USA > Tennessee > DeKalb County > History of DeKalb county, Tennessee > Part 8
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
lightful to us children than to get a peep in on the show folks, especially the show girls, this being ac- complished through the friendship of Mary Reece, the innkeeper's amiable daughter."
Ed Reece, of Nashville, who was brought up in the Reece House, but who is now a prosperous Nashville man, says the building stood where Lester's department store now stands, on the south side of the principal street. "I think," he continues, "it was formerly con- ducted by Jack Baird, Sr., father of James and the late Jack Baird. My father exchanged property with James Baird for it and had it put in fine repair, open- ing it to the public in 1851 or 1852. My father was a Whig, and the Whigs all stopped with him. Among the guests of more than local repute I mention Jordan Stokes, Sidney S. Stanton, Gen. Bill Cullom, and Bird S. Rhea. There were balls there a plenty prior to the big war, and young people from Carthage, Lebanon, Gordonsville, and Nashville attended. An event I dis- tinctly remember was the marriage of Horatio Betty- probably the grandfather of Willie Betty Newman, the distinguished Nashville artist-and Miss Mary Lawrence, daughter of William Lawrence, who lived in Wilson County, west of town. Betty lived at Gor- donsville. The young married folks and their friends, about thirty couples in all, were horseback, and stopped for dinner on the way to Gordonsville for the 'infair.' As there was then no very great opposition to intoxi- cants, some of the gentlemen merrymakers imbibed freely. Two guests at the tavern when we had balls were the Misses Roulstone, relatives of the pub-
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
lisher of the first Tennessee newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette. One of them on one occasion highly incensed a guest by refusing to dance with him because he did not wear pumps."
The old people name John Vantrease as Alexan- dria's earliest innkeeper. Mrs. Sallie Browning kept a tavern prior to the days of the Reece House. The Reece House was in later years conducted by T. Wil- liams and then by Joseph Lawrence. The present well-patronized hotel is owned by Byron Bell.
In 1846, or thereabout, a stock company built a large tavern at Smithville, the first host being Dr. G. W. Eastham, possibly. On January 2, 1852, it was incorporated. The incorporators were: Ransom Youngblood, John B. Tubb, Alex Goodwin, T. B. Fite, R. C. Sanders, Charles Schurer, Samuel Turner, Elect Tubb, James Tubb, William Floyd, Elias Barbee, W. H. Magness, W. B. Lawrence, W. W. Wade, William A. Duncan, and M. M. Brien. Was it leased at this time by Col. John H. Savage? The oldest member of the Tennessee Conference, Rev. J. W. Cullom, says Savage was in control of it in 1854. The builder of the tavern was said to have been David Morrison, the architect of the State prison. It changed pro- prietors frequently. It was once purchased by David James, who sold it to Matt Lee, then by B. M. Webb, and is now owned by B. M. Cantrell.
Beckwith Place, just east of Snow's Hill, became very popular in ante-bellum days, and is one of the best-known landmarks of DeKalb County. Mrs. Beck- with was a Miss Roulstone, of the Knoxville family 8
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
just mentioned. Beckwith was in its prime when Bon Air Springs, on the mountain, was in its heyday. Travelers to and from that resort liked to spend a while at Beckwith Place. Many very notable guests have been sheltered there.
On Snow's Hill, four miles west of Smithville, Thomas Bradford kept a famous inn at the sign of the Two Cranes. A distinction claimed for the proprietor is that he had the earliest orchard in that section, not excepting that of Giles Driver, the pioneer, who lived to the age of one hundred and four. Luke McDowell's tavern was not far from Beckwith Place, a mile west- ward. After the War between the States, John L. Boyd occupied the McDowell Inn.
No doubt there was a tavern at Sligo Ferry, on the eastern side of Caney Fork River and on the stage road. It was a very important point at one time. Bird S. Rhea and A. L. Davis, who owned a large store and warehouse, operated the ferry and that end of the stage road. Sligo was the head of navigation, and the firm was able to do a very heavy business by loading boats at Nashville and transporting merchan- dise and other freight to Sligo. Price's stagecoaches traveled that way. The travel by stage, carriages, and freight wagons was tremendous. But when the Nash- ville and Chattanooga Railroad was constructed to McMinnville Mr. Rhea saw that it would injure White and DeKalb Counties and left the place for Nashville, where he became a factor in business circles, as is his son now, Isaac T. Rhea, President of the St. Louis and Tennessee River Packet Company.
