Cannon County, History of Tennessee
HISTORY OF TENNESSEE From the Earliest Time to the Present; Together with an Historical ILLUSTRATED. Chicago and Nashville:
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| More than half of Cannon County lies in the Central Basin, and the remainder on the Highland Rim. Spurs shoot out from the highlands, forming numerous valleys, through which course mountain streams, giving the county probably as much varied and picturesque scenery as any in the State. The soils on the highlands are light colored, and are for the most part thin and unproductive, save of a rank, barren grass which affords good summer grazing. Fruits and tobacco will also grow, in the highland soils. The knobs of the Central basin are usually fertile to the top, but limestone crops out in such abundance as to render much of the surface unfit for cultivation. In the basin, however, is found the valuable farm lands of the county. The soil is rich, loamy and pebbly, easily worked and highly productive. Bluegrass grows spontaneously and luxuriantly on the slopes and tops of the hills, and even in the glades, furnishing rich pasturage. The crops of the county are corn, wheat, hay, clover, tobacco and the grasses, while the timber embraces species of oak, ash, poplar, walnut, hickory, chestnut, gum, maple, beech, buckeye, cherry and elm. Stone River traverses the county from the east to the west, receiving the waters of numerous tributaries, and is the principal water course of the county. Other streams are Rockhouse, Carpenter, Rush, Lock, Hill, Hollis and Brawley Creeks, all emptying into the Stone River, Carson Fork, emptying into Brawley Creek, and Barren Fork of Collins River, Clear Fork, Sycamore, Hurricane, Saunders and Marshall Creeks. The country now embraced in Cannon County was settled as early as 1807 and 1809, though it then belonged to several other counties in part. The early settlers were chiefly North Carolinians, who, however, came here from East Tennessee, to which section they had previously immigrated in quest of homes, but pushed on over the mountains as Middle Tennessee opened up for settlement. Among the settlers living here in 1836, when Cannon County was organized, were Henry D. McBroom, John Wood, James and Edmond Taylor, Wm. Hollis, Noel Lilly, Isham Cherry, Alexander Hill, Phillip Rough, Phillip Hoas, Henry Ford, Benjamin Allen, Usibid Stone, George St. John, Wm. Mears, Melchesedec Self, Joseph Harrison, Samuel Lewis, Wm. Middleton, James and John Barkley, Richard Vincent, Alexander Orr, Wm. McFerrin, Calvin Carlee, Jackson Wherry, Daniel Travis, Arthur Warren, Phillip Mouser, Joshua Barton, George Petty, Benjamin Arant, L.S. Gilliam, Reuben Evans, Benjamin Blodes, Tilman Bethal, G.W. Duncan, Joseph Simpson, D.M. Stewart, James Ferrell, Archibald Stone, J.G.W. Rose, Joseph Clark, Asa Smith, Elijah Stephens, James M. Brown, John Wright, Pumphry Bynum, Charles Espy, Wm. Preston, Sr., Walter Wood, Benjamin Cummings, Sr., Warren Cummings, Wm. Cummings, Sr., John Stone, Andrew Melton, Caleb and Wm. Sevillirant, Joseph James, James Miles, Alexander McBroom, Kit and Wm. Pyburn, Cullin Corlee, Edmond Sutton, William, James and John Wood, Nathan Finley, Jesse and James Todd, Robert Carson, Jonathan Jones, Ambrose Petty, Thomas Williams, John McClain, Archibald Hicks, Thomas Fowler, Gideon Rucker, Jesse G. Moore, Louis Jetton, Gabriel Elkins, James Hawkins and Charles Evans, many of who are still living. One of the first schools taught in what is now Cannon County was the one situated about seven miles west of Woodbury, of which James Barklay was the teacher.. This school was taught as early as 1810 or 1812. Other Early schools of the years between the above school and 1815 were taught by Jacob Mackeroy, on Hill Creek, one and a half miles east of Woodbury; by Bartlett Wade, in the same neighborhood, and later in that neighborhood by John Finley. In about 1814James Rucker opened a school in Woodbury (then Danville), and a few years later Elliot Tunley taught a school in the Methodist meeting-house in town. The next school in Woodbury was taught by Thomas G. Wood. Laurens Academy was established in Woodbury in 1838 as a county academy, for which a frame building was erected. In 1859 the house was destroyed by a fire, when a substantial brick was erected, which is now occupied as a private residence. In about 1855 Baptists established a school, which has since become the Woodbury College. The school building is a large two-story brick, and the school a most excellent one. The other schools of the county besides the commons schools are those at Short Mountain, Auburn, Bradysville and Readerville, those at Woodbury and Short Mountain being chartered and working under the four-mile law. In 1838 the scholastic population of Cannon County was 1,961; in 1868, 3,559, and in 1885, as follows: White–male, 2,296; female, 2,251. Colored–male, 118; female, 179; total, white and colored, 4,844. Among the