Family Tradition and the Settling of Brackintown, TN
By Henry B. Brackin, Jr.
Excerpt from The Brackin Family in the Southeastern United States
Reprinted with permission
Tradition passed on to me by my grandfather Henry Terrell BRACKIN and his brothers
Robert Peyton and Joseph Reed BRACKIN is that five BRACKIN brothers settled in Sumner
Co., Tenn.; two settling the Brackintown community and two settling about three miles to the
north along the Tennessee-Kentucky line. Four of the brothers were said to be named William,
James, John and Isaac, the last two living on the state line. A fifth brother named Henry was
sometimes mentioned but no one seemed to know where he lived. My grandfather thought he
may have lived acres the state line in Kentucky.
Tradition is not always correct, or the understanding of it is not always accurate. Extensive
study has led me to believe the brothers of Brackintown were not brothers but first cousins of the
BRACKINS on the state line.
The first BRACKIN in Sumner Co., Tenn. was James BRACKIN Sr. who bought 640 acres
of land in 1794 from Samuel MARSH on the Middle Fork of Drake's Creek. The deed witnessed
by his son William BRACKIN. This land extended over to the Brackintown Community on the
Sulphur Fork of Drake's Creek where James BRACKIN Sr. built his house on the knoll across
from the site of the Brackintown Cemetery. Coming shortly after James BRACKIN was Isaac
BRACKIN who, from all indications, was a brother of James BRACKIN Sr. He bought land on
the West Fork of Drake's Creek in 1798. However Isaac's son, James Boyle BRACKIN (who
married Elizabeth BRACKIN, daughter of William BRACKIN and granddaughter of James
BRACKIN Sr.) moved to Brackintown to live and later bought 1200 acres of land that had been
in the estate of James BRACKIN Sr. and his son John BRACKIN. He later, in about 1850,
moved to Ohio Co., Ky.
Following the brothers James BRACKIN Sr. and Isaac BRACKIN came their father William
BRACKIN in 1806. He bought 200 acres of land on the Sulphur Fork of Drake's Creek from
James BRACKIN Sr. He died in 1808, leaving a widow Elizabeth BRACKIN who died in 1821.
These men and their children are the founders of Brackintown. James BRACKIN Sr. had 3 sons:
William, John, and James Jr. and three daughters: Rosannah BUTLER, Jane PORTER and
Elizabeth HOBDY. Isaac BRACKIN had one son James Boyle BRACKIN and 5 daughters. All
of the descendants of William BRACKIN and most of those of Isaac BRACKIN left Sumner Co.
before 1850. Those that remained were descendants of James BRACKIN Jr. and his brother John
BRACKIN who married Patsy MARTIN.
John BRACKIN, grandfather of Henry Terrell BRACKIN came to Sumner Co., Tenn. and
purchased land upon which he built his house in 1812. The deed states he "is late of North
Carolina." This log house was lived in by his grandchildrne Robert, David, Joseph and Reuben
BRACKIN until 1947. Apparently John's brother Henry, his sister Lydia (wife of James BOYLE)
and their parents Isaac and Rachel STALCUP BRACKIN came at the same time. James BOYLE
and Henry BRACKIN are found in the 1816 tax list of Sumner County. Later Henry BRACKIN
and his father Isaac moved to Gallatin Co., Ill. where they are in the 1818 and 1820 censuses of
Illinois. The parents actually returned to Sumner County about 1819 and Henry returned in 1826,
obtaining a land grant on the Middle Fork of Drake's Creek. His son Wiley BRACKIN also
obtained a land grant there at the same time and some of his descendants (Lattie and John
GRAVES) still live on Wiley BRACKIN'S land. Lydia and James BOYLE had a son Isaac
BOYLE and daughters: Ann (married Joseph MCGLOTHLIN), Rachel (married William
HOUSE), Polly (married Henry HOUSE), Susan (married James FREEDLE), Sinai (married
James HOUSE). Some of their descendants still live on land owned originally by James
BOYLE.
In 1828 the last BRACKIN immigrant arrived from North Carolina. He was Isaac
BRACKIN Jr., brother of John BRACKIN who married Rhoda GROVES and of Henry
BRACKIN. He bought land adjoining his brother John on the state line. These are the three
brothers living outside Brackintown; John, Isaac Jr. and Henry BRACKIN. They were the sons
of Isaac BRACKIN Sr. who was a brother of William BRACKIN (the father of Isaac BRACKIN
and James BRACKIN Sr.). All three of these brothers have descendants living in the area.