USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 19
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
CHAPTER XV.
THE TWELFTH DISTRICT.
T HE Twelfth District is bounded on the north by the First and Fourteenth Districts ; east, by the Fourteenth District; south, by Lewis County; and west, by the Eleventh District. It includes Swan Creek and its tributaries from the Hiram Prince place, now the William Prince place, up to the Lewis County line, above the Harder place. Swan Creek received its name from the fact that a swan was killed in this creek by hunters prior to 1800. As stated elsewhere, it was called by the party which ran the Line of 1784 " Swan River," and it was probably one of this party who killed the swan.
At Swan Bluff, which is just over the line in the First District, B. M. Hutcheson sold goods for twelve years, Arthur I. Nixon succeeding him at this point. Above Haw Branch, at the mouth of which is Swan Bluff, is Persimmon Branch, on which Peter Condor located as an occupant in 1816. John Burcham lived here in 1820. George Tatom, who lived on this branch years ago, was at one time a magistrate in the Twelfth District. He sold his lands to George Peery about 1820. Elihu Morrison lived here from 1816 to 1820. On this branch a family named Banks lived in 1830. Bartlett Mathis lived on this branch in 1860; -
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TWELFTH DISTRICT.
Clayton, a wagon maker, wheelwright, and shoemaker, lived here in 1833.
Copperas Branch, so called on account of this min- eral being found here and used by the pioneers in dyeing their clothing, was settled by George Berry, an occupant, prior to 1830. An " occupant " was one whose occupancy of a tract of land, supplemented by a small established price per acre, constituted his title; his title was based on no warrant; he merely came, settled on a tract, and later paid a small price for it. Joseph Rossen, a cooper and a faith doctor, married a daughter of George Berry and lived for years on this branch a homeless, inoffensive man.
In 1825 William Beakley returned from Missouri (he had gone there in 1820), and bought lands at the mouth of Copperas Branch from Thomas Bing- ham, of Cathey's Creek, Maury County.
Coleman's Branch, named for Coleman, an occu- pant, who' settled on it prior to 1830, is above Cop- peras Branch.
Next is Jenkins' Branch, named for the occupant, Jenkins. This branch was named by the surveyor, George Peery, " Fall Branch West of Swan Creek," and is so called in the early land papers of this section.
The Lewis County line runs near by, and here John Harder has a gristmill, and Mr. Bates a sawmill, both operated by water power, secured by the confining with a dam the waters of a large spring.
The tributaries above named are on the west side of Swan Creek. Going down Swan Creek from the
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
Lewis County line, the first tributary on the east side is Horse Branch. Tully Gregory lived here as an occupant in 1834. The Tolly family lived here as early as 1824, they being original settlers. Below Horse Branch are Upper and Lower Pine Branches, so called on account of the luxuriant growth of pine trees here. Farther down is Fall Branch, named by the surveyor, George Peery, on account of the falls on this branch.
Early settlers on Fall Branch were Azariah Ander- son and James Edwards. Anderson, who lived here in 1825, was the father of Whig Anderson. Azariah Anderson, Jr., also lived on this branch. Martin Condor lived here in 1823.
William Duncan, the father of W. H., James A., David M., Marcenus, and John Duncan, came from Kentucky and bought land at this point from the original owners. The father of William Duncan was killed by Indians. In recent years much phosphate has been mined in this section.
Near the line between the Twelfth and Fourteenth Districts are the places now known as the "Arch Peery place " and the " Gilmore place." They were settled by Robert Peery in 1817. Robert Peery, a son of James Peery, Sr., was born in Virginia in 1796, and in 1814 he enlisted in the American army and went with his three brothers from Leatherwood Creek, in the Thirteenth District, to New Orleans, where they took part in the battle of January 8, 1815. Robert Peery was one of the few American soldiers wounded
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in this battle. After his return from New Orleans, the Peery lands on Leatherwood Creek were lost as a result of a long and expensive lawsuit ; but, undaunted by misfortune, the Peery brothers-Alexander, Rob- ert, William, and George-bought the John Tate lands, five hundred acres. When the land was di- vided, Robert Peery's portion included the present Arch. Peery and Gilmore lands. In 1820 Robert Peery married Jane Brown, daughter of Charles Brown, of Cathey's Creek The children of this union were Charles Brown Peery and John Luther Peery. Charles Brown Peery, who was born on January 23, 1824, at the R. G. Peery place, married Mary A. Lusk, of Maury County. After her death he married Mrs. McGill, of Swan Creek. Brown Peery's two daugh- ters, Margaret and Mildred, died in their infancy. His sons are Robert Alexander Peery and James Ru- fus Peery. John Luther Peery, who was born on March 12, 1826, married Elizabeth Wheat, of Maury County. A son of John L. Peery is Hon. Robert L. Peery, who represented Hickman County in the Legis- lature from 1893 to 1895. He married Sarah C. Holmes, of Maury County, a daughter of Samuel HI. Holmes, the Cumberland Presbyterian preacher. The wife of Samuel H. Holmes was Nancy E. White- sides.
