USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 14
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
pleted. Three of these citizens were William Joslin, James Wilson, and William Easley. After the estab- lishment of circuit courts, in 1809, Judge Parry W. Humphreys held court at Vernon. Robert Estes was the first clerk of this court. James Wilson lived in what is now the Seventh District. After the erection of the public buildings and until the county seat was moved to Centerville, Vernon was a pros- perous frontier town, rivaling in its magnificence Charlotte and Reynoldsburg. Among the prominent lawyers who attended court here were Felix Grundy, A. O. P. Nicholson, Cave Johnson, John Mont- gomery, and Elijah Walker. After the real court had adjourned, the moot court commenced its ses- sions, and much was the amusement furnished to judge, bar, and visitors. Parties were tried for all kinds and conditions of offenses, both real and im- aginary, and the punishment was almost uniformly a fine of sufficient amount to buy liquid refreshments for judge and jury, lawyers, litigants, and spectators. When the docket had been cleared late at night, the moot court adjourned, if sober, which was not often the case; otherwise it scattered.
In 1817 Major Hornbeak lived near where J. H. Shipp now lives, and operated a stillhouse on the opposite side of the river. He supplied Vernon with whisky and brandy. He was the father of Pleasant Hornbeak, Mrs. William G. Clagett, and Mrs. Sam- uel B. Moore.
The pioneer, Garrett Lane, lived to a good old age,
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and to the last retained his love for outdoor sports. In 1850 he was the promoter of a " gander pulling." A live gander was suspended by its feet, and the con- testants, mounted on horseback and riding rapidly, tried to carry away in their hands the token of vic- tcry in the form of the gander's head. Jones Easley broke the gander's neck, but Claiborne B. Dotson wrenched off its head and won the prize of eighty dol- lars in gold. Old Vernon has been the scene of per- haps more " fist-and-skull," old-fashioned, rough-and- tumble fights than any place in Tennessee. The most serious of these was the fight, in 1847, between Mills Eason and William Holt, during which the latter lost an eye. Robert Sheegog sold goods in Vernon in 1836; Carothers & Easley, in 1845; William Bal- throp and John Primm, in 1850; and Marable Reeves, in 1855. Robert Sheegog, who was born in Ireland, died in Texas in 1879. T. N. Carter ran a saloon here for a number of years, as did also Solo- mon George. George was a saddler and a good citi- zen. William Gravitt was a good saddle and harness
maker. Among the good citizens of this place were Col. B. B. Satterfield and Andrew Walker. Colonel Satterfield was at one time a merchant here. Philip Maroney, Sanford Bros., A. I. Brown, Miles Mays, and W. S. Nunnelly have sold goods here at different times since the Civil War. Vernon was almost en- tirely destroyed by Federals in 1864, and the burned portions were never rebuilt; so it does not now ap- pear as did Old Vernon when it was new ..
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In 1829 Hawkins Ward taught school at the mouth of Taylor's Creek. Ward was from North Carolina, and was journeying westward. He was coming down Duck River in a canoe, and stopped overnight with John Scott, who soon learned from his conversation that he was a well-educated man. Ward was em- ployed to teach school, and continued teaching until other emigrants from North Carolina brought the news that Ward had a deserted wife in the Old State. Ward immediately renewed his journey westward. John and Thomas Thompson were teachers in this district in the early days. Bartlett Wright taught on the ridge west of Pretty Creek and three miles west of Vernon in 1855. At Vernon many good teachers have taught, several of whom were ladies. Miss Kate Guthrie taught near where W. S. Nunnelly now lives. Miss Bettie Osborn, in 1849, taught in Tem- perance Hall at Vernon, and later in the valley south of the village. In this valley Mrs. Elizabeth Nun- nelly taught school prior to her marriage to Lawson H. Nunnelly. She was of Irish parentage, refined, intelligent, and well educated. She lives to-day, far beyond the allotted threescore years and ten; and when she goes away, Hickman County will lose one of its noblest women, one who has few equals and no superiors. Later Misses Emily and Mariah Sheegog taught here. The former taught at Vernon for many years; the latter afterwards taught at Centerville, and then went to Maury County. In later years Misses Nora Bly, Lula Crutcher, Genie Crutcher,
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and Dollie George have taught here. Some of the men who taught at Vernon were James H. Fowlkes, Gabriel Fowlkes, and " Bunk " White. One of the best schools taught here was that taught by W. D. Askins in recent years.
