USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 15
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
son she was Miss Boyd, of Nashville, a daughter of Col. Richard Boyd. Colonel Boyd was a son of John Boyd, who came to " The Bluffs " with Donelson's party in 1780. Colonel Boyd was born on one of the boats during the voyage. When the Mexican War came up, Dr. Spence volunteered as a member of Capt. Jefferson Whitfield's company; but this com- pany was one of the many raised at this time in the Volunteer State, and its services were never needed by the government. In 1850 Dr. Spence and his wife established a boarding school near their home. It was called " Spring Mount Academy," and for several years it was a flourishing and well-patronized boarding school. This was for a time a flourishing locality, and here Dr. Spence engaged in the mercan- tile and milling business until the breaking out of the Civil War, which brought disaster to so many Southerners. Here was established the first post office of the Eighth District. It was named by Dr. Spence, the postmaster, "Dunnington," in honor of F. C. Dun- nington, of the Nashville Union and American.
James McNeilly came from North Carolina in 1810, and located on Sugar Creek just below Lee's Old Furnace. He owned all the land on the creek from that point down to Totty's line, near the mouth. He was a man of intelligence, energy, and honesty. He had plenty of land and live stock, some money, a few slaves, and many friends. His home was on the Reynoldsburg road, and for years he conducted one of the most popular inns along the road. He mar-
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ried Mary Yates, daughter of John Yates, who was also from North Carolina. He died on February 3, 1835. His sons were William, Thomas, John, James, and Matthew McNeilly. The latter married Nancy, the daughter of Joseph Webb. Susan Mc- Neilly, a daughter of James McNeilly, was born on September 16, 1814, and died on October 23, 1856. She married William A. Jones on December 24, 1833. William A. Jones was a son of Solomon Jones, and was born on September 23, 1812. He died on August 10, 1845. He was the father of Solo- mon and Dennis Jones. The former died while in the Confederate Army, and the latter is a promi- nent preacher of the Baptist Church. Mary, Mar- tha, Nancy, Sophia, and Priscilla were daughters of William A. and Susan Jones. After the death of Mr. Jones, his widow married William Phillips. The result of this union was two sons, William H. and Jacob Phillips, and one daughter, Nellie, the wife of W. S. Nunnelly. William A. Jones was a brother of Dennis Jones, who lived and died at the mouth of Beaverdam Creek, in the Ninth District. William A. Jones was buried at his home on Duck River below the mouth of Beaverdam Creek. His wife was buried at the Millington Easley graveyard, near Pinewood.
Near his home on Sugar Creek, James McNeilly in 1829 erected a sawmill and gristmill. This gristmill supplied the citizens for miles around with meal, and later with flour, which was obtained by grinding the
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wheat, and then taking it from the box into which it fell and placing it in a hopper on top of the bolting chest. Through the bolting chest a fine cloth sieve extended. At one end of the chest was a crank at- tached to the sieve within. By turning the crank the ground wheat in the hopper was jostled into the sieve and the flour dropped into a chest; while the larger portion, the bran, was carried down the incline sieve and fell into a box at the other end of the bolt- ing chest. The flour made in this way was rather dark, but, as everybody thought then, made good bis- cuits for Sunday mornings and when company came. Farmers then sowed but little wheat, which was reaped with reap hooks held in one hand. Each swath was caught by the hand and carefully laid in place. The sheaves were afterwards laid in a circu- lar heap on the bare ground, and the grain trampled out by riding and leading horses over it. The heap was occasionally stirred to separate the straw from the wheat. After this the wheat and chaff in vessels were held at arm's length overhead and poured slowly on a sheet. If a wind was blowing at the time, the chaff was carried away and the wheat fell in a heap below; if there was no wind blowing, two men stood
. near by, and by the shaking of a sheet or quilt blew the chaff away. These facts considered, it is small wonder that the early settlers had biscuits only on Sunday mornings and when visitors came.
The old-fashioned ginger cakes sold on election days and muster days at McNeilly's mill were the best ever
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eaten, unless it were those eaten at other places in the county on muster days and election days. On these days, at McNeilly's mill, the entire male population of the Eighth District would meet to vote or muster. On muster days the ante-bellum militia captain would put his men through involutions and maneuvers of which the great Hardee never heard, and which he himself could not possibly have executed, had he tried. But these were good old days. We had the ginger cakes. there ; we had the cider there; we had the boys all there; we were " at peace with all the world and the rest of mankind."
