History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 49

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013

USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 49

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Burden gave bonds to the County Court in the sum of one thousand pounds for the faithful discharge of his duties as treasurer. The trustees had power to fill all va- cancies caused by death or resignation by the appointment of successors from among any of the freeholders of the town.

This act was amended in April, 1796. Howell Tatum, Richard« Cross, William Tate, and William Black were ap- pointed additional trustees. A district jail and stocks for the district of Mero were authorized. The trustees were empowered to "lay off a Water Street, to begin at the upper boundary line of the town, and extend down the river a direct course till it intersects the cross street leading through the lower part of the public square, and from the lower line of said town to the upper end of lot No. 8."

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

The land between this street and the river was to be laid out and sold for the purpose of building the district jail and stocks for the district of Mero. The town was au- thorized to execute a deed to the Methodists, who had erected a meeting-house on the public square, and also to lay off suitable lots on the same for other denominations.

ORIGINAL SURVEYS AND MAPS.

The first survey of lots in the town was made by Thomas Molloy (for whom Molloy Street is named) in 1784, accord- ing to the provision of the above act. The original copy of the survey was lost, and Molloy made another survey in 1789 for Hon. John Overton, a copy of which is now in . the archives of the Tennessee Historical Society.

The oldest map of the vicinity of Nashville now extant is the McGavock map, which we publish on another page. It was made by David McGavock, a surveyor and large land owner in this vicinity, in 1786, and is a fine specimen of the draughtsman's art for that early day. David McGav- ock was a son of James McGavock, Sr., a prominent and influential citizen of Wythe Co., Va., of which he was a magistrate and sheriff, sustained a very high character for probity and benevolence, and where he died in July, 1812, aged eighty-four years. Two of his sons, David and Ran- dal McGavock, emigrated to Nashville at an early day. David, who was a civil engineer and land-surveyor, arrived a few years after the first cabins had been built on the Bluff, with means at his command to purchase the most de- sirable lands he could find for his father and himself. His first purchase was a tract of nine hundred and sixty acres lying north of the Sulphur Spring and extending down the river to McGavock's ferry, made for and in the name of his father, James McGavock, Sr. His next purchase was six hundred and forty acres, now partly covered by North Edgefield, bought for himself in his own name. He then purchased six hundred and forty acres more, lying next north of Edgefield, for his father. The map, of which we give a reduced but exact sketch on the next page, showing Nashville and its surroundings at that early period, was made by himself as surveyor in August, 1786, and sent to his father in Virginia, where it remained in keeping of mem- bers of the family in Wythe County until May, 1880, the centennial anniversary of Nashville. It is now in the pos- session of Mrs. Dr. Van S. Lindsley, of Nashville, a great- granddaughter of David McGavock, by whose courtesy we have been permitted to make a copy for publication.

The more than two thousand acres around Nashville so well selected by David for his father and himself all became the property of David McGavock ultimately by purchase and inheritance, and were by him left to his sons, James, John, Francis, Lysander, Hugh, Randal, David,-and Sally, who married Joseph L. Ewing. He never moved across the river to his own first purchase, but built him @ house at McGavock's Spring, near the cotton-factory of North Nashville, on the tract belonging to his father, embracing all the land on which the northern section of the city stands.

FIRST COURT-HOUSE AND JAIL.

We find in the County Court records the following entry : " The court fixed on a place for building the court-house

and prison, agreeing that in the present situation of the settlement they be at Nashborough ; to be built, at the public expense, of hewed logs. The court-house to be eighteen feet square, with a shade of twelve fect on one side of the house, with benches, bar, and table for the use of the court. The prison to be of square-hewed logs, a foot square; both with loft and floor, except the same shall be built on a rock." This entry was made in 1783, but no court-house and jail had yet been built when the act laying out the town was passed in April, 1784; hence we infer that the buildings were not erected according to the first plan ; and we have no evidence that they were according to the second. Col. A. W. Johnson, in a note before the writer, says, " A stone house on the square was used for a court- house and for a free church and public meetings. The first court-house was built in 1803, on the square, and two have been built near the same spot since then. The first jail was a one-story log house on the square, about twenty by thirty feet in size, and a whipping-post and pillory near by it."

INITIAL EVENTS.

In the summer of 1780, Robert Gilkie sickened and died, and was the first man of the American settlers who died a natural death. Philip Conrad was killed by a tree falling on him, near the junction of Cherry and Demonbreun Streets, the same summer.

