US Politician. He served as a Member of the North Carolina State Senate from 1788 to 1789.
THOMAS (JEFFERSON?) AMIS WAS THE SON OF JOHN AND MARY DILLARD AMIS.
HE MARRIED TWICE:
1) ALICE GALE ON 27 JAN 1763 IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: FRANCES, TALITHA, RACHEL, MARY, LINCOLN, ALICE GALE, WILLIS, ELIZABETH, THOMAS GALE, PENELOPE AND JOHN.
2) LUCY HAYNES ON 26 MAR 1787 IN HAWKINS COUNTY, TENNESSEE. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: NANCY, JAMES AND HAYNES.
THOMAS SERVED IN THE 3RD NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENT OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
*****************
THOMAS SERVED IN THE TENNESSEE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA SENATE PER THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY:
North Carolina SENATE, 1788, 1789; representing Hawkins County (then North Carolina, now Tennessee); born in Middlesex County, Virginia, on January 1, 1744; son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis. Married (1st) in Northampton County, North Carolina, on January 26, 1763, to Alice Gale, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Griffith) Gale. Eleven children – Tabitha (Mrs. John Cox), Frances (Mrs. Richard Grantham), Mary (Mrs. Joseph Rogers), Elizabeth, John Rachel (Mrs. James Hagan), Willis, Lincoln, Alice Gale (Mrs. John Gordon), Thomas Gale and Penelope Amis. He was married (2nd) on March 26, 1787, to Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Ann (Smith) Haynes; four children – Haynes, William, James, and Nancy Amis (Mrs. Jesse Howell). Amis went to what is now Hawkins County c. 1781, erected a stone house three miles above Rogersville, around which he built a fort for protection against the Indians; shortly thereafter added a store, blacksmith ship, distillery, grust and saw mills, a tavern, school, forge, and post office. Amis had previously been a member of the Provincial Congress, 1776; a justice of the peace; served as superintendent of commissary, with the rank of captain in the 3rd Regiment of Continental troops. Member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Died at his home on Big Creek in Hawkins County on November 18, 1797; buried at that place. Father of James Amis; grandfather of John A. Rogers, sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.
Sources: Williams, Lost State of Franklin, 315-16; Rosters and Soldiers, 196; Acklen, Tombstone Inscriptions, 188; Ray, Tennessee Cousins. 85; Hawkins County Miscellaneous Records, pp. 1-8, 27; Hawkins County Will Book I, 1797-1886, p. 1; information supplied by Prentiss Price, Rogersville.
SOURCE:
TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BIOGRAPHIES
*************
FOLLOWING IS THE WILL OF THOMAS AMIS:
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
PAGE 1
DATED 16 NOV 1797
In the name of God, Amen, I Thomas Amis of the State of Tennessee and County of Hawkins, Knowing that it is ordained for all men once to die and being sick and weak but of sound mind and memory, Do make and ordain this my last will and Testament in manner and force following.
Firsh(sic), I bequeath myself to Almighty God fully believing in his Almighty wise providence and mercy to all his Creation, after this life rest in peace, And as to my worldly goods and chattels that he has been pleased to put in my care in this life, I dispose of in manner and form following:
Item: I give and bequeath unto my wife Lucy all my cash in hand at my decease with all my stock of every kind and species. Also all my plantation tools and utensials including wagons and all my household and kitchen furniture of every kind and all the frescut crop of all sorts whatsoever to her and her heirs forever. And also lend to my said wife all my land on Big Creek containing three hundred and fifty acres in three tracts including the place wherever I now live. Also the tract of land whereon Polly Brooks now lives containing Two Hundred acres adjoining the land my son Willis lives on, with my mills, stills and the utensials. thereunto belonging and my Smith Tools all of which said loan I bid her during the time she remains my widow and at her death or marriage I give the same to my son Haynes Amis and his heirs forever.
Item: I give to my son John Amis what may be received from the Cargo seized from me by the Spanish Commandaun at Fort Natchez in June 1786. I also give him the tract of land he now lives on adjoining the town of Rogersville and lying the East side of the main road. Also the lower tract of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, to be laid off by a line to run square with the upper end of the tract he now lives on, to him and his heirs.
Item: I give unto my son Willis Amis the upper part of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, it being the balance of what I give my son John in the said tract.
Item: I give to my son Lincoln Amis the five lots in the town of Rogersville which I purchased of Daniel Hamblen. I also give him all my lands being the West side of the main road and adjoining the town of Rogersville.
Item: I give unto my son Thomas Gale Amis all the certificates by me funded in the Continental Loan Office in North Carolina the 22nd of August 1791. Number 106(?) amounting to twenty one hundred and sixty two dollars and forty cents. to him and his heirs forever.
Item: My will is that the rest of any estate consisting of slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts etc shall be equally divided between my wife Lucy Amis and my children, except Thomas Gale Amis and Haynes Amis and consider the legacies to be made equal other ways with the rest of my children. Also the following deductions to be made (viz) oech of my daughters Tabitha and Mary's shares six hundred and sixty six and two third dollars each and oech of my daughter Fanny and my son John's share three hundred thirty three and one third dollars each. I make the deductions for negros already given them. It is my will and desire that my friends John Ray Esquire, Col. James Aruston(?), William Armstrong Esquire, Joseph McMinn Esquire and William Stoward (surveyor) on a majority of them do make the division of the above mentioned slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts and such division when made to be made of record in asuch which shall stand good in law. And if any of my children should die without leaving a lawful heir then I will their legacy to be equally divided amongst those children who have a share in the last mentioned legacy of slaves, bonds, notes, book accounts or their lawful representatives. It is also my will and desire that my library of all my books be kept together for the use of my school.
