There is a single gravestone and the text of the marker states: “Capt. Robt. McTeer Cumberland Co. PA. Mil. Rev. War”
Captain Robert McTeer led the 8th Company Militia of the 1777 – 4th Battalion under Col. Samuel Lyon of the township of Fermanagh, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
He was the fifth son of Irish emigrant James McTeer and Margaret Anderson (married 1731), he was born in Pennsylvania, 25 January 1740 in Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania and died in Blount County, Tennessee 6th April 1825. His sister Elizabeth McTeer married William Boyd. Another sister Margaret McTer married William Sloan.
Robert McTeer served through the Revolution. After the revolution he migrated from Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, through Virginia and was one of the earlier pioneers of East Tennessee. He married Agnes Martin (born 26 April 1741) she was the daughter of William Martin (Born 29 March 1718) and Margaret Martin (Born 26 April 1721).
In 1767, Robert McTeer received a warrant for 300 acres on the Mahantanga Creek in Cumberland County. His family apparently continued to occupy that land until some time in the fall of 1780 or the spring of 1781, when they left for the Valley of Virginia. McTeer spent several years in the Shenandoah Valley before moving on to be one of the early pioneers in the French Broad area.
In 1785 he established the first fort in Blount County, Tennessee, called McTeer’s Fort or McTeer’s Station. The fort stood about one and one-half miles south of Eusebia Church. It soon became the nucleus of an excellent neighborhood of intelligent, worthy, and patriotic citizens, emigrants principally from the valley of Virginia, who brought with, and diffused around them, Republicanism, religion, intelligence and thrift.
McTeer’s Fort was established in 1784 on that part of the Great Warrior Trail known locally as Ellejoy Road. This was frontier country and hostile Indians abounded throughout the 1780s. Nearby Houston’s Station came under attack as late as 1790 by some 200 to 300 Indians. An early history states that as the Indians approached the place to attack it, there were several families present in the fort, but only seven riflemen. As the Indians approached, the men withheld their fire until the Indians were near enough for certain aim. All fired at once and repeated as soon as possible, giving the effect of a much larger force. The Indians, thinking a large force opposed them, picked up their dead and retired from the field.
In 1791, Robert McTeer received a land grant of 800 acres on Ellejoy Creek and, sometime prior to 1795, Robert McTeer was issued a permit for a mill on Ellejoy Creek just down the road from McTeer’s Fort. McTeer was engaged in farming and milling while remaining ever vigilant.
Legal notice of Robert McTeer's death is found in the Blount County, Tennessee Probate files, when on 25 March 1833 his son Montgomery McTeer was appointed guardian for his brother William McTeer with Samuell Sherrill as surety in the amount of $500.
Robert McTeer is patriot #1619 in the Sons of the American Revolution listing of patriots.
Sources Used:
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Book: Goodspeed's History of Blount County Tennessee; Published 1887
Book: Daughters of the American Revolution magazine, Volume 56 By Daughters of the American Revolution
Book: McTeer - Mateer Families of Cumberland County Pennsylvania, Frances Davis McTeer, 1975, p 55.