The Akard family line that came to this area (east Tennessee and southwest Virginia) originates in a story of a young man named Jacob who is said to have left Germany having been kidnapped, and came to the colonies on the ship “Chance.” He was assimilated into a German community at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and apprenticed to be a stone mason. While there he met and married Susannah Margaretha Latture, daughter of Herman Latture, a Frenchman (the Latture name was originally La Tor). Jacob moved his family down the valley of Virginia, settling for a while near Staunton. Records there indicate that he “went over the mountain” to avoid paying taxes. That “over the mountain” destination turned out to be Sullivan County in what is now the great state of Tennessee, settling near Bristol. He was father to the following children: Elizabeth Akard Bushong (1771-1845), Frederic Akard (1773-1866), Mary Akard Click (1776-?), Catherine Akard Connant (1778-?), Jacob Akard (1781-1845), John Akard (1783-?) and Adam Akard (1786-1842).
Frederic Akard bought land in what became Scott County, Virginia, in 1807. The deed is recorded in the Washington County courthouse in Abingdon. At that time Washington County extended all the way down the peak of the Clinch Mountain, and incorporated everything south to the state line. Frederic’s land was near the land of the Click/Cleek family on Wadlow Gap road. Eventually he bought up land from Peter and George Morison who’s property had extended into Virginia. North Carolina had awarded it to the Morison family for service in the Revolutionary War, but found out part of it was in Virginia. Dale Carter has written of this in his essay on “the Squabble State.” Many early land grants ignored the state line as it hadn’t been adequately surveyed in those days, and it was eventually settled. Frederic’s land included everything from the state line to the North Fork of the Holston River, including land on both sides of what is now US Highway 23, and extending east up Newland Hollow Road and the peaks overlooking the river. His homeplace was a log home built near the banks of the North Fork of the Holston, on the south side of the river, where Newland Hollow Road and Long Ridge Road converge. He gave land to his heirs, dividing his acreage among them. He married Margaret “Peggy” Cleek from Wadlow Gap, near the river bridge (on the north side of the river). Her father and mother were Peter Cleek and Catherine Widener. Frederic and Peggy were parents of the following children: Catherine Akard Sandidge (1804-1886), Adam Akard (1807-1860), Lewis Akard (1810-1880), Sarah Akard Darter (1812-1885), Mary “Polly” Akard (1813-1885), Henry Akard (1813-1849), Jacob Akard (1817-1853), Frederic Akard Jr (1821-1887), Elizabeth “Betsy” Akard (1825-1866), David Akard (1826-1893). Of these children, Adam, Lewis, Polly, and Betsy never married. Jacob was killed in Texas in a dispute over his hogs. Henry died in Missouri. David’s land was nearest the State Line. He sold and moved away prior to his death. Catherine and her husband Hasten M. Sandidge, who had lived near Waycross, Virginia, on Possum Creek, received a tract that ran from David’s land to the river, along a route parallel to the highway. She worked out a deal with her sister Polly to care for her in exchange for her property, which was included a log house and the family cemetery plus around 70 acres. This log house became the Sandidge home until their death. Lewis’s tract went to the daughter of Catherine and Hasten Sandidge, Elizabeth Sandidge Perry, who with her husband, Confederate Army veteran William Marshall Perry, agreed to keep Lewis, who was deemed mentally incompetent, until he died. After the Sandidge’s deaths in the 1880s, the Perry’s took over their property as well. So that the Perry farm included the house Polly Akard had lived in, the Akard cemetery atop a little knoll from the house, and the barn that was built in the creek bottom. It also extended all the way to the river including property where the grocery store (used to be Oakwood) and a restaurant (Dutch Boy/Burgers R Us) and the Trade Winds Motel were built in later years. In 1893 the Perry’s erected their new home across the old Gate City/Kingsport road from Polly’s old log house. They took a kitchen extension that had been built on the back of the log house and rolled it across the road to be the wing off the back of the new house. After their deaths (Elizabeth in 1900 and William in 1921), their daughter Bessie Perry Ketron and her husband H. W. Ketron, Sr., lived in this home and operated a relatively successful farm.
By the Waters of Possum Creek 