James Amis, 1790-1871
JAMES AMIS
was born at Big Creek, near Rogersville, Hawkins County on November 6, 1790; son of Thomas and
Lucy (Haynes) Amis. Educations received from “field schools;” farmer in Carter’s Valley,
New Providence, Hawkins
County. Married in Hawkins County in 1814 to Mary G. Armstrong, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Galbraith)
Armstrong; thirteen children--William Armstrong, Louisiana A. (Mrs. Pleasant Henderson), Almyra, Julia F.
(Mrs. David Lyons), James Leander, Stanwix Hord, Mary, Thomas Haynes, Sarah Elizabeth, Lucy Haynes, Henry Bradford,
Matilda (Mrs. James J. Johnson), and Annie P. Amis (Mrs. James A. Rogan). Frequent juryman in Hawkins County;
defeated for sheriff in 1844. Member New Providence Presbyterian Church; Overton Lodge #5, F.&.A.M. On committee
for improvement of navigation on Holston River, 1839. James Amis served in the Tennessee Senate, 16th General
Assembly, 1825-27; representing Hawkins and Sullivan counties; political affiliation not stated. He died at New
Providence October 14, 1871; buried in New Providence Presbyterian Churchyard. Son of Thomas Amis, sometime
member Provincial Congress and North Carolina General Assembly.
Bibliography
Sources: Elizabethton Tennessee Whig, June 13, 1839; “Hawkins County Miscellaneous Records,”
pp. 1, 8; “Hawkins County Will Book 2,” p. 99; information supplied by Prentice Price, Rogersville.
Thomas Amis, 1744-1797
THOMAS AMIS
was born in Middlesex County, Virginia, on January 1, 1744; son of John and Mary (Dillard) Amis.
Married (1st) in Northampton County, North Carolina, on January 26, 1763, to Alice Gale, daughter of Thomas
and Mary (Griffith) Gale. Eleven children--Tabitha (Mrs. John Cox), Frances (Mrs. Richard Grantham), Mary (Mrs.
Joseph Rogers), Elizabeth, John Rachel (Mrs. James Hagan), Willis, Lincoln, Alice Gale (Mrs. John Gordon),
Thomas Gale and Penelope Amis. He was married (2nd) on March 26, 1787, to Lucy Haynes, daughter of Francis and
Ann (Smith) Haynes; four children--Haynes, William, James, and Nancy Amis (Mrs. Jesse Howell). Amis went to
what is now Hawkins County c. 1781, erected a stone house three miles above Rogersville, around which
he built a fort for protection against the Indians; shortly thereafter added a store, blacksmith ship,
distillery, grust and saw mills, a tavern, school, forge, and post office. When his employee Joseph Rogers
married Mary Amis, her father gave them a tract of land nearby. Upon this Rogersville was established in 1786.
It was made the seat Hawkins County, North Carolina, and from this came its alternate post office name of
Hawkins Court House. Thomas Amis served in the North Carolina Senate, 1788, 1789; representing Hawkins County
(then North Carolina, now Tennessee). Amis had previously been a member of the Provincial Congress, 1776; a justice of
the peace; served as superintendent of commissary, with the rank of captain in the 3rd Regiment of Continental
troops. Member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He died at his home on Big Creek in Hawkins County on November 18,
1797; buried at that place. Father of James Amis; grandfather of John A. Rogers, sometime members Tennessee General
Assembly.
Bibliography
Sources: Williams, Lost State of Franklin, 315-16; Chase and Cabeen, The First Hundred Years of
United States Territorial Postmarks, 1787/1887, 295; Rosters and Soldiers, 196; Tennessee
Records, I, 188; Ray, Tennessee Cousins. 85; “Hawkins County Miscellaneous Records,”
pp. 1-8, 27; ”Hawkins County Will Book I, 1797-1886,” p. 1; information supplied by Prentiss Price,
Rogersville.
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