Lake County, TNGenWeb

W. T. Turner, born in 1854, settled east of Ridgely and north off the Gratio-Ridgely Road about 2 miles. Mr. Turner built a sawmill there in the late 1800’s, It had closed by the 1920’s. The new (1990) home of Mr. And Mrs. Steve Parks would be on the south edge of Turnertown.

Elvin Prince, retired merchant living in Ridgely, remembersed Mr. Turner as being an “old” man who had a small store at the back of his home. Elvin was born in 1911 and was about 5 years old when his family moved to Turnertown where he grew up.

As there was no school there, the children in the community attended school at Madie. They could go a direct route, 3 miles when the roads were graded, but it was 5 miles around a better road they had to travel in bad weather.

Elvin remembered their neighbors were Johnson’s, Deans, The Rivers Walker family, Sam Ed Riley, Vannie Lovell family and Elmer Auston family.

There was another store in Turnertown. The last store there was owned by Eric Ferrell.

“The Turnertown Locals” was formerly a regular feature in the Lake Co. Banner. One reporter was Patsy Jonas Denison.

A Church of God was build in Turnertown on land donated by Mr. Robert Mauldin in 1940. The building later burned.

Citizens mentioned in one issue of the Turnertown News were Mr. And Mrs. Bobby DAVIS, Mr. And Mrs. Jack LONG, Mr. And Mrs. Bonny DAVIS and their son PFC Malcom DAVIS, Josephine CONNELL, Mr. And Mrs. Ldis BEARDEN, Ida Sue CLARK, Mr. And Mrs. Robert DAVIS, Mrs. Bennie CARNELL and Beverly JONES. Hays and Jewell KENDALL lived in the stone house on the Pastsy CLIFTON House Farm in the late 1940/50’s. This house is now the only Turnertown landmark from a once thickly settled village.

Ridgely began to flourish after the caving of Old Reelfoot into the river. The original pioneers who established Ridgely are:

List taken from “Ridgely Panorama” by Ruby Callis, Copyright 1967.

In 1876-1877, Old Reelfoot appears in the Gazette described as a “post office and settlement of 30 people, known as Danehower’s Landing on the Mississippi River in Lake County, 12 miles from Tiptonville, the seat of justice, 25 miles west of Troy and about 190 miles west of Nashville.  Cotton, corn, cattle and hogs form the chief exports from this region. Mail daily by river.”

Joseph D. Davis was postmaster and had a general store. M. T. Smith is listed as physician. In 1881, in the Gazette, Reelfoot is described as containing 25 people, two Methodist churches and a public school. A. C. Campbell ran the saloon. A gin and mill were owned by Davis and Light. Mido and Thompson ran a general store as did J. E. Ward and J. C. Miller. Joseph D. Davis was still the postmaster. In 1887 the post office was discontinued and the mail came through Hathaway.  Even so, W. R. Algee was listed as postmaster. Harrison and Algee ran a general store.  John H. Pittman operated a hotel.  C. B. Sims was a physician there and Frank Taylor farmed extensively and had his own blacksmith shop. In 1891 mail was sent tri-weekly. W. R. Algee was still postmaster. Three saw mills were run by D. B. Burnett, C. W. Cranshaw, and S. M. and W. Wall . Harris and Algee owned the cotton gin.

The caving of Reelfoot Landing marked the passing of one of Tennessee’s most historic spots. Many fine acres of land were lost. When Ridgely was only a mosquito infested impentrable swamp, Reelfoot Landing was a thriving little city, known to all river men as one of the largest shipping points on the Mississippi River. Show boats attracted people from miles and it was a famous shopping center. At that time there were several cotton gins, eight huge sawmills, and many other business enterprises – notable among them the famous “Big Dollar Store” owned and operated by Henry Harris. Steamboats remained at Reelfoot Landing all day loading baled cotton. It was here that the famous Magnolia Farm was located, owned by John Mathis. “The Earl of Reelfoot” was A. E. Markham, druggist and postmaster. Other noted citizens were: H. B. Blanks, Billie Burnley, Talmus Markham, Dr. R. B. Griffin, Jim Hawkins, Dr. R. E. Hellen, F. L. Peck, Allie Cathey adn D. B. Burnett.

The ladst two land marks left were Hon. D. B. Burnett adn Col. J. T. Smother, who in spite of treachery of the “Father of Waters” still held bravely to their posts as merchant and postmaster.

All these have caved in and only the waves of the Mississippi river against its banks echo the memories of yesterday.

Taken from “Ridgely Panorama” by Ruby Callis, Copyright 1967.

