David Crockett and Polly Finley

The marriage was short. The couple stayed in East Tennessee until 1811, then moved to Lincoln County and in 1813 to Franklin County, where Crockett twice volunteered for the Indian wars before being elected a militia lieutenant. Soon after he came home, Polly gave birth to their daughter Margaret and died that summer. The widower married Elizabeth Patton, a widow with two children, and the family moved on to Lawrence County in 1817. Polly Finley is the Crockett wife the frontier legend usually leaves out.

What the plaque says

David Crockett and Polly Finley Legendary frontiersman David Crockett and his first wife, Polly Finley, were married on August 14, 1806, at the home of Polly's parents, William and Jean Finley, one-fourth mile southeast of here. After the wedding, David and Polly lived in this neighborhood until circa 1812, when they moved to Middle Tennessee. Their first two children, John Wesley and William, were born here. Polly's father was buried 1.25 miles southwest of here in 1819.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rogersville Historic District — 30 mi
  Tennessee's first newspaper was printed in this Hawkins County seat in 1791, and Swift Memorial College, founded in 1883, educated Black students after the state's 1901 law forced Maryville College to expel them.

More markers nearby

• Battle of Mossy Creek — 4.9 mi
• Carson-Newman College — 5.3 mi
• Battle of Hay's Ferry — 5.5 mi
• Panther Springs — 5.7 mi