Here at this mill was the voting place for the Eighth District, which, in addition to Sugar Creek, included Brown's Bend and Cude's Bend, on the north side of the river, and Blackwelltown, a settlement on, the south side. The Sugar Creek vote about equaled the vote of the other three sections combined ; hence, in the election of district officers, there was much rivalry between the sections. This culminated later in ill feeling, resulting from a race for constable. The contestants were Ben. F. Wills, of Sugar Creek, and Clement Wilkins, of the Brown's Bend section. Each faction loyally supported its champion, and Wills, on the face of the returns, received a majority. Wilkins, however, had positive assurances from a suffi- cient number of voters to justify the belief that he had been elected and that there had been a fraudulent count. He thereupon canvassed the district and re- ceived the positive statement of a majority of the
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voters to the effect that they had voted for him. De- siring to be assured of this fact before commencing a contest, he secured the services of a magistrate and went over the district taking the affidavits of those who had voted for him. Coming to Andrew J. Tur- ner, whose vote was needed in the Wilkins column, the usual oath was administered and the usual question asked. Turner replied : " Clem., I told you the other day that I voted for you. I am swearing now. I swear that I voted for your opponent, Wills." The contest was dropped. Wilkins, though sincere him- self, had been deceived.
Richard Wilkins, the father of Thomas, Clement, John, and James Wilkins, located within one hundred yards of the celebrated Mount Zion Spring in 1808. He was known as "Little Dickey " Wilkins. He married Susan Epperson, a sister of Amsel Epperson. His son, John Wilkins, married a daughter of Carey Epperson and moved to Texas. There he was slain by a negro whom he was attempting to handcuff, the negro striking him with a hammer. The daughters of Richard Wilkins were Nancy, Susan, Melinda, and Lucinda. The last two were twins, and married brothers, William and Richard Brown. Richard Wil- kins was born in 1771, and died in February, 1863. He was a son of Clement Wilkins, who emigrated from Virginia to Georgia, and from Georgia to Yel- low Creek, in Dickson County, in 1798. Clement Wilkins married Clarissa Dicker, of Virginia. Rich- ard Wilkins saw all phases of pioneer life. When a
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mill boy in Georgia, he was chased by Indians. His horse became entangled in a grapevine, and was extri- cated just as the foremost Indian was almost upon him. Here he lost his bag of meal. The Indian stopped, struck his tomahawk into the sack, poured out the meal, and then disappeared into the forest, carrying away in triumph the empty sack. Clement Wilkins ran a stillhouse in Georgia. This stillhouse was frequented by the Indians. One night, after a party had left, carrying with them a large supply of whisky, Wilkins and family were aroused by repeated knocks on the door. Wilkins, of course, refused to open the door, and demanded the names and business of the midnight intruders. After a muttered con- sultation on the outside, the spokesman of the party of visitors said : " Up, Wuckerson ! Up! Hal Tony be dead." This was the name of one of the day's visitors ; and Wilkins, finally becoming satisfied that the Indians meant him no harm, went on the outside. There he found the valiant Hal Tony dead drunk. Hal Tony recovered and lived to lead many a band to battle against John Barleycorn. But Richard Wil- kins' experience with the Indians did not end with his residence in Georgia. After he married he came to Hickman County. After erecting his cabin near the spring and making other preparations for a perma- nent settlement here, he locked his cabin, containing all of his worldly goods, and, together with his wife, returned to Yellow Creek. They went for the pur- pose of weaving cloth out of which to make their
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clothing, they having no loom at their new residence. When they returned they found a heap of ashes mark- ing the place where their cabin had stood, the In- dians, during their absence, having come from across the river and committed this and other depreda- tions.
In 1809 a blockhouse was built near where Clement Wilkins had located, he having followed his son from Yellow Creek and located near the mouth of King's Branch. Mrs. Clarissa Wilkins was the second per- son buried in the graveyard at this place. The first buried here was Rhoda Pierpont, who was slain by Indians in 1810. She was in the blockhouse, sur- rounded by her children, when the Indians fired the fatal shot through the door. The next day Mrs. Wil- son, who lived in what was later known as " Cude's Bend," heard of this killing, and, as her husband had gone to the Yellow Creek mill, in Dickson County, she was much frightened. She awaited his return until dark, and then, taking up her baby boy, she left her isolated cabin and commenced her journey to the Beaver Creek settlement, twenty miles away. From this settlement she had come six months before. The way was but imperfectly marked and the journey a perilous one, but all through the night she walked on, carrying her boy. Just before day she reached friends and kindred on Beaver Creek. " The son of this heroic woman was William Wilson, who for many years was a magistrate of the Sixth District. He lived at the Russell place. In his honor was named Wilson
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Lodge, F. and A. M., which met at the church house at Lee's Old Furnace.