first churches of Cannon County were Brawley Fork Baptist Church, in which is now the Third District; Prospect Methodist Church, on Hill Creek, in the Sixth District; Ford Meeting-house, Christian, in the Sixth District, and Corlee’s Meeting-house, on Brawley Fork, also in the Sixth District, all of which were log houses and built all along between 1815 and 1820. The first church erected in Woodbury was a log house, built about 1820 by the Methodists. This stood until about 1840, when the present brick was erected. The next was a frame church erected by the Baptists about 1841, which is still in use, and the next was the Christian Church, frame, which was erected about 1842 and is still in use. The Cumberland Presbyterians have an organization and meet in the courthouse, they having no building of their own. The churches of the county by districts are as follows: First District, New Hope, Christian; Second District, Berea, Christian; Third Distract, Marion, Baptist, and Corlee, Christian; Fourth District, Bethlehem, Christian, and Wesley Chapel, Methodist Episcopal South; Fifth District, Daniels’ Chapel, Methodist Episcopal South; Seventh District, Cold Springs, Christian, and Walnut Grove, Methodist Episcopal South; Eighth District, Wood’s Meeting-house, Christian, and Blue Wing, Methodist Episcopal South; Ninth District, Osment schoolhouse and Baptist, and Melton, Christian; Eleventh District, New Hope, Cumberland Presbyterian, Shiloh and Poplar Stand, Baptist, and Auburn, Christian; Twelfth District, Bradyville, Christian, and Thytira, Cumberland Presbyterian; Thirteenth District, Holly Springs, Baptist, and Parker’s Chapel and Gilley Hill, Methodist Episcopal South; Fourteenth District, Pleasant Ridge Christian, and Pleasant Ridge Baptist; Fifteenth District, Jones’ schoolhouse Methodist Episcopal South. Among the early mills of the county were those of Nathaniel Moorhead at Woodbury, on the Stone River, about 1813; Chas. Ready‘s mill on Stone River, at Readyville, about 1812; Thomas Rooker‘s mill on the same stream, four miles west from Woodbury, about 1814; Bryant’s mill, on the same stream eight miles west from Woodbury, about 1816; David Whittaker‘s mill, near town, at about the same time; Archibald Prater‘s mill, on a branch of Stone River, five miles east of town, about 1820, and Alexander Hill‘s mill, on Hill Creek, about 1821. The principal mills of the present are the Readerville flour-mills, owned by P.C. Talley; Isaac McBroom‘s mill on Stone River, in the Second District; W.F. Brerard‘s mill, on Stone River, at Woodbury, and J. L. Sheckley‘s mill, on Stone River, in the Second District, all of which are excellent flour and meal-mills, and like the above named old mills, are operated by water power. Upon almost every creek in the county are found small, water-powered corn-mills, and there are from ten to fifteen portable, steam saw-mills at work in the county. Cannon County, as a county, furnished to the wars of 1836 and 1846, but they went as individuals, there being no regularly organized bodies or companies raised in the county for either of those wars.Not so, however, with the late Rebellion, to which she furnished the following eight companies, all regularly organized within the county: J.A. Dement, an enterprising farmer of the First District, was born in Rutherford Count, Tenn., in 1823. He was the only son of Cader and Mary (Andrews) Dement. The father was born in Tennessee in 1777. He took part in the war of 1812 under Gen. Jackson. He was a farmer by occupation, but filled some minor political offices. He was well known and universally respected. He was three times married and raised thirteen children. His death occurred in 1849. The subject of this sketch received his education in the schools of his native county. In 1847 he married Margaret, daughter of Alexander Lockey of Rutherford County. She died in 1851. A few years later our subject wedded Miss Jane J., daughter of Rev. E. McMillian of Gallatin, Tenn. By this union there are three children living: Mattie (widow of D. Hogwood), Albert M. and Wilson M. In 1847 Mr. Dement located where he now resides. He has always been an energetic, worthy citizen and a generous supporter of all laudable enterprises. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church for fifty years; his wife belongs to the same church. He is a Democrat, but was a Whig previous to the war. Josephus Finley, Clerk of the circuit court of Cannon County, is a native of the county, and was born in 1825. He was the first of a family of nine children, six of whom are still living. His parents were Isaac and Eleanor Finley, the former a native of Tennessee, born in 1799, and was a farmer, and had held the office of magistrate and county register, holding the latter at the time of his death. The mother of our subject was born in Kentucky in 1796, and is now living at the old homestead near Woodbury. The subject of this sketch received his education in the schools of the county. In 1848 he was married to Louisa Simpson, by whom he has two children living, and who died in August 1860. He has followed farming most of his life. In 1865 he was elected clerk of the county court, and was twice re-elected. He has held the office of magistrate for the past twenty-four years, and in 1886 he was elected to his present office. In 1861 he was married to Zenobia Foster, who was born in Cannon County in 1834. They have six children, all of whom are living. Mr. Finley is an independent in politics, voting for principles rather than for party. