USA > Tennessee > Hickman County > A history of Hickman County, Tennessee > Part 8
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At Gordon's old ferry Duck River is now spanned by a good bridge, built by the counties of Maury and Hickman at a cost of $10,000. Fatty Bread Branch, which flows into Duck River here, is for a short dis- tance near its mouth the line between Maury and Hickman Counties. The large, white house among the cedars on the hill near by was the residence of Maj. Bolling Gordon, who for years was, political- ly, Hickman County's most prominent citizen. The large number of surrounding buildings were the quar-
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ters of his numerous slaves. All of these buildings show plainly the marks left upon them by Time in his flight. The brown brick building with the severe- ly straight walls which stands in the valley south of Bolling Gordon's old residence was the home of Capt. John Gordon. This much-dilapidated and out-of- date building was for years the most elegant home in Hickman County. Here lived the most aristocratic family of the county. The name of Gordon, once so prominent in the county, is now no longer to be found here, and it is doubtful if even a relative can be found in the county. The old home is almost in ruins, and where once was grandeur, gloom now is. And the waters of the near-by branch with the peculiar name seem to murmur :
Men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.
Bolling Gordon married Mary Watkins, of Vir- ginia. He was a member of the General Assembly of the State from 1828 to 1836, sometimes as Senator, sometimes as a member of the Lower House. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1834, and also of the Constitutional Convention of 1870, being one of the few men of the State who enjoyed the distinction of being a member of two constitutional conventions. When the convention convened at Nash- ville on January 10, 1870, Bolling Gordon, on motion of A. O. P. Nicholson, was made temporary president of the convention. Major Gordon, on taking the
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chair, referred to the fact that he was the only one present who had been a member of the other conven- tion, which had met " almost on this identical spot thirty-five years ago." He referred to some of those with whom he was then associated, naming the ven- erable Blount, the upright Walton, and the brilliant Francis B. Fogg. In closing, he said : " May I not invoke this convention, in which I see so many gray heads and so many distinguished men, to aid in mak- ing a constitutional government which shall answer all the ends designed ? May I not invoke you to dis- charge all the duties of the occasion with credit to yourselves and with benefit to the State?" Later, when the president of the convention, John C. Brown, was absent, Major Gordon was, upon motion of John F. House, again called to the chair. During the con- vention he served with distinction as a member of the Committee on. Elections. As chairman of the Com- mittee on Common Schools, he left his impress upon that portion of the Constitution providing for Tennes- see's present public school system. Major Gordon died about 1880.
On September 24, 1835, in the brown brick build- ing above referred to as the home of John Gordon, Louisa Pocahontas Gordon was married to Felix K. Zollicoffer, who, while leading a Confederate brigade, was killed at the battle of Mill Springs, Ky., on Sep- tember 19, 1862. Zollicoffer, who was a Whig, edited the old Nashville Banner, was Comptroller of Ten- nessee, and was at one time a member of Congress.
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No braver man ever wore either the blue or the gray.
Powhattan Gordon married Caroline Coleman, of Maury County, who was a sister of William and Ru- fus Coleman. Rufus Coleman was the best fiddler to be found in Hickman County in the early days. He clerked for William Coleman and Powhattan Gordon, who, about 1830, had a store near where the late Jo- seph Bond lived. This store was on the Dr. Green- field Smith place, and was situated on the south bank of Duck River near the old ferry landing. Dr. Smith, who was a cousin of Dr. Greenfield, of Greenfield's Bend, lived here in 1825. He afterwards lived on Lick Creek. He was one of the colony which had come from Maryland to Tennessee. The Colemans probably also came to Tennessee with this colony. They were, at least, related to some of its members, the Tylers. Near Gordon & Coleman's store Ben. Wilson, of Leatherwood, sold whisky ; and just above, on the lands of George Church, were two race courses, one a half mile in length, the other a mile. This section bore the suggestive name of " Pluck-'em-in," and was the scene of many a revel in the twenties and thirties. In 1825 John Skipper had a stillhouse on Jackson's Branch. Richard Smith was probably the first to sell whisky in the village of Shady Grove, but this was long after the notorious " Pluck-'em-in " had gone out of existence. George Grimes had a saloon at Shady Grove in 1854. The laws were not then so stringent, and men, while under the influence of
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whisky, seemed to have less of the brute in their nature than has the average drunken man of the pres- ent day. Men did not then fill up on mean whisky in order to prepare themselves to make murderous assaults upon their fellow-men as they do in this day of higher civilization.
