A Relative In The Flowering of the Cumberland

Elizabeth Colville married 1st John Black (they were the parents of my 5th great-grandmother, Christian Black, wife of Christopher Acklin). Elizabeth married 2nd Samuel Newell and had a son, Samuel Newell, who fought in the Revolutionary War, most notably at King's Mountain, and is the Samuel Newell referenced in the book, Flowering of the Cumberland by Harriette Simpson Arnow.

"The books owned by the Robertsons, Bledsoes, Stumps, Winchesters, and many other first and early settlers were also not listed. We only know of Samuel Newell, officer at King’s Mountain, and in time a settler up river, that he had ‘a pretty good library and was a great reader." [Arnow]

This article stated that Samuel Newell ("King's Mountain hero and member of the Franklin Convention") received his education at "Liberty Hall," which evolved into the Washington & Lee University. An unflattering description of Newell can be found here.

Harriet Arnow mentioned that Samuel Newell was living near Burnside, Kentucky in her writings here.

Samuel Newell was a representative of Sevier County in the formation of the State of Franklin:

"Friction there was from earliest years over a multitude of vexing matters—to join or not to join the State of Franklin [Footnote: Middle Tennessee never joined, but there must have been much discussion.] ‘Politics in this part of the country run high,’ Anthony Bledsoe wrote to Gov. Caswell March 26, 1787, ‘you hear in almost every collection of people frequent declarations for North Carolina and others in the like manner for the State of Franklin. I have seen it in much warmth,'...choice of a muster master, or the site of a seat for a new county—but men seem never to have been guided in their loves or hatreds by religious or nationality backgrounds. [Arnow]

Samuel Newell died in Owen County, Indiana, 21 September 1841.