Among the early magistrates of the district were Garrett Lane, William Curl, Thompson Wright, and Jared Curl. William Bird was chairman of the County Court from 1840 to 1846. Capt. E. W. Easley has held this position several times in recent years. ' Some of the magistrates of later years were William Gravitt, Jesse James, Solomon George, Will- iam C. Thompson, and J. T. Webb. The present incumbents are E. W. Easley and J. T. Duncan. Some of the constables of the district were William C. Thompson, W. D. Thompson, W. H. Stuart, and John F. Lawson. The present incumbent is W. H. Betty. W. D. Hedge, of Taylor's Creek, was a deputy under Sheriff J. A. Harvill.
There have been a number of violent deaths in this district. William Balthrop was drowned in Pine River, near Vernon, in 1850; a white man named Hodges was drowned above Vernon in 1866; and a negro, Adam Spence, was drowned below Vernon in 1895. In 1864 David Seymour and Howell Luten, a boy of about fifteen years, were murdered in their beds. These murders occurred on Pretty Creek, two miles west of Vernon, and the object was evidently robbery. Seymour was dead when found by neigh- bors, but the boy lived in an unconscious state for
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several days. They were killed with an ax. The murderer was never apprehended, and, amid the stir- ring events of that year, the murder was soon almost forgotten. In 1885 William ("Buck") Brown killed William T. Easley, at Graham. In 1886 Absalom Cathey was killed at Goodrich by his brother-in-law, Samuel Devault. About this time, and at the same place, Henry Warren killed " Buck " Brown. At Goodrich, in 1887, Alfred Dunn killed Walter Oli- ver. At Goodrich, in 1891, James Lawson killed two negroes, Anthony Lockridge and Henry Crutcher. About this time Samuel Phillips, a negro, killed Wade Carothers, another negro, near Nunnelly; and William Phillips, a negro, was killed at Vernon by Vernon Hedge.
During the Civil War the Seventh District was the scene of several thrilling incidents, in addition to those already mentioned. This district was much frequented by the band of independent scouts, or bushwhackers, under command of Henon Cross, a son of Professor Cross, of Nashville. Cross had associated with him Duval McNairy, of Nashville, and James McLaughlin, of Maryland. They first came as refugees to Hickman County, where their pleasant manners and gentlemanly deportment as- sured for them a hearty welcome. Soon tiring of inactivity, they gathered around them a band of ad- venturous spirits and proceeded to wage war against the prowling bands of Federals that often passed this way. In Cross' command were all kinds of men-
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good, bad, and indifferent. Those whom they espe- cially desired to fight were a similarly organized band of Federal sympathizers, the Perry County jay- hawkers. In July, 1864, a company of these, en- camped at Centerville, concluded to visit Pinewood Mills in search of booty. On their way to Pinewood they treated harshly a number of citizens whom they met. One of these was Lafayette Turbeville. They robbed him of his pocketknife and tobacco, and made by force an exchange of hats with him, in which Turbeville was badly beaten. Finally, adding insult to injury, they forced him to take the oath of alle- giance. He went that night to the camp of Cross, who immediately commenced to take steps toward attacking them on their return from Pinewood on the following day. This he did in a hollow through which the old Centerville road passed one-half mile south of Vernon. Cross took them by surprise, firing upon their flank from his place of concealment in the bushes. At the same time Turbeville and McLaugh- lin charged from the rear, yelling and firing their pistols. This stampeded those who had not already been shot, and a wild chase ensued from there to Centerville, eight miles away. The jayhawkers lost eleven in killed and wounded, about a dozen horses and mules, and two wagons loaded with flour and other spoils gathered at Pinewood. Turbeville re- covered his hat. Campbell Kimbrough, a citizen of Hickman County, who had joined the jayhawkers as a guide, was mortally wounded. He was taken to the
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
home of Dorsey Weatherspoon, on Taylor's Creek, where he died. Cross' party sustained no loss.