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the church, and both are widely known highly esteemed. D.D. Hare, a prominent farmer of the First District, was born in Williamson County in 1838. He was one of four surviving children of a family of eleven born to John P. and Nancy Hare. The father was born in North Carolina in 1809, and came to Tennessee with his parents when a child. He has been a farmer and resident of Cannon County since 1840. The mother was born in Tennessee in 1809, and died in 1855. Our subject received his education in the county schools, and at Irwin College. In 1855 he located where he know resides. In 1859 he married Miss Martha L., daughter of Rev. E. McMillan, of Carlinville, Ill. Their union resulted in the birth of B.B., Minnie and Fannie. In September, 1862, Mr. Hare enlisted in the Confederate Army, Company E, Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, under the command of Col. Baxter Smith, and Capt. H. A. Wiley. He took active part in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga, and many minor engagements. He was captured shortly after the battle of Chickamauga. He was confined a few days at Carthage, Gallatin and Nashville, and finally taken to the federal prison at Indianapolis and retained nineteen months. He returned home in March, 1865. Previous to the war he was a Whig; but is now a Democrat and a Mason. He is a useful and respected citizen, deeply interested in the advancement of educational and beneficial enterprises. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Hon. W.C. Houston, of the firm of Jones & Houston, attorneys at law, residing at Woodbury,Tenn., is a native of Bedford County, having been born there March 17, 1852. He is the son of William and Elizabeth Clay (Morgan) Houston. The former was a native of Iredell County, N.C., born in 1821, and came to Tennessee about 1835. He located in Bedford County, where he lived the rest of his days. He was a planter and a very successful business man. His death occurred in March, 1853. His wife was born in Rutherford County, March 10, 1822. She was first married to Newton Clark, of Bedford County, whom she survived; afterward married William Houston, and some time after his death married Benjamin Fugett, of Cannon County, who is now deceased. The subject of this sketch received his education mostly at Woodbury. At the age of twenty-two he took charge of the Woodbury Press, and continued editor and proprietor two years. In 1876 he was chosen representative in the Legislature from Cannon and Coffee Counties. On his retirement from this position he devoted himself to his farm and to the study of the law until 1879, when he was admitted to the bar. In 1880 he was again elected to the Legislature, and in 1882 he was again re-elected. At the session which convened in 1883 he was appointed chairman of the committee on finance. While occupying his seat in the Legislature he took a very active and prominent part in the settlement of the State debt question. From 1882 to 1884 he was a member of the State Democratic executive committee. In November, 1878, he was married to Miss Lura Kittrell, daughter of Maj. M.B. Kittrell, of Rutherford County. She is a native of Wilson County, and was born March 22, 1859. By their marriage they have two sons: Frank, born July 4, 1882, and William, born March 19, 1884. Mr. Houston has a half-sister, formerly Hattie Clark, now wife of Hon. William Barton; and also half-brother, Simpson Fugitt, both of whom are residents of Cannon County. The law firm of Jones & Houston was formed in 1886, and is universally considered the strongest in the country, both members being men of high honor and marked ability. Mr. Houston is an ardent and enthusiastic Democrat, and both himself and his wife are members of the Christian Church. Hon. James A. Jones, of the firm of Jones & Houston, Woodbury, Tenn., is a native of Alabama, born in 1838. His parents were Joseph and E.A. Jones, the former a native of North Carolina, a dentist, a planter and a very successful business man, dying in December, 1857; the latter born in Butler County, Ala., in 1818, and dying in 1853. The subject of this sketch completed his literary education at the Brownwood Institute, La Grange, Ga. In 1858, and shortly afterward began the study of law with Judge John K. Henry, of Greenville, Ala., where he remained until April, 