USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 10
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FOURTH DISTRICT.
had two doctors, Smith and Smoot; two teachers, Gannt and Primm ; and one merchant, Primm. They brought no preacher with them, but the eldest son of John T. Primm-Oliver Hazard Perry Primm, who was born on October 24, 1819-became a preacher. Another son is Hinson Groves Primm, who was born in August, 1839. There were nine other children. Hinson G. Primm, who married Emma V. Rooker, is also the father of eleven children. Another son, Clagett Primm, now lives on Hassell's Creek.
In 1825 a man named Cox lived on Dog (or Cedar) Creek, on a portion of the lands now owned by Will- iam Dean. He had no children, and he willed the lands to Stephen (or Jesse) Harper, a boy whom he had reared. At times Cox would become violently insane, and his neighbors would be forced to confine him. After he would recover he would take revenge upon those who had confined him by refusing to allow their children to have any apples out of his fine orchard. The other children of the neighborhood would be given access to the orchard. Finding that his fine flock of sheep was decreasing in numbers, he commenced to keep a close watch for wolves, which infested the hills near by. One day a large " dog wolf " pursued his sheep to within a few steps of his house. Snatching his rifle from the rack-two forked sticks nailed to the wall-he killed the wolf. The report of the killing of this pest spread throughout the neighborhood, and from the killing of the " dog wolf" the creek took its name-Dog Creek. Ac-
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
cording to William Dean, Edward Mahon, of Maury County, bought land on the creek from Malugin and erected a mill on it. Mahon became tired of telling his old neighbors in aristocratic Maury County that he lived on Dog Creek; so, when Colonel Bibb was in the Senate, Mahon had him to introduce a bill chang- ing the name to " Cedar Creek." This bill passed both houses, was approved by the Governor, and be- came a law " from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring it."
Primm's Springs are at the head of this creek. These springs were almost unnoticed until 1831, when Alten Massey, a brother-in-law of John T. Primm, entered the land surrounding them. He had married a Miss Gannt, and, not having any children, he willed the springs property to the children of Primm. The springs in 1836 were fitted up for visitors, and since that time this has been a popular resort. It is said that Matilda, the wife of J. W. Stephenson, and an aunt of William Dean, gained a pound a day while staying here in 1837. Primm's Springs are now principally the property of Maury County parties. Hickman Countians who have interests here are: O. A. Jones, John A. Jones, and R. A. Smith. These . springs, like almost all others of their character, were, before they were fitted up for guests, considered pub- lic property, and hither in the early days resorted hunters, trappers, and explorers. They came when it suited them, and departed when they pleased.
William Dean came to this creek from the Oakley
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FOURTH DISTRICT.
place in 1857 and erected a tobacco factory. The first plug of tobacco he made was at the Oakley place, on August 5, 1846. Here on Dog (or Cedar) Creek he had also a tanyard, which he operated, together with the tobacco factory, until 1861. The " Dean Tobacco," the trade being then unlimited by taxes or by laws, was carried in wagons and sold in either large or small lots throughout Middle Tennessee and por- tions of Mississippi and Alabama. Dean bought part of his lands from a man named Helms, who had bought from Asa Shute, a pioneer land locator. That Shute was here as early as 1811 is evidenced by the fact that a beech tree on the creek was marked: "Asa Shute, 1811." Another, which stood near by, was marked : "Asa Shute, Thomas Ingram, 1811." These trees stood about halfway between Primm's Springs and the mouth of the creek, about one-fourth of a mile above where Dean now lives, and near the foot of Gee's Hill. These inscriptions were cut in the bark of these beech trees, which, as they stood near the creek, have been washed away. They were once im- portant landmarks. Gee's Hill takes its name from a man named Gee, who once lived here, and from whom the ford at the mouth of Dog (or Cedar) Creek and the road leading over to the head of Leatherwood Creek take their names-Gee's Ford and Gee's Road, respectively. This Gee was probably the one who killed so many deer while herding cattle in the Cow Hollow, in the Ninth District. On Dog (or Cedar) Creek a house built by John Irwin in 1809 is still
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
used as a residence. There is a hewn-log house on the place where G. W. Malugin now lives which was also built in 1809. This place is known as the "Billy Malugin place." There is yet another house built in 1809 on this creek. This is situated on a tributary of the creek, and is within the limits of the Thirteenth District. This house was built by - Mattock, and from it John G. Malugin once ran in great fright to the home of Gee. He ran down the creek valley and through a dense canebrake, thinking that Indians were in close pursuit. His hasty arrival and the terri- ble news he brought caused Gee to also become fright- ened. They made arrangements to resist the savages as best they could and to fight them to the last. After hours of weary waiting and of suspense, they con- cluded that it was a false alarm, and such it was. Robert Dean, an uncle of William Dean and a brother of John Dean, located on Bell's Branch, in the Seventh District, in 1820, and taught school there.
