The county
of Trousdale is bounded north by Sumner and Macon Counties, east by Smith,
south by Smith and Wilson, and west by Sumner. It lies in the valley
of the Cumberland River, which runs through its southern portion, and in
that division of the State known as the Central Basin, and contains about
110 square miles. The surface of the county is greatly diversified. The
ridges extending out from the Highland Rim run into the county, and widen
and flatten as they approach toward the Cumberland River, and break into
numerous hills. The soil of the county is generally productive, being similar
to that of most other counties in the Central Basin. The timber is poplar,
oak, walnut, maple, and other varieties. The lands are drained by the Cumberland
River and tributaries flowing into it from the county, of which the principal
one is Goose Creek and its three forks. The geology of the county, according
to the report of the commissioners of agriculture for the State is as follows:
The settlement of Trousdale County was made with the settlement of the old counties from which it was composed, beginning about the year 1780. In an early day cotton was raised to a considerable extent, but has long since been abandoned. The principal products are now corn, wheat and tobacco. The cereal productions in 1880, as given in the tenth United States census, were as follows: Indian corn, 396,384 bushels; oats, 26,197 bushels; rye, 878 bushels; wheat 37,284 bushels, and the number of live stock as follows: horses and mules, 2,845; cattle, 3,397; sheep, 3,799; hogs, 10,825; and the populationof the county was 6,646. For transportation the people of Trousdale County have always had to rely upon the river, the navigation of which is closed for several months during the year, or upon the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, the nearest station of which is at Gallatin, sixteen miles from Hartsville. But there is a fair prospect that the Middle and East Tennessee Central Railroad, which is now under construction, will be completed from Hartsville to its junction with the Chesapeake & Nashville Railroad, at Bledsoe Creek in Sumner County, during the year 1887, and thus give the people an outlet by rail. The county of Trousdale was organized in accordance with an act of the General Assembly of the state, approved June 21, 1870. The act provided that a new county be established out of fractions of the territory composing the counties of Sumner, Macon, Smith and Wilson, around the town of Hartsville, to be called "Trousdale" in honor of Gov. Wm. Trousdale, and that the boundary of said county should be as follows, to-wit: "Beginning on the north bank of Cumberland River, near the house of Dr. James Alexander, in Smith County; running thence in a northeasterly direction on an arc of ten miles from Carthage to a stake on the Hartsville & Carthage Turnpike, near the house of Mrs. Bradley; thence north 45 degrees east to Mou's Hill; thence with the meanderings of said hill to a stake in the Macon County line, near Raglan's; thence with said line some ten miles to were said line crosses the middle fork of Goose Creek, near Ephraim Parsley's; thence with the meanderings of said creek to the mouth of the west branch of the middle fork; thence up said branch with its meanders to James Barnley's, at the mouth of Love Hollow; thence due west to the Macon County line; thence with said west boundary line southward to a mulberry tree, the southwest corner of Macon County; thence on a continuation of the south boundary line of Macon County, due west to where said line intersects the east fork of Bledsoe Creek, near George Brown's; thence south to the Cumberland River, crossing the Gallatin & Hartsville Turnpike, ten miles from Gallatin, between Hallum's shop and the old toll-gate; thence up said river with its meanders to David Jackson's, in Wilson County; thence eastward on an arc of eleven miles from Lebanon to Cumberland River at the mouth of Everett branch; thence up the river with its meanders to McDonald's warehouse; thence eastwardly on an arc of eleven miles from Lebanon, near Fred Terr's and Whitson's to a point in the Smith County line between James Calhoun's house and Henry Ward's; thence on an arc of ten miles from Carthage to the beginning." By further provision of said act, E.T. Seary, W.W. Lesueur, J.S. Dyer, Howard Young, Col. Jas. H. Vaughn, Robert Burford, Cyrus H. Lauderdale, John Carr and E. P. Lowe were appointed commissioners to perfect the organization of the county by designating three voting places in the Sumner fraction, one in the Macon fraction, four in the Smith fraction and two in the Wilson fraction, where elections should be held and each voter desiring to vote for the establishment of the new county should have on his ticket the words "new county", and those desiring to vote against the new county should have on their tickets " old county". And if upon the counting of the votes cast at said election, it should appear that two-thirds of the qualified voters in each of the afore-said fractions of counties were in favor of the new county, then it should be established. The act also provided that said commissioners should because the boundary line of the county to be surveyed and marked, and they should appoint suitable persons to open and hold elections, for the election of so officers, on the first Thursday in August, 1870; and that the different courts of said county of Trousdale should be held in the town of Hartsville, and that the permanent location of the county seat should be submitted to the qualified voters of the county, at an election to be held for that purpose. |