In December, 1864, the Federal troops were being concentrated at Nashville. The Federal General, Cooper, was at Johnsonville, and, having had com- munication with Nashville cut off by a raid along the Northwestern Railroad by the Confederate General, Lyon, he marched to Nashville by the way of Cen- terville and Columbia. He came the Reynoldsburg road, and had met with no enemy when he reached Pine River and encamped for the night near H. H. Hassell's and Joseph Webb's. During the night Cross gathered his little band and determined to annoy them on their march to Centerville. Next morning, soon after the Federals had left the valley and had entered the woodlands on the ridge, they were attacked by Cross' men, who would fire and re- treat, only to appear a few minutes later in an attack on the flank or the rear. During one of these attacks Brownlee Cross, a brother of Henon Cross, was seri- ously wounded. The Federal loss was one killed, several wounded, and fifteen captured.
In 1864 Captain Cross was captured by a detach- ment of Federals, piloted by Alex. Puckett, a citizen . of Hickman County. At the time of his capture Cross was attending church at Briggs' Chapel, near the Montgomery Mills. Capture in this case meant death in a few hours, but Cross walked about seem- ingly unconcerned, closely guarded by his captors. Cross came close to where his horse stood hitched.
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With one bound he mounted his horse, broke the limb to which it was tied, leaned over to the opposite side from his late captors, and escaped under a heavy fire, his horse making its way with safety to itself and rider up a steep hillside. It was this and other dar- ing deeds by their leaders that made the people almost forget some of the questionable acts of some of the bushwhackers. Moses Wright, a slave, who was al- ways faithful, was present on this occasion, wearing a coat on which were a number of Confederate but-
tons. These buttons were cut off by the Federals. For this act, Moses, so he said, gave Alex. Puckett " a good cussin'." He, however, qualified his boast by the statement that it was some hours after Puckett and his Federals had gone before the vials of his pro- fanity were uncorked.
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
CHAPTER XI.
THE EIGHTH DISTRICT.
T 1 HIE Eighth District is bounded on the north by Humphreys County; on the east, by the Sev- enth District; on the south, by the Ninth District ; and on the west, by Humphreys and Perry Counties. This district lies in the extreme northwestern portion of the county, and includes a portion of the Duck River valley. Sugar Creek is the principal stream, which lies entirely in this district. It flows into Duck River from the east, and is about eight miles in length. It has several branches, one of which is known by any of the three names: the " Coleman Branch," the " Barren Fork," or the " South Fork." Through the valley of this fork of Sugar Creek runs one of the first roads opened in Hickman County- the Reynoldsburg road. This road ran from Rey- noldsburg, which was in Humphreys County about two miles below the present site of Johnsonville, to Vernon, and later to Centerville. It entered Hick- man County at the head of Ocmulgee Hollow, and ran down that hollow to where it intersects Sugar Creek, about one mile below the forks of the creek. It followed the valley of the creek, running in an easterly direction, until it reached Lee's Furnace, where it left the main valley of the creek and ran up the Coleman Branch to its head. Striking the ridge,
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it ran to Vernon. Later, when Centerville was built, the Reynoldsburg road forked at what is now called the " Rossen place," and the Centerville fork ran to Pine River, which it crossed between the Webb and Hassell places, and thence to Centerville, crossing Duck River at the Griner Ford. The place where it crossed Pine River is no longer a fording place, and the old Reynoldsburg road is now for miles no longer a public highway. The town which gave it its name is now only a memory. When Humphreys County, named for Judge Parry W. Humphreys, was organized, it included all of what is now Hum- phreys and Benton Counties. In 1812 the county seat was located on the Tennessee River below the present site of Johnsonville, and named " Reynolds- burg " in honor of Congressman James B. Reynolds, who lived at Clarksville. In 1836 Benton County, named for Thomas H. Benton, was established, and the county seat of Humphreys County was moved to near the center of the county. The new county seat was named " Waverly " by Hon. Stephen C. Pavatt, who was an admirer of Scott's " Waverly Novels." The decline of Reynoldsburg was swift and sure, and the thriving little town, situated on the Nashville and Memphis stage road, which at one time ranked with Vernon and Charlotte among the prominent towns of Middle Tennessee, is now indeed a “ Deserted Vil- lage," whose almost-forgotten location is marked alone by its dilapidated brick courthouse, which for years has been used as a residence. So also has the
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
glory departed from Grattan's Grove, at Clarksville, where lived the genial Irishman, James B. Reynolds, known as " Count Reynolds."
