USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 13
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through the house, each brave, as he passed, placing his hand on the sick woman's brow. Curl, in 1819, made a journey back to North Carolina on horseback to assist in the settlement of his deceased father's affairs. He left home in October and returned in the following February. William Curl was a promi- nent citizen of the county, and was one of the first magistrates of Hickman County, holding the position while Vernon was the county seat. When he had held this office as long as he wished, he was succeeded by Thompson Wright, the father of Bartlett and "Blue John" Wright. Jared Curl, a son of William Curl, was for many years a magistrate in the Seventh Dis- trict. He lived to be more than one hundred years old, and died a few years ago in the Ninth District, at the home of his daughter, the widow of Dr. Da- vid D. Flowers. Jared Curl, together with Thomas Uslam, John Richardson, and others, enlisted under Captain Porter, of Vernon, and were present at the battle of New Orleans. With them went Dr. Schmit- ton, a German, who has descendants in neighboring counties. Local tradition makes him the hero of an oft-told story. It is said that his prayer in broken English just before the battle was: "Lord, if you are not for us, don't be against us; just stand aside and see one of the d-nest fights you ever saw." Keziah Curl, a daughter of William Curl, married Elijah Frazier, who came from Dickson County. She became the mother of Jared C. and William G. Fra-
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zier. Judge Curl, of Arkansas, is a descendant of the pioneer, William Curl.
William and James Holmes located on Taylor's Creek below Curl in 1808. A young man named Holmes fell dead at a dance on this creek in 1810.
One of the first schools, if not the first school, in the Seventh District was taught by George Y. Pey- ton near William Curl's in 1812.
The early settlers in the Seventh and Eighth Dis- tricts would go in small companies with pack horses and carry their corn to a mill on Yellow Creek, in Dickson County, forty miles away. They carried their rifles as a precaution against robbers and wild beasts as well as to provide themselves with food. These hardy pioneers, after a trip of a week, would return home with their corn ground into meal, and bringing with them a good supply of turkeys and venison, and frequently bear meat. There was an- other way by which their corn was converted into meal. The shelled corn would be placed in a mortar made by burning a hole in a stump or log. A heavy wooden pestle was then suspended over the mortar and attached to a sweep. By regular movements of this sweep the corn was pounded into meal, the coarser portions being used as hominy.
The mill near the mouth of Pine River, known as " Montgomery's mill," was built in 1830 by an ingenious workman, Hugh Johnson. The money necessary for the purchase of the machinery was fur-
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nished by Vernon's Irish merchant, Robert Sheegog, who eventually became the owner of the mill. He sold it for $3,000 to John Montgomery, who came from Charlotte, Dickson County, in 1840. Mont- gomery was a lawyer, and was one of the pioneers of his profession at Charlotte. Hugh Johnson, in addition to being a millwright, was a clock maker. While operating this mill he made a number of clocks of the tall, old-fashioned kind. Montgomery's mill was erected near the face of a high bluff from which burst a stream of water which furnished the power. This stream is almost Pine River in its entirety, as most of its waters sink over a mile above and come through a subterranean passage to this point. That portion of the river which does not enter this under- ground channel flows southward. It abruptly strikes a towering bluff, changes its course from south to northwest, and flows almost parallel with Duck River for about two miles, until it reaches the point at which the waters of the two rivers are united. On the high strip of land lying between the rivers are located the celebrated mounds built by some prehis- toric race. If these mounds were erected for de- fense, the location is an ideal one. On two sides are high bluffs which could not have been scaled by an attacking force, while the remaining sides are pro- tected by earthworks. The great age of these mounds is made manifest by the large trees now growing upon them. Near the mounds are a number of graves. Near the base of the bluff on the Duck River side is
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
a fine spring, reached from above by the " Winding Stairs," a series of roughly cut steps.
In 1806 Robert Bowen, father of Robert and Charles Bowen, located on Pine River. Charles Bowen bought a large tract of land near what is now known as the "Hassell place " from Mrs. Orlean Smith, in whose name 640 acres of land had been entered in 1806. Charles Bowen lived on the east side of the river ; Robert Bowen, on the west, between the places where David and Thomas Webb now live. The heirs of Robert Bowen sold these lands to Will- iam H. Carothers, who in 1845 erected a cotton gin at the Thomas Webb place. Charles Bowen married Naomi Carothers, a sister of Andrew, Samuel, and William Carothers, and an aunt of William H. Ca- rothers. Narcissa, a daughter of Charles Bowen, married a lawyer named Howry, who lived at Center- ville, the ceremony being performed by Eli Horn- beak. About 1832 Charles Bowen sold his lands to John Hassell and moved to Mississippi, where his son-in-law, Howry, joined him a few years later. John Hassell was the father of Hardeman, Joseph, and Hiram Hassell.
