Copyright 2023 Don Dean. All rights reserved.
Don has another riveting tale to share about his fascinating Tackett ancestors.
Lewis Tackett was among the first settlers of the Kanawha Valley. He was a resolute, hard frontiersman and was dreaded by the savages. About 1787, Lewis Tackett and two others went down the valley in search of game. (Timeline)
They had not gone far when they were fired on by seven Indians. Fortunately none were injured as they fled. The two hunters who were with Lewis ran as rapidly as possible in the direction of the fort and managed to escape, but Lewis was forced to flee in another direction and was captured by the savages.
They decided to take him to their village on the Scioto River, in Ohio, and there hold a war council to settle his doom. Tackett believed that if he could not escape before reaching their towns, he would be put to death upon arrival, as he was too well known to be spared as a captive. He resolved to escape at his earliest opportunity, but his rifle was taken from him and his hands securely bound with buckskin thongs before they started in the direction of the Ohio River.
After traveling a few miles down the river, the party, with their prisoner, ascended the hill. They stopped at the foot of a large pine tree where they tied him securely. After strapping him to the tree, they departed, leaving him there alone.
He tried to get his mouth to the thongs to chew them apart, but in vain. After what seemed like hours, thunder began to roll, lightning began to flash, and he pondered all the dangers that surrounded him. The storm rolled on, and the rain fell in torrents, while poor Tackett was powerless to wipe the drenching rain from his eyes or face.
He could hardly breathe. Luckily, as he continued to try to liberate himself, the wet buckskin cords stretched and grew looser until he freed himself with perfect ease.
He did not stop to look to the right or left to ascertain if anyone was near, but with the speed of a deer, he bounded down the mountain, swam the Great Kanawha River and arrived safely at home. From that time on, the tree to which he was tied has been called “Tackett’s Pine.
Reference: John Thomas Ashley, by Clara Mae (Alt) Ross.
GENEALOGICAL BACKGROUND
Lewis Tackett was my grandfather Peyton Skeen’s great-great-grandfather. Lewis lived to a ripe old ago of 100 and is buried at Sand Run Cemetery in Kanawha County. His daughter Mary Keziah also lived to be over 100 before passing away in 1857. She gave an interview to the Cist's Weekly Advertiser from Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 23, 1847, in which she said her father was descended from a long line of Lewis Tacketts. She said the Tacketts were Huguenots; they were Protestant Christians who suffered defeats in a series of civil wars in France and were persecuted by the ruling Catholic Church.
Many Huguenots fled to all parts of the world. The story of the Huguenots is a fascinating part of history. You can read more about them here, here, and here.
Unfortunately, no older records have yet been found of Lewis Tackett’s ancestors. However, Lewis Tackett is recognized by the Huguenot Society.
THE TREE
The pine tree that Lewis Tackett was supposed to have been tied to fell down in a storm in the 1840s. In both Lewis Tackett--Pioneer, by Norval Jack Dudley, and John Young, Lieutenant at Elk, by Orton Jones, the authors state that the tree was used by boat captains to navigate around Nobs Shoals. Nobs Shoals is long gone due to the raising of the Kanawha with locks and dams. General understanding by both authors is that they were just above the Elk River, and that might put the tree about where the Town Center Mall stands today.
Map by MapQuest
GRATITUDE
Everyone in our family has such a great sense of thanks, not only for what our family has done but also for somehow managing to stay alive. Over and over again, we see how close they came to not making it, yet somehow we are all here. It’s really amazing that if just one hadn’t made it, no one in my family would be here today.