The following was written in The Clinton Gazette by an author who used the pseudonym "Drahcir" ("Richard" spelled backwards). This author "is believed by some to be William Richard Hicks, a preat grandson of Joseph and Mary Overton, a Civil War Veteran, a Lawyer, and a Circuit Judge." Some of the details, such as birth order and perhaps which child is whose, are not correct, but the overall information is valuable. According to Joseph R. Overton, "this appears to be part of one of a series of articles printed in The Clinton Gazette..."
Note: to make this more readable, I've taken the liberty of listing their children, where the original author separated them with semicolons. I've also added a few paragraph breaks.
...Joseph Overton and his wife, a most excellent, cultured, Christian lady, (formerly Mary Adams, and a second cousin to our last president by that name) came in packmule style to Tennessee from Virginia and squatted on what later became lot "F" of [the Henderson & Co. Survey], and later still, perhaps in 1810 purchased part of it from Robert Tevis of Madison County Kentucky. Their house was on a little hill on Hinds Creek, in the 11th District of our County. These people remained there until they died, after raising quite a large family, namely:
1st Catherine
2nd Nancy
3rd Polly
4th Jennie
5th Malinda
6th Sarah
7th Kissiah
8th Anna
9th Elviney
10th John
11th Patsey
12th James
13th Alfred
14th Moses
15th Joseph, Jr.
The first married Chas. Davis. They raised one child, James S. Davis.
The second married William Dail.
The third married John Epperson, and they raised a large family.
The fourth, Jennie, married John York, an dthey raised Anna, Betsey, William, John and Mack, who died in the Fourth District of our County, near to our old friend John A. B. Duncum, (and not far from our friend, who from his water gourd drank a husk from a corn cob, and thinking he had taken a spider, made his will - and jumping into his bed, saying "Mink, I am gone.")
The fifth married William Brown, the grandfather of our Register, and they raised two daughters, Martha and Katie, and seven sons, L.D., James S., Joseph A. (Adams), John, Foster, Matthew Nelson and Melvin.
The sixth married James Davis, and they raised Wilson, Drucilla 9who married W. B. Green), Polly, Elviney and Joseph.
The seventh married Isaac Foster.
The eighth married Geo. Miller, great grandfather of our merchant prince, Fletcher Miller.
The ninth married Wm. Brooks, and they raised Joseph A. (Adams), Sam, Elbert, Mary, Matthew and Jim Harve.
The tenth married Anna Pear, and they raised, Robert, James S., Martha, Mary (Dock Yarnell's first wife), Katie, Anna, Elbert, Alfred, John, Creed, Fulton and Will.
The eleventh died before marrying.
The twelfth married Gemima Justice they raised one child (the wife of Earnest Foster, and mother of our townsman, M. N. Foster).
The thirteenth married Polly Pear and they raised, Neaty, Anna, Joseph (who is today worth his thousands upon thousands, made with his own hands and brains, and whom I have known to work for twenty-five cents per day) and Sevier, who is a true type of the overton Family. Big souled and liberal to the last crust.
The fourteenth married a Foster and
the fifteenth married A. Scaggs.