The Road to Tennessee
The Penningtons set out for Tennessee around 1812. A list of persons in the migrating family looked something like this:Jacob Pennington, age 47, and his wife Mary Jacob and Mary’s children: Moses, age early 30s, and his wife Abraham, age late 20s, and his wife, their son Jacob H., age 2 William, age 24 Isaac, age 20 David, age 16 John, age early teens Elizabeth, age 7 Mary, age 2 Probably several slaves (Since the Penningtons were known to own slaves in South Carolina and later, in the 1820 Lawrence County Census, Jacob was listed as having six slaves, it is probable that they had slaves at this time who accompanied them on this journey.) The men and women who pushed the frontier westward across America probably never thought of themselves as brave pioneers. Many of them simply loved adventure and enjoyed facing danger. But most of them faced danger and hardship because they were not content with what they had in the East. They wanted a chance to improve their lives. They had heard about the great forests and farmlands west of the Appalachians that were still untouched by ax or plow. They were eager to use the fine timber and rich soil and to build new homes for their families. The men and women who pioneered needed many skills to make their hopes come true. Most frontiersmen were farmers. But a pioneer also had to be a clever hunter and trapper. He had to know how to build a shelter, a boat, a wagon or a sled. Using only an ax, he cleared land for a farm. He planted seeds and harvested crops with homemade tools. If his plow broke, he either fixed it or made a new one. A pioneer woman worked as hard as her husband. She did much of the heavy farm work, and still found time to care for the children. She also nursed any member of the family who became ill. The frontier housewife knew how to cook wild fowl and other game on an open fire. She spun yarn from flax or wool, and wove the yarn into cloth. Thousands of pioneers struggled through the rugged Appalachian Mountains during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. These pioneers established frontier settlements in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and of course, Tennessee, as the Jacob Pennington family did. The pioneers hacked their way through the Appalachians along steep, narrow trails. They swam or waded across streams, and floated down rivers in canoes or on clumsy rafts. In order to get to south central Tennessee from where they lived in northeastern Georgia - a distance of about 300 miles - the Penningtons had to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains and the southern Appalachian Mountains. Most likely they went right over Brasstown Bald Mountain which is, at 4,784 feet above sea level, the highest point in Georgia. Hardwoods and pine trees covered the slopes of these mountains and the forests were full of bobcats, bears, beavers, deer, foxes, opossums, rabbits, raccoons and squirrels, skunks and snakes. The Cherokee Indians still inhabited this land and some of them were not too happy about white settlers moving west. The frontier often became a battleground for savage warfare between the pioneers and the Indians. When the pioneers moved westward, they invaded lands that had been Indian hunting grounds for thousands of years. Pioneers had to know what to take on the long, hard trip, and what to leave behind. They needed certain equipment for the journey, and other supplies to start life on the frontier. No pioneer could be without a rifle and an ax. They were more important than anything else. With the rifle, a pioneer could shoot game for food, or fight off wild animals. With the ax, he or she could cut logs to make a raft or a shelter, or clear land for a farm. Many pioneers set off on foot, carrying little more than a rifle and ax. But most pioneer families had one or two pack animals, and a wagon or a cart. Some took along a cow to provide milk and to serve as a pack animal. Any tool or household utensil that could be made on the frontier was left behind. Most pioneers took along an adz, an auger, a hammer, a saw, a hoe, and a plowshare. Household goods consisted of a few pots and pans, an iron kettle, and perhaps a spinning wheel. The women found room for a little extra clothing, a few blankets, and such prized possessions as a clock and a family Bible. Hunting and fishing provided most of the food along the way. The pioneers also carried some corn meal, salt pork, and dried beef. Johnnycake, a kind of cornbread, was a favorite food because it did not spoil on a long trip. Most of the pioneers walked, but some rode horseback. The settlers drove their pack animals and livestock ahead of them. They could travel only a short distance each day, and most trips took weeks.
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