1861, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army, becoming sergeant of Company A, Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry, under Capt. M.P. Rushing. He served as sergeant about four months, and was then transferred to the Twenty-third Tennessee Infantry and elected captain of the company just before the battle of Shiloh, after which he returned home. He then served as quartermaster in the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, and at the close of the war was on the coast defenses in Florida, as lieutenant of his company. After the close of the war he returned to Alabama, and was engaged in the real estate business until about 1870, and in 1871 he moved to Woodbury, where he has since engaged in the practice of law. In 1874 he was elected to the State Senate from Cannon, Warren, Coffee and DeKalb Counties, and was in the Legislature that elected ex-President Johnson to the United States Senate. In 1859 he was married to Miss Harriett Morton, of Warren County, by whom he has nine children. Mr. Jones has always been an active man, and was for some time engaged in the newspaper business. He is a Democrat in politics, is widely known and as a lawyer stands very high. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and both a Mason and an Odd Fellow. L.L. Melton, an enterprising and prominent resident of the Tenth District, was born in Cannon County, in 1845. He was one of eleven children born to John and Catherine Melton. The parents are natives of North Carolina, and now reside in the Seventh District of Cannon County. The father was born in 1800. He is a farmer. The mother was born in 1804. The subject of our sketch received his education partly in the county schools and by private instruction. In 1859 he married Miss. Pairlee, daughter of William Powell. By this union there are five children living. For many years our subject was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1884 he purchased a saw mill, and since then has done an extensive manufacturing business, and has also been engaged in merchandising with G.G. Melton. They have a liberal patronage. In August, 1879, Mr. Melton was elected magistrate, and has since held the office. He is a stanch Democrat and a Mason. He has always been an active and able business man, widely known and esteemed and ever interested in the improvement and welfare of the community. He and his wife are earnest members of the Christian Church. W.T. Mingle, editor and proprietor of the Cannon Carrier, was born in Cannon County, August 25, 1857, one of seven children of William J. and Alice G. (Cathey) Mingle, both natives of Cannon County. The father was born in 1828. He is a farmer of the Eleventh District, and served as deputy sheriff some time. The mother was born in 1828. The subject of this sketch received his education in the county schools. In 1873 he went to Alexandria, where he and his brother, R.A., had charge of the Alexandria Enterprise for a year. He then located at Woodbury. November, 1884, he took his present position and has been very successful. He is an ardent Democrat and wide-awake business man, and an able editor. July, 180, he married Miss. M.A., daughter of J.A. and N.L. Bryson of Cannon County. Four children have been born to the union: Clingman T., Eliza J. (deceased), Hugh L. and Lemuel B. J.G. Moore, clerk of the county court of Cannon County, is a native of the county, having been born in 1837 and is the eldest of a family of ten children, nine of whom are still living. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Warren) Moore. Both natives of Virginia, the former having been born in 1813, and having come to this country in about 1843. The latter was born in 1816. The subject of this sketch received his education mainly in the Mountain Creek Institute, Warren County. In 1866 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of N.M. Taylor. To this marriage were born six children. Mr. Moore is a carpenter and builder by trade and also a farmer, though he follows his trade most of the time. In 1872 he was elected register of the county, and filled the position for one term. In August, 1886, he was elected to his present position. He served as magistrate of the district ten years. He is a man well known and highly esteemed by all, and has always given encouragement to every laudable public enterprise. Politically he is a Democrat, and he is a member of both the Odd Fellow and Masonic fraternities. Both himself and wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. In 1861 he joined the Confederate Army, becoming a member of Company H, Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry, of which J.B. Palmer was at the time colonel. He was in many of the hard-fought battles of the war, was wounded at Fort Donelson, and was captured at Missionary Ridge, whence he was taken to Indianapolis, Ind., where he was held prisoner until the close of the war. |
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