Capt. James Lieper was the first man married in the set- tlement, and his was the first wedding west of the Cumber- land Mountains. The ceremony was performed by Col. Robertson, who was at the head of the Government of the Notables, in the summer of 1780. No spirits were used on the occasion, although there was a feast and dancing. The great delicacy for the ladies was roasting-ears, while the men ate dried meat, buffalo tongues, and venison. The following note respecting Capt. James Lieper has just been received, and, coming from a reliable source, we publish it in this connection : " Capt. Lieper was second in command to Col. Robertson, and at the attack upon the fort at the Bluff, in 1781, a council of war was held, at which Lieper was in favor of going out to fight the Indians, while Rob- ertson's advice was to stand on the defensive. Lieper was shot through the body on the 2d of April, 1781, and died a few days afterwards. He married Susan Drake, a sister of Benjamin, John, and Jonathan Drake, signers of the ' Articles of Association,' and had one child, Sarah, who married Alexander Smith in 1799. She was the mother of Benjamin Drake Smith, now residing on Cherry Strect, in Nashville. Miss Susan Drake was therefore the first lady married in the settlement."

The first male child born in Nashville was Felix Robert- son, whose birth occurred on the 11th of January, 1781. He was an eminent physician, was mayor of the city in 1818, and also in 1827 and 1828.

Col. Richard Boyd, a son of John Boyd, who came to Nashville with the Donelson party, is claimed to have been the first male child born in Nashville,-born, it is said, on the boat the same night his parents arrived. His birth is set down in the family Bible-and no doubt correctly-as occurring on the 15th of April, 1780; but this was when the party were down about the mouth of Red River, and

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·A Sketch of Some Plantations on Cumberland River,

by Dellaroche Augt 1st 1786.

Wells Mill Creek

West 320

South 320

James MC Gavock 640

220

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East 178

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Luckhole Spring

Fountain Blue

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South 576

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East 320 Poles

French Lick

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James Shaws Land Area 610

South 146

East 170

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Sam! Ewings Land 640 acres

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North. 320 Poles

320 Poles

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Photo, by Armstrong, Nashville.

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197

CITY OF NASHVILLE.

nine days before they reached Nashville. The journal of Col. John Donelson, kept by himself throughout that entire expedition, says,-

" Monday, April 24th .- This day we arrived at our journey's end at the Big Salt Lick, where we had the pleasure of finding Capt. Robertson and his company."

Going back in the journal to the 15th-the date assigned for the birth of Col. Boyd-we find the company were down about the mouth of the Red River; hence Col. Boyd must have been born on the way to Nashville, and not at the landing, nine days later than the recorded date of his birth. These facts will serve to reconcile what has appeared to be a contradiction, and, at the same time, leave the almost universally accepted tradition that Dr. Felix Robertson was the first male child born in Nashville unshaken. It is a matter of little consequence, except as establishing a his- torical fact.

The first physician made his appearance in 1785, in the person of John Sappington, who compounded pills, cover- ing them with mystery and a coat of sugar, and they were extensively used and known as " Sappington's pills." They had a wonderful reputation. Lardner Clark, "merchant and ordinary-keeper," was the first man to open a dry-goods store in Nashville, which he did in 1786. His stock of goods was purchased in Philadelphia, packed on ten horses, and came through the State of Virginia, East Tennessee, and part of Kentucky. Mr. Clark's goods consisted of cheap calicoes, unbleached linens, and coarse woolens; and he combined liquor-selling and tavern-keeping with his dry- goods operations. Wearing apparel, until then, was com- posed almost entirely of dressed skins. Other licensed taverns were soon opened, and rates of charges for food and spirituous liquors were established by law.

In 1787 the twenty-six one-acre lots which had been sold for four pounds each, North Carolina currency, were taxed at one dollar,-total twenty-six dollars. This was the first assessment of real estate.

In 1788 the Constitution of the United States, which had been adopted by ten States, was voted upon by this settlement and almost unanimously rejected. In 1789, North Carolina adopted the Constitution. The State of Franklin arose in East Tennessee, and then expired, and all wheeled into line as members of the confederacy of States.

Jan. 12, 1789, Andrew Jackson was admitted as an at- torney-at-law, and was appointed attorney-general in 1790.

In 1796 the first church was erected in Nashville, on the public square, near the court-house, jail, and stocks. It was known as the Methodist church, and was torn down or removed in 1807 or 1808.

In 1796 or 1797, Thomas Bailey, an Englishman, reached Nashville from Natchez, passing through these Western wilds on a tour of observation. After returning home he wrote an account of his journey, and in speaking of Nashville and the early settlers, he mentioned the fact that he saw more wheeled vehicles here than any one could have sup- posed in such a new, wild settlement. He said the early settlers were strong-minded as well as strong-bodied, and capable of carrying on a government of their own, if need be. He said they were becoming wealthy, and were rapidly improving in education, manners, and dress. Mr. Bailey

was afterwards the first president of the Royal Astronomical Society of London.

