Transcribed by Janette West Grimes
April 2, 1953
* CAL’S COLUMN *
________
We resume the publication of
the old records with some comment on some of them at least.
"Ordered that Charles
Kavanaugh, Esquire, be appointed chairman of the Smith County Court." No
comment.
" William Saunders'
stock mark, two swallow forks, brand and Cyphen S. Ordered to be recorded.
There is no such thing as a Cyphen S, so far as the writer can learn. If any
reader knows what was intended, we shall be glad to publish the explanation.
William Sanders evidently had a lot of cows and horses, to have needed a brand.
Stock marks were used on sheep and hogs, but brands on cattle and horses.
"Hezekiah O'Neal's stock
mark, two over half crops, to be recorded, etc." We have no idea as to a
half crop.
"Joel Holland, Josiah
Howell, John Fisher, James Montgomery, Lewis Casey, David White, Stephen
Montgomery and Joseph French are appointed a jury to view, mark and lay off a road
from the county line between Smith and Sumner, to extend up the Ridge to
intersect the road leading across said ridge from Fort Blount at the most
convenient place, and make report to our next Court." Here is one item
that is as clear "as mud" to the writer. The Sumner-Smith line lay
just to the east of Hartsville and extended northward to the Kentucky State
line. Southward it extended to the border of Wilson County, somewhere, we
presume about the Cumberland River. The Fort Blount Road came out from old Fort
Blount in Jackson County, extended westward or northwestward up Salt Lick,
across the dividing ridge between the waters of Salt Lick and Defeated Creek,
thence through the present town of Difficult, thence to the dividing ridge
between Defeated Creek and Peyton's Creek, thence down the present Sloan Branch
to the present Pleasant Shade, thence westward up what later was called
Porter's Hill, thence up Toetown Branch, across Mace's Hill and thence down the
Young Branch by the writer's first home. There is a bare possibility that the
road referred to might have been the road called years later the Winkler Road,
which originated above Dixon Springs and extended up the Wilburn Hollow and
intersected the Fort Blount Road on our father's old farm, about four hundred
yards from where we were born. But this road nowhere goes along a ridge, and it
does not start at the old Sumner-Smith line. So we suppose we can rule it out.
After extending down the Young Branch of Dixon's Creek, the Fort Blount Road
crossed Dixon's Creek not far below the present brick church house, crossed
another ridge, that between Dixon's Creek and Lick Creek, and thence through
Mungle's Gap, which is only about two and a half miles from the old
Sumner-Smith County line. So we do not know how to locate the road on which the
nine men above named were to "view, mark and lay off."
Nor do we get any help from
the list of names; that is, we do not know where they lived. Now it is possible
that the road here ordered set out could have extended down Middle Fork of
Goose Creek, thence by the present Linville's Shop, by the present Wakefield
Oglesby's farm to the top of the hill at Mungle's Gap. If this is not the right
"lay out" for the proposed new road, we confess we do not know how it
could have been laid off from the Sumner-Smith line and climb a ridge and
intersect with the Fort Blount Road.
We find that Josiah Howell
lived in Smith County in the year 1820, but there is nothing to indicate where
he lived. He had one male under 10, one male from ten to 16, and on between 26
and 45 years of age, supposedly himself; and one female between 26 and 45, his
wife no doubt. He also owned 16 slaves. Joel Holland does not appear in the
census records of 1820. There is no record of John Fisher in the 1820 census.
James Montgomery, in the 1820
census, had one male from 16 to 18 years of age, two males from 18 to 26, one
from 26 to 45, and one above 45, supposed to have been James himself. Females
in the family are grouped: One under 10, one 10 to 16, one between 26 and 45,
and one over 45, supposedly his wife. He owned one slave. Stephen Montgomery
was apparently a much younger man than James. Stephen Montgomery in the census
of 1820 had: One male from 18 to 26, forcing us to leave him out of the group
that laid off the road, as he then could not have been in the year 1802 at the
maximum over four years of age.
It is possible that Lewis
Casey was the father of Hiram Casey. who later became a Baptist minister of note. Hiram was born in Georgia on March
23, 1790 and shortly afterwards moved with his father to the vicinity of the
present Hillsdale. So it is probable that Lewis Casey was the father of the
minister.
Neither David White nor
Joseph French is listed in the 1820 census.
"Deed, 175 acres, John
Hadley to William Haynie, proven by the oath of Hugh McKinnis, one of the
subscribing witnesses thereto. Ordered to be registered." There was a
Captain Hadley who had charge of a group of soldiers that came over Cumberland
Mountains in about 1785 or 1786 and guarded the settlements in Middle Tennessee
from marauding Indians, but we do not know if Joshua Hadley was a relative of
Captain Hadley. There is also a Hadley's Bend of Cumberland River, where Old
Hickory is now located, but we do not know the given name of the Hadley for
whom the Bend was named. There is no Hadley mentioned in the census records for
1820. William Haynie is supposed to have been an early member of the present
Haynie family in Smith County, and we presume the land involved in the sale was
located on Lower Peyton's Creek, not far from the present Monoville. In fact we
had previous item about a Hadley on Peyton's Creek, if our memory serves us
right.
