John Donelson
John Donelson (1718–1785) was an American frontiersman, ironmaster, politician, city planner, and explorer. After founding and operating what became Washington Iron Furnace in Franklin County, Virginia for several years, he moved with his family to Middle Tennessee which was on the developing frontier.
For the Confederate cavalry officer, see John Lawrence Donelson.
John Donelson
17 March 1718[1]
17 November 1785 (aged 67)
American
frontiersman, ironmaster, politician, city planner, explorer
Rachel Stockley Donelson
11, Jane Donelson Hays, Mary Donelson Caffery, Rachel Jackson, plus another sister and seven brothers
There, together with James Robertson, Donelson co-founded the frontier settlement of Fort Nashborough. This later developed as the city of Nashville, Tennessee.
Donelson and his wife Rachel had eleven children, four of them girls. Their tenth, daughter Rachel,
married Andrew Jackson who was elected United States president in 1828.
Career[edit]
Donelson served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. From about 1770 to 1779, he operated the Washington Iron Furnace at Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia.[2]
He next moved to the Watauga settlements on the Holston and Watauga rivers in Washington District, North Carolina. They came into conflict with the Overhill Cherokee on the far side of the Appalachians. Because of armed conflict and flooding in his settlement, Donelson temporarily moved his family to safer areas in Kentucky.
Along with James Robertson who traveled the overland route, Donelson and a large number of pioneers traveled down the Tennessee and other rivers in excess of 1,000 miles to Middle Tennessee, where they co-founded Fort Nashborough, in 1780. This eventually developed as the city of Nashville, Tennessee.[1] A collection of his diaries are kept in Cleveland Hall, in Nashville.[3]