As we continue to move toward our nation’s semiquincentennial, I’m still focusing on elements of the Revolutionary War effort of attaining independence and the related contributions and connections of families of the Fork, the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston Rivers.

We’ve already talked about how not everyone who contributed toward our nation’s independence did so willingly, such as those who were enslaved. And then there were those who didn’t volunteer but were drafted or conscripted into service. Of course, we know that many who fought early on were just trying to make a point to the British that the colonists deserved equal representation in the decision-making process that governed them. However, they really didn’t want to separate from the mother country. But what about those who resisted independence after it was declared?

John Götz was born in about 1730 to German parents who were probably among the early immigrants to colonial Pennsylvania. The family was obviously closely associated with the Wyricks, because the two families resided near one another there and in colonial Virginia. There, John Götz and Nicholas Wyrick participated in British Governor Dunmore’s border wars against the Native Americans in 1774, as settlers pushed westward. In that same year, before the colonists decided they were declaring independence, John served in the Virginia militia under Captain Robert Doak and owned land along Doak’s Mill Creek, a branch of Reed Creek near the New River.

By 1780, John and his family were at French Lick, also called Nashborough, which is now Nashville, Tennessee. Perhaps they had traveled Daniel Boone’s newly cut Wilderness Road and crossed through Cumberland Gap and down the Cumberland River after Nicholas Wyrick and other neighbors were found guilty of treason for being “Tories” loyal to the British crown in 1779, the middle of the Revolution. Can’t blame John for protecting his loved ones and trying to avoid persecution. However, Nicholas stayed in Virginia, was convicted, spent 18 months imprisoned, was eventually acquitted of treason, and died there in 1792.

John was apparently a hog farmer, for he and his Nashville neighbor, Humphrey Hogan, went back and forth in court over John’s hogs that got into the neighbor’s corn. Witnesses testified that Hogan threatened the lives of John and his hogs. The resulting court records are the foundation for the family’s certification as a First Family of Tennessee.

John’s only son, Peter Sr. (1760-1830), married Elizabeth (daughter of Nicholas Wyrick) in 1786 in Virginia, where he served as constable. They and their nine children moved to Dutch Valley in Grainger County, Tennessee, around 1807, though some soon returned to what was eventually called Wythe County, Virginia. Family members said Peter and Elizabeth spoke with such a German accent and used so many Dutch words that neighbors could barely understand them. Peter’s 615 acres in Grainger County were part of what later formed Union County. Peter was found shot dead in his field there in 1830. No one ever figured out why. No suspects. Nothing was ever done about it.

What is John Götz’ tie to the Fork? Well, Götz is frequently listed early on as “Kitts,” the surname’s Anglicized phonetic spelling that carried down to his great-great-great-grandson George Washington (“G.W.”) Kitts. Considering the family’s history, it’s interesting that he was named that, although Peter’s son did fight against the British in the War of 1812. Maybe they were still trying to prove something. I don’t know.

Dyer Cemetery in Union County, Tennessee, where John Götz’ son Peter Kitts and other descendants are buried

G.W. Kitts moved his family from Union County to the Fork during the Great Depression to work in the local quarry. You wouldn’t be reading this story today if he hadn’t, because G.W. Kitts (1894-1955; buried at Asbury Cemetery) was my maternal grandfather. That also makes Nicholas Wyrick my 5x-great-grandfather, and I don’t intend for his and John Götz’ stories to be forgotten in the Fork, where many descendants of Margaret (Hopson) and G.W. Kitts’ nine children still reside. (I’m indebted to Dr. David G. Kitts, whose meticulous research and documentation preserve these details.)

Jan Loveday Dickens is an educator, historian, and author of Forgotten in the Fork, a book about the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston Rivers, obtainable by emailing ForgottenInTheFork@gmail.com.

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