And lastly I do appoint my wife Lucy my Executrix to that my last will and testament. Revoking all other will or wills by me made. In witness whereof I have here unto sez my hand and seal this sixteenth day of November, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven.
Signed and sealed in presence of:
Milton Ford(Jurah) Isaac Lambertz
James Herbarrs Inien
Spencer Ball (Jurah)
Signed: Thomas Amis
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
**************
AMIS, Thomas, Captain, NC Line and Bladen Militia. Soldier was born on January 1, 1744 to John and Mary Dillard Amis, John died in Northampton Co. NC in 1764. Thomas moved from Northampton to Duplin in August 1768 and purchased 180 acres of land. He had two children born in Duplin, 3-Mary Amis born August 22, 1768 and she married Joseph Rogers, she died on November 30, 1833 in TN. 4-Also Elizabeth Amis born January 6, 1770. It appears that Thomas moved to Bladen Co. NC in 1772 and served in the 6th and 7th NC Regiment on the NC Line as a commissary agent from 1776 to 1779. He was listed in the pension record of James Shipman and served some as a captain in the Drowning Creek and SC line area to disarm and disperse Tories. Soldier served some with his brother William Amis. Thomas had over 20 pay vouchers.
He located and purchased meat and other supplies for the army and militia. Other children listed are 1-Tabitha Cox 1764 who married Captain John Cox and 2-Frances Amis Grantham born on April 16, 1765 in Northampton Co. NC. Frances married 14 April 1784 RS Richard Grantham of Ole Dobbs Co. NC who was born in 1754 to John and Ann Grantham. Frances had 11 children. Richard drew a Revolutionary War pension. Other children of Thomas: 5-John 1773, 6-Rachel 1774, 7-Willie/William 1777, 8-Lincoln 1778, and 9-Alice Gale 1780 were born in Bladen. Thomas then moved to Hawkins Co. TN about 1780 and owned a
store and had 10-Thomas Gale Amis 1782 and 11-Penelope Amis 1784. He also served in the NC House of Commons from Bladen and then Hawkins Co. NC, later part of TN when TN became a state in 1796. Soldier died on December 4, 1797. He had married Alice Gale c1761 in Northampton Co. NC
and she had died in 1784 in Hawkins Co. NC, now TN. Alice may have died at the birth of her last child.
SOURCE:
Duplin County, NC - Revolutionary War Military Services, Surnames A-D
*************
Thomas Amis (in Ramsey’s Annals pronounced “Amy” and of French origin), son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis, was born January 1, 1744 in Northampton Co., North Carolina.
Thomas married, first, Alice Gale (1744-1784), daughter of Thomas and Mary (Marshall) Gale, on January 27, 1763. Thomas and Alice came to what is now Hawkins Co., Tennessee — then Sullivan Co., Virginia — in 1781 after the Revolutionary War.
At the mouth of Big Creek, Thomas built a stone house on a thousand acres granted him by the government. A store, blacksmith shop, distillery, saw and grist mill, and a palisade to guard against Cherokee assaults were constructed. A post office, school, and church were added later.
Thomas Amis opened an Inn and operated a tavern, which became a public stage stop-over for many notables such as Andrew Jackson, Governor John Sevier, the elder Michaux, and Bishop Francis Asbury. The good Bishop noted in his journal that he spent the night at Amis’ tavern…was well entertained for his money, but that he rebuked Amis for bragging about how much money he made off of his brew. Evidently the two engaged in some heated debates, for Asbury commented that “it was out of necessity and not choice that he was there.”
According to Dr. George E. Mellon of the University of Tennessee, “In his day, Thomas Amis was a man both of substance and official distinction.” During the Revolutionary War, on December 22, 1776, Thomas was commissioned Commissary for the Third Regiment, North Carolina Continental Troops, under Colonel Jethro Sumners, and given the rank of Captain. In Volume 2, page 586, North Carolina Colonial Records, by Saunders, Amis wrote to his Excellency, “I have been the only acting commissioner and have supplied all the troops since the departure of our Army northward. Have already mortgaged my own property for the loan of a few hundred pounds.”
Thomas Amis represented Bladen County, North Carolina, in the Provincial Congress in 1776, and in 1788-89, he represented Hawkins County, North Carolina, where his votes were in favor of separation of the western territory from North Carolina.
In 1786, while trading in the west (Natchez, Mississippi), Thomas Amis’ boat was confiscated on the river by the Spanish Commandant and, despite a letter of strong opposition from Amis, evidently was never returned to its rightful owner.
In 1787 Thomas married, second, Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Anna Haynes.
Thomas Amis’ Will was the first one recorded in Hawkins County, Tennessee. He and both wives are buried in Amis Cemetery near the stone house in which they resided, three miles above Rogersville, Tennessee.
Children of Thomas and Alice (Gale) Amis:
Tabitha, 1764-1832, m Capt John Cox; descendant, Wendy Jacobs.
Frances, 1766-, m Richard Grantham; descendant, Millard Miles.
Mary, 1768-, m Joseph Rodgers; descendant, Elizabeth S. Owings.
Elizabeth, 1770-1776.
John, 1773-1807, m Catherine Bowlin.
Rachel, 1774-____, m James Hagan.
Willis, 1777-___.
Lincoln, 1778-1868, m Ann Nicholson.
Alice Gale, 1780-1864, m John Gordon Jr.
Thomas Gale, 1782-1803.
Penelope, 1784-1785.
Children of Thomas and Lucy (Haynes) Amis:
Haynes, 1788-1848, m Mary Howell.
William, 1789-1809.
3. James, 1790-1871, m Mary Armstrong.
Nancy, 1793-1834, m English Jesse Howell.
The information above was contributed and copyright ©1998 by descendant Wendy Pickering Jacobs. Minor edits for grammar and clarification were added by B. R. McNamara in 2014.