Robert, Alexander, William, George, and James Peery, Jr., were the sons of James Peery, Sr. The first three named were triplets, and all lived to be over
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
fifty years of age, but not one lived to be sixty. The first four named were at the battle of New Orleans. All returned and became leading citizens and the an- cestors of a numerous posterity. James Peery, Sr., was born in England and came to Virginia when young. He served in the American Army during the Revolutionary War. He was a soldier under General Morgan at the battle of the Cowpens.
William Peery moved to Mississippi, where he died. His son, W. D. Peery, was a State Senator in Missis- sippi. The other sons of James Peery, Sr., lived and died in Hickman County, and were buried at " the old camp ground " on Swan Creek. As a family, they were Cumberland Presbyterians.
George Peery was a pioneer school-teacher and sur- veyor, and lived a long life of usefulness. He was born in Virginia and came to Tennessee at an early date. He married Ann Carson, of East Tennessee, and was the father of Marcenus G. Peery, David C. Peery, and George Peery, Jr. His daughters were: Nellie, who married David B. Warren; Mary, who married William P. Weatherly ; Martha, who married Abner F. Aydelott; and Alzenia, who married
Brown, of Lewis County. George Peery was the sec- ond man to hold the position of county surveyor for Hickman County, holding this office from October 28, 1825, to May, 1851. He was succeeded by Sam- uel C. Aydelott, who served from May, 1851, to 1865. David C. Peery was entry taker for Hickman County
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from 1836 to May, 1851, when he was succeeded by George Peery, who served until 1856, at which time the office was abolished.
Near the line of the First and Twelfth Districts, in 1816 and 1817, George, Alexander, and William Peery operated saltpeter works. One evening George left for their home on Leatherwood Creek, cautioning his brothers, who were to remain overnight, to be on the lookout for Indians, the works being located in what was still their territory. After going a short distance, George, for the sake of amusement, rushed back, crying: " Indians !" William and Alexander, trained woodsmen, seized their rifles and sprang into the bushes, from which George expected them to soon reappear. In this he was disappointed. Minutes grew into hours, and finally George Peery reached the correct conclusion that he was there alone, ten miles from the settlement on Duck River at Gordon's Ferry. He, however, remained through the night; and next morning as he journeyed through the woods toward Leatherwood Creek, he met his brothers re- turning cautiously toward the saltpeter works, accom- panied by a party of settlers. Explanations followed, but it was difficult to find a place to introduce a langh.
Samuel C. Aydelott, already referred to as the suc- cessor of George Peery, was born in 1802, and was the son of Joseph and Ann Aydelott, who came from North Carolina. He married Adeline McMinn. He was a brother of Abner F. Aydelott, the father of Marcenus P., William D., James D., Luther, and
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
Samuel D. Aydelott. The latter died in the Confed- erate Army while a soldier in the Forty-Eighth Ten- nessee Infantry. The daughters of Abner F. Ayde- lott were: Margaret, who married Beakley ; Priscilla, who married Burcham ; Frances, who married White- sides; and Ellen, who married Sharp.
The Sharps were early settlers here, and the old Sharp place was for years the voting place and muster grounds for this section. Nehemiah Sharp was the original owner of the James Campbell lands, he hav- ing entered them prior to 1825.
The lands where David M. Duncan and Jonathan Tolles now live were in 1835 the property of - Ca- rothers, an early settler. Jere Harder in 1830 lived where John L. Peery now lives. Here, before the Civil War, lived J. H. Plummer, the owner of a num- ber of slaves. He afterwards lived at Palestine, in Lewis County. He was the father of the late Dr. H. K. Plummer and of O. T., Frank, Lee, William, and T. A. Plummer.
William Harder, Sr., a brother of Jere Harder, was an early settler and lived where Thomas Duncan now lives. He came from North Carolina and mar- ried a daughter of his neighbor, Carothers. His son, William Harder, was a lieutenant in the Confederate Army, was a school-teacher, and was at one time a magistrate in this district. Another son, Pleasant Harder, died while a soldier in the Confederate Army.