The Mount Zion church house and schoolhouse was built in 1833. Here the Primitive Baptists have had an organized church since the days of Jesse Fuqua and Claiborne Hobbs. Since they went to their re- ward there have followed in their footsteps Jesse Fuqua, Jr., - French, the three Edwardses, Young J. Harvill, David Thomas, Willis Bryant, Dennis Jones, and many others who have at times visited this sacred spot and made their sacramental meetings and May meetings events to be long remembered and well by the hundreds who have gathered here in the sweet long ago. Here many school-teachers have taught. The first was Dr. John L. Spence. Others were Al- bert Wilson, Robert S. Hudspeth, Clement Wilkins, Oscar Sutton, and Monroe Rodgers. These and oth- ers taught here before the Civil War. One of those who taught here since the war was Reveaux Raymond, who has since become a prominent preacher in the Methodist Church.
In 1858 Andrew J. Stanfield taught school on the Coleman Branch of Sugar Creek. He later taught at the Old Furnace, and still later at Centerville. He was one of the best school-teachers that ever taught in the county. He died a few years ago in Union City.
In 1845 Jonathan Reeves, Jr., had a small mill just above the old blockhouse farm, on Sugar Creek. It was a water mill, the only kind that existed in Hick- man County then. In 1820 Willis Weatherspoon
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erected a mill in the southeastern portion of the dis- trict. It was located in the midst of a pine forest, and was a sawmill as well as a gristmill. From this mill the settlers procured planks, this being a con- siderable improvement over the whipsaw method of supplying lumber for the growing demand. In 1870 Thomas Spencer brought the first steam mill into the district. It was located in the Slate Stone Hollow, on the lower end of the William Jones place, now owned by J. J. Sparks and H. R. Carothers. Since then a number of steam mills have been operated in the district. Among the number was one run at Mount Zion by Dr. A. C. Wilkins, for years a promi- nent physician of this district. The post office at Mount Zion is now called " Only; " it was at one time called " Dreamer." In 1885 a steam mill was operated in Brown's Bend by Stephen Owens. An- other steam mill in this district in recent years was run by Willis Weatherspoon, a grandson of the pio- neer miller, Willis Weatherspoon. The Weather- spoon family is a family of mechanics. James E. Weatherspoon, the youngest son of the pioneer, Willis Weatherspoon, now lives at an advanced age upon the same land on which his father located in the early days of the county. He runs an overshot water mill, the ingeniously arranged machinery being the wonder of those who see it. This family has produced some of the best blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and coopers to be found in the county. Redden, Ruffin, and Calvin Weatherspoon were all good workmen, but James was
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the wheelwright and cooper of the family. Before the Civil War he made a very superior quality of cedar ware, equal in finish and superior in quality to that turned out from the workshops of the State prison at that time. Many washtubs, water buckets, churns, etc., are yet to be seen throughout the county, mute witnesses to his skill. There are also yet to be seen throughout the county Weatherspoon wagons, all displaying a superior quality of workmanship.
While the Primitive Baptists are largely in the majority in this district, other denominations are and have been represented here. In 1856 the Cumberland Presbyterians, under the leadership of Rev. B. B. Brown, established a church at Spring Mount Acade- my, on Sugar Creek. When Brown moved to West Tennessee, this church was gradually absorbed by the Methodists. It was, however, occasionally visited by the well-remembered and much-loved Rev. James Par- rish, who lived in Dickson County. At Lee's Old Furnace, on Sugar Creek, the Methodists organized a church. Among the preachers who labored here were John Reynolds, Simon P. Whitten, Will Allan Tur- ner, the Hinsons, - - Nesbitt, from Yellow Creek; Brooks, and Coleman. Here many great revivals were held. Among those who held out faith- ful to the end was Rev. James Johnson, who from early boyhood lived in this district, and who died here in 1895 at an advanced age. His voice in song and prayer was often heard in the revivals of the county. Not a brilliant man, not an educated man, a man in
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whose veins no blue blood ran, a man who perhaps had some of the frailties peculiar to humanity, he was a man who in his humble way served the Lord after his own manner and according to the dictates of his own conscience. The Christian Church has never been as strong, numerically, in this district as the others named above, but it had here one faithful preacher and representative, Elder David Jackson Blackwell, familiarly known as "Davy Jack." He was the son of Jesse Blackwell, who settled in Black- well's Hollow (or Blackwelltown), on the south side of the river, in 1818, just as soon as it was abandoned by the Indians. Jesse Blackwell was a man of ability in business matters. He wrote title papers in land trades for his neighbors, was their legal adviser, and was considered by the early settlers as authority on questions of law. He erected a gristmill on the lower end of his fine body of land. It was located north of his residence, one mile. Near it stood a large, hollow sycamore tree, in which the horse of the mill boy was often stabled while waiting for the grinding of the grain by the slow process of that day. In recent years the Freewill Baptist preacher, Rufus Choate, of Humphreys County, has preached on Sugar Creek ..
