Abraham Goad
Abraham Goad (1740-1816) was a Revolutionary War veteran from Virginia who moved to present-day Scott County after the war ended.
See Also: Revolutionary War Veterans
See Also: The Scott County Lineage Project
Biography
Goad was born in Luneburg County, Va. on April 11, 1740. He was the son of John Goad (1700-1771) and Catherine Jennings (1703-1741).
Goad married Ann Ayers (1740-1788) in 1764. They had at least four children: Anna (1767-1850), Mary (1770-1840), Ayers (1780-1855) and Joshua (1786-1880). However, that number may have been far higher. Some sources cite at least 13 children being born to Abraham and Ann Ayers Goad. Other children may have included James Goad, Catherine Nester, Isham Goad, John Goad, Hiram Goad, Abraham Goad Jr., William Goad, Robert Goad and Elizabeth Hughett.
Goad’s sister, Joannah, was the mother of John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee and the man for whom Sevierville is named. She spent her entire life in Virginia, which is where John Sevier was born.
Revolutionary War
Very little is known about Goad’s service during the war, other than that he served in the Virginia militia. He would have been the oldest of Scott County’s Revolutionary War veterans, in his mid 30s when the war began.
Goad is one of at least three Scott County Revolutionary War veterans — the others being Randolph Lawson and Abel Peak — whose names aren’t included on the plaque of war veterans placed at the Scott County Courthouse in Huntsville in 1976. A fourth, Randolph Lawson’s brother, Robert Lawson, may have also been omitted.
After the War
In about 1803, Goad moved to present-day Scott County with at least one of his sons, Joshua Goad. They settled on New River. Their farm was part of what would later become known as the Vanderpool Farm. This entry of 100 acres on the Cumberland River was made in 1807 in Anderson County (Scott County was not formed until 1849). In 1808, a survey was recorded for that 100-acre plot, noting that it was on the north side of New River, “including the bend.” This is likely a reference to the unique “V” shape formed by New River as it curves around what is now known as the Vanderpool Farm.
Listed as a chainman (surveyor) on more than one of Goad’s land references is Randolph Lawson, the fellow Revolutionary War veteran who purchased a small plot of land on Paint Rock Creek.
Family
Goad’s wife, Ann Ayers, died in 1788. Online sources say that she was buried at the Vanderpool Cemetery on Goad’s New River farm. This is almost certainly inaccurate; tax records in Virginia show that Goad did not make the move to Tennessee until after 1802.
In addition to son Joshua, two of Abraham Goad’s daughters also made the trip to Tennessee: Anna with her husband, Robert Lawson, and Mary with her husband, Thomas Phillips. Also making the journey was Thomas Phillips’ brother, Joseph Phillips, who was only about 15 at the time. Thomas and Joseph were the sons of Tobias Phillips, a Revolutionary War veteran who did not make the move to Scott County. Shortly after the move to New River, Joseph Phillips married Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson, the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Randolph Lawson. The Lawson family lived on Paint Rock Creek near where it flows into New River, a short distance from the Goad farm.
(Robert Lawson, husband of Abraham Goad’s daughter, Anna, has not traditionally been believed to be closely related to Randolph Lawson and his brothers. However, emerging research suggests that he was, in fact, their brother — or, at least, a first cousin — and also served in the Revolutionary War.)
There was a tie to the Phillips family besides Thomas’s marriage to Mary. Thomas’s and Joseph’s maternal grandmother, Hannah Goad (wife of George Phillips), was the daughter of Abraham Goad Jr. (1710-1779) and Joanna Wheatley (1720-1779). John Goad (1700-1771), who was the father of Abraham Goad who moved to Scott County, was Abraham Goad Jr.’s brother. Abraham Goad and the Phillips brothers were first cousins, twice removed.
Joshua Goad married Sarah Smiddy and they had nearly two dozen children. One of them was Joshua Goad Jr., who married Elizabeth Emily Robbins. They moved to Brimstone Creek and established a farm there, about where Indian Fork Creek empties into Brimstone Creek. One of their children was Almira Goad. She married Civil War veteran Daniel Walker in 1866, and they took over the Goad farm on Brimstone Creek. It is still known as the Walker farm to this day.
Another of Joshua and Elizabeth’s children was John Goad, who was elected Scott County Sheriff in 1894 and was the sheriff in charge of Scott County’s only legal hanging. He later served as County Trustee and Circuit Court Clerk. He built a home next-door to the Scott County Courthouse where Howard H. Baker Jr. would later practice law. Sheriff John Goad was Abraham Goad’s great-grandson.
Yet another of Joshua and Elizabeth’s children was Etta Tennessee Goad, who married Scott County School Superintendent William Lee. She was the mother of Cassie Goad Duncan, the mother of Knoxville Mayor and U.S. Congressman John J. Duncan Sr.
Death
Abraham Goad died in 1816 and is buried at the Vanderpool Cemetery on his old farm. Although the headstone that bears his name is a modern stone that was placed at his grave in recent years, his grave is the oldest known identifiable grave in Scott County. Before the stone was placed, the oldest identifiable grave was James Trammell, who died in 1826 and was buried at Angel-Wright Cemetery near Winfield.
Help complete the historical record. Have something to add? Email newsroom@ihoneida.com