In 1821 Thomas McMinn became the owner, by · soldier's warrant, of five hundred acres of land ad-
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TWELFTH DISTRICT.
joining the Tate five hundred acres, bought by the Peerys. These lands are now owned by the Meece heirs, John L. Beakley, and others. William Beak- ley, grandfather of John L. Beakley, became owner of these lands in 1825. Louisa, a daughter of William Beakley, married John L. Flowers.
Richard Meece, who came here from Maury County about 1860, married Margaret Ann, a daughter of William Duncan. He became the owner of a large portion of the McMinn lands and died here.
Robertson Whitesides, who was born in 1800, came from South Carolina to Maury County, and from Maury County to Swan Creek, in 1825. He died here in 1885. He bought land from Brock, the origi- nal owner, and afterwards entered and bought land until he owned over six hundred acres. He was for years a magistrate in this district, and was at one time a member of the Legislature. He married Sarah, a sister of Joseph Webb, of Pine River, and was the father of Pleasant, Luther, and Lafayette Whitesides. His daughters were: Mrs. Mary Ann Duncan, Mrs. Peggy Jane Sharp, Mrs. Nancy E. Sharp, and Mrs. Keziah Burcham. One mile below the Robertson Whitesides place, at which Alexander Peery now lives, is the post office, Sunrise. J. L. Beakley has a store here, and Luther Lindsay has a blacksmith shop.
Luther Lindsay is a son of David Lindsay, who was born in North Carolina on May 18, 1818. David Lindsay married Margaret Gresham, of Lawrence County, who was born on March 22, 1822, and died
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
on October 27, 1895. He is a carpenter and wheel- wright, having learned these trades when a boy from W. S. Ricketts, who lived near Mount Pleasant, in Maury County. Since 1837 David Lindsay has been a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church at "the old camp ground " was organized in 1826, and at present has a membership of nearly one hundred and fifty. The first elders were Robert Peery and James Peery, Jr. Brown Peery, a son of Robert Peery, is one of the present elders. The present pastor is Wesley Young Lindsay, a son of David Lindsay. He has been pastor here for about twenty years.
Buffalo Switch, the point from which the phosphate of this district is shipped, is on the railroad between the head of Indian Creek and Ætna. It was named a few years ago for " Buffalo Bill " Coleman, a well- known bridge carpenter.
Hiram Prince, who lived for a time in the First District, came from Bedford County to the Twelfth District in 1830. His sons were: Isaac, John, Thomas; HI. C., who lived in Kentucky; and James Prince, who died in the Confederate Army. His daughters were: Mrs. Sarah Anderson, Mrs. Louisa Short; Mrs. Malinda Williams, of Perry County ; and Mrs. D. W. Peery, of Kentucky.
Pinkney Prince, the father of O. A. Prince, at one time lived where Hon. R. L. Peery now lives. He married a daughter of Alexander Peery, and during his wife's last illness she disclosed to her attendant
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TWELFTH DISTRICT.
neighbors four hundred dollars in coin stored away in a stocking between the mattress and the feather bed upon which she lay, this representing the savings of years.
Prior to 1844 the people of this section voted at Palestine, at that time in Hickman County. Mus- ters were held at the Robert Peery place, where Gil- inore now lives ; and at one of these, in 1835, Thomas Kingston and Edward Anderson, a son of Whig An- derson, had an unusually savage fight. Peery would not after this incident allow musters to be held on his premises.
In 1825 a man named Jones built a mill at the Thomas Bates place, and in 1822 the Peery brothers had a small mill and distillery at the spring near the church at " the old camp ground."
There is a Missionary Baptist Church at Fall Branch called " Pine Grove." The Primitive Bap- lists have a church at Center, near the county line. This denomination had a church in the pioneer days near the line of the Twelfth, Fourteenth, and First Districts. It was called " Sycamore," it being built of sycamore logs. The preachers here were Benja- min Lancaster, Temple Hicks, and - Wolverton. This church was a short distance from the present site of Swan Bluff post office. Some of the pioneer Cum- berland Presbyterian preachers were Reuben Bur- rows, - King, Richard Baird, and James Calhoun. The latter preached here in 1826 at the first camp meeting held in this section,
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
Hand in hand with the pioneer preacher came the pioneer school-teacher, who taught from a wonderful assortment of readers and spellers. There was then no uniform system of text-books, and for readers the " scholars " used the Bible, " Life of Washington," "Life of Lafayette," "Life of Francis Marion," or, in fact, any book that might be found in the very scantily supplied libraries of their parents. Webster's blue- back speller was used as a reader and speller. The " scholars," in many of the schools, when " getting their lessons," would " spell out loud." For years the question would frequently be asked applicants for schools: " Do you teach a silent school or a spelling- out-loud school ? " The noise from the " spelling-out- loud schools," when in session, could be heard for half a mile. The " big scholars "-the privileged class who, on account of their superior knowledge, were allowed to "go outdoors " to "cipher "-studied Walker's Dictionary, in which only one word ("arc") ended with a "c." Arithmetic, spelled "a-r-i-t-h-m-e- t-i-c-k," was taught only to the "big scholars." The text-books were Pike's and Smiley's, and, later, Ray's. Girls seldom studied " arithmetick," and the boy who reached " the single rule of three " or " the double rule of three "-simple and compound proportion- often " stalled the teacher." This does not apply to the early schools of the Twelfth District alone, but to many of the schools of all the districts of the county.