As early as 1830, and probably earlier, Pleasant Russell lived at the John T. Overbey (or Beale) place. His son, the late Hon. W. B. Russell, was a great hunter. In 1840, after a long chase, he lost the trail of a deer in the Dog (or Cedar) Creek bottoms. A few hours later he went to the sulphur springs at the head of the creek for water, and there found the deer on a like errand. The deer was slain.
During the Civil War this district furnished its quota of brave men for the Southern army. They were led by Captains Beale, Oliver, and Campbell.
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FOURTH DISTRICT.
Capt. Thomas Campbell was badly wounded in the leg during the war. After the war he was elected tax collector, defeating Robert Green, a one-armed ex- Confederate. In another race for the same office Green defeated Campbell, and thus Hickman County gave this, the most responsible county office, to these two wounded heroes. The majority each time was very small, and it seemed that the voters wanted to elect both men.
Ferdinand B. Russell was at one time one of the leading mill men of the Fourth District. He lost his eyesight while blasting rock near his mill on Jones' Branch. His father was Pleasant Russell, who was born in Virginia. F. B. Russell was born in William- son County on March 10, 1822.
Felix Cockrum was drowned at the mouth of Lick Creek, in the Second District, in 1851. His body was recovered at or near the O. A. Jones (or Nun- nelly) place. At the Inkstand Point-so called on account of its peculiar shape-near the mouth of Lick Creek, the body of a man named Ashworth was re- covered in 1887. He was drowned at Gordon's Ferry, and lived in Maury County. In Lick Creek, in the Fourth District, at what is called the Pine Bluff Hole, little Charlie Haley, of Maury County, was drowned in 1888. He was in bathing with other boys.
The early physicians here were Drs. Smoot and Smith, already mentioned. They lived near the mouth of Fort Cooper Hollow. Physicians here at a recent date were Drs. Daniel, Capps, and Shacklett.
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
On Jones' Branch Elder J. P. Litton lived in recent years. He by his upright course made many friends and gained the esteem of even those who differed from him on doctrinal points.
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FIFTH DISTRICT.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIFTH DISTRICT.
T HE Fifth District is bounded on the north by Dickson County; on the east, by the Fourth District; on the south, by the Second District; and on the west, by the Sixth District. It includes that portion of Hickman County known since the first set- tlers came here as " The Barrens." It received this name on account of the lack of timber. Grass, how- ever, was to be found here in abundance, and here grazed vast herds of deer, even for years after the first hunters came. This district includes the head waters of Mill Creek, Big Spring Creek, and Little Spring Creek; it also includes the larger portion of Bear Creek. All of these rise in the Fifth District and flow westward into Pine River. Mill Creek is in the southern part of the district, and Bear Creek in the northern part. The two Spring Creeks are in the west central part.
Near the head waters of Mill Creek, and on the edge of " The Barrens," the first hunters who came here found evidences of an Indian dancing ground and camping place. This was near the Daniel Cock- rum (or A. J. Rodgers) spring at the head of the west branch of Mill Creek. For years numerous arrowheads were found here. Daniel Cockrum, who was born in Kentucky, settled at this spring in
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
1818. He bought the lands from A. J. Rodgers, who had settled here in 1810. Daniel Cockrum was the father of Henry and William Cockrum. The latter was born here on February 11, 1821. James Pickett, the father-in-law of Henry Cockrum, came from Kentucky about this time and settled on the creek below Cockrum. In 1815 Absalom Nicks, Sr., lived on the head waters of Mill Creek, as did also his brother, William Nicks, the preacher. They lived at the Lafayette Wynn place.