SOURCE:
Genweb
THOMAS (JEFFERSON?) AMIS WAS THE SON OF JOHN AND MARY DILLARD AMIS.
HE MARRIED TWICE:
1) ALICE GALE ON 27 JAN 1763 IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: FRANCES, TALITHA, RACHEL, MARY, LINCOLN, ALICE GALE, WILLIS, ELIZABETH, THOMAS GALE, PENELOPE AND JOHN.
2) LUCY HAYNES ON 26 MAR 1787 IN HAWKINS COUNTY, TENNESSEE. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: NANCY, JAMES AND HAYNES.
THOMAS SERVED IN THE 3RD NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENT OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
*****************
THOMAS SERVED IN THE TENNESSEE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA SENATE PER THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY:
North Carolina SENATE, 1788, 1789; representing Hawkins County (then North Carolina, now Tennessee); born in Middlesex County, Virginia, on January 1, 1744; son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis. Married (1st) in Northampton County, North Carolina, on January 26, 1763, to Alice Gale, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Griffith) Gale. Eleven children – Tabitha (Mrs. John Cox), Frances (Mrs. Richard Grantham), Mary (Mrs. Joseph Rogers), Elizabeth, John Rachel (Mrs. James Hagan), Willis, Lincoln, Alice Gale (Mrs. John Gordon), Thomas Gale and Penelope Amis. He was married (2nd) on March 26, 1787, to Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Ann (Smith) Haynes; four children – Haynes, William, James, and Nancy Amis (Mrs. Jesse Howell). Amis went to what is now Hawkins County c. 1781, erected a stone house three miles above Rogersville, around which he built a fort for protection against the Indians; shortly thereafter added a store, blacksmith ship, distillery, grust and saw mills, a tavern, school, forge, and post office. Amis had previously been a member of the Provincial Congress, 1776; a justice of the peace; served as superintendent of commissary, with the rank of captain in the 3rd Regiment of Continental troops. Member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Died at his home on Big Creek in Hawkins County on November 18, 1797; buried at that place. Father of James Amis; grandfather of John A. Rogers, sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.
Sources: Williams, Lost State of Franklin, 315-16; Rosters and Soldiers, 196; Acklen, Tombstone Inscriptions, 188; Ray, Tennessee Cousins. 85; Hawkins County Miscellaneous Records, pp. 1-8, 27; Hawkins County Will Book I, 1797-1886, p. 1; information supplied by Prentiss Price, Rogersville.
SOURCE:
TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BIOGRAPHIES
*************
FOLLOWING IS THE WILL OF THOMAS AMIS:
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
PAGE 1
DATED 16 NOV 1797
In the name of God, Amen, I Thomas Amis of the State of Tennessee and County of Hawkins, Knowing that it is ordained for all men once to die and being sick and weak but of sound mind and memory, Do make and ordain this my last will and Testament in manner and force following.
Firsh(sic), I bequeath myself to Almighty God fully believing in his Almighty wise providence and mercy to all his Creation, after this life rest in peace, And as to my worldly goods and chattels that he has been pleased to put in my care in this life, I dispose of in manner and form following:
Item: I give and bequeath unto my wife Lucy all my cash in hand at my decease with all my stock of every kind and species. Also all my plantation tools and utensials including wagons and all my household and kitchen furniture of every kind and all the frescut crop of all sorts whatsoever to her and her heirs forever. And also lend to my said wife all my land on Big Creek containing three hundred and fifty acres in three tracts including the place wherever I now live. Also the tract of land whereon Polly Brooks now lives containing Two Hundred acres adjoining the land my son Willis lives on, with my mills, stills and the utensials. thereunto belonging and my Smith Tools all of which said loan I bid her during the time she remains my widow and at her death or marriage I give the same to my son Haynes Amis and his heirs forever.
Item: I give to my son John Amis what may be received from the Cargo seized from me by the Spanish Commandaun at Fort Natchez in June 1786. I also give him the tract of land he now lives on adjoining the town of Rogersville and lying the East side of the main road. Also the lower tract of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, to be laid off by a line to run square with the upper end of the tract he now lives on, to him and his heirs.
Item: I give unto my son Willis Amis the upper part of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, it being the balance of what I give my son John in the said tract.
Item: I give to my son Lincoln Amis the five lots in the town of Rogersville which I purchased of Daniel Hamblen. I also give him all my lands being the West side of the main road and adjoining the town of Rogersville.
Item: I give unto my son Thomas Gale Amis all the certificates by me funded in the Continental Loan Office in North Carolina the 22nd of August 1791. Number 106(?) amounting to twenty one hundred and sixty two dollars and forty cents. to him and his heirs forever.
Item: My will is that the rest of any estate consisting of slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts etc shall be equally divided between my wife Lucy Amis and my children, except Thomas Gale Amis and Haynes Amis and consider the legacies to be made equal other ways with the rest of my children. Also the following deductions to be made (viz) oech of my daughters Tabitha and Mary's shares six hundred and sixty six and two third dollars each and oech of my daughter Fanny and my son John's share three hundred thirty three and one third dollars each. I make the deductions for negros already given them. It is my will and desire that my friends John Ray Esquire, Col. James Aruston(?), William Armstrong Esquire, Joseph McMinn Esquire and William Stoward (surveyor) on a majority of them do make the division of the above mentioned slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts and such division when made to be made of record in asuch which shall stand good in law. And if any of my children should die without leaving a lawful heir then I will their legacy to be equally divided amongst those children who have a share in the last mentioned legacy of slaves, bonds, notes, book accounts or their lawful representatives. It is also my will and desire that my library of all my books be kept together for the use of my school.
And lastly I do appoint my wife Lucy my Executrix to that my last will and testament. Revoking all other will or wills by me made. In witness whereof I have here unto sez my hand and seal this sixteenth day of November, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven.