In 1807 three brothers-Andrew, Samuel, and William Carothers, of Georgia-located on Pine River. Samuel Carothers bought the Montgomery . place in 1810 from Charles Bowen. He married Naomi Brown. Andrew was a Primitive Baptist preacher, and later lived on Sugar Creek, in the Eighth District. He was the father of William
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Howell Carothers, who was at the beginning of the Civil War the largest slaveholder in Hickman County. He was also a prosperous farmer, and speculated largely in lands, hogs, and mules. He carried large droves of hogs and mules overland to Holly Springs and other Mississippi points. He rendered great service to the farmers of the surround- ing counties by making a market for their surplus stock. He at one time, in copartnership with Will- iam Easley (" Long Jaw Bill "), owned and operated Oakland Furnace, on Mill Creek. He was at one time sheriff of Hickman County. At the close of the Civil War, his slaves all free, and a stanch friend of the Confederacy, having a large lot of worthless Confederate currency, he found himself, like a great many other Southern men, a financial wreck. Undismayed by disaster, he emigrated to Coryell County, Texas. He there bought a farm, and by hard work paid for it. He died there in 1880. He served several years as tax collector for Coryell County.
John Lowe, the father of Jesse and Maj. Lewis Lowe, in 1815 located on Pine River above where the Reynoldsburg road crosses it, and between the Hugh Johnson and Orlean Smith lands. Jesse Lowe mar- ried Jennie Carothers, a sister of William H. Ca- rothers.
Joseph Webb, who was born in York County, S. C., in March, 1797, came to Cathey's Creek, in Maury County, and then to Hickman County, where he mar-
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ried Elizabeth Carothers, a sister of William H. Carothers. He settled on the Smith lands. His house being on the Reynoldsburg road, and he the most hospitable of hosts, his became one of the most popular of the wayside inns along this road. Here was the scene of a stirring incident in the winter of 1863. A troop of Federal cavalry was in the county capturing Confederate soldiers at home on furloughs. They pretended, however, to be in search of the guer- rilla bands of Henon Cross, Duval McNairy, and James McLaughlin. On the day referred to they had captured Capt. John H. Coleman, Willis Tur- ner, and others, and had stopped at " Uncle Joe " Webb's to spend the night. Just about dusk, and while the soldiers and their prisoners were scattered about the yard, the hurrying of hoofs was heard just down the road, and a lone horseman galloped to the front gate about thirty feet away. He called out a demand for an immediate surrender and fired his revolver rapidly into the crowd. Before the one hundred men had recovered from the disorder into which one man had thrown them, James McLaugh- lin, who had encountered odds of one hundred to one in an attempt to assist the prisoners to escape, had disappeared. Evidences of this daring dash may yet be seen in the form of bullets from McLaugh- lin's pistol embedded in the wall of the house. After McLaughlin had gone his way in safety, one of the gallant Federals retrieved the fortunes of the day by sending a musket ball through both the arms of
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Captain Coleman, a defenseless prisoner, who was making no attempt to escape. From this same house, upon another occasion, eleven Federal cavalrymen went in pursuit of Duval McNairy. McNairy left the main road and ascended a steep, rough point. When he reached the top, he turned and discharged both barrels of his shotgun at his pursuers, wound- ing ten out of eleven. He, however, did not stop to learn the result of his shot.
On the east side of Pine River nearly opposite where the waters sink is a branch, called "Jacob's Pillow," so called on account of a large stone in the middle of the valley down which the stream runs. Near this rock the Presbyterians and Methodists held camp meetings in 1848, 1849, and 1850. In 1861 Nathan Hickman erected a tannery near this point.
Two miles above Jacob's Pillow, Bird's Creek flows into Pine River from the east. This creek is named for William Bird, who located near its mouth in 1807. Bird was in the battle of New Orleans, and during the engagement his rifle became useless. He immediately rolled over the breastworks and secured a gun from a prostrate enemy. After the battle he went out on the field over which the British had charged, and soon returned with a fine saddle, which was later identified as the property of Sir Edward Packenham, the dead leader of the English forces.
