James Brigham (1735-1820)
by W. Dale Carter, copyright 2009, Kingsport, TN

James Brigham was one of the early settlers of present day Sullivan County, Tennessee. He was born in Pennsylvania and moved down the great valley of Virginia to near the present-day city of Roanoke, Virginia. Here, he became acquainted with the Looney Family and married Louisa, the sole daughter of Thomas Looney. Thomas settled in Abbs Valley in Tazewell County on the Bluestone River in 1754, and after his death James and Louisa applied for a commissioner’s certificate for the settlement tract which gave them a legal claim to the property. They never got a grant for this property but most likely sold their claim.

In 1776 James Brigham was on the pay roll of David Looney militia company and was garrisoned at Moses Looney Fort at Gunnings in Sullivan County, North Carolina. His duty was to act as a spy for the militia. After the Revolutionary War, the land was opened up for private ownership, and on 23 April 1781, Brigham entered a claim for 600 acres on Muddy Creek and a grant was issued from the state of North Carolina on 23 October 1782.

The Commissioners of Sullivan County (John Anderson, George Maxwell and Richard Gammon) were instructed to select a site for the county court house and a jail, and the site they chose was on the James Brigham grant. On 11 December 1792, Brigham made a deed for 30 acres to the Commissioners and a town plat was laid out. This is the site of the present-day county seat, Blountville.

By 1796, James Brigham had sold all his land holdings in Sullivan County and he appeared in Montgomery County, Tennessee where he purchased 1,200 acres from John Shelby, a son of Evan Shelby. 

James Brigham died about 1820 in Stewart County, Tennessee. As did many of the early settlers of Sullivan County, he came, he built a home, and he moved on to what he thought was a better place.