Signed and sealed in presence of:
Milton Ford(Jurah) Isaac Lambertz
James Herbarrs Inien
Spencer Ball (Jurah)
Signed: Thomas Amis
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
**************
AMIS, Thomas, Captain, NC Line and Bladen Militia. Soldier was born on January 1, 1744 to John and Mary Dillard Amis, John died in Northampton Co. NC in 1764. Thomas moved from Northampton to Duplin in August 1768 and purchased 180 acres of land. He had two children born in Duplin, 3-Mary Amis born August 22, 1768 and she married Joseph Rogers, she died on November 30, 1833 in TN. 4-Also Elizabeth Amis born January 6, 1770. It appears that Thomas moved to Bladen Co. NC in 1772 and served in the 6th and 7th NC Regiment on the NC Line as a commissary agent from 1776 to 1779. He was listed in the pension record of James Shipman and served some as a captain in the Drowning Creek and SC line area to disarm and disperse Tories. Soldier served some with his brother William Amis. Thomas had over 20 pay vouchers.
He located and purchased meat and other supplies for the army and militia. Other children listed are 1-Tabitha Cox 1764 who married Captain John Cox and 2-Frances Amis Grantham born on April 16, 1765 in Northampton Co. NC. Frances married 14 April 1784 RS Richard Grantham of Ole Dobbs Co. NC who was born in 1754 to John and Ann Grantham. Frances had 11 children. Richard drew a Revolutionary War pension. Other children of Thomas: 5-John 1773, 6-Rachel 1774, 7-Willie/William 1777, 8-Lincoln 1778, and 9-Alice Gale 1780 were born in Bladen. Thomas then moved to Hawkins Co. TN about 1780 and owned a
store and had 10-Thomas Gale Amis 1782 and 11-Penelope Amis 1784. He also served in the NC House of Commons from Bladen and then Hawkins Co. NC, later part of TN when TN became a state in 1796. Soldier died on December 4, 1797. He had married Alice Gale c1761 in Northampton Co. NC
and she had died in 1784 in Hawkins Co. NC, now TN. Alice may have died at the birth of her last child.
SOURCE:
Duplin County, NC - Revolutionary War Military Services, Surnames A-D
*************
Thomas Amis (in Ramsey’s Annals pronounced “Amy” and of French origin), son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis, was born January 1, 1744 in Northampton Co., North Carolina.
Thomas married, first, Alice Gale (1744-1784), daughter of Thomas and Mary (Marshall) Gale, on January 27, 1763. Thomas and Alice came to what is now Hawkins Co., Tennessee — then Sullivan Co., Virginia — in 1781 after the Revolutionary War.
At the mouth of Big Creek, Thomas built a stone house on a thousand acres granted him by the government. A store, blacksmith shop, distillery, saw and grist mill, and a palisade to guard against Cherokee assaults were constructed. A post office, school, and church were added later.
Thomas Amis opened an Inn and operated a tavern, which became a public stage stop-over for many notables such as Andrew Jackson, Governor John Sevier, the elder Michaux, and Bishop Francis Asbury. The good Bishop noted in his journal that he spent the night at Amis’ tavern…was well entertained for his money, but that he rebuked Amis for bragging about how much money he made off of his brew. Evidently the two engaged in some heated debates, for Asbury commented that “it was out of necessity and not choice that he was there.”
According to Dr. George E. Mellon of the University of Tennessee, “In his day, Thomas Amis was a man both of substance and official distinction.” During the Revolutionary War, on December 22, 1776, Thomas was commissioned Commissary for the Third Regiment, North Carolina Continental Troops, under Colonel Jethro Sumners, and given the rank of Captain. In Volume 2, page 586, North Carolina Colonial Records, by Saunders, Amis wrote to his Excellency, “I have been the only acting commissioner and have supplied all the troops since the departure of our Army northward. Have already mortgaged my own property for the loan of a few hundred pounds.”
Thomas Amis represented Bladen County, North Carolina, in the Provincial Congress in 1776, and in 1788-89, he represented Hawkins County, North Carolina, where his votes were in favor of separation of the western territory from North Carolina.
In 1786, while trading in the west (Natchez, Mississippi), Thomas Amis’ boat was confiscated on the river by the Spanish Commandant and, despite a letter of strong opposition from Amis, evidently was never returned to its rightful owner.
In 1787 Thomas married, second, Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Anna Haynes.
Thomas Amis’ Will was the first one recorded in Hawkins County, Tennessee. He and both wives are buried in Amis Cemetery near the stone house in which they resided, three miles above Rogersville, Tennessee.
Children of Thomas and Alice (Gale) Amis:
Tabitha, 1764-1832, m Capt John Cox; descendant, Wendy Jacobs.
Frances, 1766-, m Richard Grantham; descendant, Millard Miles.
Mary, 1768-, m Joseph Rodgers; descendant, Elizabeth S. Owings.
Elizabeth, 1770-1776.
John, 1773-1807, m Catherine Bowlin.
Rachel, 1774-____, m James Hagan.
Willis, 1777-___.
Lincoln, 1778-1868, m Ann Nicholson.
Alice Gale, 1780-1864, m John Gordon Jr.
Thomas Gale, 1782-1803.
Penelope, 1784-1785.
Children of Thomas and Lucy (Haynes) Amis:
Haynes, 1788-1848, m Mary Howell.
William, 1789-1809.
3. James, 1790-1871, m Mary Armstrong.
Nancy, 1793-1834, m English Jesse Howell.
The information above was contributed and copyright ©1998 by descendant Wendy Pickering Jacobs. Minor edits for grammar and clarification were added by B. R. McNamara in 2014.
SOURCE:
Genweb
US Politician. He served as a Member of the North Carolina State Senate from 1788 to 1789.