Samuel C. Aydelott, a surveyor and a good mathe matician, taught at " the old camp ground " in 1830 ;
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TWELFTH DISTRICT.
James P. McNutt taught at Pine Branch in 1832; David B. Warren taught in this district years before the Civil War, as did also George and Alexander Peery. The latter taught here in 1842.
Dr. Carroll, of Centerville, practiced medicine on Swan Creek at an early date. He attended James Peery, Sr., during his last illness, in February, 1829. Later Dr. Samuel B. Moore, of Centerville, practiced here. Dr. Pettus and Dr. H. K. Plummer at one time lived on Swan Creek.
Some of the magistrates of the district were Alexan- der Pecry, William Duncan, Jere Harder, Robertson Whitesides, George Peery, Marcenus G. Peery, Pink- ney Prince, J. M. Harder, and R. D. Clark. The present incumbents are W. D. Aydelott and Esau Anderson. Some of the constables were George Har- din, T. S. Southall, W. A. Beakley, and J. L. Baker. One of the natural curiosities of this district is " Bat Cave," near where J. M. Bates and D. M. Dun- can now live. Miners in 1896 exhumed, while work- ing in the phosphate mines at Fall Branch, four skele- tons, of the identity of which the oldest settlers know nothing.
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE THIRTEENTH DISTRICT.
T HE Thirteenth District is bounded on the north by the Fourth District; on the east and south, by Maury County ; and on the west, by the Second and Fifteenth Districts. It includes within its bounda- ries Leatherwood Creek, with its tributaries-Gra- cey's Branch, Webb's Branch, and Adair Branch. It also includes a portion of Dog (or Cedar) Creek and Fort Cooper Hollow, these being tributaries of Lick Creek. This district was formed by the Legis- lature in 1847, it being taken from the Third Dis- trict.
The Line of 1784 runs through this district, as stated in preceding pages. Through this district ran the old Chickasaw Trace, near the mouth of Leather- wood Creek was "the old Chickasaw crossing on Duck River," and through this district marched the Cold- water Expedition in 1787. Nearly every man promi- nent in the pioneer history of Middle Tennessee set foot, before the beginning of the present century, on the soil now included within the limits of this district. Many incidents connected with the early history of this territory are mentioned in the sketch of the Third District, of which it was for years a part.
The derivation of the name "Sugar Creek" in this
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district is the same as that of "Sugar Creek" in the Eighth District. On this creek, in 1820, there was located a " sugar camp." It was from this creek, which is a tributary of Dog Creek, that Malugin rushed to the home of Gee, in the Fourth District, running from imaginary Indians. On this creek is the Wild Cat Cave, also known as the " Saltpeter Cave." Its first title comes from the fact that it was for years the den of numerous wild cats; the second title comes from the fact that from 1805 to 1820 salt- peter was procured from this cave and carried to Nashville. It was carried over the Natchez Trace, which runs through one corner of this district. The Natchez Trace has the same general direction as the old Chickasaw Trace, but, when it was being opened, the more easily traveled ridge was followed instead of following the old route down Lick Creek and over to Leatherwood Creek. So, on the south side of Duck River, it followed the ridge to the head of Swan Creek instead of going over to Blue Buck Creek and up Swan Creek to the head.
