An Exercise in Research

Wm R. Akers Guardian and Admis of Wm West, dec’d
    vs.
Wm West and the heirs and creditors of Wm West

    ... And it is therefore ordered by the Court that the title to the ___ home farm of Wm West known as Red Bank or Browntown supposed to contain 200 acres be forever divested out of the heirs and creditors of Wm West and vested in James P. Thompson Admis. in trust for the benefit of the estate of Lemuel Elam ...

(Warren County Chancery Court Minutes Book 4 pp. 108-112, TSLA Warren County Microfilm Roll 27.)

    When Robert Brown purchased 200 acres from George Michie in 1812, the deed identified the tract of land as “red banks.” The deed also gave the calls (description) of the tract. Those same calls appear in original 1808 entry and survey, the 1810 grant and the 1854 purchase of the tract by William West. We know that the tract is in the Second Surveyors’ District on the Barren Fork River. However, the calls do not tell us where on the river the tract was located.
    Fortunately, the documents do state that the tract was joined by entry No. 782 in the name of the heirs of Moses Davis. Entry No. 782 and subsequent documents place this second, or as we call it, “key” tract on the eastern edge of the Second Surveyors’ District.

Grant No. 2309 to George Michie, 1810.
    “... There is granted by the said state of Tennessee, unto to George Mitchie assignee of the said George Howard a cetrain tract or parcel of land containing two hundred acres the residue of said Warrant lying in Warren County in the second District on both sides of Barren Fork of Collins river Beginning on a hickory ten poles North of the North West corner of entry numbered seven hundred and eight two in the name of the heirs of Moses Davis running thence West fifty chains to a black oak and hickory near the County road thence south forty chains to a black oak crossing the river at thirty one chains on the ridge on the South side of the river thence East fifty chains to a black oak in the line of said Davis thence with it and passing the corner to the beginning Surveyed September 19th 1808 by Patrick McEachern DS ...”

Larger image of Grant, 240k, (Scan courtesy Gilbert West). Image made from a scan of a photocopy from a TSLA microfilm of the original recording.

Grant No. 2929 to the heirs of Moses Davis, 1811.
    “... There is granted by the said STATE OF TENNESSEE, unto to the said Moses Davis and their heirs a cetrain Tract of LAND, containing two hundred acres part of a Warrant -------- lying in Warren County in the Second District, seventh fractional section in fractional range on both sides of Barren Fork of Collins river Beginning at a post oak ninety five poles south of the one mile tree of said Section, in the Eastern boundary line of said District running thence West fifty chains to a post oak among pointers thence South forty chains to an elm near the bank of the river thence east fifty chains to a black Oak in the Second District line thence with it to the Beginning Surveyed September 19th 1808, by Patrick MacEachern DS ...”

Larger image of Grant, 158k, (Scan courtesy Gilbert West). Image made from a scan of a photocopy from a TSLA microfilm of the original recording. On the larger image, you will note that the printed Nashville is struck out and Knoxville is handwritten. That is because the recorded grant is a copy in a pre-printed book. Knoxville was the first capital of the State of Tennessee 1796-1812 and at the time of this 1811 grant. From 1812 to 1815 Nashville was again the seat of government, and from 1819 to 1825, Murfreesboro served as the state capital. In 1826 the captial was again transferred to Nashville, where it still remains today.

    A third “Brown” tract just to the east of 2nd/3rd Districts line demonstrates how the Brown family controlled many acres along the Barren Fork River and on Old Shelbyville Road east of Crisp.
    About the Wm Brown survey and Thomas Vaughan grant: we could not find the Wm Brown entry, this is the first step of getting a grant. Unlike the Michie and the Davis heirs grants, Wm Brown had a survey based on “his prefference right” or occupant claim. The other two were based on North Carolina Military Warrants. We also could not find a grant to Wm Brown. Occupant claims required payment to the State of Tennessee and since the tract in the 1808 survey was not granted to Wm Brown, we can assume that he did not pay the State of Tennessee.
    It appears that in 1811 Thomas Vaughan entered on the same tract and also submitted Wm Brown’s 1808 survey to the Tennessee Land Office. It was granted to Thomas Vaughan in 1814. There is the possibility that Wm Brown had an arrangement with Thomas Vaughan to later purchase all or part of the tract, or perhaps he rented from Thomas Vaughan. In any case, Thomas Vaughan used a Certificate issued by the Register of Western Tennessee to qualify for the grant.
    A second tract of three acres granted to Thomas Vaughan actually joins the west side of the Brown three hundred acre survey and this tract of three acres is “... near to the eastern boundary of the 2nd District ...” Hence, we are able to plat the location of the two 3rd District tracts and place them in relationship to the two 2nd District tract.

“ ... by virtue of part of Certificate Number 53 dated Feb. 7, 1810, issued by the Registrar of Western Tennessee to William P. Anderson and entered on 7th day of Aug 1811 ... under an act of 1807. Granted by the State of Tennessee unto Thomas Vaughan, assignee of William P. Anderson for 300 acres in Warren County in the Third District on both sides of the Barren Fork of Collins River in boundary line Walter M. Daniel and William Brown.” [Signed] Willie Blount, Governor of Tenn., Aug. 11, 1814, W. G. Blount, Secretary.

Abstract from Moses Park, 1738-1828 -- Vaughan and Wilcher, by Clara Lorene (Cammack) Park and Wilbur Goolsby Park, Sr. Gateway Press, Inc., 1991.