In Charleston, SC, on November 4, 1775, Southy/Southey/Southway Nelson (said to have been born in 1722) enlisted, along with a John Nelson (believed to be a brother, enlisted as a private in the same company) to fight on the American side of the Revolution (Captain Joseph Elliott’s (?) Company C of the 1st Carolina Regiment, Commanded by Charles Cotesworth Pickney). According to family lore and a book by Pat Alderman (Overmountain Men) Southy fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain.

By 1778, Southy was settled in what is now Washington County, Tenn. A list of "Early East Tennessee Taxpayers" has Southy owing poll tax on 100 pounds of personal property; tax 1-0-6 (in English currency, pounds, shillings and pence) or 1 pound and 6 pence. His last pay stub from the Revolutionary War (dated 1783, and found in the North Carolina State Archives) has him a resident of Washington and Sullivan Counties, NC. In 1797, a Southy purchased 100 acres of land from a Henry Shields on the Nolachuckey River in what is now Eastern Tennessee.

Southy probably had a son also named Southy/Southey (died about 1836, Washington County, TN) who has been confused with the father in the family history.

We have no idea of the name of Southy Jr.’s wife, but we know that his children were Henry, John (m. Tabetha Kindle, 1823 in Greene Co. (Formerly Washington Co., TN; their son David moved to Bismark MO), William Riley, Polly, David, Elijah/Elisha (b. 1790; bur. in Nelson Cemetery, Dent Co., MO; married Elizabeth Henry? (b. 1791, VA; bur. in Nelson Cemetery, Dent Co., MO); and Aarva.

During the War of 1812, Southey Nelson Jr. served in the East Tennessee Drafted Militia under Colonel William Johnson in Captain Andrew Lawson's Company (September 20, 1814 - May 3, 1815) along with James Nelson, a substitute for James Harvey (War of 1812 info from TNGENWEB, Washington County) A Southey Nelson is also listed as a Washington County taxpayer for the year 1819. A record of a sale of land upon the death of Southey Nelson in 1836 list his sons John and Henry Nelson as his administrators.

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