In 1814 a forge was built by Hardin Perkins on the McAllister place, five miles down the creek from the Cockrum place. Here iron was made from ore, which was melted, " puddled," and rolled into balls. Into these balls a bar of iron was inserted for a handle. The balls were then turned over and over, while a ponderous hammer struck the red-hot metal repeated- ly. When by this process it had been converted into a good quality of iron, it was drawn into bars, which were conveyed from the forge by wagons, and sold throughout the country for ten cents a pound. This iron was by the blacksmiths of the county used in the construction of the primitive farming implements then in use. Much of the iron made here was sold . in Kentucky, to which State it was hauled in wagons. Perkins built another forge, called the "Lower Forge," near the mouth of Mill Creek, in what is now the Seventh District. In 1825 Montgomery Bell came to Hickman County and bought these two forges from Perkins, who was his most formidable competitor in
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the manufacture of iron. Bell, who was a Pennsyl- vanian, owned and operated at that time Cumberland Furnace, on Barton's Creek, in Dickson County. This furnace he had bought from Gen. James Robert- son prior to 1800, and here were cast all of the cannon balls used by General Jackson at New Orleans. The cannon balls were carried to the Cumberland River, eight miles away, and shipped to New Orleans in keel boats. Bell also operated a forge at the Narrows of Harpeth, in what is now Cheatham County. By his trade with Perkins he evidently intended to monopo- lize the entire iron trade of Middle Tennessee, West Tennessee, and portions of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama. Bell made no attempt to operate the forges bought from Perkins, being satisfied with the removal of so formidable a competitor. Perkins, like Bell, was also looking alone to his own interest, and, gathering his slaves and employees, he in a short time erected two forges between those he had sold to Bell and commenced to operate them. Bell abandoned the field, and Perkins continued to operate his forges until 1835. In 1825, and for several years previous to this, David Duncan was manager for Perkins. He was succeeded by Daniel McCord. Duncan was the father of Thomas Duncan, of the Seventh District. Mill Creek received its name from the mill built near its mouth in the Seventh District, this being the first mill erected in the county.
In the valley of the upper portion of Mill Creek some of the first settlers of the county located. Na-
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
thaniel and Gabriel Fowlkes, who were brothers, lo- cated near where Taylor Jones now lives as early as 1806. They came from Virginia to Rutherford County, lived there a few years, removed to William- son County, and came from the latter county to Mill ('reck. Nathaniel married Lucy Wynn, daughter of James Wynn, who lived on the creek. He was twice married. His children were: James, Martha, Sally, Jane, Nancy, Edward, John, and Gabriel. The lat- ter was the late Gabriel Fowlkes, of the First District, who was born on Mill Creek on January 27, 1833. Gabriel Fowlkes, the brother of Nathaniel Fowlkes, lived near the forks of the creek in 1828, and his daughter, Mrs. Jesse R. Eason, went to school to George Ingram, who taught school in a log school- house which had no floor. Mrs. Eason was then seven years old, and, although seventy years have passed, she remembers the force with which her toe struck a small stump which stood in this little log schoolhouse which had a dirt floor. " Billie " Bates and Moses Thorn- ton were school-teachers here in 1829 and 1830, re- spectively. William Nicks was a preacher in this neighborhood. He and his followers were called " Schismatics." They had " mourner's benches," called for " mourners," and had " shouting revivals." Nicks baptized Mrs. Hartzogg in Mill Creek in 1829. From this neighborhood, in 1828, William Cockrum went to a school three miles away. It was located near where A. Groves now lives. The teacher was named Thompson. Here Wesley Erwin taught in
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FIFTH DISTRICT.
1829. All schools then were subscription schools, this being long before the present free-school system was inaugurated. In 1836 the Methodists and Pres- byterians held a camp meeting above the Upper Forge at the place where Alex. Gossett now lives. Pre- paring for this camp meeting, William Cockrum was trying to kill a pig, when the animal turned upon him and upon his left arm left a scar as a souvenir of this " big camp meeting." In 1840 Colonel Adair, the father of Joseph Adair, a. " singing master " of to- day, " sung by note " at the Quilly Tidwell place. He used " the four-note system."
In 1820 James Wynn came from Virginia and set- tled on Mill Creek near where his son, Lafayette Wynn, now lives. Lafayette Wynn was born on De- cember 26, 1840.
