George Yoakum

• DAR Ancestor #: A129600
• The YOAKUM Family of Powell Valley

He served in Capt. Ray's Co, Lincoln Mil., fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant, WV on 10 Oct 1774, along with Daniel Boone, Isaac Michael Van Bibber, John Van Bibber and Peter Van Bibber. George, along with John and Peter Van Bibber, established Yoakum's Station in then Granger County which is now Claiborne County. It is about 14 miles from the Cumberland Gap. In 1797 Fort Yoakum was built nearby.

According to tradition John Van Bibber, George and Isaac Yoakum, with members of the Davis, Bowman, and Monday families, were the first settlers of the lower Powell Valley. John Van Bibber and his kinsmen, George and Isaac Yoakum, bought their land from Henderson & Co., but we dispossessed and forced to move out by the U.S. Government because title was vested in the Cherokee Nation. After the treaty, they returned to their Powell Valley lands.

The first YOAKUM FORT / STATION - actually, there were at least three that have been documented and there may very well have been four - was situated about two miles from Dryden, on the Powell River, in Russell County, now Lee County, Va. It is named in Calendar of VA State Papers, Vol, IV Pages 357/376. This station was built after about 1783. The second YOAKUM FORT/STATION was situated in the Valley of the Powell River, in what is now Speedwell, Claiborne, Co., TN. This station is about 65-70 miles further down the Powell River, from the first station. This stations was formed about 1797. Most of the research located in the Claiborne County area center around the GEORGE YOAKUM in the Powell Valley area of Claiborne Co.

At the age of 25, George Yoakum I, married the daughter of Isaac Van

Bibber, who was killed in the point Pleasant fight. After his marriage

he is said to have continued to reside in the old station at Muddy Creek

in Greenbriar County, Virginia, until after he had three sons, the

youngest of whom was George Yoakum II the father of the great Texas

historian of after years. George was killed on a bear hunt in the Cumberland Mountains. He was buried near the "Station". The location of Yoakum's Station was about fourteen miles from Cumberland Gap. He was buried at Felix Rogers Cemetery, Speedwell, Tennessee.

other information:

Notes for GEORGE YOAKUM:

[Br%C3%B8derbund WFT Vol. 45, Ed. 1, Tree #2654, Date of Import: Jul 13, 2003]

George fought in the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, what is now known as

Point Pleasant, Mason County WV. 

George and Martha had (12) children. They moved to Powell Valley in SW Virginia in 1786, along with four other siblings of George's wife, Martha.

George and Martha built Yoakum Station along the Powell River.

George and Martha moved to Grainger, now Clairborne County Tennessee where George died in a bear hunt in 1800.

Martha moved to Edwardsville, Ill. and later in 1819 moved to Sangmon County near present Springfield, Ill. Several of her children moved with her, while others stayed in Powell, Valley.

This story as per Steve Smith, Powell Valley, in 7/1998.

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LV9D-ZZ6