Rhea County, TN Private Acts: 1809

Compiled by the County Technical Assistance Service

NOTE: The CTAS compilation includes many acts which are not necessarily of interest to the family history researcher. Therefore, this page will list only those acts which involve county boundaries, boundary changes and acts which pertain to individuals.

ACTS of 1809

Chapter 53, Page 121, set the opening dates for all the terms of all the Quarterly County Courts in Tennessee but Rhea County’s Court would continue to meet on the fourth Monday in January, April, July, and October.

Chapter 88, Page 114, Section 7, commissioned Jesse Roddy, Alexander Ferguson, Azariah David, Daniel Rawlings, Robert Patterson and David Campbell, to fix on a place as near the center as possible of Rhea County, to secure at least 30 acres, lay out a town, sell and convey lots, reserving at least one acre for a public square, on which shall be built a courthouse, prison, and stocks. the name of the town would be Washington (today it is known as Old Washington), and it would have the same powers and privileges as others.

Chapter 20, Page 30, stated that the line which divides Rhea County from Roane County, and Bledsoe County, shall begin on the north bank of the Tennessee River at the mouth of Whites Creek; thence up White’s Creek (Nancy, It’s in here both ways – Whites then White’s) as it meanders, to the place where the road leading from Knoxville to Nashville crosses the main fork of said Whites Creek; thence north, forty west, to the Overton County line. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preclude the Sheriff of Roane County from collecting the State, County, and poor tax due in that part of Rhea and Bledsoe Counties.

Chapter 49, Page 65, formed Tennessee into five Judicial Circuits. The Second Judicial Circuit was composed of the Counties of Cocke, Jefferson, Sevier, Blount, Knox, Anderson, Roane, Rhea, and Bledsoe. The Circuit court of Rhea County would meet at the courthouse on the second Monday in March and September.

Chapter 109, Page 138, incorporated Daniel Rawlings, James Campbell, Azariah David, David Murphey, Little Page Sims, Alexander Ferguson, and David Campbell, as the Trustees of Tennessee Academy in Rhea County.

Chapter 74, Page 124, established five Presidential Electoral Districts in Tennessee and allocated the Counties of Knox, Blount, Anderson, Roane, Rhea, Bledsoe, and part of Campbell County to the Third Electoral District.

Chapter 43, Page 49, set up muster times for the militia in Rhea and Bledsoe Counties. The Regiment of infantry in Rhea County shall hold their regimental musters at the place of holding Court in Rhea County on the second Thursday in next October, and every year thereafter. The battalions composing the First Regiment of Rhea County shall hold their battalion and company musters at the same time.