Written by Larry Cronan

The first village of any size between Reelfoot Lake and the Mississippi River was a village that later became known as Cronanville.   All of the early settlers chose to live either on the bank of the river or on the shore of Reelfoot Lake. The boats plying the waters of the Mississippi used wood for fuel and stopped at the landings that wwere established along the river bank to buy it. Many settlers became wealthy and acquired land from their humble beginning as a woodcutter with a woodyard on the Mississippi.

The early records credit Stephen Mitchell as being the first man to establish a permanent home on the river, eight miles below New Madrid in 1818, but during the next few years many families made their home on the land the Chickasaws called their “happy hunting ground.”

We can assume that Stephen Mitchell was public spirited and had a desire to take part in the shaping of the country he had chosen for his home, for in 1824 when Obion County was organized under an act of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee,Stephen Mitchell was one of the first Justice of the Peace.   We can also assume that growth in the area was rapid for on the 5th og January, 1835, the Obion County Court appointed Richard T. Meriweather,  Jessie Daugherty, Joseph Fulk, Stephen Mitchell, G.B. Colyer, E.M. Hutchinson, and William Payne as a Jury of Reveiw to mark out a road from Troy, the county seat, to Richard T. Meriweathers on the Mississippi River.

The district west of  Reelfoot Lake was district #4, according to the minutes of the Obion County Court in Jan. 1844, Mr. C. Hale, Samuel C. Henry, James Davis, Blackman H. Bird, Richard B. Brown, Terril L. Camp, William Caldwell, Moses D. Harper, and William Crittenden, the Justices of the Peace present, voted that civil district #4 be made into two districts by “running a line from Reelfoot Lake straight past John Crockett’s house to the Mississippi River to strike said river at the number 13 bar at the house of Michael Peacock, leaving said Crockett’s and Peacock’s houses to belong to the upper district, upper district to include all territory north of the said line now belonging to district #4 and remain to be known as district #4 and that the precint and musterground therein be and remain at the same place, being the old steam mill place and that the lower district be known as district #10 and that the precint and musterground be at the house where Blackman H. Bird  now lives.”

Later changes in the district of the county were made and by 1850 Michael Peacock’s home was the first one enumerated in district # 9. It still being west of Reelfoot lake.   Although there were many families living west of Reelfoot Lake in 1850, there are no post offices mentioned. the mail was still being delivered by the boats and left at the many landings. There was still no villages of any size. The area was inhabited by large landowners and they were very isolated.

We are deeply indebted to Mr. C. M. Peacock  who kept a dairy during the year of 1856. it gives us an insight into the many facets of their daily lives that we would never have known.   The isolation of the settlers is pointed out by the fact that he often reffered to leaving home early and stopping by a friends house for breakfast and later at another to rest and visit a while and then taking dinner with another family all in a course of a trip to Troy of a distant visit. Nowhere in the records left for us is there any mention of a village west of Reelfoot Lake prior to the settlement at what later became known as Cronanville.

The records show that the first Masonic lodge, Harmony Lodge # 184 was granted a charter at Cronanville on the 11th of October 1851 with J. B. Burnett as first worshipful master. The first school house in the area was a room log building, built in 1845 near Island # 10.

Also the records in Obion County in 1858 show that due to the difficulty in traveling to the county seat at Troy, a special court was established for the portion of Obion County west of Reelfoot lake and the first court was held June 14, 1858 at the Masonic Hall in Cronanville, a village north of Tiptonville.

Tiptonville was becoming well established due to the fact that it was on the bank of the river and was an important landing.

The oldest marked grave in this area is in Cronanville Cemetery. It is the grave of Dr. Thomas Rivers, born Sept. 1, 1803 and died March 30, 1838.

Mr. R. C. Donaldson, Former Lake County Historian, who left the citizens of Lake County a wealth of recorded history, writes that although Dr. Rivers lived at Mills Point (now Hickman, Ky.) when he was killed, his brother, Jones Rivers, went to Mills Point and after killing his brother’s murderes, placed the body in a coffin and the coffin in a skiff and with two Negros at the oars, transported it to Cronanville for buriel. This was 1838.

Mr. James Cronan, who gave the village his name, was a merchant. He was born in Ireland and it is unknown by his present descendents when he came to America.   This enterprising young man traveled by boat up and down the Mississippi, stopping at the landings and selling his wares. He might never have settled in the western district of Tennessee but for the fact that young lady by the name of Sophronia Taylor captured his heart and on the 11th of October 1853 he went to Troy to obtain a license to marry the young lady.   They were married on the 13th day of October 1853 by the Rev. James J. Brooks, a minister of the Gospel.In those days, someone had to sign as a bondsman, ensuring that to their knowledge both parties were free to marry, and the bondsman was usually a relative or a very close friend.   Robert Nolon Lewis was the bondsman who co-signed with Mr. James Cronan.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Lewis had a son born in 1847 that he named Taylor, Sophronia’s maiden name, therefore it is highly probable that Sophronia was related to the Lewis family.