We have received today from
Judge Webb Allen, of Dixon Springs, who is a gatherer of old papers with a
historical interest, some old deeds of a long time ago. One of them is as
follows: "This indenture, made this, 13th day of November, in the year of
our Lord, Eighteen Hundred, between James Ballou, of the State of Tennessee and
County of Smith, of the one part; and Godfrey Fowler, of the county and State
aforesaid, of the other part, witnesseth: That the said James Ballou for and in
consideration of the sum of Eighty-five dollars, to him in hand paid, the
receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged fully, hath granted, bargained and sold,
and do by these presents, grant, bargain, sell, ailen enfeoff, convey and
confirm unto the said Godfrey Fowler, one certain tract or parcel of land,
situated, lying and being in the county and State aforesaid on the waters of
Dixon's Creek, containing one hundred acres, being part of a tract of six
hundred and forty acres, originally granted to Mann Phillips, by the State of
North Carolina, said land bearing date the 20th day of May, One Thousand Seven
Hundred Ninety-three; and also the said tract of land containing one hundred
acres, beginning on a line at the Southwest corner of Edmund Boze's tract of
land that he now lives on, thence south one hundred fifty-six poles, to the
northwest corner of Gray's tract of land on beech and sugartree, thence east
one hundred and three poles to a white ash and beech, thence north one hundred
and fifty-six poles to a stake on said Boze's line, and thence west one hundred
three poles to the beginning. (Then follows the usual warranty.)
James Ballou
Witnesses John McFarland
Eias
Johns."
Here we have deed of 153
years ago. James Ballou was a brother of the writer's great-great-grandfather,
Leonard Ballou. James Ballou was quite prominent in the early history of Smith
County, and resided just below the present brick church house on Dixon's Creek,
an just above the place where the old Fort Blount Road crossed or
"forded" Dixon's Creek. James Ballou was first married to a Shelton
and later a Shields. He had one daughter, but we do not know by which wife. She was Susan Ballou, who
married Arch Bebow. Arch and his wife were the parents of one child, but our
record does not show whether it was a son or a daughter. However, the child in
adult life married a Norris.
Elias Johns was a
brother-in-law of James Ballou, having married Esther Ballou, a sister of James
and Leonard. He is believed to have resided for some time on the farm on which
Will W. Oldham now resides.
Later Elias Johns became the
operator of a ferry across the Cumberland at the mouth of Peyton's Creek. Elias
Johns was born in Virginia in 1780. His wife, Esther Ballou Johns, name spelled
Easter in the old census records, was also born in Virginia. She was four years
older than her husband, having been born in 1776. At the time of census of
1850, she and her husband had one daughter, Emma, still at home with them. She
was 30 years of age and was born in Tennessee. Esther Johns died in 1852. That
the family lived in 1850 on Dixon's Creek is evident from their neighbors,
among whom were: John H. Ligon, who lived at the Robert Cornwell place at Cato;
Binitha Evetts, who lived on Dixon's Creek; George E. Wilburn, Evaline McMurry,
Eli Gammon and others whose are known to have lived on Dixon's Creek.
We have a list of all the
Johns sons and daughters somewhere, but it would require more time to look it
up than we have at our disposal at present.
We have no knowledge of the
other witness, John McFarland.
As to where the land lay, we
would judge that it lay within half a mile of the present brick church house on
Dixon's Creek. Godfrey Fowler owned land at one time just above the church
house. We have no record of Godfrey Fowler except the barest facts of his
buying land and having lived on Dixon's Creek. He is not named in the census of
1820.
The price of $85 for 100
acres of land was very cheap and we supposed that it was perhaps covered with
fine timber.
The second old deed sent to
us by Judge Allen is as follows: "This indenture, made this 19th day of
July in the year of our Lord, Eighteen Hundred, between Capt. James Ballou, in
Smith County, and State of Tennessee, of the one part, and Edmund Boaz, of the
same county and State, of the other part, witneseth: That the said Ballou, for
and consideration of the sum of Four Hundred and Thirty Dollars, the receipt
whereof is hereby acknowledged, have given, granted, bargained and sold, and by
these present doth give, grant, alein Enfeoff, convey and confirm unto the said
Boaz, his heirs and assigns forever, a certain tract or parcel of land,
containing two hundred forty acres, lying on Dixon's Creek, in the said county
of Smith, it being a part of a tract granted to Mann Phillips to be laid off of
the said tract as follows: Beginning at the northwest corner of said survey at
an elm, thence east three hundred and twenty poles to a mulberry and two sugar
trees, thence south one hundred and twenty poles to two beeches, thence west
three hundred and twenty poles to the beginning, including the place on which
the said Boaz now lives. To have and to hold the above granted premises,
appurtenances and emoluments therewith belonging, or in any wise appertaining,
unto the said Boaz, his heirs and assigns forever and the said James Ballou for
himself, his heirs, assigns, executors and administrators, warrant and forever
defend the above granted premises against the claim or claims of all persons
whomsoever ;legally claiming.
