CHAPTER VIII.

ANNALS OF ALEXANDRIA

THIS town is on the Lebanon and Sparta Turnpike, forty-nine miles east of Nashville. The nearest railway points are Watertown, six miles west, and Brush Creek, two and one-half miles north. The tradition is that it was named for one of its pioneers, James Alexander, who came from Virginia. Showing that it was a village of Cannon County in 1837, in which year DeKalb County was established and the Lebanon and Sparta Turnpike chartered, the following Alexandrians appointed commissioners of the road are named as citizens of Cannon: Jacob Fite and James Goodner.

The act incorporating the village was signed January 31, 1948, the boundaries being as follows: "Beginning at the southwest corner of Leander Scott's lot and running north to Hickman Creek; thence east with the meanders of said creek to the northwest corner of Thomas Allison's lot; thence south to the west end of Gin Alley; thence east with said alley to the northeast corner of lot No. 13; thence east to the east corner of McDonald's lot, including Elijah Dobb's lot; thence west to Jacob Fite's line; thence north with the said line to the beginning, including the Methodist church and schoolhouse." During the War between the States the corporation fell into "innocuous desuetude." After hostilities ceased it was rehabilitated. One of the ante-bellum mayors recalled was

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the late John Batts, while one of the most vigorous mayors just after the war was Robert Yeargin. As with other Tennessee towns of small population, the charter was surrendered shortly after the passage of the four-mile law to get the benefit of that statute. In 1913 the town was again incorporated, with Rev. O. P. Barry as the first mayor and J. W. Parker city attorney.

The first settlers of the community, it is believed, arrived about 1795. The following list includes as many of the early business men as it is possible to give at this late date: James Alexander, Joshua M. Coffee & Son, Jacob Fite (father of Judge John Fite), James Goodner, Samuel Young, Church Anderson, William Floyd, J. D. Wheeler, Bone & Bro., Thomas Compton, Reece & Ford, Turner Bros., Wheeler & Jones, John F. Moore, S. W. Pierce, Lawrence & Roy, William Geltford, L. D. Fite, James Baird, Jack Baird, and Dexter Buck. The last named was the only merchant doing business during the latter part of the war. Since the war the following are recalled: James and Jack Baird, Turner Bros., Stokes & Wood, Dinges & Lincoln, Hurd & Co., M. F. Doss, Bridges & Smith, George Evans, Rutland & Goodner, S. W. McClelland, Dinges & Co., Roy & Yeargin, J. W. King, John Jost, Tubb & Schurer, Edwards & Rutland, Gold & Newman, Jones Bros., John Garrison, and Batts & Garrison. Business directory for 1914: Livingston Tubb, Goodner & Son, Roy & Jones, Roy & Seale, Lester's Department Store, Adamson Grocery Co., D. A. Stark, Dinges Hardware Co., Rutland Bros., Sampson Gro-

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cery Co., O. P. Barry Produce Co., Style Millinery Co. (Miss Daisye Vantrease), Donnel & Patton, Griffith Livery Co., H. H. Jones, J. W. Measle, and Shelby Malone, insurance.

The pioneer bank of the town and county is the Alexandria Bank. This bank was the first established between Lebanon on the west and Rockwood on the east. The original capital was $10,000, it being a private concern owned by J. F. Roy and Ed Reece. About 1891 it was chartered as a State bank and the stock increased to $20,000. Mr. Roy was the first Cashier and then President, C.W.L. Hale, of Liberty, was once Vice President, and William Vick, of the same place, was a stockholder and an officer. J. F. Roy is now President, and Frank Roy, Cashier. This bank, which was established in 1888, has been successful from the start.

The second bank in point of time is known as the D. W. Dinges Banking Company. It has also wonderfully prospered. It opened for business January 24, 1900, with the following officers: D. W. Dinges, President; J. A. Walker, Dib Dinges, Brien Tubb, and W. H. Lincoln. On January 7, 1904, the capital was increased. Large dividends have been declared each year. The capital at present is $150,000, with a surplus of $14,000. Present directors: D. W. Dinges, J. A. Walker, O. P. Barry, Livingston Tubb, J. W. Measle, G. R. Lester, Dib Dinges, W. T. Jones, Paul Tubb, D. C. Dinges, and E. T. Dinges.

The earliest paper published in the county was the Alexandria Independent. It was established a year or

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two prior to the war of 1861-65, but suspended when the great struggle commenced. While its publisher and editor, W. H. Mott, was said to have been from the North (marrying a Southern girl, Miss Vantrease), he joined Col. R. D. Allison's company of Confederates. With the Twenty-Fourth Regiment in the battle of Murfreesboro, he was severely wounded, and soon after having been brought home he died. All efforts to secure a copy of the Independent have failed, though its jottings would be both interesting and illuminative of the times.

In 1882 J. W. Newman began publishing the Enterprise, continuing it about two years.