In 1823 Robert Bates came from Virginia and located at the Alex. Gossett place. He was born in Albemarle County, Va., in 1787. His sons were B. B. Bates (who died near Shady Grove a few years ago) and Samuel Richard Bates. Samuel R. Bates was born near Hillsboro, Williamson County, on January 22, 1814. He married Charlotte Suggs, a daughter of Timothy Suggs, who came from Bedford County to Mill Creek in 1833. Suggs bought land from Matthew and Alston Myatt, who came from North Carolina to this creek in 1820. They removed to Dickson County. In 1897 Samuel Bates, at the age of eighty-three years, lived with his son, Mac Bates, near Lyell Station. When Hardin Perkins operated
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
the forges on Mill Creek, Bates chopped wood for him to pay for iron at ten cents a pound, with which he had made a bar-share plow. The work was done by John Malugin, a blacksmith, who lived near Little Lot. In 1834 Bates heard Rhoda Marlin, afterwards Mrs. Jones, " sing by note," she, too, using " the four-note system." She was the mother of Taylor Jones, a justice of the peace in this district. David Duncan and Josiah Thornton were magistrates here at an early date. Edward (" Ned ") Nunnellee, who came from Virginia to Bedford County, and from that county to this district, prior to 1810, was one of Hick- man County's magistrates in 1817, this being after he had removed to what is now the First District. Ga- briel Fowlkes was a magistrate in 1815. Fowlkes was sheriff while he lived on Mill Creek, and was also sheriff after he removed to the First District. In 1829 articles of impeachment were found against Judge Joshua Haskell. He was charged with having left the courthouse on several occasions during the progress of trials, going out to engage in conversation, business, and amusement. During this trial it de- veloped that the judge had on one occasion escaped from the fleas which infested the courthouse, and from the lawyers who were arguing a case, and had gone outside to eat a watermelon with a member of the bar. During the trial of Judge Haskell, Gabriel Fowlkes testified that upon one occasion he was, during the progress of a trial, sent for the Judge, and that he found him either in the courthouse yard or at a show
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FIFTH DISTRICT.
near by. While the Judge was absent from the court- room a dispute arose between the lawyers as to the admissibility of testimony. A disinterested attorney was called upon to decide, which he did, and the trial proceeded. Despite his watermelon-eating and flea- escaping proclivities, Judge Haskell was acquitted by the State Senate. The late J. A. Harvill was sheriff of the county for six years, and J. C. Yates, also of this district, is the present incumbent. Thomas Pat- ton, who is personally acquainted with every voter in the county, served one term as tax assessor. He made a courteous and efficient official. Jo. Beasley was sheriff at one time, and John L. Griffin, in the days before the Civil War, was Circuit Court Clerk.
Taylor Jones, Sr., brother of Bart. Jones and father of Taylor Jones, Jr., lived on Mill Creek as early as 1820. He married Rhoda Marlin.
On the north branch of Mill Creek, on the lands where James Barnhill lived from 1810 to 1825, War- ner Furnace was built in 1880-Barnhill lived at the spring above the furnace. Before being placed in the furnace, the ore was washed and crushed, a great im- provement on the methods employed in the early days. The charcoal was burned in brick ovens, in which were placed cords of wood. This, too, was a great improve- ment on the primitive and tedious method of burning the wood in small heaps in the forest, covering the wood with dirt and leaves. This furnace was op- erated until 1893.
Where Quilly Tidwell now lives Joel Carroll lived
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
in 1825, he having located there in 1810. He sold to James McMinn. At this place were the precinct and muster grounds. Here the people met to vote, to muster, and, incidentally, to drink Abner Ponder's whisky. Fisticuffs often took place here. Promi- nent participants in muster-day festivities were Rob- ert Lyell, Sr., "Billie" Boothe, and Arch. Ponder and his brothers.
In 1835 Jonathan P. Hardwick came from Dickson County, bought. 2,700 acres of land from his son, Dil- lard Hardwick, of Mississippi, and located about one mile north of Bon Aqua Springs. Here he erected an inn for the entertainment of travelers who came this way from Kentucky to the Southern States. Dil- lard Hardwick bought this land from the heirs of Abner Ponder.
The large amount of wild game to be found on this Hickman County prairie, "The Barrens," caused hunters to come here as early as 1790. The first step toward permanent settlement was, however, in 1800, when Abner Ponder came from Georgia and laid a. land warrant for one acre around the large free- stone spring one mile above the Bon Aqua Springs. This spring was then over ten feet deep and forty feet in diameter, and contained many fish. This is the head spring of Big Spring Creek. Ponder returned to Georgia, but revisited this spring in 1801. Again he came in 1804. With him were George Hartzogg and James Barnhill. They were natives of Ger- many. Hartzogg laid a land warrant on a branch of
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Mill Creek about two miles from Ponder's location, and Barnhill laid one on the land around the spring above the present site of Warner Furnace. Ponder was born in Germany in 1755, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He, during his short stay here in 1804, located other lands around his spring, and planted here a peach orchard of ten acres, having brought the seed with him from Georgia. He after- wards became an extensive landowner and a wealthy and prominent citizen of Hickman County. He, Hartzogg, and Barnhill returned to Georgia. Imme- diately after the Indian treaties of 1806, Ponder came with his family and made a permanent settlement here. He built a tavern here, and "Ponder's Inn " was a popular stopping place for those who went over this route from Kentucky to the Southern country, and for those who passed this way going to and from Duck River and the Tennessee River. This cele- brated inn was made of small poles. The cracks were filled with stones, pieces of wood, and mud. The rooms were so large that a man of average height could very easily stand upright in them. Yet great was the comfort they afforded, compared with what would have been the traveler's lot had they not been there. Here stopped the various classes of men to be found on the borders of civilization ; here stopped hunters, home seekers, and adventurers. Tradition says that an unknown man stopped to rest at this spring in 1799, and was slain. In 1807 a Kentuckian named Willis was killed two miles from Ponder's Inn on the
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
road to Charlotte. Robbery was the motive, as he had $1,000 and had been South looking for invest- inents. He had been followed for miles by his un- known murderers, who at last accomplished their purpose.
