Rep. Jerry Sexton
Erik Schelzig reports that on Tuesday, Rep. Jerry Sexton argued for the state muzzleloader to be the Knight Muzzleloader because: "I'm from Bean Station, and Bean Station was settled by the first white settlers in Tennessee, and had the first white baby born in the state of Tennessee. They were also makers of firearms and muzzleloaders. And this company is owned by descendants of the Bean family."
I don’t have an opinion on which muzzleloader should be the state muzzleloader, but I sure do have opinions on this bullshit history. First of all, having the first white baby born in the state, unless we’re a pile of open racists, isn’t an accomplishment.
Second, unless we’re kicking French people out of whiteness, it’s not true. Martin Chartier lived here in Nashville up on the burial mound that used to exist just south of Jefferson Street in what would later be called “the old Shawnee trading post” in 1690. His son, Peter, was born here that year. Peter’s Shawnee name was Wacanackshina, which means something like White One Who Reclines, or possibly, The White Guy Who Can Get Down. OK, maybe not that. His brother, Francois, was known as Pale Croucher and his other brother Rene was known as Pale Stalker.
Yes, the three Chartier boys were know by variations of “Whitey.”
And I’m not even sure Peter Chartier was the first kid of European descent born in Tennessee. But, if you want to beat his claim, you need to be farther back than 1690, and Bean Station is almost 100 years too late.