In 1808 Andrew Carothers, the Primitive Baptist preacher, located on the Coleman Branch of Sugar Creek, at what has for many years been known as the " Coleman place." Near where he located is a fine spring, at which the numerous travelers over the Rey- noldsburg road stopped to quench their thirst. Jesse Sparks, father of James, Hale, Absalom, and Jesse Sparks, and grandfather of J. J. Sparks, for many years lived on the farm adjoining the Coleman place. Samuel Walker lived on Sugar Creek as early as 1807.
In the Wilkins Hollow, which runs into Duck River above the mouth of Sugar Creek, there lived the pioneer Baptist preacher, Jesse Fuqua, Sr., father of the Baptist preacher, Jesse Fuqua, Jr. He was loved best and honored most by those who knew him best. His faith was strong in his power to wield the " divining rod," with which he located underground streams of water. Wells, when dug, would always reveal the presence of water at the places he desig- nated. Fuqua came to this county with Solomon ' Jones, and first located on Big Spring Creek, in the Sixth District.
Above Lee's Old Furnace, and on the main fork of Sugar Creek, William Thornton and William For- rester now live. The line between their farms di- vides one of the finest springs on this creek. Here
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EIGHTH DISTRICT.
at this spring was located one of the blockhouses to which the early settlers repaired for protection against roving bands of Indians. The farm on which this blockhouse was located was for many years the property of William Nicks, who settled there about 1830.
One mile above the blockhouse is the juncture of the north and middle forks of Sugar Creek. The creek was named " Sugar Creek " on account of the large number of sugar maples which grow in the val- ley of this stream, from its source to its mouth. The products of these sugar orchards were a source of revenue to the pioneers. A small basin was chopped in the trunk of the trees. This was called " tap- ping." From below; a small hole was bored into this basin and a cane inserted. Through this cane the sap of the tree would stream into a wooden trough two feet long. The sap-called " sugar water " -- thus collected was carried in buckets and pails to the " sugar camp," where it was boiled down to sugar, which was placed in cups, saucers, and plates to cool. From these primitive molds it was taken ready for the market.
At the head of the Middle Fork of Sugar Creek, Leonard Claiborne, from South Carolina, settled in 1809. In 1820 Samuel Dunaway came from South Carolina and married Mariam Claiborne, a daugh- ter of Leonard Claiborne. Their sons were Giles, Thomas, Benjamin, Mark, Hiram, and Daniel Duna- way. Giles Dunaway lived to be ninety years of age,
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
and died a bachelor. Samuel and Claiborne Duna- way, sons of Thomas Dunaway, now live on Sugar Creek near where their ancestors settled.