John A. Murrell, " The Great Western Land Pi- rate," often passed this way during the years between 1820 and 1834. Murrell came from a respectable Middle Tennessee family, but was a professional rob- ber by the time he was twenty-one years of age. At first he operated singly ; then he gathered around him a few confederates ; then he became the chief of what he called a "noble band of valiant and lordly ban- dits ; " and, finally, he emerged from the penitentiary an imbecile. The organization of this clan was almost perfect, and the crimes they committed are without parallel in the criminal history of the Southwest. The clan was governed by what was called the " Grand Council of the Mystic Clan," which held its meetings under a large cottonwood tree in Arkansas. The Council directed the operations of the individual members of the band, called " strikers." These were the small thieves and robbers, who, under the direc- tion of Murrell and his immediate associates, caused a reign of terror throughout the entire Southwest. Lacking the intelligence and energy which Murrell unquestionably possessed, these " strikers " would, under the direction of this master mind, perform the most fiendish of crimes. While they did not hesi- tate to rob from the person, and then carry out their
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motto, "Dead men tell no tales," their operations were confined principally to horse stealing and negro running. The completeness with which stolen horses and runaway slaves disappeared convinced the suffer- ers that there was an organization of this kind; but the name of Murrell was not connected with it in the beginning, and of its very existence they were not certain. A suggestion that such an organization ex- isted was laughed at by the " strikers " in every neighborhood, and by prominent men who had much at stake and feared to incur the enmity of an organiza- tion, the individual members of which they did not know. The completeness and secrecy of this band's work created a condition in which the law-abiding
citizen knew not whom to trust. Murrell being in- ordinately vain, Virgil A. Stewart so successfully worked upon his vanity that Murrell told of his past life, of his clan, and of his future plans. Stewart be- trayed him, and Murrell was sent to the penitentiary in 1834. Murrell then lived in Madison County. Murrell has been described as a man of pleasant ad- dress, possessed of much intelligence-as a man who could adapt himself to his surroundings, whether he stood in the midst of his Mystic Clan around the Arkansas cottonwood tree, or in the pulpit preaching to a God-fearing congregation. He could pose as an eminent lawyer or cut a throat ; he could quote scrip- ture and pass counterfeit money with equal ease. As a man, he is said to have been cool, possessed of good judgment, fearless, just in his dealings with his
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" strikers," to whom he always gave a portion of what they stole for him. As a husband, he was kind; as a friend, faithful. Some of these attributes he may have possessed, but the following extract from his con- fession shows the fiendishness which predominated in his nature-a fiendishness which, had it been elimi- nated, might have left a man of such parts that he would have been an upright man and good citizen. Murrell, in his confession, said : " While I was seated on a log, looking down the road the way I had come, a man came in sight riding a good-looking horse. The very moment I saw him I determined to have his horse, if he was in the garb of a traveler. I arose from my seat and drew an elegant rifle-pistol on him and ordered him to dismount. He did so, and I took his horse by the bridle and pointed down the creek and told him to walk before me. We went a few hun- dred yards and stopped. I hitched his horse, and then made him undress himself, all to his shirt and drawers, and ordered him to turn his back to me. He said : ' If you are going to kill me, let me have time to pray before I die.' I told him I had no time to hear him pray. He turned around and dropped on his knees, and I shot him in the back of the head. I. ripped open his belly and took out his entrails and sunk him in the creek. I then searched his pockets and found $401.37 and a number of papers that I did not take time to examine. I sunk the pocketbook and papers and his hat in the creck. His boots were brand-new and fitted me genteelly, and I put them on
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