The horrible inquisition and persecution in France about 1685, drove a family the name of Fainyance or Faineant for safety to Ireland. Somewhere along the line the family's name was shortened to Fain. One of the family, Nicholas Fain, born in 1730 in Ireland and married about 1752 to Elizabeth Taylor, an English woman. They came to America and settled first in Chester County, Pennsylvania, then moved to southwest Virginia where Nicholas bought 130 acres of land on Wolf Creek, at the south fork of the Holston River in Washington County, Virginia, on January 29, 1774. Nicholas was a warm patriot in the America Revolution and he was paid for Special Services as the accounts in the State Auditor’s Department at Raleigh, North Carolina show. . He died in 1783 at Knob Creek, Washington County, Tennessee. Nicholas had five sons who were revolutionary soldiers and fought at the battle of King’s Mountain. The sons were Samuel, John, William, Thomas and Ebenezer Fain. The latter drew a pension. Samuel and John Fain were at the battle Point Pleasant. Nicholas Fain was noted for his religious zeal. In Ireland, he belonged to the High Church of England. In Tennessee he was Baptist. The majority of his descendants were Methodist and Presbyterian