The Alexandria Review was published about 1892 by E. C. King. In that year it was sold to James Tubb, according to a communication to the Liberty Herald of April 6, 1892.

The initial number of the Times appeared April 4, 1894. A stock company was publisher, and Robert F. Jones editor. Rob Roy and R. W. Patterson purchased the plant two years later, but the latter soon retired. Since the change Mr. Roy has been publisher and editor. In the eighteen years of the Times's publication no less than twenty-nine newspapers in DeKalb, Smith, and Wilson counties have started and suspended.

The War between the States is recalled in connection with two of the early enterprises of Alexandria, the floor mill and the fair. It is tradition that the name of the first miller was a Mr. Hoover, whose little plant on Hickman Creek was equipped for grind-

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ing corn and sawing, the saw being of the horizontal, or sash, variety. The splendid flour mill built about 1852, which Gen. John T. Wilder, Federal commander, put out of business by twisting and bending the machinery, was under the management of Yan and Lon Wood. After the war - about 1887 - a stock comany [sic], composed of Ed Reece, J. F. Roy, B. F. Bell, John Rutland, L. E. Simpson, D. W. Dinges, and others, was organized, and a fine roller mill was erected. Brown Bros. once operated this plant in the eighties. Barry & Smith operated it in the nineties. This finally burned, and Lon Compton operates a plant erected somewhat recently.

A county fair association was formed prior to 1858, and in that year the first fair was held. The war then interfered, and Federal soldiers, principally Stokes's men, camped on the site and practically destroyed the property. The site was on the William Floyd farm on Hickman Creek. In 1871 the DeKalb County A. and M. Association was formed, and the present-day fair resulted. The first directory was composed of J. P. Doss, J. D. Wheeler, J. F. Roy, J. H. Kitchen, J. A. Jones, John Bone, J. J. Ford, John Rollins, M. A. Wood, H. B. Smith, W. H. Lincoln, Jacob Measle, and Gen. William B. Stokes. Of these directors, only one, J. F. Roy, is living. This is believed to be the oldest fair in Tennessee. The State is said to be a stockholder. From 1871 to the present the fair has been held every year except 1881, when the severe drouth prevailed. On the morning of June 27, 1914, all the buildings were burned, entailing a loss of $8,000

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or $10,000, Rob Roy being the largest loser. Undaunted, tents and circus seats were procured, and the fair of 1914 was made a success.

A fact worthy of note, reflecting credit on the negro population of the county, is that for several years the colored people have held a fair at Alexandria, the managers in 1914 being Henry Belcher, R. E. Preston, and Dib Burks.

Among the early citizens of this community, in addition to many already mentioned, there are recalled: Bartel Carter, King Herod, James Malone, Robert Dowell, Rizer Duncan, Louis McGann, William Kiser, Phil Palmer, Benjamin Garrison, John Vantrease, Jonathan and Seward Doss, Thomas Simpson, William Wright, Aaron Botts, Louis Y. Davis, Edward Turner, James Goodner, William Grandstaff, Paschal Brien, Henry Rutland, Tom Minor, Beverley Seay, Samuel Pierce, Stephen Pledger, Bartley James, Thornton Christy, Richard Rison, Turner Lawrence, T. Allison, James Link, Oliver Williams, Sr., James Jones, John Pierce, Spencer Bomar, J. Yeargin, J. F. Goodner, Jack Baird, William Johnston, Peter Davis, Tom Price, Caleb Davis, Hez Bowers, John Bowers, Al Bone, William Bone, Peter Turner, James Turner, Yan and Lon Wood, Jefferson Sneed, and William Floyd. The last-named brought to the county the first thresher and piano.

William Floyd was also a before-the-war postmaster; so was Joshua M. Coffee; so was Samuel W. Pierce. Other postmasters have been Stephen Pled-

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ger, James Turner, Al Edwards, R. M. Bone, S. B. Franks, J. W. Parker, and J. Moores Pendleton.

As to professional men, the lawyers who have lived at Alexandria were Col. John Fite (born there), Manson M. Brien, John Botts, William B. Stokes, Dan Williams, and J. W. Parker.

Dentists: Drs. H. I. Benedict and L. D. Cotton.

Early physicians: Drs. John W. Overall (about 1830, and born in Shenandoah Valley, Va., before his parents removed to the neighborhood of Liberty, Tenn.), Jefferson Sneed, James Dougherty, William Sales, Cornelius Sales, George Gray, William Blythe, Richard Blythe, T. F. Everett, Nicholas Mercer, E. Tubb, Horace Sneed, Isaac J. Miers (or Mize), Mayberry, Bobo, McConnell, and Flippin. Later: T. J. Sneed, Jr., C. L. Barton, Dr. Fletcher, O. D. Williams, T. A. Gold, Thomas Davis, Sam McMillan, and J. R. Hudson.

