in the 1770s, tipton's brothers jonathan and joseph, along with their aging father, moved to the tennessee frontier, which at the time was controlled by a fledgling government known as the watauga association. jonathan tipton (frequently confused with john tipton by historians) signed the watauga petition in 1776 and fought at the battle of kings mountain in 1780. john tipton followed his brothers to watauga in 1783 and purchased what is now known as the tipton-haynes site in may 1784.