In 1977 Paul M. Robertson, grandson of Dio Cleason Robertson, wrote the following concerning what he knew about the history of his grandfather: "Dio Cleason Robertson was born in 1804 in South Carolina, no one knows where, but he was an orphan at a very early age. A gentleman, Robert Coleman, bonded him from the courts of SC and Dio lived with him until he was 21 years old. South Carolina had a law requiring all holders of bonded children to release them when they were 21 years old, give them a horse, saddle, bridle, and $21.00. When Dio was 21 years old, he took his horse, etc., and $21.00 and headed west to seek a new life. He traveled thru North Carolina, into Tennessee, thru what is now Asheville to Newport, Tennessee and down through Jones Cove and Harrisburg to what is now the Robertson farm, owned by Hal D. Robertson, Jr. No record is known when he and Elizabeth Carr were married, but records reveal he may have been 22 or 23 yrs. He was a very successful businessman. He homesteaded and bought many acres of land in the fourth, fifth, and thirteenth civil districts of Sevier Co., from Red Bank Baptist Church north to the Maples Branch road and south west to Jay-ell and into Middle Creek and Pigeon Forge sections. Many of his children inherited farms, and their grandchildren still live in some of it." Cleason Robertson was in the Federal Census records for Sevier Co., TN for 1830 (p. 102), 1840 (p. 159), 1850 (p. 415), 1860 (p. 411), 1870 (p. ?), and 1880 (p. 346). He lived in the 4th Civil District of Sevier Co., TN. In the 1880 census he was living next-door to his son Tillman Robertson. Dio Cleason Robertson had 2 sons and a son-in-law who served in the Union Army (Co. M, 2nd TN Cav.), 1st Lt. John Murphy, 27, Pvt. Caleb Robertson, 26, and Pvt. D.C. Robertson, 22. (Smokey Mt. Historical Socity Newsletter, Autumn 1982, p. 20-21) Dio Cleason Robertson left a will in Sevier Co., dated March 1875, proven 6 Jun. 1891. In it he mentios wife Marth a, grandson Benjamin Robertson, son of Tipton Robertson, granddaughter Julia Robertson, Tilman Robertson, Darius Robertson, Caleb Robertson, Clarrisa Emert and husband D. M. J. Emert, Elizabeth Murphy and husband John Murphy, Cleson Robertson, Julia Fox and husband, C. H. Fox, and Robert Robertson. (Sevier Co., TN, Will Book 1, p. 405-408)