John Terry (c1760 -1842), Son of William Terry, of Botetourt County, Virginia

John TERRY was born circa 1760 in Augusta County, Virginia (in the area later to be known as Botetourt County) to William and Rachel Terry.

He married Esther Brown 2 February 1781 in Botetourt County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Thomas Brown and Mary (some early records mention without much detail a Thomas Brown marrying a Mary Terry but with out location and date it is somewhat meaningless due to the commonality of both names; one group says he married a Mary Hadden). A year later his sister Susannah Terry will marry his wife's brother, another Thomas Brown. 

In about 1790 he begins a move into the wilderness areas of Tennessee and then into Kentucky.  The map below illustrates that treaties opened up areas in Tennessee and then in Kentucky around 1790 making the lure to new, hopefully better, lands strong.

In 1808 he states in a document filed in Botetourt County related to the estate of his father, William Terry, that he is living in Anderson County, Tennessee (at that time an area overlapping the regions of Hawkins County and bringing into focus location for his son William who would always claim Hawkins County or nearby Sullivan as birthplace (they shifted several times so lines were often confused). The same set of records for his sister Mercy Harrison, Rachel Martin, Susannah Brown, and brothers Miles, Jasper, and  William Jr. make clear they are all heirs and children of William Terry who was patented land along the Black Run of the Roanoke in 1755.

Note the location of Hawkins County in 1790 - massive area covering what would become Anderson County, Tennessee (and later Scott County). As if sometimes the case people did not move but lines did.  This overlap of area will make clear a letter John's son William Terry will right to his own son John and wife Lucinda Reed Terry in Red River Co., Tx . Letter of 7 April 1852 (pg.22 vol.1): William (1785-1869) and Barbara Ennis Terry of Madison County, Arkansas writing to son John and Lucinda King Reed Terry in Red River County, Texas.  A letter dated April 7, 1852, “We had a letter from John Ennes in Indiana this winter and he is living on his old place and doing well but has heard from our friends in Anderson for several years. And we had a letter from brother Josiah in Tennessee last faul and they was well…” [as in the original]  John Ennes [brother of Barbara Ennis Terry] would have met the brothers William and Miles when they were in Gibson County, Indiana (attested to by early land records) and Anderson was both a reference to the old original county in Tennessee but also the region of early Indiana were Perry County would emerge.  The only Josiah on the 1850 census who was in the old Anderson County area out of which Scott County, Tennessee emerged. So here we have an early letter (1852) attesting to relationships in the Anderson County area of Tennessee (now Scott Co.) and the name of a brother, Josiah.

In about 1810 to 1814 he migrates into Perry County, Indiana and settles for good.

In 1842 he dies, leaving many children spread out across about five territories/states.