Biography of James Cryer

James Cryer was born before 1764 and died 12 Mar 1816 in Sumner County, TN. His father may have been Thomas Cryer (1732-1797). In a history of early Middle Tennessee, author Walter Durham wrote: "...Mansker's station was visited in the summer of 1784 by a party of men from Halifax County, North Carolina, all Revolutionary War veterans seeking to locate their military land grants. The names of three of the men are preserved in the journal of one of them--John Lipscomb. The other two were William Walton and JAMES CRYER. While Lipscomb noted that they arrived at Mansker's on July 6, 1784 from Kentucky on the way to Nashville and they were again at Mansker's on August 6, 1784 enroute to Cumberland Gap, he made no comment nor observations about the place. Mansker's must have caught the fancy of William Walton, however, because he entered 640 acres adjoining Mansker's preemption grant and arrived with his family the following year. Lipscomb and CRYER located their claims elsewhere."

The first public race meetings in Middle Tennessee are said to have been held at JAMES CRYER'S track on his farm located where Long Hollow Pike crosses the east fork of Station Camp Creek, and it is local tradition that Andrew Jackson rode in races there before 1790 when he was serving as attorney general and attending court at Sumner Court House, four miles west at Cryer's place. ¹

According to court records for the date April 2, 1798 - "On motion ordered that JAMES CRYER have the privilege of keeping ordinary at his main dwelling house who enters into bond into the penal sum of two thousand five hundred dollars with John Josey security and received tavern license.

One of the first evidences of a developing community consciousness in Gallatin is seen in a petition addressed to the Legislature in 1803, two years after the first town lots were sold, from eighteen citizens of Gallatin who sought an enabling act to provide for an "Independent Company of Infantry" for the town. Legible signatures on the petition include the names of Edmund Crutcher, James S. Rawlings, J. Hutchings, Daniel Trigg, James Desha, JOHN CRYER, Shadrack Nye, Harvey Lyon, John Reid, JAMES CRYER, Jno. Barham, Jo. H. Conn, and James Cage. Committed to the state's militia system, the Legislature received the petition for a Gallatin infantry but let the request die by taking no action on it.

JAMES CRYER had a house in October, 1803, near enough to the new courthouse that a meeting of the Quarterly Court could be adjourned at his house and reconvened at the courthouse fifteen minutes later. (Book, "Old Sumner", Author, Walter T. Durham)

Both JAMES CRYER and his brother, JOHN, are shown in the Gallatin Merchant's Journal for January 1807.

1816 Tax lists for Sumner Co. show both JAMES CRYER and JOHN CRYER. They both owned land on Sink Creek in Sumner County.

In 1815 and 1816, James Cryer served as a Representative from Sumner County in the State Government.

James Cryer took as his wife Mary "Polly" Cotton. She was born 24 Jan 1770 in Hertford Co., North Carolina. She died about 1846 in Sumner County. Her parents were Capt. Thomas Cotton (1748-1795) and Priscilla (Knight) Cotton (1748-1843) who had married about 1788.

Their children were: Chesley, Martha (1788-1832) who married a Mr. ANGLEA, and Hardy Murfree (1792-1846) who married Susan Ann DUVAL Elizabeth (1793-1833).
Sources: 1. Anderson, AMERICAN THOROUGHBRED, p. 98

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