On a branch flowing from the southeast into the Barren Fork of Sugar Creek lived John Coleman, father of ex-County Court Clerk William P. Cole- man. Above the mouth of this branch, on the Barren Fork, lived Robinson Coleman, father of Capt. B. F. Coleman, who gave his life for the "lost cause." He
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was also the father of Capt. John H. Coleman, who taught school for many years in this district, and who died recently in Texas. The father of John and Robin- son Coleman was Benjamin Coleman, who died sud- denly while out hunting. He was found on the hill- side near his home, sitting by a tree, dead. A hollow running into the Dry Fork, below the Coleman place, is called the " Sand Quarry Hollow," from the fact that when Lee & Gould's furnace was being built, sandstone was quarried here for the hearth. At the head of the Middle Fork of Sugar Creek is Dead Man's Hollow, in which the skeleton of an unknown man was found in 1869. It is supposed that the man was some Federal soldier who had fallen into the hands of bushwhackers and had by them been " sent to General Forrest," a phrase which they used to ex- plain the disappearance of prisoners.
Near the mouth of Sugar Creek, on the north, is King's Hollow, settled in 1815 by a man named King. Since that time John E. G. Patton, William Smith, William Clemons, and others have lived in this hol- low. Patton and Edmond Miller, his father-in-law, were the pioneer stone masons of this district. Miller lived, in 1820, in a hollow near where the late John Dodd lived. Stone chimneys yet stand in the dis- trict as monuments to their skill. But one of the most wonderful pieces of masonry in the county is the still standing stone stack of Lee & Gould's old fur- nace. The stack was built of roughly dressed stone by a man named Heel. The stack is about forty feet
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high and about forty feet square at the base. Some of the stones of which it is composed weigh several tons. It stands to-day, unhurt by the ravages of time, a inonument to the skill and energy of the young Irish- man, Heel, who superintended its erection.
At the base of a towering bluff below the mouth of Sugar Creek, in 1870, Minn and Samuel Easley fcund buried three human skeletons. Two were skele- tons of adults ; the third, that of a child. They were found all in one grave, covered by a flat rock.
Above the mouth of the creek is an island into which many valuable rafts, property of citizens of Maury, Bedford, and other up-the-river counties, have been thrown. Above this island, in 1835, was the mill of Richard Wilkins, just below the Wilkins Ford at the mouth of the Barren Hollow. Above the mouth of the Barren Hollow, and on the south side of Duck River, is the famous bluff known as the "Devil's Grandmother's Building." However, neither history nor tradition asserts that the grandparent of His Sa- tanic Majesty ever had residence here. At the upper end of this long wall of rock is the noted cave in which was once situated Blackwell's mill. Tradition has it that here, too, an Indian chief of renown had his coun- cil chamber.
Opposite this bluff, and on the north side of the river, are the fertile lands of Brown's Bend, which received its name from Dr. William Brown, who came from Georgia by the way of East Tennessee to Ver- non, and later settled in this bend. He settled here
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when the Indians were yet uncomfortably close to him, they roaming just across the river. Near the spring at the mouth of King's Branch, where the blockhouse was located, Allan P. Kelly, a soldier of the War of 1812, settled in 1815. He often told of one of the night attacks which occurred previous to the battle of New Orleans. During this particular fight in the dark, he said that the running which he did was far more dangerous than the fighting. Kelly died in 1849, as the result of blood poisoning caused by a tick bite under his arm. Dr. William Brown, the first physician to locate in the district, came from Vernon some time between 1811 and 1815. He still, however, was the family physician of Garrett Lane and other pioneers of Vernon, riding fifteen miles to visit them when they were ill. He was the father of John ("Jack"), Jere, and Richard Brown. The lat- ter, who met a tragic death by his team running away, was the father of Jesse R. and William H. Brown, the former of whom is still living in Brown's Bend. Jere Brown was a man of convivial habits, which he always made manifest when he visited the stillhouse of " Uncle Dickey " Wilkins. When ready to start for home, he would say to his horse, Jawbones : " Now show me how you act when Becky starts to mill." The horse would immediately fall to his knees, and Jere would mount and go on his way rejoicing. Local wags made him the hero of the story of the inquisitive owl and the unsophisticated traveler, and many were the choice bits of profanity which they alleged that
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Jere, when going home with his " jag," would hurl at the owl, who asked him impertinent questions.
