Elias R. Roberts

Elias Roberts bought 500 acres of land astride Big Poplar Creek in Roane County, TN, in 1799. He married Rebecca Brashears, and they had ten children listed in Roane County Chancery Court records in 1855.

"Elias Roberts was a member of the Brashear clan by marriage. Although  public records contain much information concerning Elias and his family, little is known of his early life despite many years of intensive research. He married (probably in South Carolina in late 1786) Rebecca Brashear (1771-1859). In 1793 Elias and Rebecca sold two plantations located at the mouth of George's creek  near Greenville, South Carolina, and came to Roane County with her father in  1794. After helping the clan to clear land, build mills, etc., Elias leased and occupied before 1798 a 500-acre tract astride Poplar Creek at the present Oak  Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant site. On June 4, 1799, Elias bought this 500-acre tract from Stockley Donelson. Specimen of Elias' handwriting  indicate that he was an educated man. He was young enough (under 50) to be  enrolled in the Roane 1802 militia. In september of 1806, he died from an  unknown cause. He had been living long enough to prove his industriousness, and as proof of his virility, by 1806, he had become the father of ten living  children." 

From "Roots of Roane County, Tennessee"