Although our nation continues to celebrate its 250th birthday (because as long as you have cake, it still counts as your birthday, right?), I have completed my effort to write about Revolutionary War soldiers’ ties to the Fork, the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston rivers. I’ve enjoyed the process, but it’s time to return to something that excited me while I was in the midst of the other research.
You might remember that back on September 9, 2025, I wrote about how Fork physician Dr. Swancey W. Kennedy’s 1870s ledger mentioned a family member of Revolutionary War, veteran Francis Merriman.
Well, a couple of months after I was given that ledger, the McPherson estate shared with me more than 40 of Dr. S.W. Kennedy’s daily diaries. I was beyond thrilled! He wrote in them every single day, even if it was just to say that he stayed home that day and rested. Every day for more than 40 years. That’s about 14,600 entries of information about individuals of the Fork and their lives. Did I say I am excited?
At the end of many of the diaries, Swancey lists the babies who were born that year. My plan is to have the books scanned and put on microfilm and then use a transcription application to help record their contents before I donate them to the Knox County Library’s McClung Collection at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville. I look forward to sharing tidbits of Fork information along the way…