Prepared by:
henryjj@bellsouth.net (John J Henry)The geography of Jones Cove is that it is a large valley (about twice the size of Cades Cove) in the extreme eastern end of Sevier County, adjacent to Cosby in Cocke County. It is tucked in between English Mountain, which can be seen from as far away as White Pine or Morristown, and Webb Mountain which is just north of the Park Boundary outside the park. Part of this Area is Wilhite Valley which is really between Jones Cove and English Mountain. Wilhite and Jones Cove are separated by a smaller ridge (Pine Mountain) running east to west.Wilhite is just a bit smaller than Cades Cove. "In The Shadow Of The Smokies", the Sevier County Cemeteries book, published in 1993 by the Smoky Mountain Historical Society, P. O. Box 5078, Sevierville, TN 37864 has this to say about Jones Cove on page 446, "Situated between the Wilhite community on English Mountain and the Great Smokey Mountains, the Jones Cove valley is a rolling countryside especially adapted for large farms. John Jones had an occupancy land grant in 1908. It is believed that the Jones family and the William Henry family from Berkeley County Virginia came to the cove about the same time. Among other early settlers in Jones Cove were Archibald McMahan, Samuel Large, John Williams, James Stinnett, William Smallwood, Robert Duggan, John Baughman, Jacob Layman, John R. Allen, and William McKissick Bethel Baptist Chursh on the Jones Cove Road was founded in 1804 as an arm of the Forks of The Little Pigeon River Baptist Church. The New Salem Baptist Church was organized in 1845 in an old log school house which stood only a short distance from where the present church is located. A school house was a boundary line on a survey for Robert Duggan in 1807. The Wilhite area lies along the south side of English Mountain. The Wilhite section was the home of many Hurst and Breeden families." This History and description is reasonably accurate except that the original settlers came in 1791/92 and consisted of five closely related families who had been living in Botetourt County VA before the revolution. These were 1. William Henry and his wife Elizabeth Jones and five children. 2. Robert Henry, (William's younger brother and his family) 3. John Jones and family (William Henry's brother-in-law) 4. Nathaniel Jones (William Henry's brother-in-law) 5. Stephen Jones (John Jones' grown and married son) Only William and Robert Henry were known to be born in Berkeley County, VA. His wife and the grown Joneses were from other parts of the Shenandoah valley, and all the marriages were done in Botetourt Co., VA and most of the children (including Stephen Jones) were born in Botetourt Co., VA. But without a bit of digging in Virginia, the Sevier County Historian wouldn't know that. In 1808, these settlers (who had already bought their land from North Carolina) were required to pay the State of Tennessee for the land again. They were only allowed to keep 60 acres on an "Occupancy Grant" and had to pay for any more that they claimed. In the last few years before NC turned over this area to the Federal Government it didn't keep any records, so nobody in Sevier County had any proof of ownership who settled before 1893/94. However, the above reference on page 484 does explain how Jones Cove got it's name. "Stephen Jones, son of John Jones and Ann Layman was killed by Indians 25 June 1794. This murder was recorded in the KNOXVILLE GAZETTE, 3 July 1794." Stephen was surprised in his cornfield by about 5 or 6 marauding (possibly drunken) Cherokees and was killed and scalped. He was then buried in the cornfield and the site is unmarked but rememberes by local residents today. The cove like Boyd's Creek and Richardson's Cove was named for the victim of an Indian massacre. The other people mentioned above settled there between 1794 and 1810.This web site produced Jun 12 2001 by Personal Ancestral File, a product of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.