The North Fork of Sugar Creek was settled by Reeves and Forrester. Jonathan Reeves, Sr., was a prominent citizen, and he and Obadiah Turner, Sr., were the only slaveholders on the creek above Lee's Furnace. Richard Forrester, from South Caro- lina, the father of Silas and Hezekiah Forrester, set- tled here in 1815. Silas Forrester was the father of Madison, Carroll, and Silas, Jr. Isaiah Forrester was the father of Alfred, Stephen, and Willie For- rester. Lucinda, a daughter of the pioneer, Rich- ard Forrester, married William Turner, a brother of Obadiah Turner, Sr. Alston Moppin, of South Carolina, was one of the first settlers here.
In 1830 Samuel B. Lee and James Gould entered and purchased several thousand acres of mineral and timber lands in Hickman and Humphreys Counties. On Sugar Creek, just below where it is entered by Coleman's Branch, they located their furnace, the old-fashioned stack standing there now. The char- coal for this furnace was burned in the old-fashioned coal pits, and hundreds of laborers, white and black, were employed in cutting wood in the adjacent for- ests and burning it into charcoal. When the furnace was being built here it was thought that in the hill against which it stood there was a rich deposit of ore. When they came to investigate it further, this was found to be not so, and they were compelled to go
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EIGHTH DISTRICT.
near Vernon for ore, which was found in abundance near Pretty Creek. They obtained their ore from two banks-one south of the Reynoldsburg road, one and a half miles from Vernon; the other on the north side of Pretty Creek, three-fourths of a mile from Vernon. The ore was taken from the earth with picks and shovels, placed in ox carts and horse wagons, and conveyed to the furnace, nine miles away. This
was a slow method of mining and transporting, com; pared with the steam shovels and railways of the pres- ent day: The heavy expense which attached to these primitive methods, together with the heavy expense of transporting the products, soon caused the aban- donment of this furnace. The pig-iron products of the old Oakland Furnace, on Mill Creek in the Sev- enth District, were carried overland to the boat land- ing at the lower end of the Young Mayberry lands, in the First District. From this point they were conveyed by flatboats down Duck River. From Lee & Gould's furnace, on Sugar Creek, the pig iron was carried by wagons to the mouth of the creek and placed on flatboats. These boats were flat-bottomed boats constructed by skilled designers. They were about sixty-five feet long and twenty-five feet wide, and would carry several tons. When a boat was loaded and ready to start on the voyage down to the Tennessee River, some trusty man of nerve, who was acquainted with the channel of the river, the nature and strength of the current, and the different and difficult points which must be passed on the voyage,
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
was selected as captain and pilot. He selected as many men as he thought necessary, and after taking on board a good cable, some bread, some jerked veni- son, dried beef, or a side of bacon, he started on his journey and began his lookout for dangers ahead. Sometimes they floated safely into the Tennessee River and on to their destination; sometimes they foundered at " The Hackle; " sometimes they sank in the " White Horse Bend; " and sometimes the treacherous sucks and whirls of the " Paint Rock Bend " claimed the boat's cargo, which, once at the bottom, was seldom recovered. When one of these boats sprung a leak, the pumps were worked rapidly, for the heavily laden boats filled quickly, and to be on a sinking metal boat was hazardous in the extreme. " Uncle Al." Lowe, an aged negro who is yet living, on one of these trips years ago misunderstood the ex- clamation, " Look out! " for the order, "Jump out ! " He obeyed with alacrity, jumped about twenty feet from the boat, went to the bottom of the river, arose, and saw with surprise that the boat was still floating in safety and that he alone of all the crew had obeyed the imaginary order. At the end of the voyages and after the cargoes had been unloaded the boats were. sold.
