Armstead Blevins

Armstead (Armpstead) Blevins (abt. 1820-1897) was the son of noted Big South Fork settler Jonathan Blevins Jr., and was himself a notable settler in the Big South Fork region, living on Parch Corn Creek.

See Also: Noteworthy Settlers of the Big South Fork Region

Biography

Armstead Blevins was born in 1819 or 1820, the son of Jonathan Blevins Jr. (1779-1863) and Sarah Minton (1795-1838). He was one of 12 children, and the first-born child of Sarah Minton, who was Jonathan Blevins’ second wife.

Blevins married Margaret “Margie” Carson (1819-1862) in 1839. They had at least eight children: Isaac (abt. 1843), Anna (abt. 1843), Diances (1846), Sarah (1847), John (1848), Eda (1852), Mary Ann (1854) and Johnathan (1857). 

Margie Carson Blevins died in 1862. Armstead Blevins remarried to Hellen Emily Terry (1832-1913). They had several more children: Shadrack (1864), Jacob (1867), William Huston (1869), Jane (1871) and Lewis (1874).

Life & Times

It isn’t clear when Armstead Blevins moved to the Big South Fork River, but he spent much of his life in the Rock Creek area. He was listed in the Scott County, Tenn. census in 1860. Prior to that, he was listed in the Wayne County, Ky., census. (It’s worth pointing out that there was some confusion over whether the river settlements of Station Camp, Parch Corn, and No Business were in Tennessee or Kentucky during the early to mid 19th century.)

Blevins likely didn’t move to Parch Corn Creek on the Big South Fork River until after he married Hellen Terry in 1862. His wife’s father, Elijah Terry, was the original owner of the Parch Corn Creek tract. 

Blevins and his family were certainly living at Parch Corn Creek by 1863. It was in May 1863 that Confederate guerrillas raided the river settlements, including Armstead Blevins’ farm. They were massacred later that night when they holed up on the nearby farm of Jonathan Burke.

Later, about 1881, John Litton was paid $5 to build a log cabin for Blevins on the Parch Corn Creek farm. That cabin stood until 1998, when it was burned to the ground by careless hikers. The last remnants of the farm, a wooden outhouse and the cabin’s rock chimney, have recently collapsed.

Death

Armstead Blevins died in 1897, at the age of about 77. His burial location is unclear, but he was likely buried at Hattie Blevins Cemetery — which is where is first wife was likely also buried.

Hellen Terry Blevins died on May 20, 1913, at the age of 80. She was buried on the family farm at Parch Corn Creek.