CROCKETT COUNTY AREA FIRST SETTLED IN 1824: FORMED IN 1871
Crockett County is bounded on the north by Gibson County on the east by Madison County, on the south by Haywood County and on the west by Lauderdale and Dyer Counties, and has an area of about 284 square miles. The county is situated between the south and middle forks of Forked Deer River, and the surface is level or gently undulating, with rich, fertile soil, being a yellow loam, of an average depth of about two feet.
The country around the county seat is level from three to five miles in every direction. Going north from Alamo the country is level to the county line; going south the same; going west, level for about three miles, and thence it is hilly and broken to the county line; going east it is level until Madison fraction is reached, about three miles from Alamo, when the surface becomes quite hilly. There are no hard rocks to be found on the surface, or under it, and in most sections sand is reached at a depth of about thirty-five feet. The best lands are found in the Eighth, Tenth, Twelfth and Thirteenth Districts. The color of the soil in these districts is very dark, and has no mixture of sand. The poorest lands are found in the eastern districts, near the town of Gadsden, the soil found there being a reddish color. The lands of the districts numbered above, are better than those of the eastern part and yield very well. The products of the county are corn, wheat, cotton sweet and Irish potatoes, the grasses and fruits and strawberries; of this last product upward of $80,000 worth were shipped from the county in 1885 of which $60,000 worth were shipped from Gadsden, and $20,000 from Bell’s Depot. In 1886 the shipment from berries from the county to upward of $100,000 of which $75,000 worth were shipped from Gadsden and $25,000 from Bells. The streams of the county are as follows: The south fork of Forked Deer River forms the southern boundary line of the county, and the middle fork of Forked Deer River forms the northern boundary line. Pond Creek rises about 300 yards north of Alamo, flows southwest and empties into the main Forked Deer River, at about twenty-five miles from the town. Cypress Creek rises in Madison County, flows northwest, and empties into Forked Deer River, about ten miles north of Alamo. Other streams of the county are Beech, Elliott, Sugar, Mill, Nelson, Beaver Dam and Black Creek. There are but few springs in the county, and but one mineral spring exists, and that, situated two and one-half miles west from Alamo, is of small consequence.
It was not till about the year 1824 that the territory now embraced within Crockett County was first settled. At about that time a settlement was made near the Haywood County line, south of the present town of Bells by a number of Middle Tennesseans and North Carolinians, who were attracted to the county by the large growth of yellow poplar, hickory and oak timber. Among the above settlers were Francis M. Wood and Charles Wortham, the former coming from North Carolina and the latter from Middle Tennessee. At about the same time, Gen. Blackman Coleman, who lived at Murfreesboro, purchased a tract of land in the neighborhood of what afterward became Lanefield, and sent out a party of laborers in charge of Thomas Ferguson, to open up a farm and put in a crop. The following year William Johnson and son, Isaac and Timothy Parker, came from Rutherford County, Tenn. and settled in the same neighborhood. Other settlers of the neighborhood were Wyatt Kavanaugh . In 1826 Thomas Ferguson moved from Lanefield neighborhood and settled what afterward became Ferguson Landing on the Forked Deer River, and in a short time James Wylie and Abram Eason came from North Carolina and settled near him. A few miles farther down the river, a settlement was formed by Cornelius and Albert Buck, Edward Williams and Capt. Moody, and at about the same time David Nunn, Parson Koonce, William Antwine and Henry Powell settled about five miles north of the Lanefield settlement. Other pioneers of the county were John F. and C.H. Felts, Stephen Booth, Spencer Payne, John Burnett, Thomas Young, Solomon Hunter, David Wilson, Zachariah Hobson, Richard Coop, Miles Jennings, Dinwiddie, Solomon Shaw, Samuel Wilkins, Newton Mayfield, Thomas Tucker, Wilson Wyann, James Carter, B.G. and H.B. Avery, Moses Cox, John Tatum, Levin James, B.F. Collingsworth, Robert Edmundson, James McClary, Sugars McLemore, J.B. Boykin, Henry Pearson, H. B. Wilson, R.W. Sims, G.H. Mason, E.B. Mason, Anthony Swift, John McFarland, Solomon Rice, Joseph Clay, John Bowen, Issac H. Mason, Hugh Raines, John Hill and Bently Epperson.
The face of the country, when first viewed by these hardy pioneers, was most beautiful to behold. The woods stretched away into vasts forests of poplar, hickory, oak and ash timber, while in the river and creek bottoms the cypress and tall cane were seen. The face of the earth was covered with pea vines, so high and thick that man or beast could be easily followed by their trail through it. The woods abounded with deer, bear, wolves, catamounts, panthers, wild turkey and the smaller game, and upon this game the first settlers were, to a great extent, compelled to subsist, as food was indeed a scarce article. For a number of years afterwards, in fact, until they were all killed off, the stock of the settlers was destroyed, in fact, until they were all killed off, the stock of the settlers was destroyed to an alarming extent by the wolves and bears, scarcely a night passing but a young calf or shoat was carried off.
