"Valentine Sevier was born in the city of London, England, and decended
from a French family who spelt their name Xavier in very early days,"
according to an 1840 letter written by Valentine's grandson, Col. George
Washington Sevier (1782 - 1849) to Dr. Lyman C. Draper. Valentine's
father, whose first name is not given in the account, had fled from his
native city of Paris, France, because of religious persecution at the
very close of the 17th century and settled in the city of London. Here
he married a Miss Smith, Col. G. W. Sevier added.
Occasional use of "S" instead of "X" in Xavier dates back to the
very earliest known record of the Castle of Xavier in Navarre in 1217 in
which it is spelled "Savierr". The English pronunciation of Xavier is
approximately "Say-veer". The Portuguese pronounce it more like
"Sheveer". Castilian Spanish, which does not use an "X" to begin words,
has adapted it to Javier, and in it "J" is pronounced like an "H".
The accent in "Sevier" is on the last syllable, and the final "r" in
Sevier is always pronounced. The name sounds like the English adjective
"severe". Valentine's first name was always pronounced "Vawl'-en-tine",
according to the oldest living decendants in all branches of the family.
The first syllable is pronounced like the first syllable of "volunteer".
The phonetic rendering is Val -en - tin.
Valentine Sevier was born about 1702 in London, England, and died
December 30, 1803 at Carter City, near Watauga settlement, Carter County,
Tennessee. He was probably buried in Green Hill graveyard on Gap Creek,
Carter County, Tennessee.
The first wife of Valentine Sevier the Immigrant was Joanna Goad.
His second wife, Jemima, is mentioned in his will. She was probably
a widow and someone from the Douglass-Young family connections. The wife
of Jonathan Douglass, Sr. was named Jemima. Judging from the will of
Valentine the Immigrant, one concludes that he had no children by his
second marriage and that the Jemima Young to whom he bequeathed a woman's
saddle and a featherbed was probably his step-daughter or
step-granddaughter.

1. Genealogies by George Hale compiled 1992,
2. Sevier Family History,
3. World Family Tree Vol. 2, Ed. 1,

Joannah and Valentine lived for a time in the Rockingham and Shenandoah
County area of Virginia. They did not appear to have gone to Bedford
County with her father. Most of Joannah's children were born in the
Rockingham and Shenandoah area. Valentine was "An imigrant with a
considerable talent for acquiring property." After Joannah's death,
Valentine remarried.

The Goads - A Frontier Family, Second Edition, by Kenneth F. Haas

1. World Family Tree Vol. 2, Ed. 1,
2. Sevier Family History,
3. Genealogies by George Hale compiled 1992,

1. World Family Tree Vol. 2, Ed. 1,