett (Knox Co, Deeds, Book V, p.7). Zaccheus appears in various early Roane records: militia rolls, 1802; jury duty, some civil suits. The most unusual reference came in 1802, when Zaccheus whipped Sheriff John Brown "within an inch of his life" during his first term. The Grand Jury indictment reads, in part: "On December 14, 1802, Zaccheus Roberts then and there being an assault did make on him the said Sheriff John Brown, did then there beat, wound, and ill treat so that his life was greatly despaired of, and other wrongs to the said Sheriff John Brown against the peace and dignity of the State of Tennessee." The provocation is unknown, but it must have been powerful, for the Roberts were generally peaceful men. Zaccheus paid a healthy fine for his indiscretion.

Nancy's application for a Rev. War widow's pension says that Zaccheus was a private in the Company commanded by Capt. Eli Cashaw, in the Regiment commanded by Col. Thompson, Lt. Col. Mason, in March 1776.