In May, 1798, three dashing young Frenchmen arrived in Nashville, who attracted a good deal of attention and afforded the greatest joy to old Mons. Demonbreun. They were brothers, sons of the Duke of Orleans, and the eldest was subsequently known as Louis Philippe, King of France. They left here in a canoe, proceeding down the Cumberland River to the French settlements in Louisiana.

In 1801 the town was placed under the government of an intendant and six commissioners, and a law was passed by the General Assembly at Knoxville to authorize them to build a market-house. The building erected was twenty by forty feet in dimensions. Water Street was laid out and opened this year.

In 1802 there were but four brick buildings in Nash- ville,-viz., the market-house on the public square, twenty by forty feet; Hynes' corner, a one-story, where Hugh Douglass now owns; a one-story, corner of square, where the Burns Block now is, and occupied by William Witherall ; and a one-story on Market Street, occupied by Joseph Mc- Kain, and afterwards by John and Alexander Craighead. A large proportion of the private houses and stores were built of cedar logs and weatherboarded. Where the Nash- ville Inn stood was a frame house owned by William T. Lewis, and kept as a tavern by Isham A. Parker, and after- wards by Clayton Talbot and others. A frame house on the north side of the square, where the Ensley Block now is, was owned and kept by Thomas Talbot for many years. The Bell Tavern, on the west side of the square, near the corner of College Street, was kept by Thomas Childress, E. Buford, and others. On the east side of the square, a stone house where Berry & Demoville kept so many years was kept as a tavern by William Roper. Capt. John Gordon, the noted brave commander of the spies under Gen. Jack- son in the Indian wars, kept a hotel on the west side of Market Street, near the square. He was the father-in-law of Gen. Zollicoffer, and father of Boylin and Powhatan Gordon.

MANUFACTURERS IN 1802.

George Poyser, cotton-spinning factory, succeeded by Isaac Allen; James and Isaac W. Titler, coppersmiths ; David C. Snow, tinsmith ; Jesse Collins, cotton-gins; John & Thomas Detherage, cabinet furniture; William Sientz, boots and shoes ; Robert Smiley and James Condon, tailors ; William Y. Probart, ready-made clothing; Peter Bass, tanyard; William Sneed, E. W. Brookshire, and Temple, Gaines & Co., carpenters; Thomas Shackleford, Solomon Clark, and -Lard, brickmasons; Ellis Madox, black- smith ; William Carroll, nail-factory; John and Thomas Williamson, saddlers; Joseph T. Elliston, silversmith ; Joseph Engleman, butcher; Samuel Chapman, stonemason ; Egbert Raworth, silversmith.

MERCANTILE FIRMS.

King, Carson & King, King, Trigg & Richardson, Picker- ing & Waller, Stump, Rapier & Turner, Goodwin & Walker, Hickman & Childress, John & Alexander Craig- head, John P. Erwin & Co., Joseph & Robert Woods, Witherall & Yeatman, William Black & Co., James Stewart

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

& Co., Brahan & Atwood, Thomas Deaderick & Co., Pit- way & Cantrell, Andrew Hynes & Co., Joseph McKain & Co., George & Jacob Shall, Robert Stothart & Co., E. S. Hall.

OTHER EARLY SETTLERS.

Robert B. Currey, postmaster ; G. M. Deaderick, John Overton, John Dickerson, Jenkin Whiteside, Dr. John Newman, Dr. Felix Robertson, Dr. May, Martin Armstrong, John C. McLemore, Robert Searcey, Bennet Searcey, Ster- ling, Eldridge, and James Robertson, William Chandler, Dr. Wheaton, Timothy Demontbreun, Richard Cross, Wil- liam Lytle, Dr. Roger B. Sappington, Dr. Watkins.

In 1803 the number of inhabitants was from one thousand to twelve hundred. The principal business was done on Market Street and the public square. There was but one house on Water Street and Market Street each, and occupied respectively by Col. Richard Boyd and Dr. Daniel Wheaton, between Church and Broad Streets. At the end of Church Street, on the river bank, was a stone house or fort, probably the first built in Nashville. Also a large stone house on the public square, used at an early day as a court-house and church, etc., but for a fort wher first built.

The engraving on the next page will give a good idea of the town in 1804.