During the existence of " Pluck-'em-in," one of its frequenters was Robert White, a noted gambler. One day there came to George Church's race course a stranger riding an ugly, " slab-sided," bobtailed bay horse, with mane roached, like a mule. The stranger was shabbily dressed, and the questions he asked about the horses and horse racing showed him to be entire- ly unfamiliar with the sport then in progress. He drank some and was very anxious to buy cattle, of which he was in search. He learned that there would be in a few days a big horse race on Josiah Shipp's track near Centerville. By going there he could see cattle owners from all over the county, and, in addi- tion to this, he was told that he could see a very lively horse race. For this latter he did not care, but, al- though an additional twenty miles' ride would be rather hard on his horse, he concluded to go on to Cen- terville in order to buy cattle, of which he was in great need. He went to Centerville the night before the day on which the races were to be run. The next morning he was one of the large crowd at the track ; but by the demon, Drink, the quiet, inoffensive cattle buyer had been transformed into a swaggering drunk- ard, who wanted to bet on the race money which his
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appearance showed he could ill afford to lose. His condition was such that he could scarcely walk, and his faculties were so overclouded that he did not care which horse he backed. He just wanted to bet. He had seen other people bet at Church's track, and, so he said, he had as much money as anybody. His own old horse was hitched near by, and, mounting it, he, continuing his boasting, announced that it could beat anything on the ground. Remonstrances were in vain, and he, continuing to wave his money, soon found takers. He was, in race-course parlance, " an easy thing," and soon there was a mad rush for his money. Having come for the purpose of buying cat- tle, he had money to cover all money offered him, and, in addition to this, was soon betting money against watches, pistols, overcoats, etc. When the horses lined up for the start, some of the more observant noticed that the stranger seemed to have become strangely sober in a short time. When three-fourths of the track had been gone over and the stranger and his horse were still well up in the bunch, it was re- membered that nobody had seen him take a drink. When the stranger's horse won with ease, beating Griner's horse, the pride of Hickman County, it gradually dawned upon those who had bet with the stranger that they had been victimized. The stranger was Shilo True, the trickiest trickster of them all, and the missionary work that he did that day produced lasting good. Many saw the error of their way and never bet again. Many who that day bet with the
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professional gambler, Shilo True, afterwards became the most prominent citizens of the county. Two of his converts were Emmons Church and his father, Abram Church, who, riding back to Shady Grove without their overcoats, agreed that they would gam- ble no more. For years, whenever people saw the appearance of fraud, a cheat, or a swindle, or when they wanted to halloo, " Enough !" they simply said, " Shilo ! " and were understood.
On the old " Pluck-'em-in " grounds lived the late Joseph McRea Bond, a progressive and well-to-do farmer, who was born in Maury County on February 14, 1833. He came to the Eleventh District, near Ætna, in September, 1851, but soon afterwards re- moved to the Fourteenth District, where he was for many years a magistrate. He came to the Third Dis- trict a few years ago, and until his death owned this valuable land along the Natchez Trace. It was here that McIntosh felled the first timber in the county preparatory to making a clearing. The first corn raised in the county, however, was on the place now owned by Thomas Field, in the Seventh District, where the cane was cut away and corn raised in 1806.