THOMAS (JEFFERSON?) AMIS WAS THE SON OF JOHN AND MARY DILLARD AMIS.
HE MARRIED TWICE:
1) ALICE GALE ON 27 JAN 1763 IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: FRANCES, TALITHA, RACHEL, MARY, LINCOLN, ALICE GALE, WILLIS, ELIZABETH, THOMAS GALE, PENELOPE AND JOHN.
2) LUCY HAYNES ON 26 MAR 1787 IN HAWKINS COUNTY, TENNESSEE. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: NANCY, JAMES AND HAYNES.
THOMAS SERVED IN THE 3RD NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENT OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
*****************
THOMAS SERVED IN THE TENNESSEE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA SENATE PER THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY:
North Carolina SENATE, 1788, 1789; representing Hawkins County (then North Carolina, now Tennessee); born in Middlesex County, Virginia, on January 1, 1744; son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis. Married (1st) in Northampton County, North Carolina, on January 26, 1763, to Alice Gale, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Griffith) Gale. Eleven children – Tabitha (Mrs. John Cox), Frances (Mrs. Richard Grantham), Mary (Mrs. Joseph Rogers), Elizabeth, John Rachel (Mrs. James Hagan), Willis, Lincoln, Alice Gale (Mrs. John Gordon), Thomas Gale and Penelope Amis. He was married (2nd) on March 26, 1787, to Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Ann (Smith) Haynes; four children – Haynes, William, James, and Nancy Amis (Mrs. Jesse Howell). Amis went to what is now Hawkins County c. 1781, erected a stone house three miles above Rogersville, around which he built a fort for protection against the Indians; shortly thereafter added a store, blacksmith ship, distillery, grust and saw mills, a tavern, school, forge, and post office. Amis had previously been a member of the Provincial Congress, 1776; a justice of the peace; served as superintendent of commissary, with the rank of captain in the 3rd Regiment of Continental troops. Member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Died at his home on Big Creek in Hawkins County on November 18, 1797; buried at that place. Father of James Amis; grandfather of John A. Rogers, sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.
Sources: Williams, Lost State of Franklin, 315-16; Rosters and Soldiers, 196; Acklen, Tombstone Inscriptions, 188; Ray, Tennessee Cousins. 85; Hawkins County Miscellaneous Records, pp. 1-8, 27; Hawkins County Will Book I, 1797-1886, p. 1; information supplied by Prentiss Price, Rogersville.
SOURCE:
TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BIOGRAPHIES
*************
FOLLOWING IS THE WILL OF THOMAS AMIS:
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
PAGE 1
DATED 16 NOV 1797
In the name of God, Amen, I Thomas Amis of the State of Tennessee and County of Hawkins, Knowing that it is ordained for all men once to die and being sick and weak but of sound mind and memory, Do make and ordain this my last will and Testament in manner and force following.
Firsh(sic), I bequeath myself to Almighty God fully believing in his Almighty wise providence and mercy to all his Creation, after this life rest in peace, And as to my worldly goods and chattels that he has been pleased to put in my care in this life, I dispose of in manner and form following:
Item: I give and bequeath unto my wife Lucy all my cash in hand at my decease with all my stock of every kind and species. Also all my plantation tools and utensials including wagons and all my household and kitchen furniture of every kind and all the frescut crop of all sorts whatsoever to her and her heirs forever. And also lend to my said wife all my land on Big Creek containing three hundred and fifty acres in three tracts including the place wherever I now live. Also the tract of land whereon Polly Brooks now lives containing Two Hundred acres adjoining the land my son Willis lives on, with my mills, stills and the utensials. thereunto belonging and my Smith Tools all of which said loan I bid her during the time she remains my widow and at her death or marriage I give the same to my son Haynes Amis and his heirs forever.
Item: I give to my son John Amis what may be received from the Cargo seized from me by the Spanish Commandaun at Fort Natchez in June 1786. I also give him the tract of land he now lives on adjoining the town of Rogersville and lying the East side of the main road. Also the lower tract of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, to be laid off by a line to run square with the upper end of the tract he now lives on, to him and his heirs.
Item: I give unto my son Willis Amis the upper part of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, it being the balance of what I give my son John in the said tract.
Item: I give to my son Lincoln Amis the five lots in the town of Rogersville which I purchased of Daniel Hamblen. I also give him all my lands being the West side of the main road and adjoining the town of Rogersville.
Item: I give unto my son Thomas Gale Amis all the certificates by me funded in the Continental Loan Office in North Carolina the 22nd of August 1791. Number 106(?) amounting to twenty one hundred and sixty two dollars and forty cents. to him and his heirs forever.
Item: My will is that the rest of any estate consisting of slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts etc shall be equally divided between my wife Lucy Amis and my children, except Thomas Gale Amis and Haynes Amis and consider the legacies to be made equal other ways with the rest of my children. Also the following deductions to be made (viz) oech of my daughters Tabitha and Mary's shares six hundred and sixty six and two third dollars each and oech of my daughter Fanny and my son John's share three hundred thirty three and one third dollars each. I make the deductions for negros already given them. It is my will and desire that my friends John Ray Esquire, Col. James Aruston(?), William Armstrong Esquire, Joseph McMinn Esquire and William Stoward (surveyor) on a majority of them do make the division of the above mentioned slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts and such division when made to be made of record in asuch which shall stand good in law. And if any of my children should die without leaving a lawful heir then I will their legacy to be equally divided amongst those children who have a share in the last mentioned legacy of slaves, bonds, notes, book accounts or their lawful representatives. It is also my will and desire that my library of all my books be kept together for the use of my school.
And lastly I do appoint my wife Lucy my Executrix to that my last will and testament. Revoking all other will or wills by me made. In witness whereof I have here unto sez my hand and seal this sixteenth day of November, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven.