Daniel Murphree, the father of Stephen, Levi, Ca- leb, Redden, Benton, Daniel, and David Murphree, settled in 1811 at what is now known as the " Willis Brown place." He was from North Carolina, and came to Hickman County with Garrett Lane, Dr. William Brown, and others.
Samuel Wherry came from North Carolina to Pine River, in the Seventh District, in 1825. In 1830 he came to Brown's Bend and bought land from Richard Wilkins. He died a short time after coming here, but his widow and boys-Cornelius, Irving, James, William C., and John-paid Wilkins for the land. Mrs. Wherry was, prior to her marriage, Elizabeth Shirley, and was a native of South Carolina. Of the sons of Samuel Wherry, only one-William C .- is now alive. He was born in 1828.
At the upper end of Brown's Bend is Bickerstaff Eddy, so called from the fact that Bickerstaff, a boat- man, who lived at the mouth of Taylor's Creek, floated into this eddy and experienced much trouble in get- ting out. This was at an early date.
Just above this eddy, at the Blackwell Ford, a son of Redden Weatherspoon was drowned. He and an older brother were crossing the river here in a wagon, when they missed the ford, and the older brother was almost drowned in an attempt to rescue the younger one.
On the same side of the river and above Brown's
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Bend is Cude's Bend, which was settled by John Cude about 1815.
The only cotton gin ever operated in the district was erected in Cude's Bend in 1860 by William H. Ca- rothers, who operated it until 1870.
On Duck River, above Cude's Bend and at the Horseshoe Bend, is a point known to boatmen as the " Hurrah Bush." Here a boat was wrecked, and the boatmen, taking refuge in trees, called loudly for help.
This was the place of a double drowning a few years ago. David Askins, now of Centerville, to- gether with Mrs. Huldah Richardson, her daughter- Miss Sallie Richardson-and Miss Cassie Mayberry, attempted to cross the river near this point in a vehi- cle. The mules became unmanageable, turned into deep water, and soon all were swept downstream. Askins swam ashore, and rescued Miss Richardson. Mrs. Richardson, whose body was recovered on the same day, and Miss Mayberry, whose body was found some months later near the mouth of Wolf Creek, were drowned.
Some of the magistrates of this district were James McNeilly, Amsel Epperson, Jesse Blackwell, Robin- scn Coleman, W. H. Brown, R. J. Work, Robert Bing- ham, O. B. Turner, W. H. Baker, C. Weatherspoon, J. J. Sparks, J. A. Pope, and the late Robert S. Pot- ter. Some of the constables were A. W. Coleman, O. B. Turner, John H. Coleman, John Weatherspoon, R. C. Forrester, W. F. Wherry, and Amos Alexander. W. F. Wherry has several times been a deputy sheriff.
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John Grimmitt, of this district, was a deputy under Sheriff Stephenson. William P. Coleman, of this district, has, since the Civil War, been county sur- veyor and County Court Clerk. His uncle, Robinson Coleman, was, before the war, tax collector. W. J. D. Spence, who was reared in this district, represented Hickman County in the State Legislature from 1891 to 1893. Some of the physicians of this district, in addition to those already mentioned, were Dr. A. B. Brown, Dr. Joseph Thompson, and Dr. Jones.
The Eighth District furnished its quota of soldiers to the Confederate Army. Benjamin F. Coleman was a captain in the Forty-second Tennessee Infantry, and was killed in battle; his brother, John H. Cole- man, was a lieutenant commanding a company in the Forty-second Tennessee Infantry; J. R. Brown was a lieutenant in the Forty-second Tennessee Infantry ; W. J. D. Spence was captain of a company in the Tenth Tennessee Cavalry; and David M. Spence was a lieutenant in the Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry. Many gallant men from the Eighth District went out as privates, and sleep to-day in many graves in many States.
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