In 1860 there were two post offices in the area, Silvertop and Compromise. Both received mail by boat.   Although Lake County was organized under an act of the General Assembly passed June 9, 1870 and the first Lake County Court was held Sept. 5, 1870, land-locked Cronanville did not have a post office.   The 1876-77 Tennessee Gazetteer listed four post offices in Lake County. Hathaway, Marr’s Landing, Reelfoot, and Tiptonville, all receiving mail by boat.

It must be noted that Tiptonville began to be a thriving village before the War Between the States, at which time it was completely destroyed by Federal gunboats. After the war, one of the men who helped rebuild the town was James Cronan. Willis Jones,also from Cronanville, established a business in Tiptonville and in 1868 the Masonic Lodge was moved from Cronanville to Tiptonville.

In 1887 Cronanville was a thriving village. James Cronan owned a large store, a cotton gin, and a first mill. There were other business places, also, including a saloon. It was still the largest village in the Lake County.   It was not until 1895 that Cronanville had a post office. James T. Griffin was postmaster. In the years from 1887 to 1895 Tiptonville’s population far outnumbered Cronanville, even the villages of Reelfoot and Hathaway had grown larger.   Cronanville’s population steadily diminished and now it is no longer a village. There is only a church and a cemetery and an area north of Tiptonville referred to as Cronanville.

James Cronan and his wife Sophronia reared nine children: Mary, John, Eliza “Lydia”, James, Luna, Fredrick, Sophronia, Ira, and Lilly Belle. Lilly Belle is the only one of the nine children that is buried at Cronanville Cemetery

A settlement on Reelfoot Lake East of Tiptonville on State Highways 21 and 22 across the highway from a state park by the same name.

According to Lexie Leonard, a life-long resident of Bluebank, the settlement was so named because the banks along Reelfoot River in the area are a type of clay or gumbo earth that has a blue cast when wet.

A post office was established in the store of Mr. George C. Campbell on 26 June 1892. Mr. Campbell was the post master and held the position until 15 February 1911 at which time the mail was sent to Keefe.

The Bluebank Baptist Church was organized sometime in the 1870’s. Mr. R. T. Webb gave a deed to the church in 1876, but a building had already been erected.

Mr. Leonard still lives at Bluebank on land that has been in his family for several generations. The Campbell heirs still live there.

Bluebank is one of the most beautiful places in Lake County.

The village of Bessie was named for the daughter of James C. And Mary Nevill Harris and the wife of Col. Albert E. Markham.

Bessie was located on state highway 22 a few miles south of the Kentucky border. A post office was established in 1894 with James P. “Jimmy” Harris as Postmaster. He named the village that had grown up around the post office to honor his 20 year old sister. James P. Harris died 29 July, 1898. He never married. Other Postmasters at Bessie were Mayetta Whittington, Thomas F. Russell, Emma Cloud, Joseph C. Hawkins, and Sidney H. Ward. The post office was discontinued 15 Sept. 1913 and the mail was sent to the Cronanville Post office.

This was a thriving community for several years. Bessie had several stores, a church and a school. All this changed with the 1937 flood. On Sunday Feb. 1, 1937, at 10:13 A.M. the Mississippi River smashed through the dike protecting the village and washed Bessie away. No lives were lost, but the village was never rebuilt.

Mrs. Bessie Harris Markham has descendants living in Lake Co. At the present time.

The following list of towns, villages and place names have been compiled by Betty Wynn Sumara and Abigail Rice Hyde. Sources include County records, County Court minutes , school board records, United States Postal records and personal knowledge.The list will undoubtedly be incomplete, although we have made a concerted effort to present as accurately as possible a document that will be useful to future generations.

In an effort to avoid repetition, we have used “Lake County” throughout this work even if the event referred to took place prior to 1870 when Lake County was formed from the portion of Obion County lying West of Reelfoot Lake.

The districts are numbered as originally laid out in the organization of Lake County.

One note to keep in mind, the postmaster of a village was not a secure position in the early days. The job changed as the political party in power changed. A Democratic President of the United States had the power to appoint a new postmaster if he so desired and he usually did appoint one of his supporters. When a Republican President was elected, all the Democratic appointees were almost always replaced by a Republican supporter.

Most post offices were in a corner of a business house in each town or village. When a new postmaster was appointed the post office would be moved to a location designated by the new postmaster. When this occurred, it was not unusual for the village post office name to be changed. ie. See the village of Madie. There were some cases where a village was known by a name for many years and upon applying for a postal permit, there would already be a post office by that name in Tennessee, therefore the village name was necessarily changed as in the case of the village of Mooring.

LIST OF VILLAGES