DearMYRTLE - Hardin County, Tennessee

Sources include: Aboriginal Ruins at Savannah; Brazelton's History; Goodspeed's History; Harbert's History; & Hardin Co. Map. You may elect to search by name, or browse sections of the alphabet for an ancestor. Here we read:

"ELIJAH WORLEY: THE BROTHERS WAR
"ELIJAH WORLEY was born 6 December 1838 near Savannah in Hardin County, Tennessee. His parents were Rhoda VanHoose and John Worley. By family tradition, the Worley ancestors were Black Dutch, a term that originally meant persons of the Germanic race who spoke the German language. No one seems to know whether the "Black" referred to physical characteristics, socioeconomic status, or a place of origin such as the Black Forest. They were considered newcomers, arriving in America sometime in the 18th century. They preferred to live separately from other nationalities. Their background of wars and oppression in the Old World may have made them suspicious of other races or fearful of losing their culture or language. For whatever reason, they were clannish, at least in their early days in the New World.

The Worleys are not often mentioned as early settlers of Hardin County, probably because they stayed to themselves..."

For Further Reading:
Tennessee GenWeb - http://www.tngenweb.org/
Tennessee Research Outline - from the Family History Library
Tennessee Statewide Indexes & Collections - from the Family History Library
Family History Library Catalog - Tennessee