| Nicholas FAIN
(Abt 1730-1785) |
Nicholas FAIN 1
From Frank B. Fain Notes: During the horrible inquisition and persecution in France about 1685, a family by the name of Fainyance (reported to be Huguenots) fled for safety to Ireland. Somewhere along the line, the name was shortened to FAIN. One of this family - Nichloas Fain - married an English Lady - Elizabeth Taylor. After the birth of their first two children, they immigrated to Chester Co., Pennsylvania, where he was issued a peddler's license in 1766. About 1770 they moved to Virginia, and then on to Washington County, North Carolina (which later became Washington Co. Tennessee). A report states that Nicholas Fain lived on Knob Creek within sight of the point where Knob Creek flowed into the Watagua River. Nicholas Fain had a two story house made of sawed logs. It is likely that his house was built after he had been in the area for some time. He was a private in the Revolution, and was in engaged in the Battle of Kings Mountain, as were five of his sons, along with his only son-in-law. His service is verified in the North Carolina State Auditors office, Raleigh Revolutionary Army Accounts, Vol. I No 1-6 and Comptroller's office Book A, Folio 27. The location of Nicholas Fain's house was Northeast of Jonesboro. It is apparently a location found in the Tennessee Valley Authority topographic map - Bluff City quadrangle 198 - NE in the southwest portion of this map where Knob Creek empties into Boone Lake on the Watagua River near the Devault Bridge of the Andrew Johnson Highway. Nicholas Fain was noted for his religious zeal. Religion was his great absorbing thought. In Ireland, he belonged to the High Church of England. In this country, he was a baptist. His descendants were mostly Presbyterian. After entertaining travelers who desired to lodge for the night, he would always talk to them on the subject of religion, as he would to his own children. On one occasion, a skeptic called to lodge overnight. Since he was a man of poetic genius, Nicholas Fain gave him a subject to think on and to write upon and requested the skeptic to send him a copy of his verse. The man promised to comply and went on his journey. While in Virginia, the man found an opportunity to write, and whilst so doing, the thought came up - "What am I doing - writing on a subject in which I do not believe?". He reasoned further and became convinced of his errors and was converted. He wrote to Nicholas Fain a letter sharing his gratitude and humbleness; also a piece of poetry closing as follows:
Nicholas married Elizabeth TAYLOR in 1752. (Elizabeth TAYLOR was born about 1730 in England, United Kingdom and died in 1795.) |
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