John Tipton

John Tipton (August 15, 1730 – August 9, 1813) was an American frontiersman and statesman who was active in the early development of the state of Tennessee. He is best remembered for leading the opposition to the State of Franklin movement in the 1780s, as well as for his rivalry with Franklinite leader John Sevier. He served in the legislatures of Virginia, North Carolina, the Southwest Territory, and Tennessee, and was a delegate to Tennessee's 1796 constitutional convention. Tipton's homestead still stands and is managed as the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site.

Early life

John Tipton was born in 1730 in Baltimore County, Maryland, one of eight children of Jonathan Tipton, a farmer, and Elizabeth (Edwards) Tipton. His ancestors hailed from England, and his paternal grandfather migrated to Maryland from Jamaica. In 1747, his family moved to the Shenandoah Valley, then on Virginia's western frontier.

When Dunmore County (modern Shenandoah County) was created from Frederick in 1772, Tipton was appointed justice of the peace in the new county by Governor Lord Dunmore. In June 1774, Tipton was elected to the county's Committee of Safety and helped craft the Woodstock Resolutions, which denounced the British Crown's actions in closing the port of Boston. He was also elected to the county's seat in the House of Burgesses. In 1777, he was reappointed justice of the peace by Governor Patrick Henry. Two years later, he was appointed recruiting officer for the Continental Army's Virginia line. In 1780, he was appointed Commissioner of the Provision of Law by Governor Thomas Jefferson. As principal officer of the Shenandoah militia during the war, he obtained the title of colonel. At this convention, a resolution was introduced to move forward with the formation of a new state. Tipton voted against the resolution, but it passed, 28 to 15.

The supporters of the State of Franklin elected John Sevier as governor of the proposed state. Tennessee residents who sought to remain with North Carolina threw their support behind Tipton, electing him to Washington County's seat in the North Carolina Senate in 1786. The Franklinites and loyalists (the latter sometimes called "Tiptonites") set up parallel governments that gradually grew hostile to one another. They raided each other's courthouses and seized each other's court documents. At one point, Tipton and Sevier scuffled in the streets of Jonesborough. arguing the document lacked a Bill of Rights.

Southwest Territory and Tennessee

In November 1789, North Carolina ratified the U.S. Constitution and passed a second cession act in December, ceding its trans-Appalachian lands to the new U.S. government. The U.S. government organized the new lands into the Southwest Territory, and William Blount was appointed governor of the new territory.

Upon his arrival in East Tennessee, Blount sought to end the feud between Tipton and Sevier. He initially offered Tipton a position as justice of the peace, but Tipton turned it down. In March 1792, Blount visited Tipton's home and personally convinced him to curtail his enmity toward Sevier. In Blount's presence, Tipton burned a petition that had been circulating to discredit Sevier.

In 1794, Tipton was elected to the territorial legislature, where he served on the Committee for Petitions and Grievances alongside James White and William Cocke. Tipton's son, Jacob (1765–1791), was killed at St. Clair's Defeat in 1791.

In the early 19th century, Tipton's son, William (1761–1849), known as "Fighting Billy," acquired much of the land in Cades Cove, in the Great Smoky Mountains. Tipton's in-law, Joshua Jobe, convinced John Oliver to become the Cove's first white settler in 1818. The Tipton Place, built by Tipton's descendants in the 1880s, still stands along the Cades Cove Loop Road.

Tipton's great-nephew, John Tipton (1786–1839), fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He was elected by the Indiana state legislature as a U.S. senator in the 1830s. He was a great-grandson of Tipton's uncle, William (1696–1726). Tipton County, Indiana; Tipton, Indiana, and Tipton, Iowa, are all named for him.

Tipton's farm, the Tipton-Haynes Place in Johnson City, is now designated as a state historic site. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. When the state acquired the farm in 1945, historian Samuel Cole Williams spoke at its dedication. Later historians, among them Theodore Roosevelt (Winning of the West), gave more nuanced accounts of the Tipton-Sevier feud.