John C. Mclemore was a clerk in the surveyor's office of Martin Armstrong, and became the largest land-owner in the State, with the exception, possibly, of William Polk. He was a fine-looking, intelligent, thoroughgoing business man, and owned land all over the State. Fort Pickering, below Memphis, was once his property. He died poor in California several years ago. His possessions were too large, it is said, to be successfully managed. He was a universal favorite with his fellow-men.

In 1806 the trustees of Cumberland College sold out in lots a large portion of the land of said college, extending from the centre of Broad Street south to the farm of Richard Cross, and in 1807 laid the corner-stone of the college, which is now one wing of the medical college of Vanderbilt University. The first president of Cumberland College was a man of brilliant mind and a great scholar,- viz., Dr. Jos. Priestly,-and held in grateful remembrance by all who had the good fortune in his day to come under his instruction as a teacher and lecturer. His whole mind was bent on instilling into the minds of his students the most liberal education, many of them being very prominent in their day and generation,-viz. : Hons. John Bell, Cave Johnson, E. H. Foster, R. C. Foster, and William B. Tur- ley, of Tennessee; Richard Walthal, of Alabama; ex-Gov- ernor Edward White, of Louisiana ; and others.

The first race-course in or near Nashville was on the land of Richard Cross, in about what is now the centre of South Nashville, where Gen. Jackson ran his noted horses President, Vice-President, Truxton, etc.

A terrible flood in the Cumberland River (the highest this century) occurred in 1808, sweeping houses, fences, stock, etc., off all low-lands, hundreds rendered homeless, and fleeing to the high-lands for safety. The next highest freshet was in 1847.

INCORPORATION OF THE CITY.

The town of Nashville was incorporated in 1806, and the following officers were elected : Joseph Coleman, Mayor ; John Anderson, Recorder; John Deatheredge, High Con- stable; and James Hennan, George M. Deaderick, John Dickinson, Robert Searcy, Jos. T. Elliston, and James King, Aldermen.

We give below a full list of the mayors, recorders, and postmasters who have served to the present time.

MAYORS OF NASHVILLE.

1806-8 .- Joseph Coleman.

1809-10 .- Benjamin J. Bradford.

1811-13 .- William Tait.

1814-16 .- Joseph T. Elliston.

1817 .- Stephen Cantrell, Jr.

1818 .- Felix Robertson.

1819 .- Thomas Crutcher.

1820 .- James Condon.

1821 .- John P. Endin.

1822-23 .- Robert B. Currey.

1824 .- Randal McGavock.

1825-26 .- Wilkins Tannehill.

1827-28 .- Felix Robertson.

1829-32 .- William Armstrong.

1833 .- John M. Bass.

1834 .- John P. Erwin.

1835-36 .- William Nichol.

1837-38 .- Henry Hollingsworth.

1839-40 .- Charles C. Trabue.

1841 .- Samuel V. D. Stout.

1842 .- Thomas B. Coleman.

1843-44 .- Powhatan W. Maxey.

1845 .- John Hugh Smith.

1846 .- John A. Goodlett.

1847-48 .- Alexander Allison.

1849 .- John M. Lea.

1850-52 .- John Hugh Smith. 1853 .- Williamson H. Horn.

1854-55 .- Robert B. Castleman.

1856 .- Andrew Anderson. 1857 .- John A. McEwen.

1858 .- Randal W. McGavock.

1859 .- S. N. Hollingsworth.

1860-61 .- Richard B. Cheatham.

1862-64 .- John Hugh Smith, elected by the city coun-

cil, who were appointed by Andrew Johnson, military governor.

1865-66 .- W. Matt. Brown.

1867-68 .- A. E. Alden.

1869 .- John M. Bass, receiver part of the year.

1869-71 .- Kindred J. Morris.

1872-73 .- Thomas A. Kercheval.

1874 .- Morton B. Howell:

1875-80 .- Thomas A. Kercheval.

RECORDERS.

1806-16 .- John Anderson.

1817-18 .- Moses Norvell. 1819-23 .- Joseph Norvell.

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REFERENCES.

1. An Old Yellow Frame, two-story.

2. An Old Log, one-story.

3. Market, 40 feet long.

4. Court House.

5. Stocks ..

6. Jail, with Picket Fence.

7. Tilbot Tavera ( Frame), two-story.

8. Old Yellow Frame, one-story.

9. Brick Store.

10. Stone Tavern, Captain Demumbrane.

11. Frame Shop, one-story.

12. House, McKane, two-story.

13. D. Robertson.

14. Brick Store, J. B. Craighead, two-story.

15. Frame Store, William Tate, one-story.

16.

D. Robertson, two-story.

17.

" James Jackson, two-story.

18. two-story.

19. Tavern, Eakin, one-story.

20. Ferry and Keel-Boat Landing.

Broad St.