At the head of Bird's Creek, Stuart Warren set- tled in 1807. He owned the present site of Goodrich
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Furnace. He was the father of John, Goodloe, and David B. Warren. The latter was at one time clerk of the County Court. Stuart Warren's three daugh- ters married three prominent citizens of the county- Pleasant Walker, Jack Huddleston, and James D. Easley. The first-named was county judge and a member of the Legislature; the second was sheriff ; and the third was for many years County Court clerk, and was also a member of the Legislature.
John Muirhead located at the forks of the creek where John H. Barr now lives, and erected a mill and distillery just below the forks of the creek.
Elisha Green located near the mouth of Bird's Creek in 1807. A near-by neighbor was a man named Dezell.
John Hulett taught school on Bird's Creek in 1836, and Harper taught here in 1838.
Dr. Samuel Sebastian at an early date lived in the Pine River valley below Vernon and above the mouth of Bird's Creek. He was one of the pioneer physicians of this district; another was Dr. Hailey. In after years were Drs. Lewis, Shenault, Douglass, Hunt, Hall, Puckett, William Montgomery, Thomas D. Thompson, and others.
At the Stuart Warren place, on Bird's Creek, in 1312, lived William Carter, a brother-in-law of Asa Thompson. Carter lived here until his death, in 1869. He was in the War of 1812, and was out in the first Seminole War (1819). After his death his heirs sold the lands to the Standard Charcoal Com-
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pany, which company in 1882 erected Goodrich Fur- nace and wood alcohol works. These were later operated by the Warner Iron Company and the Southern Iron Company. They are now, after a period of several years' inactivity, being operated by the Tennessee Iron Company. The village, post office, and furnace are named for Levin D. Goodrich, a son-in-law of Dr. Bellefield Carter, who was once prominent in Middle Tennessee as the owner of sev- eral furnaces in Dickson and Hickman Counties. Before the Civil War, Goodrich was the manager of Ætna Furnace, in the Eleventh District. "Lev." Goodrich, as he was familiarly known, did more than any other man toward putting on foot the plans which in 1878 and 1879 resulted in the commencement of the building of the Nashville and Tuscaloosa Rail- road, now the Centerville branch of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. Then, too, he did more than any other man in securing the rebuild- ing of old furnaces and the building of new ones in the county. When the first train was run over the Nashville and Tuscaloosa road to Centerville, Lev. Goodrich was seated on the cowcatcher in front of the engine. He has gone to his final reward, but he deserved a front seat on the first train, and deserves a prominent place in the history of Hickman County. About a mile north of Goodrich Furnace are the ore mines, formerly called the " Oakland ore banks," now the Nunnelly ore banks. These mines were operated during the same time as the enterprises at
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Goodrich. Operations were suspended at the same time (1893), and are just now being resumed.
Near where the railroad crosses Mill Creek is a small station-Graham Station. Below the railroad trestle is a large dam across Mill Creek. From this point water was formerly forced over a hill two hun- dred feet high, and carried in pipes to the ore washer at the Nunnelly ore banks, one and a half miles away. One-half mile below Graham Station may yet be seen the ruins of the once-famous Oakland Furnace. This furnace was built in 1854 by Felix Studdart, Blount Fowlkes, and William H. Bratton. This furnace was erected at the place where before this had stood the Lower Forge of Mill Creek. The ore for the furnace was taken from the Oakland ore banks, now the Nunnelly ore banks, and conveyed by wagons to the furnace. The furnace and ore banks gave employment to many citizens, and, in addition to free labor, the operators hired from the neigh- boring slaveholders their surplus slaves for periods ranging from one to twelve months. The negro slaves employed here were allowed to visit their fami- lies on Saturday nights and Sundays. However, there were instances where some of the slaves re- mained away from their families for the entire pe- riod of twelve months.