From 1813 to 1815 many troops passed over the Natchez Trace going to and returning from the South. Jackson's army in the Creek War, in the operations against Pensacola, and in the fights around New Or- leans, was composed of Tennessee militia. His sol- diers, who are entitled to the name solely on account of their fighting qualities, were unused to military
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service and seemed to be controlled by the idea that they could serve until they became tired, then quit. It was Jackson's ability to hold enough of these to- gether to win every fight in which he engaged that showed he was a great general. During these two years squads of neighbors would form, go and attach themselves to some command in Jackson's army, serve until they became hungry and tired, and then return home. The prospects of an immediate fight would more nearly serve to keep them together than any army regulations. So the general statement to be found in local tradition that General Jackson marched his army over the " Notchy " Trace to New Orleans is misleading. At the time the British fleet bore down on New Orleans, Jackson was at Pensacola. Coffee was also there, and marched his men through to New Orleans. Carroll, who had the immediate command of the 2,500 'Tennessee hunters who prac- tically fought and won the final battle of New Orleans or. January 8, 1815, carried his men to New Orleans by boats, starting at Nashville on November 19, 1814. In January, 1813, Coffee, with 650 cavalry- men, had gone over the trace to Natchez. However, the larger portion, if not all of the Tennessee portion, of Jackson's army returned from New Orleans by the way of Natchez, and over the Natchez Trace to Nash- ville. It is said that the soldiers from this section of the State were discharged on the Natchez Trace near where the Lewis monument now stands, the parting between General Carroll and his soldiers being an
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affecting scene. So, while Jackson's army did not in a body go over the trace to New Orleans, it returned this way, and during the Creek War many straggling detachments went and returned this way. A story of the return trip from New Orleans was told to the late Daniel Smith by William Grimmitt, who lived on Smith's land on Dunlap Creek, and is yet remembered by many citizens of the Third District. Grimmitt, in connection with the story, pointed out a hollow tree on a hillside near the trace. Grimmitt, when he enlisted, lived in Dickson County. On the return from New Orleans in the spring of 1815, a former neighbor of his became seriously sick before they came to the Tennessee River, and he was detailed to drop out of ranks and care for his sick friend. Owing to the sick man's condition, they traveled very slowly. Other Dickson County soldiers, reaching home, told Grimmnitt's father that his son was in company with the sick man somewhere on the Natchez Trace this side of the Tennessee River. The father proceeded to find the trace and follow it in search of his son. When Grimmitt and his sick companion were near the tree pointed out, a rain came up, and his companion sought shelter in this hollow tree and remained until the rain ceased. They then continued on their jour- ney, but, after crossing Duck River, the sick soldier became much worse, and, lying down by the side of the trace, soon expired. Securing assistance, the . body was carried to the Dr. Long place, now known as the Rufe Puckett place. Jack Charter, of Leather-
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wood, made the coffin. Charter was the father of Cave. Charter, a well-informed citizen of the Thir- teenth District. The dead soldier was buried on the Long place, and soon after friends or relatives came from Dickson County and placed a rock wall around his grave. On the day of the burial Grimmitt's fa- ther arrived with horses, and they returned together to Dickson County. This is the story of the rock- walled grave of the unknown soldier on the Rufe Puckett place. Grimmitt, while he lived in Hickman County, drew a pension as a soldier of the War of 1812, and a part of his pension money was used to pay his burial expenses. He was buried in the old Presbyterian churchyard on Cathey's Creek in Maury County. Soon, perhaps, his grave, too, will be marked " Unknown," as no stone with epitaph marks the last resting place of this old soldier of the War of 1812.
He has fought his last fight, He sleeps his last sleep ; No sound can awake him To glory again.
From the late Daniel Smith much information was obtained concerning the history of the Third District. His father, George Smith, was born in Georgia in 1779, and came to Nashville in 1797. From Nash- ville he went to Dickson County. He came to Hick- man County in 1825 and settled on the lands owned by the late Joseph Bond, locating within two hundred
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yards of Gordon's Ferry. Here he and several mem- bers of his family are buried. Near McConnico's Church, on South Harpeth, he married Nellie Baker, daughter of Absalom Baker. She was born in Vir- ginia in 1794. Their children were : Daniel, James, Benjamin, George, Lindsey, Collins, Catherine, Mary, Rebecca, and Emeline.
Daniel Dansby Smith was born on Jones' Creek, in Dickson County, on May 13, 1813. He died on Dun- lap Creek in 1898. The names of his children are: R. J., J. H., Erastus, Daniel L., George E., Francis, and Ellen. R. J. Smith was killed during the Civil War by Federals near Charlotte. After the Thir- teenth District was detached from this, about 1848, Daniel Smith was elected constable of the Third Dis- trict. The election was held at Shady Grove, which then became the polling place, and there was a general fight on the day of the election. Later he was one of this district's magistrates for six years, and in 1862 was elected sheriff, receiving every vote cast in this district, save one.
Prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1834 justices of the peace were elected by the Legislature, the basis being not more than two for each militia. company in the county, with the exception of the one which embraced the county town; for this one, not more than three. In 1834 civil districts were first established, they becoming the basis of representation as they are now. After this the justices of the peace were elected by the people. Previous to this the peo-
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ple sometimes made their selections, communicating their wishes to their Representative. This was done here in 1827, when Samuel A. Baker and Granville M. Johnson were selected as the choice of this section. The selection was made by the friends of the several candidates lining up by the side of their choice. The men in the several lines were then counted and the re- sult declared by tellers. For some time after 1834 the larger portion, if not all, of the present Third, Thirteenth, and Fifteenth Districts were in one civil district. The voting place was at the place where William McEwen now lives, William Weems living there then. Johnson lived on Leatherwood Creek. Baker was the father of John Baker, the first sheriff of the county after the Civil War. He was a magis- trate from 1827 to the time of his death in 1862. He was succeeded by James Nelson Bingham, who served eighteen years. Bingham was born on March 25, 1808, in North Carolina, and died on January 16, 1876. He married Rebecca Smith, a sister of Daniel Smith. She was born in Dickson County on Decem- ber 13, 1811, and died on April 15, 1885. James N. Bingham was a son of Robert Bingham, and came to Hickman County in 1830. The first constable of the district was John H. Davis, who was not related to the surveyor, John Davis. He lived at the George Mayberry place, north of Gordon's Ferry. He could neither read nor write, and the magistrates did his writing for him. He was, however, a faithful officer. Josiah S. Wheat, son of Wyley Wheat, was born on
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March 7, 1840. He was constable of this district for twelve years, and was deputy sheriff under Sheriff John V. Stephenson. Phil. Hoover, of this district, was at one time a deputy sheriff, and William J. Mc- Ewen made one of the most popular and efficient sheriffs the county ever had.
Shady Grove, situated on Dunlap Creek one mile from Duck River, was given its name by Henry (Harry) Nichols, who was the first merchant here. The name is still an appropriate one. Shady Grove is noted for its churches and schools. The Christian Church has a membership of one hundred and twenty- five, and the Methodist Church has a membership of about fifty. In the upper story of the Methodist Church is the lodge room of Trinity Lodge, No. 501, F. and A. M. This lodge was organized in 1871, and was for years the only working lodge in the county. John. R. Bates was its first Worshipful Master. In 1897 some of the officers were : George McGahee, W. M .; J. R. Bates, S. W .; G. W. Adkisson, J. W .; P. P. Anderson, Treasurer; D. W. Flowers, S. D.
From 1800 to 1805 was the time of the " Great Revival," an era of great religious excitement through- out Southern Kentucky and Northern Tennessee. It . was during this time that " the jerks " prevailed and camp meetings originated. Barton Warren Stone was pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Bourbon County, Ky., and, hearing of " the jerks " or " epi- demic epilepsy " which prevailed at the camp meet- ings which were now becoming numerous, he attended
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one. This hitherto staid Presbyterian was so im- pressed with what he saw that he wrote a book de- scribing it. A writer, referring to this, says : " Elder Stone has been described as a man of respectable bear- ing, of spotless character and childlike simplicity, and easily attracted to the strange and marvelous. His judgment was somewhat under the dominion of his imagination." A further extract from the same au- thor is given without comment: "About the same time (1804) other sects sprang up, known by the respective names of 'Stoneites,' or 'New Lights ; ' ' Marshall- ites,' 'Schismatics,' etc. By these 'heresies' the Synod of Kentucky lost eight members. The ' Stone- ites,' or 'New Lights,' were a body formed mainly through the efforts of Elder Stone after he had de- cided to abandon Presbyterianism altogether. This new body was called by its adherents the ‘Chris- tian Church,' while by outsiders it was called by the name ' New Lights.' They held many of the views which afterwards characterized the Campbell refor- mation, especially the famous dogma of 'baptism for the remission of sins,' and Elder Stone intimates in his book pretty plainly that in adopting it the ‘Disci- ples of Christ' or 'Campbellites,' as the followers of Alexander Campbell were originally called, had stolen his thunder. When the Campbell reforma- tion reached Kentucky, Elders Stone and Purviance united with the reformers, and thus the Southern branch of the old 'Christian Church ' disappeared. Since then the name ' Disciples,' or ' Campbellites,'
