HENRY HOWARD WILEY, the youngest child of Alexander Wiley and Martha Noel, was born 29 Oct 1799 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. The family soon moved to Roane County, Tennessee, where Henry reportedly attended Rittenhouse Academy at Kingston. He received a fine education, including training as a civil engineer. On 2 June 1822, Henry married Mary Burke Buckhannon Boyd, the daughter of Dr. Boyd of Virginia, who was related to the Buckhannons of that state. After their marriage, they moved to Flat Creek, Grainger County, Tennessee, where their first child was born. They returned to Kingston and engaged in merchandizing with James McCampbell, a brother-in-law who had married Jane Boyd.

    Henry H. served as Register of Deeds in Roane County from 1833 to 1836, and as County Court Clerk from 1836 to 1840. In about 1836 he built a 15-room brick house on Race Street in Kingston. Around1840 he moved from Kingston to Smith's Creek, a branch of Main Poplar Creek. From Smith's Creek, the Henry H. Wiley family moved to Winters Gap (now Oliver Springs) in 1846.

    Henry H. opened the famous Poplar Creek seam of coal in Morgan County, improved roads from the mine to Main Poplar Creek, and barged the coal down Poplar Creek to the Clinch River to Whitesburg and Huntsville, Alabama.

    In 1838, Henry H. Wiley had formed a partnership with Kingston lawyer, William S. McEwen, for the purpose of acquiring and clearing the titles to several 5000-acre tracts of coal lands situated in Morgan and Anderson counties. This work continued until the onset of the Civil War. After the War in 1872, the partnership was expanded to form the Coal Creek Mining and Manufacturing Company, which owned more than 35,000 acres of coal land. The heirs of Henry H. Wiley and William S. McEwen continued to expand the Land Companies operations and in 1881 were the prime movers in the organization of the Poplar Creek Coal and Iron Company which owned approximately 7,000 acres of coal land. These Land Companies did not actually operate coal mines, but made contract lease agreements with various coal mining companies, usually on a royalty, or per-ton mined basis.

    Henry H. and all of his sons served in the Civil War, except one whose death preceded the War. He and four of his sons were strong Union sympathizers, and enlisted in the Federal Army. At the ageof 63, he enlisted as a quartermaster officer in the Sixth Tennessee Infantry and served under Col. J. A. Cooper. He was mustered out of service in 1864.

    Henry died on October 6, 1881 in Coal Creek, Anderson County, Tennessee and he and his wife, Mary, are buried in the Wiley Cemetery in Coal Creek (now Lake City).
 

Children of Henry Wiley and Mary Boyd are:

          i. ELIZA JANE WILEY, b. 16 Mar 1823, Grainger Co. TN; d. 08 Jan 1913; m. (1) JABEZ GILEAD MITCHELL; m. (2) WILLIAM PAYNE SMITH, 14 Oct 1841.

          ii. ANDREW CARRICKWILEY, b. 20 Jun 1825.

          iii. MARTHA ELIZABETH WILEY, b. 30 May 1827, Kingston, TN; d. 28 Feb 1905, FL; m. WILLIAM STEPHEN GEERS.

          iv. MARY ELLEN WILEY, b. 05 Sep 1829, Kingston, TN.

          v. THOMAS ALEXANDER WILEY, b. 22 Dec 1831.

          vi. ANGELINA MATILDA WILEY, b. 16 Feb 1834, Kingston, TN; m. JOSEPH ESTABROOK, M.D., 1853.

          vii. HENRY PURRIS WILEY, b. 03 May 1836.

          viii. EDWIN F.WILEY, b. 13 Jan 1839; m. MARY CATHERINE MCADOO, 1871, Milledgeville, GA.

          ix. WILLIAM BOYDH. WILEY, b. 25 Jan 1843, Roane Co. TN; m. JENNIE MCFARLAND, 1869.

          x. HOWARD HOUSTON WILEY, b. 17 May 1846, Roane Co. TN; m. MARY FLEMING.
 
 

Sources:

     1.    McComb-Noel-Wiley Bible owned by Mr. Sidney Quin Noel (now deceased) of Shawnee Mission, Kansas.
            Printed in 1802, purchased in Kingston, TN in 1804 by Jacob Shaw McComb.
     2.    Roots of Roane County,Tennessee by Snyder E. Roberts, Kingston, TN, 1981.
     3.    The Story of Oliver Springs, Tennessee and Its People, Volume IV: First Settlers Around 1800, by Snyder
             E. Roberts, 1985.
      4.    Website of Pat Robert McDonald - http://www.roanetn.com/

   For ideas, additions, and corrections, e-mail Mary Wiley Campbell at info@marywcampbell.com