Near the site of this furnace, in 1806, a mill was built by the united efforts of the settlers. The erec- tion of the mill was superintended by Charles Muir- head, of Bird's Creek, and it was operated under his
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direction. Two years later William Hale, from East Tennessee, converted this temporary mill into a per- manent one. A good dam was erected instead of the brush dam. This was the first mill built in Hick- man County, and from it this creek took its name. Before its erection the temporary structure built by the settlers (the Muirhead mill) had not a sufficient output to supply the demands of the settlers, and they had been compelled to go to Yellow Creek, in Dickson County, as narrated in previous pages. Near the mouth of Mill Creek, near where T. D. Field now lives, Adam Wilson cultivated the first crop of corn cultivated by a white man within the present limits of Hickman County. This was in 1806, and Wilson made no clearing, save the cutting away of the cane.
At the mouth of Mill Creek, where Thomas D. Field now lives, William Holt in 1838 built a grist- mill, sawmill, cotton gin, and spinning factory. Holt owned and lived on these lands, and was for years a prominent citizen of this section of the county. His daughter, Madaline, married Andrew Carothers, a brother of William H. Carothers, the ceremony being performed by Jesse Fuqua, the Primitive Baptist preacher. Andrew Carothers had lost one eye as a result of fever. He moved to Mississippi, where he died. A daughter, Elizabeth, married Dr. Elisha Green Thompson.
Thomas Thompson came in 1806 from York Dis- trict, S. C., and settled one and a half miles south of Vernon and to the north of Bird's Creek. Thomas
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
Thompson was the father of Asa, William, John, James, and Elisha Thompson. His son, Asa Thomp- son, who was born in South Carolina in 1798, lived near the old homestead until his death, in 1877. Asa Thompson married Mary Carothers, a daughter of Andrew Carothers, the Baptist preacher. Two
sons of Asa Thompson-Drs. Elisha Green Thomp- son and Thomas D. Thompson-have been promi- nent physicians of the county. Dr. E. G. Thompson was for two terms the deputy of Circuit Court Clerk William G. Clagett, and was for two terms Circuit Court Clerk. He was also at one time Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court at Centerville, and filled out the unexpired term of Dr. A. J. Lowe, who died while a member of the State Legislature. Dr. T. D. Thompson was aid-de-camp to Gen. James E. Raines, and served in that capacity until the death of General Raines, at Murfreesboro. William C. Thompson, another son of Asa Thompson, held sev- eral important district offices, and was at the time of his death a member of the County Court, of which body he had for years been a member. Another son,
John B. Thompson, who saw service in the Civil War, although he was several years below the regulation age, is at present a prominent citizen of this district, as is also Dr. Thomas D. Thompson. Two other sons of Asa Thompson-Andrew and Stuart-lost their lives while soldiers in the Confederate Army. A son of the former, William D. Thompson, at present a citizen of Centerville, was twice elected register of
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the county, and by majorities among the largest ever given a candidate for office in Hickman County. Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of Asa Thompson, married Joseph Herndon, who died while in the Con- federate Army. Their only child, Mollie Herndon, married James F. Martin, the founder of the Hick- inan Pioneer, established in 1878, at Centerville, the first paper published in Hickman County. Susan Thompson, daughter of Asa Thompson, married Rev. William Whitson. One of their sons, John H. Whit- son, in connection with Horatio C. Thompson, a son of William C. Thompson, at one time published the Hickman Pioneer, succeeding S. L. Neely. Neely purchased the paper from Martin, who had success- fully conducted it for a number of years. Whitson and Thompson sold the Pioneer to J. H. Russell, son of Ferdinand B. Russell. The Pioneer, a few years after this, suspended publication. About this time Horatio C. Thompson established the Hickman County News, which he published for several years. Thompson is now editor of the Savannah Courier. Thompson was succeeded as editor of the News by S. S. Speer, of Georgia, and he by W. P. Clark, who sold to Stockard & Ozment, the present publishers. Dr. W. T. Childress, of Terrell, Texas, married Catherine, a daughter of Asa Thompson. After her death he married her sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hern- don.
Richard Craig, the father of John, Solomon, and Elijah Craig, was one of the early settlers on Bird's
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Creek. John Craig married a daughter of Andrew Carothers.
