Other references make clear the pattern of migration from Iredell and Mecklenburg Counties of NC to Knox Co., TN. Although a common thread is the Presbyterian religion, Samuel's proximity, near Shooks, to the Seceder branch of that church might have been coincidental. The move in about 1786 or 1787 by Samuel Montgomery and the White family, and the White's involvement in the founding of another Presbyterian church in Knox Co. is at least interesting.
The witness to the marriage of Samuel Montgomery, July 19, 1797, in Knox County was H. L. White.
One search finds Hugh Lawson White married to Elizabeth CARRICK, 11 Dec 1798 (possibly in 1789), Knox Co., Tennessee.
The following is copied from Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical
by C. L. Hunter (1877) on the site, http://www.fullbooks.com/Sketches-of-Western-North-Carolina-Historical4.html
HUGH LAWSON WHITE.
Hugh Lawson White was born in Iredell county in 1773, on the plantation now owned by Thomas Caldwell, Esq., about two miles west of Center Church, and five miles east of Beattie's Ford, on the Catawba river.
. . . .
His grandfather, Moses White, emigrated to America from Ireland about 1742, and married a daughter of Hugh Lawson, one of the patriarchal settlers of the country. He had six sons, James, Moses, John, William, David and Andrew; many of whose descendants now reside in Iredell county. James White, the father of Hugh, was a soldier of the Revolution. About 1786 he moved to Knox county, East Tennessee, and was one of the original founders of the present flourishing city of Knoxville. When the Creek (Indian) war broke out he entered the army, was soon made a Brigadier General, and was distinguished for his bravery, energy and talents.
Hugh L. White's education was conducted under the care of Rev. Samuel CARRICK, Judge Roane, and Dr. Patterson, of Philadelphia. After completing his studies he returned home and commenced the practice of his profession.
. . .
In 1809, when Tennessee remodeled her judiciary department, and created the Supreme Court, Judge White was unanimously chosen to preside over this important tribunal of justice.
. . .
In 1822 he was appointed, with Governor Tazewell of Virginia, and Governor King, of Alabama, a commissioner under the convention with Spain, which position he accepted and held until its term expired in 1824.
In 1825, General Jackson having resigned his seat as a Senator in Congress, Judge White was unanimously elected to fill out his term. In 1827 he was unanimously elected for a full term; and in 1832 was chosen President of the Senate. In 1836 he was voted for as President of the United States.
He died at his adopted home in Tennessee, on the 10th of April, 1840, aged sixty-seven years.
FROM THE TN-KNOX-COUNTY WEB SITE, CHURCHES, January 23, 2000
Lebanon "in the Fork" Presbyterian Church
Founded 1791 by Rev. Samuel Carrick
~~ Knox County's first organized church ~~
. . .
Five Miles East of Knoxville, Tenn.
[History written] by Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey
Mecklenburg Place, Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 26th, 1875.
. . .
James White and Polly White, his wife. This family emigrated soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, in which the former took an active part. They were of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian descent, they came from Iredell County, N. C., and were members of Centre Church, one of the earliest Presbyterian organizations, formed about the middle of the last century in the then colony of North Carolina. Iredell was one of the first counties embraced within that portion of the state, sometimes called Mesopotamia County, the name imports between two large rivers, the Yadkin and the Catawba and is often spoken of as the community of Presbyterians, even now the entire population in the country continues Presbyterian. Centre congregation extends into Mecklenburg County and embraces branches of the families of
Lawsons, the Brevards, the Alexanders, the Whites, the McRees, etc.; emigrating from there.
. . .
Capt. Robert Craighead was one of the first members of Lebanon congregation. He was a son of Rev. Alexander Craighead, who for many years was the only Presbyterian clergyman on the Yadkin and Catawba rivers, in North Carolina, and in that Mesopotamia of the South planted from 1756 to 1776 not only the original but seven churches of Mecklenburg.
The son, Robert, was a soldier in Gen. Griffith Rutherford's campaign to the Overhill Cherokee villages in 1776. Later in the Revolutionary struggle, he was a captain under Gen. Sumpter; after peace was made in 1783, he came with other immigrants from Mecklenburg to this frontier, and settled on his farm in the present Knox County, on the Holston river, within four miles of Lebanon, which place is still known as Craighead farm.
. . .
[Recall that Center or Centre Church (NC) is just north of the Iredell/Mecklenburg County line.]
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