Church St.

T.Napier occupant E Small 2 story Frame

M! Nairy's spring

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Present Summer Str

W.Tate Occupant

now 185+ Walkers now. Capitol Hill

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. Sulphur Spring Salt made ofit

Present

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Dr. Henning's

Stone Hon se's former Fort

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19 18 17 16 15 14

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Johnson's® Honse. Ferry. & Ked Boat .... Landing

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NASHVILLE IN 1804.

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WILLIAM NICHOL died at his residence on the Lebanon pike, six miles from the city of Nashville, on Nov. 23, 1878. His death WAS sudden ; his life was a long and useful one. He was born at Ab- ingdon, State of Virginia, in 1800. His father, Josiah Nichol, was for long years a citizen of Nashville. A self-made man, a well-known merchant of solid worth, who became and was the president of the United States Bank at Nashville for many years, and until it ceased to exist, Josiah Nichol was one of Nashville's "worthies,"-industrious, diligent in his calling, of rare good common sense and sound judg- ment,-an honest man. There was no man who knew him that did not respect and esteem him. He was a real, genuine man, and no sham.

He brought up his son William Nichol to industry, diligence, and work. In early life, having served an apprenticeship under his father, he at the early age of sixteen went into the dry-goods business as a partner of Joseph Vaulx, which continued until 1825, in which year he was married to Miss Julia Lytle, daughter of William Lytle, of Rutherford County, sister of the wife of Hon. Ephraim H. Foster.

Col. Foster was a senator, lawyer, and statesman, and exceedingly popular with the people of Tennessee. Both Mrs. Foster and Mrs. Nichol were remarkable and rare housewives, and persons of great energy and business talent, and true helpmates to their husbands.

Immediately after Mr. Nichol's mariage he went into the general commission business, and speedily formed a partnership with Harry R. W. Hill, who afterwards took into the firm Mr. Porterfield. In the fall of 1825 they owned the steamner "De Witt Clinton," and sub- sequently built the steamer "Nashville" and a "lighter" to bring up goods from Harpeth Shoals, called the "Talleyrand." The enterprise was remarkably successful, and was known throughout the county for its high character and credit. The firm was dissolved in 1833, and Harry Hill went to New Orleans, became a member of the house of Dick & Hill, greatly increased his estate, and died. William Nichol became secretary of an insurance company, in which he con- tinued until the establishment, by the State, of the Bank of Tennes- see, when he was made its first president. He invested his estate, made by his own skill and judgment and business talent, in Nashville city property, and in a large farm and tract of land with improve- ments of great value, dwelling-house, etc., on the Lebanon pike, the late residence of Mr. Jo. Clay; here for the remainder of his life he made his family residence, and lived in a liberal and hospitable style and reared a large family of children, giving to each all the advan- tages of education the country could afford. He also invested his capital in a cotton plantation and large tracts of land in Arkansas, on the Arkansas River, which yielded him for many successive years a princely income. where he settled his son Josiah on a cotton planta- tion, and then his son Alexander, where he is now residing and plant-

ing cotton. At the beginning of the war his estate was estimated at one million dollars.

Mr. Nichol retained his " mental and moral faculties," though far advanced in years and feeble in body, up to the time of his death,- so much so that he wrote deeds a short time before his death and made, in his own handwriting, a complicated lust irill, disposing of his large estate as he desired to do, doing equal justice to his children. His wife survives him, and he leaves her well and liberally provided for.

He, like James Woods, John M. Bass, William J. Philips, Josiah and John Nichol, Jacob MeGavock, John Harding, Thomas Harding, Samuel Morgan, and many others whom the writer could enumerate. representative men of this society and community, benefactors in their day and generation, will be remembered and live in the history of Nashville and Davidson County.

One of Mr. Nichol's public-spirited acts-known to the writer- was the part he took in aiding and obtaining for the city of Nashville the location of the seat of government in 1843. He was at the time mayor of Nashville. There was great difficulty in getting the Legis- Jature, then in session, to locate the Capitol at Nashville. Other rival places for the seat offered sites for the Capitol building. It was thought it would aid in its location at Nashville to offer a site for the Capitol building, and would probably be decisive. Accordingly, the writer knows that Mr. Nichol suggested and became active in obtain- ing and offering such site, free of cost, to the State. He and others contracted with George W. Campbell for the purchase of " Capitol Hill," made themselves personally responsible for the purchase money, the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and offered it as a site, and the seat of government was located at Nashville. The city authorities afterwards assumed and paid the consideration or purchase money, and relieved the public-spirited citizens who had made themselves personally responsible.

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 49

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1013

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013