Monday, April 27, 2009

Heron and Hearon in Blount, Tennessee

There are no Hearnes in Blount Tennessee. But there are a lot of Herons in 1880 and the same families seem to be Hearons in 1900. The name Hearne has always had many derivative spellings. I've always thought it to be something about the way people tried to pronounce the "e" on the end of the name made it sound enough like an extra syllable. Something about Tennessee seems to have given a new angle on the Hearn name.

The 1880 Tennessee Blount 8-Dist page 159 has James (1842) and Margaret (1846) Heron. They are next door to Jeremiah (1844) and Docia (1854) Heron. Each family has a Rachel. That seems telling.

The LDS new.familysearch.org suggests the Whitehead spouse of Jeremiah Hearn, son of John W Hearn and Annie Chesney, was Rachael. It also lists her children as named Hearon.

The same James and Jerry are there in 1870, in District 8 (Maryville) page 154, also next to Tom (1840) and Mariah (1840) . Surprise! Tom has a Rachel, too! And they're living next to Sam Whitehead (1840) and Tom Whitehead (1830). Sam has a Rachel! Tom has a Rachel! They live next door to Tom Whitehead (1810).

In 1900, James and Jerry and Tom are named Hearon. Tennessee, Blount, 3-Dist, page 101-102.

Looking for leads on these, and specific information that ties these Hearons to Rachel Whitehead and that she is the Whitehead who married our Jeremiah Hearne. Although the circumstantial information seems pretty strong.

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