Calif. Families Thomas Isaac & Elizabeth Henry Massengill Piney Flats

Confederate States: Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia
Note: Many of those in the eastern section of Tennessee fought for the Union during the Civid War.
Border States: Kentucky (Soldiers from Kentucky served in both the Union and Confederate armies. The state adopted a policy of neutrality until September 1861, when a pro-Union element gained control of the legislature.)

Henry parents: James M. Massengill (b. 1688, Southampton, VA), Judith Massengill (born Odem)(b. 1686)
Monument erected om 1937
It located in Winged Deer Park. 4137 Bristol Hwy (US 19W), Johnson City TN


Henry Massengill and Mary Cobb were prominent plantation owners with their own statue in eastern Tennessee in the 1700's.
Their daughter Elizabeth (estranged because she married an Indian), married Isaac Thomas after her husband was killed.
Rocky Mount State Historic Site
200 Hyder Hill Rd. (off US-19W), Piney Flats, TN
Rocky Mount Museum and Massengill Overmountain Museum.
Rocky Mount The home of William Cobb
Henry (Hal) Massengill built The Massengill House of Worship in 1777.
They are the parents of Elizabeth Massengill (wife of Isaac Thomas) .
Mary Cobb was the G-G Granddaughter of Joseph Cobb who immigrated to the Jamestown Settlement before 1576.

There is a Cobb-Massengill home and a Cobb-Massengill monument which are not related.

William Cobb (Cobb Home above) is Mary Cobb's (Cobb-Massengill monument) brother.
When William and Barsheba moved west to Beanos Station in 1795. They left Rocky Mount to their daughter, Penelope, who had married Hal Massengill, so Cobb-Massengill house.
The Massengill Overmountain Museum part of the Rocky Mount Museum is on the same property as the Cobb's Rocky Mount.
At the Rocky Mount Historic Site web page they refer to the "Cobb-Massengill Home". They are not the same. Cobb was married to Barsheba Whitehead.
When William and Barsheba moved west to Bean's Station in 1795. They left Rocky Mount to their daughter, Penelope, who had married Hal Massengill, so Cobb-Massengill house.
The Massengill Overmountain Museum part of the Rocky Mount Museum is on the same property as the Cobb's Rocky Mount.
I haven't figured out the relationship between William Cobb and Hall Cobb or between Mary Cobb and William Cobb. Mary is a descendant of Jospeh Cobb who immigrated to Jamestown in 1613.

Rocky Mount held a significant role in the starting of Tennessee.

The area that is now Tennessee was part of the North Carolina patent during the colonial period.
Many of the residents in what is now Eastern Tennessee fought for the Union during the Civil war.
North Carolina ceded the land South of the Ohio Rever to the federal government after the Civil War believing that the national government would offer better protection against the Indians.
After a failed attempt at creating a state directly following the War for Independence, known as the State of Franklin, the territory needed protection and leadership. President George Washington appointed William Blount to be governor for the newly developed Southwest Territory, which spanned from the Allegheny mountains to the Mississippi River. Blount moved from North Carolina to William Cobb’s home, Rocky Mount, in 1790. William Blount’s stay at Rocky Mount made it the Capitol and Headquarters of the Southwest Territory until his move to Knoxville in 1792.
In 1796 it became the state of Tennessee. See Rocky Mount State Historic Site.
See History of Piney Flats which includes the Cobb Home above and the Massengill Sr. Plantation.

From History of Piney Flats:

The history of Piney Flats is very unique. It began in the late 1760's when Henry Massengill Sr. built his plantation near the banks of the Watauga River. He was one of the earliest permanent settlers in the area. Yet before his arrival many people had traveled through this area. Long hunters use to hunt this area. Daniel Boone, the famed trailblazer, blazed his famous Daniel Boone Trail through what is now Austin Springs Road in 1769. He had spent a great deal of time in the surrounding areas having established a hunting camp near Boones Creek, the spot where he carved into a tree that he killed a bear, in the early 1760's.

After Massengill established his plantation, William Cobb built his home called Rocky Mount just across the valley from the Massengill home. Mr. Cobb's home became the capital of the Southwest Territory in 1790. Governor of the territory, William Blount chose this location until the permanent capital in Knoxville was complete. Governor Blount held business at Rocky Mount for 18 months. Today Rocky Mount is a living history museum with all the guides portraying life during the time of Governor Blount's administration there.

Over the course of the next fifty years, settlers established residency in the area now know as Piney Flats. Several of the earliest homes including, Rocky Mount and the Devault-Massengill Mansion, are located on the National Register of Historic Places.

Andrew Shell setteled the area that became the center of Piney Flats in the 1840's. Until 1858 the area was known as Shell's Crossing or Shell's Crossroads. In was in 1858 the railroad built a depot in the area and named it Piney Flats beacuse of the gradual slope of the land and the abundance of pine trees.

For the next one-hundred years the community will flourish. John Wolfe provided much of the employment for the citizens that did not rely solely of farming. His Wolfe Brothers Furniture Factory was very successful. In addition to his factory, Wolfe established a phone system and a power plant that provided electricity to residents for the first forty years of the twentieth century.

The New Bethel Presbyterian Church was established in 1782 by Samual Doak, but it's congregation started as early as 1777 a the Massengill House of Worship which was burned by Tories during the American Revolution. The session at New Bethel is the oldest continual governing body in the state of Tennessee.

The Union Church of Piney Flats was established in 1873. It housed the worship of four different denominations; Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal Church South (until the 1930's), Baptist (until the 1950's), and Presbyterians. This union lasted until 1959 when the Presbyterians established their own church.

The Mary Hughes School was established in 1897 and became a four-year high school in 1923. By 1968 the county commission agreed to consolidate the high schools of the county. Mary Hughes became a Junior High until 1977 and now is the only K-8 school in the county.

In 1777, a Presbyterian minister from Virginia came thru and convinced them to build a church.
Henry was to furnish logs, boards and all the timbers needed to build a large house, with a section of benches in the back side for the Massengill and Cobb negros numbering at this time 151 souls, so these slaves can come out and be refreshed in the body and soul. This house was completed by July 1777 and was known as the Massengill House of Worship.
See New Bethel Presbyterian Church (Piney Flats, Tennessee) - Wikipedia

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last updated 15 Aug 2015