The first settlements were in the nature of small clearings. One pioneer, more bold than the others, would push forward into the forest, make a clearing and build a cabin, and in a short time, others would follow and settle near him. The homes of the settlers were small log cabins, notched up a little higher than a man’s head and covered with oak boards. Each cabin, when sufficiently high, received a cave-bearer, on which rested the butting poles for the boards to rest against as well as the knees to hold the weight poles to their places,on which was put on each course of boards. An opening of six or seven feet made in the end of the roof for a chimney, which was built of sticks and clay, the backjambs and hearth being made out of dirt dug up and pounded with a maul till it became solid. The floor was a poplar puncheons, and the cracks of the house were daubed with mortar made of dirt and water. The house consisted of but one room, and that answered for parlor, bedroom and kitchen. The furniture was usually of the settler’s own make, but little, if any, articles being brought from the old State. In those days the settlers were more neighborly and sociable than now, and would think nothing of walking six and eight miles to help a neighbor build a house or roll logs, asking nothing in return but a similar lift in time of need.
There was so such thing as mills in the county at that time, and the grain was crushed for bread and hominy by means of the mortar and pestle. A few years later, however, John Warren put up a horse-power mill in Dyer County, to which a great many went from Crockett County for grinding, paying one-sixth of their grain for toll. One of the first mills built in Crockett County was a water-power corn mill on Middle Forked Deer River, at the crossing of the Brownsville and Trenton Road, which was owned by Solomon Shaw. Several years afterwards, Mr. Shaw built a large steam spinning factory, at what was known as Quincy, in the Seventh District, to which he subsequently, added flour and corn attachments. The mills was in active and successful operation until during the late war when Mr. Shaw was murdered, and the property destroyed by fire. Other early mills were owned by Charles Clay, Squire McDonald and William Harpole. The mills and cotton gins of the county, at the present, outside of the town, are as follows: First District, Bunker Sherrod’s steam saw mill; Third Disctrict , J.R. Bowle’s cotton gin; Fourth District, R.J. Williams. steam corn and saw mill and cotton gin combined, and Patterson Bros. steam corn mill and cotton gin; Seventh District,W.A. Cooper’s and Cooper & Nance’s cotton gins; Eighth District, David Mayo’s cotton gin and John Tipkins’s steam corn and saw mill. Ninth District, E.L.Jetton’s and G.W. Vaughn’s steam corn mills and cotton gins; Eleventh District, John Brewer’s cotton gin; Twelfth District, Wm. King’s, Obedah Vernon’s and A.T.Fielder’s cotton gins; Thirteenth District, J.L. Parker’s and J. H. Farmer’s corn, saw mill and cotton gins; Fourteenth District, James Ward’s steam saw and grist mill, wool factory and cotton gin, W.W.Sharron’s steam saw mill and cotton gin and Bailey & Bros. steam saw mill.
The inconvenience of reaching their respective county seats induced the people living in the fractions of Haywood, Gibson, Madison and Dyer Counties, lying between the Middle and South Forks of Forked Deer River, to take steps looking to the formation of a new county as early as 1832-1833, and a petition was circulated, and receiving numerous signatures, was forwarded to the constitutional convention of 1834, praying that body to grant them authority to form a new county out of the above fractions. The petition, however, was not presented to the convention, and consequently nothing came of the efforts, much to the disgust and dissatisfaction of the people.
The agitation of the question was continued, however, and resulted in the passage on December 20, 1845, of an act by the General Assembly, entitled as follows: “An act entitled and act to establish the county of Crockett in honor of and to perpetuate the memory of David Crockett, one of Tennessee’s distinguished sons.” The act provided that the county Madison and Dyer, and appointed Isaac H. Johnson, David Whitaker,Joel Nunn, Willis L. Rivers, Kinchen Hathaway, Isaac H. Mason, Alfred T. Fielder and Noah Perry as commissioners to run the boundary lines, designated the house of Issac M. Johnson, near where the county seat now stands, as the place of holding the various courts, until the selection of a county site and the erection of a court house.
In the spring of 1846 the above commissioners marked off the boundary lines of the county and selected the present county site, where a town was laid out and named Cageville, in honor of Lycurgus Cage, one of the first merchants of that vicinity.
The magistrates of the new county met at the designated place in June, 1846 and organized the county. Officers were elected as follows: Clerk, Isaac M. Johnson; sheriff, John R. Jelks; Registrar, N.W. Mayfield; Trustee, Joel Nunn.