This tradition is told by the older people of Alexandria: Dr. Miers (or Mize) was of French extraction, locating in Alexandria long before the War between the States (about 1848 or 1849), and wooed and won a Miss Paty. He was impatient to build up a practice, and it was charted that, going to Woodbury one day and procuring smallpox virus, or "scabs," he returned to his home with a sinister scheme. Inviting a young Mr. Turner to go hunting with him with flintlocks, he managed to inject his companion with the virus. Soon there was an epidemic of smallpox.

During the illness of Turner, who resided near the present Brush Creek, Miers visited him, saying his

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Facing page 94, photo captioned:
SOUTHERN HOTEL, ALEXANDRIA

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condition was serious, but did not hint that the malady was probably smallpox. As a consequence of the visits of friends and relatives the disease soon spread. The doctor was suspected and forced to leave the neighborhood. It is said he went to Virginia, then removed to Illinois, and in the latter State engaged in a similar scheme to boost business, when he was indicted and punished.

There are two well-kept cemeteries at Alexandria - South View, the pioneer graveyard, and East View, much larger. In the latter many soldiers of the Civil War, as well as a few veterans of earlier contests, are sleeping. Among the Confederates: Col. John F. Goodner, J. P. Doss, J. A. Donnell, Joshua M. Floyd, G. M. Bowers, Wiley Jones, Nelson D. Eason, Dr. C. L. Barton, R. A. Lawrence, J. W. Batts, Capt. J. D. Wheeler, L. H. Fite, Billy Foust, J. D. Martin, Monroe Doss, O. B. Wright, W. H. Lincoln, R. B. Floyd, J. B. Palmer, John Bomar, William Talley, Thomas Dunn, William Mooneyham, W. E. Foust. Among the Federals: J. H. Kitching, Monroe ("Pud") Bradley, W. F. Batts, J. E. ("Rome") Goodner, J. B. Yeargin, Dr. O. D. Williams, John Garrison, Sr., John C. Garrison, W. A. Palmer, Monroe Hall, Len Robinson, James Pass, J. M. Walker, P. L. Wood, Robert Alvis, T. W. Eason, John Lawrence, and Gen. W. B. Stokes.

The writer has had access to an old ledger which belonged to Dr. John W. Overall, who resided in Alexandria. It covers a period from 1830 to October, 1834, and no doubt the names listed therein include a number of the pioneers of Alexandria as well as a

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number in other counties but in the town's "sphere of influence." The names follow:

Caleb Davis, Nehemiah Dowell, Sterling Davis, Daniel Coggin, James P. Dale, Elisha Dowell, Smithson C. Doss, Stewart Doss, Prestley Dowell, Levi A. Durham, Col. E. Durham, John Dyournet, Joshua M. Coffee, Beverley Callicoat, Thomas Crutchfield, Lineas Cock, David Crowder, Samuel Casey, Robert Caskey, Winslow Carter, John S. Brien, Thomas Beckwith, Peter Barton, Roland Burks, Manson M. Brien, Aaron Botts, David Blue, Thomas Bomar, James Brien, Thomas Bradford, William Bennett, Willis Dowell, William Edwards, Cornelius Ellison, Jacob Fite, Amos Foutch, Floyd Davis, William Floyd, Joseph Fite, Shadrack Figgin, John Floyd, G. W. Grayson, J. M. Goodner, Benjamin Garrison, Stephen Griffin, Valentine Gates, William Grandstaff, Henry Helmantaller, Philip Hass, Henry Haley, Benjamin D. Hynds, Henton A. Hill, Joab Haflin, Josiah Hicks, Sterling Hale, John Hathaway, Hawkins Heflin, Grogan Harper, Levi Herod, Pendleton Hobson, Washington Hicks, Hardin Hardcastle, Benjamin Jones, Josiah Inge, Wyatt Jenkins, Nelson Kyle, James Kitching, Spencer Kelley, Edward Lawrence, W. F. Luck, James Lancaster, John Lucky, William Linn, Gregory Moore, William Marler, John Moore (hatter), David Malone, Joseph McCrabb, Maj. William Moore, James Askew, Don Allison, Robert Nixon, Levi Purnell, Overstreet Pritchard, Caleb Preston, Philip Palmer, Britain Reynolds, Rison Roland, Augustin Robinson, North Reynolds, Henry Rollings, Daniel Ratlidge,

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Peyton Randolph, George Reasonover, William Wright, Thomas Simpson, Randolph Sanlin, Fuller Sanlin, William Stokes, Jordan Stokes, George Simpson, Anderson Tibbs, T. J. Tyree, Edward Turner, Littleberry Turner, Wilson Tubb, Benjamin Tubb, Tolliver Turner, John Vantrease, Joshua Vick, Samuel Vanatta, William Vantrease, Jeremiah Whitlock, Anthony Ward, John Warford, Benton Wood, Abel Wood, James Winfrey, William Wellaby, Tucker Woodson, Jesse Wood, Pleasant Watson, David Warford, Duke C. Wright, and Dobson Yeargin.

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