Saturday, August 23, 2025

August 23, 1784 that four counties in northeast Tennessee declared their independence from North Carolina to become the "State of Franklin." Within a few months, four other counties joined. All of the settlers in the area did not agree with secession from North Carolina, and even today, many history buffs in the area consider themselves as either "Tiptonites" or "Franklinites." This new state only lasted around four years and eventually the area became a part of Tennessee.

We have over 30 documents in our collection here at the archives that bear the heading, "State of Franklin." These have been digitized and may be viewed on our website at: https://wctnarchives.org/state-of-franklin-documents/

Proclamation 23 Aug 1775

King George III declared the colonies to be in open rebellion to his authority and were subject to severe punishment. This proclamation asserted that patriots were dangerous traitors, and any person failing to report them was also subject to penalty. Our brave founders did not cower at this enormous threat from the king as he failed to strike fear in the hearts of our patriots. Less than one year later, America declared its independence, showing the world that America would never be ruled by tyrants, but by its own free people.

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Have You Read Many Newspapers from Early America? Start Here.

The Library of Congress has a free section on their website, specifically sharing newspapers throughout American history. It's designated as "Chronicling America" and it pulled me down the rabbit hole. I only paused to write this blog post!

Click here to check it out.

3 Facts about early American newspapers.

1) The first known American newspaper to be printed was in 1704.

I have to give this one to Boston! Even larger cities like New York and Philadelphia were over a decade behind Beantown. Titled the Boston News-Letter, it ran weekly until 1776.

Click here to read the details from the Massachusetts Historical Society (which is history in itself, founded in 1791).

2) The oldest long-running newspaper in America hails from Connecticut.

Another point to New England! Thomas Green started printing the Harford Courant (first-known as the Connecticut Courant) in October of 1764. Extra note for you Sunday-paper lovers- the first Sunday edition of the Courant came out in 1913.

Click here for the history of this early American newspaper, direct from Connecticuthistory.org.

3) 37 newspapers were in print by the time of the American Revolution.

Seeing so many version of the Virginia Gazette, this doesn't surprise me. Being that we were still British at that time, all were formatted like London papers. Like today, printers (publishers) had their own style and since every colony was made up of people with their own ideas, cultures, and needs, the papers reflected the differences.

Click here to learn about early American newspapers from a website titled Colonial Print Culture.

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Guitars for Vets

I recently came across this organization which is interesting, and may be helpful to veterans' program. Guitars for Vets (G4V) serves at-risk United States Veterans impacted by PTSD and other service-related trauma. Through our unique, 10-week structured guitar instruction program, we put the healing power of music in the hands of our nation's heroes, helping to foster renewal, connection and community. Those who have unused guitars can donate.

There are many groups across the United States, the closest one to most of our compatriots is;

Patrick McGuire

1310 24th Avenue South

Nashville, Tennessee 37212, United States

https://guitars4vets.org/

Sunday, August 3, 2025