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As time passed, the settlers would have built larger homes like the one at left. Some of the homes would have two stories. Sometimes the upstairs was one large room that was shared by all the children in the household. There were ten children in Mary Neely's family - six girls and four boys. |
| At the time of Mary's capture, her sister Jean was 25 (born July 7, 1755); Elizabeth was 23 (born March 8, 1757); Isaac was 21 (born March 24, 1759); Mary was just shy of 19 (born August 20, 1761); Martha was 16 (born 1764); William, Jr. was 13 (born December 12, 1766); Margaret was 7 (born December 20, 1772); John was 6 (born May 16, 1774); and the youngest, Jane, was 3 (born December 31, 1776). There is conflicting information about Samuel's age; Mary and Sam were very close and a number of accounts had him searching for Mary along the Wilderness Trail during the years of her captivity while other reports have him as young as 12 years old with a birth date of May 30, 1769. It is doubtful that a 12- to 14-year-old boy would have wandered the Wilderness Trail at the height of the Revolutionary War and through Indian country. | |
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William Neely chose to live on his own
land, though his family would have lived at a nearby fort until the
land was cleared and a home erected. At various times, he visited
Fort Nashborough and Mansker's Station as well as other settlements
in the area. William was paid in land for clearing the area around Fort Nashborough. It was overgrown with wilderness, which allowed the Indians to get close enough to the fort to launch surprise attacks. William would have cleared the land for several acres around the perimeter to prevent such surprise attacks. |
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Besides the house, the Neelys would have had a corn crib, tobacco barns, a stable, and various other buildings on their property, similar to those on this page. These buildings are all located at Historic Collinsville near Clarksville, Tennessee. |
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Many thanks to JoAnn Weakley of
Historic Collinsville |
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