Signed and sealed in presence of:
Milton Ford(Jurah) Isaac Lambertz
James Herbarrs Inien
Spencer Ball (Jurah)
Signed: Thomas Amis
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
**************
AMIS, Thomas, Captain, NC Line and Bladen Militia. Soldier was born on January 1, 1744 to John and Mary Dillard Amis, John died in Northampton Co. NC in 1764. Thomas moved from Northampton to Duplin in August 1768 and purchased 180 acres of land. He had two children born in Duplin, 3-Mary Amis born August 22, 1768 and she married Joseph Rogers, she died on November 30, 1833 in TN. 4-Also Elizabeth Amis born January 6, 1770. It appears that Thomas moved to Bladen Co. NC in 1772 and served in the 6th and 7th NC Regiment on the NC Line as a commissary agent from 1776 to 1779. He was listed in the pension record of James Shipman and served some as a captain in the Drowning Creek and SC line area to disarm and disperse Tories. Soldier served some with his brother William Amis. Thomas had over 20 pay vouchers.
He located and purchased meat and other supplies for the army and militia. Other children listed are 1-Tabitha Cox 1764 who married Captain John Cox and 2-Frances Amis Grantham born on April 16, 1765 in Northampton Co. NC. Frances married 14 April 1784 RS Richard Grantham of Ole Dobbs Co. NC who was born in 1754 to John and Ann Grantham. Frances had 11 children. Richard drew a Revolutionary War pension. Other children of Thomas: 5-John 1773, 6-Rachel 1774, 7-Willie/William 1777, 8-Lincoln 1778, and 9-Alice Gale 1780 were born in Bladen. Thomas then moved to Hawkins Co. TN about 1780 and owned a
store and had 10-Thomas Gale Amis 1782 and 11-Penelope Amis 1784. He also served in the NC House of Commons from Bladen and then Hawkins Co. NC, later part of TN when TN became a state in 1796. Soldier died on December 4, 1797. He had married Alice Gale c1761 in Northampton Co. NC
and she had died in 1784 in Hawkins Co. NC, now TN. Alice may have died at the birth of her last child.
SOURCE:
Duplin County, NC - Revolutionary War Military Services, Surnames A-D
*************
Thomas Amis (in Ramsey’s Annals pronounced “Amy” and of French origin), son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis, was born January 1, 1744 in Northampton Co., North Carolina.
Thomas married, first, Alice Gale (1744-1784), daughter of Thomas and Mary (Marshall) Gale, on January 27, 1763. Thomas and Alice came to what is now Hawkins Co., Tennessee — then Sullivan Co., Virginia — in 1781 after the Revolutionary War.
At the mouth of Big Creek, Thomas built a stone house on a thousand acres granted him by the government. A store, blacksmith shop, distillery, saw and grist mill, and a palisade to guard against Cherokee assaults were constructed. A post office, school, and church were added later.
Thomas Amis opened an Inn and operated a tavern, which became a public stage stop-over for many notables such as Andrew Jackson, Governor John Sevier, the elder Michaux, and Bishop Francis Asbury. The good Bishop noted in his journal that he spent the night at Amis’ tavern…was well entertained for his money, but that he rebuked Amis for bragging about how much money he made off of his brew. Evidently the two engaged in some heated debates, for Asbury commented that “it was out of necessity and not choice that he was there.”
According to Dr. George E. Mellon of the University of Tennessee, “In his day, Thomas Amis was a man both of substance and official distinction.” During the Revolutionary War, on December 22, 1776, Thomas was commissioned Commissary for the Third Regiment, North Carolina Continental Troops, under Colonel Jethro Sumners, and given the rank of Captain. In Volume 2, page 586, North Carolina Colonial Records, by Saunders, Amis wrote to his Excellency, “I have been the only acting commissioner and have supplied all the troops since the departure of our Army northward. Have already mortgaged my own property for the loan of a few hundred pounds.”
Thomas Amis represented Bladen County, North Carolina, in the Provincial Congress in 1776, and in 1788-89, he represented Hawkins County, North Carolina, where his votes were in favor of separation of the western territory from North Carolina.
In 1786, while trading in the west (Natchez, Mississippi), Thomas Amis’ boat was confiscated on the river by the Spanish Commandant and, despite a letter of strong opposition from Amis, evidently was never returned to its rightful owner.
In 1787 Thomas married, second, Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Anna Haynes.
Thomas Amis’ Will was the first one recorded in Hawkins County, Tennessee. He and both wives are buried in Amis Cemetery near the stone house in which they resided, three miles above Rogersville, Tennessee.
Children of Thomas and Alice (Gale) Amis:
Tabitha, 1764-1832, m Capt John Cox; descendant, Wendy Jacobs.
Frances, 1766-, m Richard Grantham; descendant, Millard Miles.
Mary, 1768-, m Joseph Rodgers; descendant, Elizabeth S. Owings.
Elizabeth, 1770-1776.
John, 1773-1807, m Catherine Bowlin.
Rachel, 1774-____, m James Hagan.
Willis, 1777-___.
Lincoln, 1778-1868, m Ann Nicholson.
Alice Gale, 1780-1864, m John Gordon Jr.
Thomas Gale, 1782-1803.
Penelope, 1784-1785.
Children of Thomas and Lucy (Haynes) Amis:
Haynes, 1788-1848, m Mary Howell.
William, 1789-1809.
3. James, 1790-1871, m Mary Armstrong.
Nancy, 1793-1834, m English Jesse Howell.
The information above was contributed and copyright ©1998 by descendant Wendy Pickering Jacobs. Minor edits for grammar and clarification were added by B. R. McNamara in 2014.
SOURCE:
Genweb
THOMAS (JEFFERSON?) AMIS WAS THE SON OF JOHN AND MARY DILLARD AMIS.
