HENDERSON COUNTY'S 104 MILE CONTRIBUTION TO CREATION OF CHESTER COUNTY, TENNESSEE

Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith

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  As the map (Number 967,Tennessee State Library and Archives) below indicates, a very considerable portion of southwest Henderson County, some 104 miles, went to create Chester County. It was formally surveyed by Thomas H. Temple and so certified by him December 5, 1871, several years before the act was passed actually creating Chester County on March 1, 1879.

  Because a considerable portion of Chester County was a part of Henderson County for the better part of sixty years, the present writer is providing here a historical coverage of the configurations of its civil districts.

  At the time Chester County was created in March 1879 the following men were appointed by the legislature to organize it: J. F. HAMLETT, ROBERT LONG, B. H. BROWN, J. H. FRY, B. I. YOUNG, A. B. PATTERSON, J. W. PERKINS, J. H. MITCHELL, J. M. SIMMONS, JOHN BARHAM, JOHN M. SHERRILL, W. L. STEAGALL, WILLIAM RUST, J. M. REAMS, M. D. PARE and ABLE STEWART. (PUBLIC ACTS OF TENNESSEE, 1879, Chapter 42, pages 59-63) Finally, in 1882,the county was organized and its first court was held on June 3,1882. (On March 17, 1891 the county courthouse was destroyed by fire, including most of the public records, although the court minutes from 1889 were preserved.)

  Civil Districts 11 and 12 were created in 1886 and 1887. The U.S. Census Bureau detailed these alignments in its COMPENDIUM OF THE ELEVENTH CENSUS: 1890, Part I., Population, Minor Civil Divisions, Washington, D.C.,1892, page 3714:

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  aOrganized from parts of Hardeman, Henderson, McNairy, and Madison counties in 1882; parts of Henderson and McNairy counties annexed in 1886 and 1887, respectively.
  bOrganized from part of No. 12, Henderson county, and part of No. 12, McNairy county, in 1882.
  cOrganized from part of No. 5, Henderson county, in 1882.
  dOrganized from parts of Nos. 8 and 10, McNairy county, in 1882.
  eOrganized from part of No. 4, Henderson county, in 1882.
  fOrganized from part or No. 3, Henderson county, and part of No. 17, Madison county, in 1882.
  gOrganized from part of No. 1, Madison county, in 1882.
  hOrganized from part of No. 16, McNairy county, in 1882.
  iOrganized from part of No. 4, McNairy county, in 1882.
  iOrganized from part of No. 16, Hardeman county, and part of No. 1. Madison county, in 1882.
  jOrganize~I from part of No. 18, Hardeman county, and part of No.3, McNairy county, in 1882.
  kOrganized from parts of Nos. 5 and 12, Henderson county, in 1886.
  lOrganized from part of No.3, McNairy county, in 1887.

  The Chester County borders are lined out in a map of Tennessee published by the National Map Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, about 1890 (Memphis Room, Memphis Public Library; Map T14c85n):

  The same reference from the U.S. Census Bureau for 1890 applies for 1900 (page 66) and indicates Civil District 13 was created from Civil District 1 in the 1890s:

  aNo.13 organized from part of No. 1 since 1890.

  Civil District 13 was created on August 27, 1894. (Chester County Court Minute Book 1893-1899, pages 62-63).

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  The county's civil districts in 1900 and for many years thereafter, as shown in Section One, West Tennessee, Minor Civil Divisions, U.S. Census Bureau, 1950, volume one (population), Washington, D.C. ,1952, page 42-2:

  The population summaries for 1910-1930, IBID., Washington, D.C.,1931, page 1037:

  aMifflin town incorporated in 1925.

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The population summary for 1940 (IBID., Washington, D.C., 1942, table 4) and
The population summaries for 1950 (IBID., Washington, D.C., 1952, table 6):

  (a)Part of McNairy County annexed to district 1 in 1939.
  (b)Part of district 6 annexed to Henderson city in 1949.

  Since the late 1970s the county's governing body has been called the Board of Commissioners and its member commissioners elected from commission districts.

Other works by Jonathan K. T. Smith can be found at the Madison County Records Repository at TNGenWeb.