Elisha ‘Longhunter’ Walling, Jr.

Elisha Walling (aka Wallen, Walden, Wallin, and other variants) was a trailblazing backwoodsman who was born in Maryland but came to the southwestern Virginia frontier as a young child before 1741. He was a contemporary of Daniel Boone and the Long Hunter who in 1761 led the first well-documented hunt across the Cumberland Gap into what is now Tennessee.

Elisha Wallen was a "Longhunter" in Southwest Virginia.

The folllowing article discuses the group known as the "Longhunters" and includes reference to Elisha:

Link: http://vagenweb.org/scott/HSpubl35.html

===============================================

Quotes from the article: " Just why was this particular group of men given to hunting, instead of tilling the soil as most settlers? Perhaps there are three answers to this question; first, the spirit of adventure born in some people which they are unable to quell, among whom were James Dysart and Castleton Brooks who were quite well-to-do, as well as Colonel James Knox, who is referred to as the leader of the long hunters and who later became very wealthy. Secondly, there were those who enjoyed, above all else, the spirit of the hunt, among whom were Elisha Wallen, William Carr, Isaac Bledsoe, and others, who, all their lives were hunters and nothing but hunters. The last answer, but certainly not the least, was the profit derived from these hunts. It was not uncommon for a hunter to realize sixteen to seventeen hundred dollars for his season's take, and this was far in excess of what he could earn in almost any other lucrative endeavor. The hides and pelts were sold along the coast, where animals were no longer plentiful, and in England, for making leather, especially buffalo skins. The British market was lost at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and the long hunts were never again pursued after the Revolutionary War began. "

===========================

http://gonetotexasgtt.com/f1779.htm

Biographical Note 1374, Wallen Family History - Washington County, Missouri Elisha Wallen I, called "The Long Hunter", because he with a group of men blazed trials from Virginia to Kentucky & Tennessee. The first long hunt was about 1761. He was born in Henry County Virginia about 1734. Later, he moved to Carter's Valley, then to Claborne County, Tennessee where he took up land & made his home. The story is that his first wife & part of his family were wiped out in Indian warfare, while they were on the long hunt of about eighteen months............He later married Katherine Blevens, daughter of Captain Blevens, one of the Long Hunters............In 1806, they migrated to Missouri along with the John Hughes Sr. family, who each took land & settled about three miles southwest of Irondale in Concord Township...............Wallens built a large log house, a part of which still stands today, however a lot of remodeling has been done. The place was called "The Plantation". And there is a Wallen Cemetery on this farm.................The younger Elisha Wallen was eleven years old when he came to Missouri in 1806, for he was born 30 November 1795 in Tennessee. After bieng honorabley discharged from service in the War of 1812, he married Mary Hughes on 10 October 1815. She was the daughter of John & Susnnah Hayes Hughes. Mary was born 15 September 1799 in Tennessee. She died 22 October 1866. Elisha lived until 11 March 1872. Both he & Mary are interred in the Wallen Cemetery on the homestead. From: Bellvue Valley Missouri History ~ 1763 - 1981

References

• Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 17 2016, 18:59:44 UTC
• https://www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com/TennesseeFamilies&Places/Wa...
• Carolyn D. Wallin, Elisha Wallen The Longhunter (Johnson City, TN: Overmountain Press, 1990), 84. < GoogleBooks snippet>
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Walling-19