In October of the same year the circuit court met in session at Mr. Johnson’s house. The court was presided over by Judge J. C. Reed, and John Manning was appointed Clerk. The new County had its enemies among the citizens of the old counties, who sought to throw every obstacle in the way of and prevent, if possible, its organization. The question of the new county’s constitutionality was raised, and being presented to Judge Reed, that gentlemen decided adversely to the county, adjourned his court and returned to his home. This action on the part of Judge Reed, in whom the people had great confidence, demoralized the citizens and friends of Crockett County, and the organization, then completed, was abandoned, the several fractions returning to the parent counties. Thus matters rested for awhile, but it was not long before the people began anew their effort to secure a new county, and their incessant labors resulted in the enactment of a similar law to the one of 1845, granting them the desired new county. This second act was passed by the General Assembly November 23, 1871 and authorized the formation of Crockett County out of fractions of the counties of Haywood, Gibson, Madison and Dyer, the same territory before incorporated in the new county.
The act appointed William N. Beasley and John F. Sinclair of Dyer County; J.Frank Robertson and David H. James of Gibson County; Thomas J. Hicks and John C. Pearson of Madison County; Asa Dean and Francis J. Wood of Haywood County as commissioners to survey and mark off the boundary lines of the new county,locate the county seat and hold an election for county and district officers.
The Act further provided for the naming of the county seat, Alamo, in commemoration of the spot where the illustrious Crockett, for whom the county was named. The commissioners met at Cageville on December 19, 1871 and were sworn in, in accordance to law, by Isaac M. Johnson, acting justice of the peace in Haywood County. They then organized by unanimously electing John F. Sinclair as president and F.J.Wood, secretary. On motion, the commissioners were ordered to take the census of the qualified voters of their respective fractions, and report the same on January 15, 1872, after which the commissioners adjourned, to meet again on that date. On the above day the commissioners met at Cageville and received the following report of the census: Madison Couty fraction, 374 votes; Haywood County fraction, 799 votes; Gibson County fraction, 354 votes; Dyer County fraction, 403 votes. The commissioners then ordered an election held in the several fractions of the counties, to take the census of the voters upon the question of the proposed new county. The election was held on February 17, 1872 and resulted in more than two-thirds rate in favor of the new county.
Cageville was selected as the county seat, and the name changed to that of Alamo in accordance with the provisions of the act. The commissioners met with much opposition in the organization of the county from E.B. Mason, Esp. of Madison County, who filed an injunction suit in the chancery courts of Haywood, Gibson, Madison and Dyer. While the suit was pending, however, the organization was proceeded with, and an election for county and district officers was called, and held on March 9, 1872, at which the following officers were elected: Sheriff, R.G. Harris; circuit court clerk, William Best; county court clerk, R. J. Wood; registrar, R.T.D.Fouchee; trustee, Asa Dean; tax collector, John Smothers; surveyor, W.H. Johnson; coroner, A.G. Norville; magistrates, John E. Pearson, Thomas B. Casey, F.M. Thompson,Robert W. Mason, Samuel S. Watkins, John R. Roseman, David H. James, Shady De Harper, John J. Farron [Farrow?], Lewis W. Daniel, Isaac M. Johnson, George W. Bond, John C. Best. Zachary P. Warren, John F.Robertson, Dennis Tatum. Henry Buck, Henry Wyse, Benjamin H. Harmon, James H. Perry, Jonathan H Davis, John F. Sinclair, Isaac H. Nunn and William H. Beasley.
The sessions of the courts were held in the Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall until sometime in 1873, when the records were removed to a large frame carriage factory on the corner of West Main Street, where they were held until the completion of the court house in 1875. This building is a large two-story brick, with four entrances and cross halls. On the first floor are the offices of the county court clerk, sheriff, registrar and two additional offices. On the second floor are the offices of the circuit court clerk and the clerk and master of the chancery court, and also the building is surmounted with an observatory, guarded by iron railings, the same having been constructed with a view of placing them in a tower clock. The court house cost about $25,000 and is claimed to be the finest building of the kind in West Tennessee.
The county jail was completed in 1874 at a cost of about $10,000. The building is of brick, two-story, and is a sheriff’s and jailer’s residence and jail combined. The jail is fitted up with substantial cells, and considered safe as any in the country.
In 1879 the county court purchased ninety acres of land in the Sixth District, two miles west from Alamo, and converted the same into an asylum for the poor. The farm and frame buildings thereon cost the county about $2,000
Source: The Crockett Times 50th Anniversary Edition – Wednesday, March 2, 1983, Page 9 A. There is NO AUTHOR NAME GIVEN.
Thank you to Sister Mary Francis Cates, who transcribed this article, and contributed it for use on this web site.