HE MARRIED TWICE:
1) ALICE GALE ON 27 JAN 1763 IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: FRANCES, TALITHA, RACHEL, MARY, LINCOLN, ALICE GALE, WILLIS, ELIZABETH, THOMAS GALE, PENELOPE AND JOHN.
2) LUCY HAYNES ON 26 MAR 1787 IN HAWKINS COUNTY, TENNESSEE. GOD BLESSED THIS MARRIAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING CHILDREN: NANCY, JAMES AND HAYNES.
THOMAS SERVED IN THE 3RD NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENT OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
*****************
THOMAS SERVED IN THE TENNESSEE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA SENATE PER THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY:
North Carolina SENATE, 1788, 1789; representing Hawkins County (then North Carolina, now Tennessee); born in Middlesex County, Virginia, on January 1, 1744; son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis. Married (1st) in Northampton County, North Carolina, on January 26, 1763, to Alice Gale, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Griffith) Gale. Eleven children – Tabitha (Mrs. John Cox), Frances (Mrs. Richard Grantham), Mary (Mrs. Joseph Rogers), Elizabeth, John Rachel (Mrs. James Hagan), Willis, Lincoln, Alice Gale (Mrs. John Gordon), Thomas Gale and Penelope Amis. He was married (2nd) on March 26, 1787, to Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Ann (Smith) Haynes; four children – Haynes, William, James, and Nancy Amis (Mrs. Jesse Howell). Amis went to what is now Hawkins County c. 1781, erected a stone house three miles above Rogersville, around which he built a fort for protection against the Indians; shortly thereafter added a store, blacksmith ship, distillery, grust and saw mills, a tavern, school, forge, and post office. Amis had previously been a member of the Provincial Congress, 1776; a justice of the peace; served as superintendent of commissary, with the rank of captain in the 3rd Regiment of Continental troops. Member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Died at his home on Big Creek in Hawkins County on November 18, 1797; buried at that place. Father of James Amis; grandfather of John A. Rogers, sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.
Sources: Williams, Lost State of Franklin, 315-16; Rosters and Soldiers, 196; Acklen, Tombstone Inscriptions, 188; Ray, Tennessee Cousins. 85; Hawkins County Miscellaneous Records, pp. 1-8, 27; Hawkins County Will Book I, 1797-1886, p. 1; information supplied by Prentiss Price, Rogersville.
SOURCE:
TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BIOGRAPHIES
*************
FOLLOWING IS THE WILL OF THOMAS AMIS:
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
PAGE 1
DATED 16 NOV 1797
In the name of God, Amen, I Thomas Amis of the State of Tennessee and County of Hawkins, Knowing that it is ordained for all men once to die and being sick and weak but of sound mind and memory, Do make and ordain this my last will and Testament in manner and force following.
Firsh(sic), I bequeath myself to Almighty God fully believing in his Almighty wise providence and mercy to all his Creation, after this life rest in peace, And as to my worldly goods and chattels that he has been pleased to put in my care in this life, I dispose of in manner and form following:
Item: I give and bequeath unto my wife Lucy all my cash in hand at my decease with all my stock of every kind and species. Also all my plantation tools and utensials including wagons and all my household and kitchen furniture of every kind and all the frescut crop of all sorts whatsoever to her and her heirs forever. And also lend to my said wife all my land on Big Creek containing three hundred and fifty acres in three tracts including the place wherever I now live. Also the tract of land whereon Polly Brooks now lives containing Two Hundred acres adjoining the land my son Willis lives on, with my mills, stills and the utensials. thereunto belonging and my Smith Tools all of which said loan I bid her during the time she remains my widow and at her death or marriage I give the same to my son Haynes Amis and his heirs forever.
Item: I give to my son John Amis what may be received from the Cargo seized from me by the Spanish Commandaun at Fort Natchez in June 1786. I also give him the tract of land he now lives on adjoining the town of Rogersville and lying the East side of the main road. Also the lower tract of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, to be laid off by a line to run square with the upper end of the tract he now lives on, to him and his heirs.
Item: I give unto my son Willis Amis the upper part of my six hundred and forty acre tract of land, it being the balance of what I give my son John in the said tract.
Item: I give to my son Lincoln Amis the five lots in the town of Rogersville which I purchased of Daniel Hamblen. I also give him all my lands being the West side of the main road and adjoining the town of Rogersville.
Item: I give unto my son Thomas Gale Amis all the certificates by me funded in the Continental Loan Office in North Carolina the 22nd of August 1791. Number 106(?) amounting to twenty one hundred and sixty two dollars and forty cents. to him and his heirs forever.
Item: My will is that the rest of any estate consisting of slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts etc shall be equally divided between my wife Lucy Amis and my children, except Thomas Gale Amis and Haynes Amis and consider the legacies to be made equal other ways with the rest of my children. Also the following deductions to be made (viz) oech of my daughters Tabitha and Mary's shares six hundred and sixty six and two third dollars each and oech of my daughter Fanny and my son John's share three hundred thirty three and one third dollars each. I make the deductions for negros already given them. It is my will and desire that my friends John Ray Esquire, Col. James Aruston(?), William Armstrong Esquire, Joseph McMinn Esquire and William Stoward (surveyor) on a majority of them do make the division of the above mentioned slaves, bonds, notes, judgements book accounts and such division when made to be made of record in asuch which shall stand good in law. And if any of my children should die without leaving a lawful heir then I will their legacy to be equally divided amongst those children who have a share in the last mentioned legacy of slaves, bonds, notes, book accounts or their lawful representatives. It is also my will and desire that my library of all my books be kept together for the use of my school.
And lastly I do appoint my wife Lucy my Executrix to that my last will and testament. Revoking all other will or wills by me made. In witness whereof I have here unto sez my hand and seal this sixteenth day of November, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven.