Fort Cooper Hollow enters the valley of Lick Creek a short distance below the location of the historic lick which gave to the creek its name. David Killough settled near the mouth of this hollow in the Fourth District, and some of his tenants lived from 1810 to 1815 near the spring at which Dr. Warren now lives. The family was named Cooper, and their log cabin was given the name "Fort Cooper " by some pio- neer wag. A cabin nearer the head of the hollow was
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called " Campbell's Station." The upper portion of the hollow is now inhabited by a prosperous settle- ment of negroes. They have a school and a church here. The patriarch of this tribe is Nathan George, who was born in Maury County in 1827, and was brought to Swan Creek in 1829 by his master, Heze- kiah George. After the Civil War he came here and bought two hundred acres of land. He belongs to that fast-vanishing class, the ante-bellum negro. Some of the negroes of Hickman County who belong to this class are: William Phillips, the preacher, of Pine- wood ; John Johnson, the school-teacher and barber, of Centerville ; and Centerville's two veteran black- smiths, Charlie Whitesides and Robert Hornbeak. All of these, with possibly one exception, were born in slavery.
Along the ridge between the head of Fort Cooper Hollow and Leatherwood Creek runs an old road opened in 1815 by Parker Tyler, the man who named Little Lot. This road was opened from the place later owned by Tarkington to where it intersects the road running from the old lick on Lick Creek to Leatherwood Creek-the route of the old Chickasaw Trace. Parker Tyler was one of the sons of William Tyler, who was one of the number of aristocratic Marylanders who came, between 1810 and 1815, to Lick Creek, they hoping to repair in this undeveloped country their somewhat shattered fortunes. William Tyler bought the Tarkington place from Asa Shute, who had entered it in 1810. This road opened by
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Parker Tyler connected the Maryland colony with the outside world.
On the east side of Lick Creek, just above the mouth of Fort Cooper Hollow, Dr. Charles Smoot, one of the Maryland colony, located. He married Nettie Dent Tyler, a sister of Mrs. Berry, and a daughter of Will- iam Tyler. A daughter of Dr. Smoot, Ann Hinson Smoot, married Dr. James Greenfield Smith, who in 1840 owned the Killough place. Dr. Smith, who was born in Maryland in 1799, came to Greenfield's Bend, in Maury County, below Williamsport, in 1812. He was a cousin of Dr. Greenfield, who located in this bend and from whom it received its name. In 1825 he came to Hickman County and settled near Gordon's Ferry. From this place he went to the Killough place, on Lick Creek. His oldest son, Patrick Sims Smith, was born on September 18, 1823. He mar- ried Martha, the daughter of Josephus Russell. In 1847 he went with Whitfield's second company to Mexico, and in 1861 he again volunteered, going out with Bateman's company, the first company raised in Hickman County. In 1897 he was still living, although deprived of the use of an arm and a leg by a stroke of paralysis. For his service in the Mexican War he receives a pension.
Gracey's Branch received its name from John C. Gracey, Sr., its first settler. John C. Gracey, Sr., was born on November 25, 1808, and settled here on lands bought by his father, Newell Gracey, on Novem- ber 24, 1822, from John C. Mclemore and John
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HISTORY OF HICKMAN COUNTY, TENN.
Davis. On these lands is a fine spring, at which, tra- dition says, the Indians camped while traveling to and from the crossing at the mouth of Leatherwood Creek. John C. Gracey, Sr., was the father of John C. Gracey, Jr., and of Atlantic Gracey, who married R. W. Shaffer. John C. Gracey, Sr., taught school on Leatherwood Creek in 1834, near the present site of the schoolhouse below Jones' Valley.
Jesse Temple at one time lived on Gracey's Branch. He was born in South Carolina on December 20, 1790, and married Tabitha Tinsley. In 1825 he came to what is now the Thirteenth District, and first located on the line between Hickman and Maury Counties. Here his son, the late John Loyd Temple, of the Sixth District, was born on April 18, 1825. A daughter of Jesse Temple, Mrs. Edith T. Balch, lives in Kansas. John L. Temple's only brother, Jesse Marion Temple, died in June, 1862, while a soldier in the Confederate Army. On May 29, 1846, John L. Temple enlisted in Whitfield's company of the First Tennessee, and at the expiration of his term of service he again enlisted, on September 27, 1847. After his second enlistment he was second lieutenant of Company K, Third Tennessee Regiment. Of this company Ned Fowlkes was first lieutenant, and John W. Whitfield was captain. While a member of the First Tennessee he acted as fifer, and during the Civil War he per- formed the same service for Hubbard's company in the Forty-second Tennessee Infantry. In the Thir- teenth District lives Joshua W. Burnham, who was
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in Whitfield's first company in the Mexican War, and in Bibb's company of the Ninth Battalion in the Civil War. The soldiers of the First Tennessee in the Mexican War were mustered out of service at New Orleans ; the soldiers of the Third Tennessee, at Mem- phis.
Near the mouth of Gracey's Branch lived for years Berry Jones, the father of James Jones, who lives at this place, and of Thomas Jones, the well-known Nash- ville drummer.
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