James Singleton taught school just below Vernon in 1832. At this point, one mile below Vernon, was erected the first schoolhouse and church constructed in the county. It was erected by the Primitive Bap- tist preacher, Andrew Carothers. The location of this building is now marked by a walnut tree in the graveyard below Vernon. In this graveyard An- drew Carothers is buried near the scenes of his for- mer labors. The Primitive Baptist Church was the strong church of early days, but among the promi- nent preachers of the pioneer days was James Barr, the Presbyterian. The Presbyterian Church has never been a strong church in this district, but, sup- ported by it, the Methodist Church has supplanted the Baptist Church in the Seventh District. The Christian Church has in recent years become one of the prominent churches of the district. Rev. Lee Thurman has in recent years preached the doctrine of entire sanctification, and has made many converts in this section of the county.
The date of the first permanent settlement at Ver- non is not known. The large spring at the foot of . the hill was, before the place was permanently set- tled, a stopping place for hunters and trappers. In 1800 James Wilson and Joseph Lynn laid a land warrant here, and a few years later they, together with Garrett Lane, William Hale, and Dr. William Brown, came from East Tennessee and permanent-
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ly settled here. In 1808 Carey Pope settled here. In 1812 Samuel D. Mclaughlin, who had been a schoolmate of Gov. William Carroll, lived at Vernon. When Garrett Lane and associates came here this territory was embraced in Dickson County. Joseph Lynn was Vernon's first hotel keeper, and John Hu- lett its first merchant. When Hickman County was created and Vernon made the county seat, a hewn-log jail and a hewn-log courthouse were erected. When the county seat was removed to Centerville, in 1823, the courthouse was torn down and removed to the new county seat. A new log jail was erected, and the old one was allowed to remain at Vernon. However, be- fore these buildings were completed, the first court of the county was held on the third Monday in Janu- ary, 1808, at the house of William Joslin, who lived near the present site of Pinewood. In 1809 the courthouse had not yet been completed, and the court met at the house of James Wilson, on whose lands Vernon was located. William Stone was then clerk of the court, and tradition has it that when he was once fined for contempt of court, he coolly refused to enter the fine and the incident was closed. Stone re- moved from Vernon to Jones' Creek, in Dickson County. After a lapse of ninety years, it is difficult to learn anything as to the proceedings of this pioneer court. The paper of which the following is a copy was found among the papers of the late William G. Clagett, and it is probably the only portion of the records of that court now in existence :
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
" State of Tennessee Į To the Sheriff of Hickman
Hickman County County Greeting
Where as here to fore to wit at October Term of the court of pleas and quarter Sessions for the county of Hickman Richard Compton Sued out a writ of capias ad respondendom against. James Peery com- manding the Sheriff of Hickman County to take the Body of James Peery and have him before the court of pleas and quarter sessions to be holden for the county of Hickman at the House of William Joslin on the third monday of January then to answer the said plaintiff of a plea of covenant broken to his dam- age one thousand Dollars &.C. upon which writ the Sheriff made the following return to wit) not found Signed William Phillips S H C. Where upon it is ordered that a Judicial Attachment Issue against the Estate of the Said Defendant according to act of Assembly in that case made and provided-
These are therefore to command you, that you, Attach the Estate of the said James Peery if to be found in your county or so much there of repleviable on Security as shall be of Value Sufficient to Satisfy the said Damages according to the above complaint and such Estate so attached in your hands to secure or so to provide that the same may be Liable to fur- ther proceeding there on to be had at the court to be held for the county of Hickman at house of William Easleys on the third monday of July next so as to compell the said James Peery to appear and answer the above complaint of the said Richard Compton,
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when and where you Shall make known to the said court how you have executed this writ Witness Will- iam Stone clerk of our said court at office this third monday of April in the year 1809 and the 33rd year of the American Independence-
William Stone C C."
On the back of this are the following entries :
" Richard Compton VS Judicial Attachment. James Peery
To July Term 1809 Isd 23rd May 1809."
" Came to hand May the 24 1809 leved May the 27 1809 on 500 [Here " ten thousand " is written and a line drawn through it] acres of land where James Peery Senr and James Peery Junr now lives on Leatherwood Creek of Duck river
Wm. Phillips, shff hickman county."
All of the above is legibly written, and, consider- ing the lack of educational facilities at that time, the number of mistakes in spelling and punctuation is surprisingly small. The William Easley at whose house the court met in July, 1809, is the William Easley referred to in the sketch of the Sixth District. He lived where Dr. Thomas Cash now lives, and represented Hickman County in the Legislature in 1815, 1817, and after the resignation of Robert E. C. Dougherty in 1819. The court met at the homes of citizens until the courthouse at Vernon was com-
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