Signed and sealed in presence of:
Milton Ford(Jurah) Isaac Lambertz
James Herbarrs Inien
Spencer Ball (Jurah)
Signed: Thomas Amis
HAWKINS COUNTY WILL BOOK – VOLUME 1
**************
AMIS, Thomas, Captain, NC Line and Bladen Militia. Soldier was born on January 1, 1744 to John and Mary Dillard Amis, John died in Northampton Co. NC in 1764. Thomas moved from Northampton to Duplin in August 1768 and purchased 180 acres of land. He had two children born in Duplin, 3-Mary Amis born August 22, 1768 and she married Joseph Rogers, she died on November 30, 1833 in TN. 4-Also Elizabeth Amis born January 6, 1770. It appears that Thomas moved to Bladen Co. NC in 1772 and served in the 6th and 7th NC Regiment on the NC Line as a commissary agent from 1776 to 1779. He was listed in the pension record of James Shipman and served some as a captain in the Drowning Creek and SC line area to disarm and disperse Tories. Soldier served some with his brother William Amis. Thomas had over 20 pay vouchers.
He located and purchased meat and other supplies for the army and militia. Other children listed are 1-Tabitha Cox 1764 who married Captain John Cox and 2-Frances Amis Grantham born on April 16, 1765 in Northampton Co. NC. Frances married 14 April 1784 RS Richard Grantham of Ole Dobbs Co. NC who was born in 1754 to John and Ann Grantham. Frances had 11 children. Richard drew a Revolutionary War pension. Other children of Thomas: 5-John 1773, 6-Rachel 1774, 7-Willie/William 1777, 8-Lincoln 1778, and 9-Alice Gale 1780 were born in Bladen. Thomas then moved to Hawkins Co. TN about 1780 and owned a
store and had 10-Thomas Gale Amis 1782 and 11-Penelope Amis 1784. He also served in the NC House of Commons from Bladen and then Hawkins Co. NC, later part of TN when TN became a state in 1796. Soldier died on December 4, 1797. He had married Alice Gale c1761 in Northampton Co. NC
and she had died in 1784 in Hawkins Co. NC, now TN. Alice may have died at the birth of her last child.
SOURCE:
Duplin County, NC - Revolutionary War Military Services, Surnames A-D
*************
Thomas Amis (in Ramsey’s Annals pronounced “Amy” and of French origin), son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis, was born January 1, 1744 in Northampton Co., North Carolina.
Thomas married, first, Alice Gale (1744-1784), daughter of Thomas and Mary (Marshall) Gale, on January 27, 1763. Thomas and Alice came to what is now Hawkins Co., Tennessee — then Sullivan Co., Virginia — in 1781 after the Revolutionary War.
At the mouth of Big Creek, Thomas built a stone house on a thousand acres granted him by the government. A store, blacksmith shop, distillery, saw and grist mill, and a palisade to guard against Cherokee assaults were constructed. A post office, school, and church were added later.
Thomas Amis opened an Inn and operated a tavern, which became a public stage stop-over for many notables such as Andrew Jackson, Governor John Sevier, the elder Michaux, and Bishop Francis Asbury. The good Bishop noted in his journal that he spent the night at Amis’ tavern…was well entertained for his money, but that he rebuked Amis for bragging about how much money he made off of his brew. Evidently the two engaged in some heated debates, for Asbury commented that “it was out of necessity and not choice that he was there.”
According to Dr. George E. Mellon of the University of Tennessee, “In his day, Thomas Amis was a man both of substance and official distinction.” During the Revolutionary War, on December 22, 1776, Thomas was commissioned Commissary for the Third Regiment, North Carolina Continental Troops, under Colonel Jethro Sumners, and given the rank of Captain. In Volume 2, page 586, North Carolina Colonial Records, by Saunders, Amis wrote to his Excellency, “I have been the only acting commissioner and have supplied all the troops since the departure of our Army northward. Have already mortgaged my own property for the loan of a few hundred pounds.”
Thomas Amis represented Bladen County, North Carolina, in the Provincial Congress in 1776, and in 1788-89, he represented Hawkins County, North Carolina, where his votes were in favor of separation of the western territory from North Carolina.
In 1786, while trading in the west (Natchez, Mississippi), Thomas Amis’ boat was confiscated on the river by the Spanish Commandant and, despite a letter of strong opposition from Amis, evidently was never returned to its rightful owner.
In 1787 Thomas married, second, Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and Anna Haynes.
Thomas Amis’ Will was the first one recorded in Hawkins County, Tennessee. He and both wives are buried in Amis Cemetery near the stone house in which they resided, three miles above Rogersville, Tennessee.
Children of Thomas and Alice (Gale) Amis:
Tabitha, 1764-1832, m Capt John Cox; descendant, Wendy Jacobs.
Frances, 1766-, m Richard Grantham; descendant, Millard Miles.
Mary, 1768-, m Joseph Rodgers; descendant, Elizabeth S. Owings.
Elizabeth, 1770-1776.
John, 1773-1807, m Catherine Bowlin.
Rachel, 1774-____, m James Hagan.
Willis, 1777-___.
Lincoln, 1778-1868, m Ann Nicholson.
Alice Gale, 1780-1864, m John Gordon Jr.
Thomas Gale, 1782-1803.
Penelope, 1784-1785.
Children of Thomas and Lucy (Haynes) Amis:
Haynes, 1788-1848, m Mary Howell.
William, 1789-1809.
3. James, 1790-1871, m Mary Armstrong.
Nancy, 1793-1834, m English Jesse Howell.
The information above was contributed and copyright ©1998 by descendant Wendy Pickering Jacobs. Minor edits for grammar and clarification were added by B. R. McNamara in 2014.
SOURCE:
Genweb
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