"In witness whereof I
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and date above written. Signed,
sealed and acknowledged in the presence of Wm. Martin, Benjamin Barton, David
Rorex.
James Ballou (Seal)
State of Tennessee
Smith County
"March term, 1801. The
within deed of conveyance was proven by the oath of one of the subscribing
witnesses thereto. Registered this, 28th of April, 1801.
S. Williams."
We note that one of the deeds
spells Boze's name as Boaz. We are not sure, but believe this to have been the
earlier form of spelling the name. This land was a part of the original tract
of 640 acres that the State of North Carolina granted to Mann Phillips, we
suppose, as a soldier of the American Revolution.
William Martin was one of the
most prominent citizens of Tennessee 152 years ago when he witnessed the land
deal above set out. We have already given some account of his activity in the
Dixon Springs section long ago. Benjamin Barton was also quite well known in
Smith County a century and a half ago. We have some information as to him, but
we prefer to add to our very incomplete record before we publish same. We have
next to no information as to David Rorex.
Mr. Allen also informs us
that John Gordon was the man for whom the town of Gordonsville was named. He
settled there in the year 1801 and was one of the leading early citizens of the
county.
S. Williams was Sampson
Williams, who was the first Clerk of the Court. He lived long ago in the Salt
Lick section, now in Jackson County. We hope to give some fuller account of S.
Williams at a later date.
We might go back to a
previous item given above, the one referring to Joshua Hadley and William
Haynie. The witness to the deal was Hugh McKinnis. He was the son of John
McKinnis and his wife, Delanie Gregory McKinnis, unless there were two men of
the same name which is quite probable, as it was a custom 100 to 200 years ago
to name a son for his father, of grandfather or uncle. Delanie was the daughter
of Bry, one of our great-great-grandfathers.
"Bill of Sail,"
John L. Martin to Andrew Greer, proven by the oath of George Matlock, one of the
subscribing witnesses thereto, and ordered to be recorded." John L. Martin
was a prominent early settler. Andrew Greer is supposed to have lived on lower
Middle Fork of Goose Creek where there is still to be seen a hill called the
"Greer Hill." We have no information as to George Matlock.
"Ordered that George
Thomason be overseer of the road leading from the big Hill to Michael Murphy's,
and that Peter Turney, Esq., furnish a list of hands." We do not know
positively the beginning point of this overseership, but believe it to have
been from the top of Mace's Hill to the present Pleasant Shade, by way of
Toetown Branch. Mace's Hill is perhaps the biggest hill on the old Fort Blount Road. Moreover, Peter
Turney lived on the Fort Blount Road about a mile and a half west of the foot
of the hill, at the base of which the writer was born nearly 62 years ago. We
are quite sure that George Thomason was the ancestor of John Burton McDuffee,
94-year-old resident of this county, whose mother was Martha Thomason.
"Ordered that Abraham
Piper oversee the road leading from the mouth of Peyton's Creek to Michael
Murphy's." This was a road leading right up Peyton's Creek to the present
Pleasant Shade. We are not positive as to who Abraham Piper was, but believe that
he was a brother of Alexander Piper. We would surmise that these two men were
the ancestors of the Pipers who still live in Smith County and elsewhere.
Abraham Piper or as his name is sometimes written, Abram Piper, in the year
1820 had one male under ten, one from 10 to 16, two from 16 to 18, three from
18 to 26, and one above 45, supposedly Abraham Piper himself. There were two
females in the family under ten, one from 10 to 16, and one over 45, supposedly
the wife of Piper. Benjamin Piper in 1820 had one male under 10, and one male
from 18 to 26, supposedly Benjamin himself. One female under ten is listed in
his family also, as well as one from 16 to 26, supposedly his wife. Alexander
Piper's name does not appear in the census in 1820, and we judge that he had
previously passed away.
"Daniel Alexander's
stockmark, smooth crop off the left ear and a slit in the right, ordered to be
recorded." No comment.
"Ordered that the
December term next of this Court be held at the house of William Saunders, at
Bledsoesborough." We believe that Saunders lived to the south of Dixon
Springs beside the Cumberland and that quite a town was once laid off in that
section and called Bledsoesborough. If we are mistaken, some reader can correct
us.
"Court adjourns until
tomorrow nine o'clock."
(To be continued)