Marcus DeLafayette Bearden

Marcus DeLafayette & Eliza Amy (Cocke) Bearden were married July 25, 1820.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearden_(Knoxville,_Tennessee) - Bearden is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Knox Co., TN, located along Kingston Pike in West Knoxville. Developed primarily as an agrarian community in the 19th century, this neighborhood now lies at the heart of one of Knoxville's major commercial corridors. Named for former Knoxville mayor and Tennessee state legislator, Marcus De Lafayette Bearden (1830 -1885). Early businesses in the Bearden area catered to travellers along the Kingston Road, and included early 19th-century inns operated by Thomas Hudibergh and John Gamble. In 1838, Knoxville businessmen Marcus De Lafayette Bearden (1799—1854) and Gideon Hazen established a paper mill along Third Creek in the Middlebrook area. This mill, the namesake of Papermill Drive, operated until 1886, when its milldam failed. What is now Bearden began as a small community that developed around a fortified house, which was probably located somewhere near the modern junction of Kingston Pike and Northshore Drive. In 1792, Knoxville surveyor Charles McClung surveyed the "Kingston Road" - the forerunner of the modern Kingston Pike which was built to connect Knoxville with Campbell's Station (modern Farragut). This brought increased settlement to western Knox County. During the late-18th century, the Bearden area was one of the more hostile areas in Knox County. The area's earliest settler, James Miller, was allegedly murdered shortly after his arrival in the early 1790s. In September 1793, near the end of the Chickamauga Wars, a large Cherokee and Creek contingent attacked and destroyed Cavet's Station, which stood near Bearden, and massacred 12 of the station's 13 inhabitants. Even after Native American hostilities had ceased, the Bearden area remained a dangerous place. In the early 1800s, the stretch of the Kingston Road west of Bearden had been nicknamed "Murderers' Hollow."

Marcus DeLafayette Bearden's namesake, Marcus De Lafayette Bearden (1830–1885), was a Union officer, Mayor of Knoxville, and state legislator who owned a farm in the community along Weisbarger Road. He was a cousin of the older Bearden (the paper mill founder). In 1888, while serving in the state legislature, he managed to secure funding for the Eastern State Hospital (now Lakeshore Mental Health Institute) on Lyons View Pike, which provided a major economic boost to the community.

Find A Grave Memorial # 105373634 lists the middle name as "D'Lafayette". His monument is the one in center front of the profile picture. For a closeup of the inscription, go to the Media section.

Possible information source if someone wants to do further research, posted by Victoria Johnson - v.johnson@drury.edu :

• Author: Bearden, Marcus de Lafayette, 1799-1854. Title: Papers dealing with the collection of a debt owed by Reverend George Horne. Description: 6 pieces. Notes: Marcus de Lafayette Bearden was a wealthy merchant who owned several river boats and a paper mill. These papers involve the attempt to collect on a note owed by Rev. George Horne to the estate of Marcus de Lafayette Bearden. Bearden's son, Richard, and nephew, Marcus de Lafayatte, are the executors. George Webb purchase 1993 Subjects: Horne, George, Rev. Other authors: Bearden, Marcus de Lafayette, 1830-1885. Bearden, Richard. Horne, George, Rev. Control No.: ocm31416544
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