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has been exchanged for the old name, the ‘Chris- tian Church.'" Without discussing the appropri- ateness or inappropriateness of any of these names, the simple statement is here made that this church has for nearly eighty years been one of the lead- ing churches in this section of the county, and from its starting point here has spread to nearly every
other neighborhood in the county. Here near Shady Grove, at what is known as " The Stand," this church was first established in Hickman County about 1820, and here was held their last camp meeting in 1834. In addition to its being the first in the county, it was among the first in the State. Barton W. Stone preached here during the twenties, and the celebrated Tolbert Fanning preached here at a later date. Na- thaniel Kellum, William Nicks, and John Hooten, of this church, preached here as early as 1825. John Hooten was a son of Elijah Hooten, who, as a soldier in the American army, was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He came from Virginia
to Tennessee about 1811. He was one of ten chil- dren, and was the father of eleven. He married Mary Reeves. His son, William R. Hooten, was also a preacher, having been ordained in this district in. 1829. John Hooten had but one eye, and could not read or write. However, he is said to have been a good preacher, and his memory was so good that he gave out his songs correctly, quoted his texts correctly, and told where they could be found. He died in Mar- shall County at the age of seventy-five. William
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Nicks was the father of seventeen children, one of whom is the venerable Elder John Nicks, the well- known preacher, who now lives in the First District. John Nicks was born in the Third District on April 2, 1829. Another Nicks who preached at "The Stand," at a later date, however, was Absalom Doak Nicks, Jr., son of Absalom Doak Nicks, Sr. Absalom Nicks, Sr., was a brother of William Nicks, and was born in North Carolina on March 6, 1794, and died in Arkan- sas in 1848. He married Hester Perry, who was born in South Carolina on October 8, 1788, and died at Williamsport, Maury County, in July, 1858. Ab- salom Nicks, Jr., was born on Mill Creek, in the Fifth District, on July 19, 1826. In 1845 he married Margaret Blocker, who was born near Williamsport on July 10, 1829. His chances for obtaining an edu- cation were limited, but by home study he stored his active and retentive mind with much valuable infor- mation. He was a close student of the Bible, and it is said that while at work in his blacksmith shop he had this first of all books so placed that he could read while at work. He moved to Dickson County, and there made a record of which any man might feel proud. At the close of the Civil War, when it became necessary to reorganize the State government, Gov- ernor Brownlow, in appointing Representatives from the disloyal counties, appointed Nicks, a conservative Union man, to represent Dickson County. He ac- cepted the appointment, which came without solicita- tion ; but when he entered into the discharge of his
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duties, he voted as he pleased and according to his ideas of justice and honesty. This did not meet with the approval of his partisan associates, and they pre- ferred charges of disloyalty against him and declared his seat vacant. The elective franchise having been restored to the people of Dickson County, they elected him to fill the vacancy. He so satisfied his people that he was tendered a reelection. This he declined. He now lives in the Fourth District of Hickman County.
The first Methodist to preach at " The Stand " was Arthur Sherrod, who preached here as early as 1825. He was from Leiper's Creek, and had been a captain of militia before he commenced to preach. While the Presbyterian Church, weakened by the secession of the followers of Elder Stone and others, was finally rent asunder by the effects of the " Great Revival," the Methodist Church gained greatly by this religious awakening. In Tennessee, in 1796, there were 799 white Methodists and 77 colored ; in 1803 there were 3,560 whites and 248 colored. Phelan tells the story of the advent of Methodism into Hickman County when he says: " Other denominations have followed in the wake of civilization; the Methodist circuit . riders led it." The one church in Tennessee which neither gained nor lost by the " Great Revival " was the Baptist Church. Its members kept the even tenor of their way, looking upon their neighbors who had " the jerks " with feelings in which were blended pity and contempt. Occasionally at a camp meeting a
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