This couple met and married in Hamilton County Tennessee which was, at that time only, on the east side of the Tennessee River. The Cherokee Nation was across the river. For some time, however, there had been agitation to affect a treaty to remove the Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River. So John and at least two brothers moved across the Tennessee even before the Cheerokee removal.
John and Margaret had twelve children. Eight of their children were girls. One son died who had never been named. He was buried in the Roark Cemetery near where John and Margaret lived and reared their other children.
Their youngest child was John Lewis. He was born July 4, 1846, the anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. Our area was being settled by soldiers who had fought in the war with Great Britain to gain our independence from England. Also lands had been granted to soldiers in the War of 1812 with Great Britain.
Confusion and dissatisfaction had been brewing for a long time over many topics and finally the War Between the States broke out. The sons of John and Margaret would be involved. Most of East Tennessee sympathized with the Federal Government; but many families sided with the Secessionists or the Southern Cause. Many families were divided as were their friends and neighbors.
All three sons of John and Margaret joined the Union forces. William died of measles in the early part of the war. He was buried in Nicholasville, Kentucky. James W. aim) Roark had been on a foraging expedition; had stepped on a loose plank in a barn loft and had fallen on a wagon. The fall had broken two or three vertebrae but he managed to crawl to Bill's grave and to plant a little tree to mark the spot. Jim, a cripple the remainder of his life, was offered a pension which he refused, saying he did not need it. John Lewis never saw his brother Bill after enlistment, but saw Jim in Georgia before mustering out. Jim never married. He lived until September 16, 1905.
After the surrender of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River and Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and the capture of Nashville, the state capital, on February 23, 1862, a group of young men found their way to Nashville to enlist in the Union Army.
Among these "boys" and young men, from Birchwood, who safely maneuvered their way to Nashville and enlisted in Company E, 5th Tennessee Inf. on March 2, 1862 and served until April 4, 1865 were:
John Lewis Roark was too young to enlist, but he was also too young to go back home alone. He also knew Lt. Nat Witt and Col Shel Spears. He took part in the battles on Lookout Mt., Missionary Ridge, and others. He drew a pension until his death on July 14, 1941 at age 95.
John Roark was born on Monday morning the eighteenth day of May 1800 in Tennessee, and his parents, Timothy Sr. and Sallie Bolen Roark, were also born in Tennessee according to census records. Nevertheless they lived so near the Virginia line that some believe they were from Tazewell County, Virginia rather than Claiborne County, TN .. State lines were not well established for many years. Anyway, when John was sixteen, his parents, with several children, floated down the rivers and settled at Sale Creek on the Tennessee River lands. The area is now in Hamilton County which was established in 1819. The family increased and the older children married in this new land. John met and married Margaret Gross and they lived in the Sale Creek community until sometime in the 1830s when they ,with several small children, moved to the east side of the Tennessee River. John's oldest brother, James, and a younger brother, Joseph, settled on the east side near or at Grasshopper Creek and acquired much land. All three brothers had large families. Margaret had a brother, Lewis Gross, who remained in Sale Creek. Many Gross families established themselves in the Birchwood Salem communities.
When Margaret died April 27, 1860, she was buried in the family cemetery beside an unnamed an infant son. John lived until February 2,1870. Their son, William died in Kentucky during the Civil War.
John Roark married Margaret Gross b. May 18, 1800 b. April 18, 1806 d. Feb 2, 1870 d. April 27, 1860 Age 65 yrs., 8 mos., 14 days age 54 yrs., 9 days
Both were buried in the family cemetery on the homeplace west of Birchwood, in Hamilton County, Tennessee. The area is on the east side of the Tennessee River and was for about fifty years in Old James County. Their children all were born in what is now Hamilton County:
Infant son unnamed, stone undated in. Roark Cemetery.
Mary Ann. married John Cross b. Feb. l, 1825 b. May 23, 1820 d. June 28, 1868 d. Oct. 10, 1876 age 43 yrs., 4 mos., 27 days age 56 yrs., 4 mos., 27 daysEliza married James Pendergrass b about 1827 b about 1830 d. Sept. 19, 1909 Buned Roark Cemetery
Elizabeth (Betsv) married George Campbell (a school teacher who taught Thos A. Roark, son of JohnL.) b. 1828/29 (March 12, 1868) d. 1892 (Salem Church list) Lived in or near Salem school.
Nancy b. Dec. l9, 1830 d. Sept. 27, 1907 (She walked all the way from the Roark home in winter to Churcher Landing in Friendship Community to be baptized. The river was frozen but the ice was broken. After being baptized as a Baptist, she changed her linsey wollen clothing for dry, warm clothing and walked back home).
Sarah(Sallie) married Cleaver Shelton b about 1832/33 b. about 1817 d. 3 Jan. 1897
James (indicated by war records) b. Sept. 13 or 15, 1835 d. Sept. 16, 1905
Juda Ann b. Sept. 10, 1837 d. June 19, 1915.
William (by war records..private Co. C, 7th Infantry Died of Measles, during the Civil War, buried Nicholasville, Ky.) b. about 1839/40 (listed as 20 yrs. old in 1860 census.)
Margaret married ArchibaId McCallie b. May 11, 1842 b. Aug. 23, 1843 d. Feb. 13, 1927 d. Oct. 19, 1920
America married David Gregory b. April 14 1844 b. June 28 1842 d. Aug. 23, 1940 d. Jan. 23, 1915 (buried Roark Cemetery) (buried Rigsby Cemetery New Harmony)
John Lewis married Victoria Darleska Conner b. July4,1846 Sept. 19, 1866 b. Mar 10, 1850 d. July 14, 1941 d. July 16, 1921
This little log cabin was built about 183 8 on the Homestead site of John and Margaret Gross Roark. The Roarks settled much earlier in the Sale Creek area across the river from this new expanse of Tennessee River bottom land. The house originally had a fireplace and chimney where the window is. Five generations of the family lived here. Another house, bigger and better, was soon built for the growing family.
Three unmarried children lived here a while, but when the youngest son, John Lewis, married Victoria Conner, they lived in this cabin until after the birth of their fourth child.
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