Written by Larry Cronan<\/p>\n
The first village of any size between\u00a0Reelfoot Lake\u00a0and the\u00a0Mississippi River\u00a0was a village that later became known as\u00a0Cronanville. \u00a0 All of the early settlers chose to live either on the bank of the river or on the shore of\u00a0Reelfoot 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.<\/p>\n
The early records credit\u00a0Stephen Mitchell\u00a0as being the first man to establish a permanent home on the river, eight miles below\u00a0New Madrid\u00a0in 1818, but during the next few years many families made their home on the land the\u00a0Chickasaws\u00a0called their “happy hunting ground.”<\/p>\n
We can assume that\u00a0Stephen Mitchell\u00a0was 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\u00a0was one of the first Justice of the Peace. \u00a0 We can also assume that growth in the area was rapid for on the 5th og January, 1835, the Obion County Court appointed\u00a0Richard T. Meriweather,\u00a0 Jessie Daugherty, Joseph Fulk, Stephen Mitchell, G.B. Colyer, E.M. Hutchinson, and William Payne\u00a0as a Jury of Reveiw to mark out a road from\u00a0Troy, the county seat, to\u00a0Richard T. Meriweathers\u00a0on the Mississippi River.<\/p>\n
The district west of\u00a0 Reelfoot Lake was district #4, according to the minutes of the Obion County Court in Jan. 1844,\u00a0Mr. C. Hale, Samuel C. Henry, James Davis, Blackman H. Bird, Richard B. Brown, Terril L. Camp, William Caldwell, Moses D. Harper, and William Crittenden,\u00a0the Justices of the Peace present, voted that civil district #4 be made into two districts by “running a line from Reelfoot Lake straight past\u00a0John Crockett’s\u00a0house to the Mississippi River to strike said river at the number 13 bar at the house of\u00a0Michael Peacock,\u00a0leaving 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\u00a0Blackman H. Bird\u00a0 now lives.”<\/p>\n
Later changes in the district of the county were made and by 1850\u00a0Michael Peacock’s\u00a0home was the first one enumerated in district # 9. It still being west of Reelfoot lake. \u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
We are deeply indebted to\u00a0Mr. C. M. Peacock\u00a0 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. \u00a0 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\u00a0Troy\u00a0of a distant visit. Nowhere in the records left for us is\u00a0there any mention of a village west of Reelfoot Lake prior to the settlement at what later became known as\u00a0Cronanville.<\/p>\n
The records show that the first Masonic lodge, Harmony Lodge # 184 was granted a charter at\u00a0Cronanville\u00a0on the 11th of October 1851 with\u00a0J. B. Burnett\u00a0as first worshipful master. The first school house in the area was a room log building, built in 1845 near Island # 10.<\/p>\n
Also the records in Obion County in 1858 show that due to the difficulty in traveling to the county seat at\u00a0Troy,\u00a0a 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\u00a0Cronanville, a village north of\u00a0Tiptonville.<\/p>\n
Tiptonville\u00a0was becoming well established due to the fact that it was on the bank of the river and was an important landing.<\/p>\n
The oldest marked grave in this area is in\u00a0Cronanville Cemetery. It is the grave of\u00a0Dr. Thomas Rivers,\u00a0born Sept. 1, 1803 and died March 30, 1838.<\/p>\n
Mr. R. C. Donaldson,\u00a0Former Lake County Historian, who left the citizens of Lake County a wealth of recorded history, writes that although Dr. Rivers lived at\u00a0Mills Point (now Hickman, Ky.)\u00a0when he was killed, his brother,\u00a0Jones Rivers, went to\u00a0Mills Point\u00a0and 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\u00a0Cronanville\u00a0for buriel. This was 1838.<\/p>\n
Mr. James Cronan,\u00a0who 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. \u00a0 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\u00a0Sophronia Taylor\u00a0captured his heart and on the 11th of October 1853 he went to\u00a0Troy\u00a0to obtain a license to marry the young lady. \u00a0 They were married on the 13th day of October 1853 by the\u00a0Rev. James J. Brooks,\u00a0a 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. \u00a0\u00a0Robert Nolon Lewis\u00a0was the bondsman who co-signed with\u00a0Mr. James Cronan.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In 1860 there were two post offices in the area,\u00a0Silvertop and Compromise. Both received mail by boat. \u00a0 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. \u00a0 The 1876-77 Tennessee Gazetteer listed four post offices in Lake County.\u00a0Hathaway, Marr’s Landing, Reelfoot, and Tiptonville,\u00a0all receiving mail by boat.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0James Cronan. Willis Jones,also from Cronanville, established a business in Tiptonville and in 1868 the Masonic Lodge was moved from Cronanville to Tiptonville.<\/p>\n
In 1887 Cronanville was a thriving village.\u00a0James Cronan\u00a0owned 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. \u00a0 It was not until 1895 that Cronanville had a post office.\u00a0James T. Griffin\u00a0was postmaster. In the years from 1887 to 1895 Tiptonville’s population far outnumbered Cronanville, even the villages of Reelfoot and Hathaway had grown larger. \u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
James Cronan\u00a0and his wife Sophronia reared nine children:\u00a0Mary, John, Eliza “Lydia”, James, Luna, Fredrick, Sophronia, Ira, and Lilly Belle. Lilly Belle\u00a0is the only one of the nine children that is buried at Cronanville Cemetery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Larry Cronan The first village of any size between\u00a0Reelfoot Lake\u00a0and the\u00a0Mississippi River\u00a0was a village that later became known as\u00a0Cronanville. \u00a0 All of the early settlers chose to live either on the bank of the river or on the … Continue reading