The house built by John BRACKIN has been shown in a stage of disassembly in a "Pictorial
History of Sumner Co., Tn." Unfortunately the information given about the house was inaccurate.
It seems appropriate to provide a more correct history in more detail.
John BRACKIN came to Sumner Co., Tn. in 1812, joining two of his cousins, James
BRACKIN who bought land in Sumner Co. in 1794 and Isaac BRACKIN who bought land in
1798. These two brothers and their four sons lived on adjoining land where Brackintown used to
be. James lived directly across from the Brackintown cemetery. John Brackin was accompanied in
1812 by his father Isaac, his brother Henry, his sister Lydia and her husband James BOYLE and in
1828 by his brother Isaac Jr. They all settled between Brackintown and the state line.
John BRACKIN built his home the year he arrived in 1812, married Rhoda GROVES about
1814 and his first child William was born in the house in 1815. In all there were 14 children of
John and Rhoda who grew to adulthood in this house. Originally the house had a fireplace that
could burn ten foot logs and it was designed for cooking. In 1840 a detached kitchen was built as
a fire protection measure and a new chimney and fireplace of smaller proportions were built. A
keystone in the fireplace has the year of 1840. This house was lived in by the grandsons of John
BRACKIN until 1947. It was carefully torn down in 1962, the logs were sold to Nathan HARSH
who rebuilt it on his ancestral land. This house was featured in color in the Better Living Section
of the Nashville Tennessean, Sunday, Feb. 21, 1965.
In addition to John's 14 children, 8 children of John's son, Balie Peyton BRACKIN and 2
children of Balie Peyton's son, Robert Peyton BRACKIN were born and grew up in this house.
Some time during the ownership of the house by Balie Peyton BRACKIN, a third kitchen was
built onto the house against the chimney, a bed room was added to the back of the house and a
porch was built across the front of the house. Whereas the original house was log, these
additional rooms were of sawed boards. However when I first saw the house in 1930 it had been
weather boarded on the outside and papered on the inside and one could not see that it was made
of logs.
John BRACKIN'S mother was Rachel STALCUP, a great great grandaughter of Johann
Anderson STALKOPTA, one of the first Swedish settlers in Delaware, arriving in 1640. Both
Isaac BRACKIN and Rachel STALCUP were born and reared in what is now Wilmington, Del. A
description of a typical Swedish house built in Delaware in the 17th century is exactly like John
BRACKIN S house. They were one and one half stories, the logs were squared and split down
the middle with one half of each log being placed on opposite sides of the house. The ends were
notched so as to fit snugly and laid on top of each other. There is in the Smithsonian Institute a
log house on display that was built in Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle Co., Del. in 1740. Isaac
BRACKIN was born in exactly the same place in about the same year. The house in the
Smithsonian Institute is the exact same dimensions, has the windows, doors, fireplace and
staircase in the same place as in John BRACKIN'S house. There is no doubt that the John
BRACKIN house is a fine example of early Swedish architecture that was taken to North Carolina
by Isaac BRACKIN and then brought to Sumner Co. by his son John BRACKIN.