The landing from which Lee & Gould's boats were launched was a small bottom just below the mouth of Sugar Creek. This was a portion of the land sold to William Totty, Sr., on February 27, 1810, by Asa Shute. B. G. Stuart was then register for Hick-
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man County. Totty owned the lands adjacent to the mouth of Sugar Creek and on both sides of Duck River, and a portion of these lands are now owned by J. B. Pruett, a great-great-great-grandson of Will- iam Totty, the title to the land having remained in the family for ninety years. William Totty came with his cousin, Robert Totty, from Virginia to Da- vidson County in 1807, and then to Hickman County, as stated in the sketch of the Second District. He was the father of one son, William Tottv, and the father of four daughters. Polly married Amsel Ep-
person, who came from Davidson County; Chanie married Henry Ammons ; Sallie married Arthur Rus- sell; and another daughter married James Singleton, the school-teacher, who at one time taught in the Seventh District. William Totty, Jr., was the fa- ther of one son, William Harrison, and one daugh- ter, Sophia Davis, who married Dr. John L. Spence. Epperson lived on the south side of Sugar Creek about a mile from its mouth. He lived opposite the large hollow which bears his name. On the same side and farther down the creek, below a large spring, lived his brother-in-law, Arthur Russell, a well-edu- cated Irishman, who taught school on the creek from 1818 to 1820. One morning Russell rushed into Ep- person's house calling loudly in his Irish brogue for " Omsel." Epperson 'soon found from Russell's ex- cited and almost unintelligible statements that Rus- sell had a deer imprisoned in his stable at home. Epperson took his gun and went with Russell to kill
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
the " dom big beast." As he went he learned that the deer, closely pursued by dogs, had come to a high, heavy fence recently built by Russell, and had fol- lowed it to a corner near the stable, where it was sur- rounded by its pursuers. Russell discovered it, and, rushing in, seized the untamed and desperately an- gered animal by the horns and led it to the stable, the door of which he closed with rails. He left his wife to guard the door with a club while he went for " Omsel." While putting the deer in the stable, Russell was assisted by his wife, who had the deer by the tail, guiding its course. Russell, while this was going on, said : " Sally, hold tight to his tail or ve moight lose ye mon." The deer was slain by Ep- person.
Dr. John Lycurgus Spence, who in 1835 married Sophia Davis Totty, a granddaughter of William Totty, Sr., was born near Coopertown, Robertson County, on August 13, 1810. He was the youngest son of David Spence, who was a hatter. David Spence was the son of Thomas and Sarah (Herri- man) Spence. He was born in New Jersey, and at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War he en- listed in Capt. Robert Wilkins' company in the Sixth Pennsylvania Regiment. While a soldier in Gen- eral Greene's army he was retreating through Surry County, N. C., when he, a half-famished, ragged Continental, was fed by Mary Ann McElyea, the daughter of Lodwick McElyea. He told her that if he lived through the war he would return to
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North Carolina to see her. This he did, and they were married and moved to Robertson County, Tenn. From this county three of their sons-Thomas, Jo- seph, and Daniel-went with the Tennessee troops to New Orleans and participated in the battle there. David Spence died in Robertson County in 1839. His wife died at the home of her son, Dr. Spence, in Hickman County, at the advanced age of ninety-nine years, eight months, and twenty days. Dr. John L. Spence was educated in the common schools of Rob- ertson County. One of his teachers was Jerome Loring. He studied medicine under Dr. Thomas, of Springfield, in 1831 and 1832. He went from Springfield to Reynoldsburg in 1833 to practice his profession, but in the following year he came to Lee & Gould's furnace, on Sugar Creek, where he boarded with James McNeilly. He practiced medicine on this creek and throughout the surrounding country for fifty-one years and until his death, which occurred on January 5, 1885. Soon after he came to Hick- man County he was employed to teach school at the newly erected schoolhouse and church house in the Wilkins settlement. To this place he gave the name " Mount Zion," this being the name of a church which stood near the home of his childhood in Rob- ertson County. New buildings have succeeded the old ones, but the name " Mount Zion " still remains. After the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Rachel Tennessee Patterson, widow of Mark R. Pat- terson, of Nashville. Before her marriage to Patter-
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