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
In this East Middle Tennessee section there is much picturesque scenery. Off the turnpike some miles are the Caney Fork "Narrows," where the river makes a nine-mile bend, but comes so close together at one point that one can stand on the ridge between and toss a stone into the current on either side. The views at Fall Creek and Culcarmac Falls, also in the boundaries of DeKalb County, are magnificent and inspiring. From the top of Snow's Hill (the turnpike passes over the summit, a distance of two miles) the sight may traverse long distances, especially south and west, taking in a bewitching panorama in winter or summer. On each side are deep valleys, gloomy and forested, and miles to the south the long, hazy crest of Short Mountain, suggesting the back of leviathan afloat upon the ocean surface. Traveling westward, there was once the well-kept Trough Spring. The water, gushing out of the hill, was brought down to the pike in wooden "spouts" to a very capacious trough. Here the stage horses were checked to allay their thirst, and it is doubtful if any passenger could pass without de- siring to quaff. If in the night, the trickle and mur- mur awoke his thirst; if in the daytime, the sparkling streamlets dashing over mossy stones had the same effect.
Between Dowelltown and Liberty one of the noisiest streams, reminding you of Browning's "How the Water Comes Down at Lodore," issues from the Gin Bluff cave and finds silence in the Crowder Hole of Smith Fork. It used to run a cotton gin long ago. On Dry Creek the stream cast out of a cave has for
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
three-quarters of a century furnished the power to run Crips's Mill.
Then you arrive at Liberty, resting like a sleeping hound at the feet of a dozen lofty hills-the Barger and Evans hills to the east, the Gin Bluff and Dismal hills to the north, to the west the Bethel and Lamberson hills, and to the south the Bratten, Givan, and Clarke hills-cultivated to the tops and hazy in summer, in winter drowsing to the winds' singing, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork." And in their embrace this: Smith Fork Creek forming a silver horseshoe, great bottom fields, the pioneer graveyard on a rise covered with pennyroyal and gashed with gullies, the battle ground where General Winchester fought the Cherokees, the more modern cemetery with three thousand sleeping inhabitants, and a village so queerly arranged that the son of a pioneer once described it as being three miles long and thirty feet wide.
-Still going westward, the road crawls by the beetling Allen Bluff, then through other picturesque hills until Alexandria is passed and the Wilson County line reached, where the low grounds set in.
As a general thing, the stage drivers were "charac- ters." Didn't they have a right to feel their impor- tance and to exercise their prerogative of letting a boy swing onto the boot or driving him away with a great swipe backward with the whiplash? Uncle Sam depended upon them to be on schedule time with his mail; the traveling public was also beholden to them; and, sitting behind four horses, manipulating
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
the lines cleverly if not pompously as the milestones were left behind, they certainly had some part in the nation's affairs. The names of a few have been pre- served, and for the sake of the old-timers who knew some of them in the flesh and of the one-time boys whose cherished ambition was to be a stage driver and at night toot the bugle as the announcement of his approach to the post office they shall be recorded here : Ben Blades, Yance Lamb (a dandy), Tom Hearn, Josiah Youngblood, Mr. Angell, Mr. Kelley, Mr. Bridges, Mr. Sadler, Bob Witt, Abe Witt, Mr. Potts, "Scotch John," Horace McQuire, Jim Little, Mose and Charles Vannata, James Dearman, J. H. Meacham, Tom, Jim, and William Dearman, Isaac Borum (who drove about twenty years), William Lewis, Sr., Wil- liam Lewis, Jr., and William Robinson (who drove about fifteen years).
So, while the first note of the bugle on the famous old stage road was a reveille, the last sound, lingering mournfully among the hills, meant taps forever, the old order giving way to the new.
The mail is now delivered to the four principal towns twice a day and once on Sunday. The postal system must have been very unsatisfactory to the people a century and less ago. It is said that the residents of Liberty for a long while had to go to Carthage, which was laid off in 1804, and other points to mail letters. As late as 1797 the mail to Knoxville, then the State capital, arrived only twice a month. It must have been several years later that there was a mail route to Liberty. In 1789, about eight years before the first
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
settler came to Liberty, there were only seventy-five post offices in the United States. Postage was so high and ready money so scarce, as stated elsewhere, that letters often remained in the post office for weeks be- cause the person addressed could not pay the postage. In the daybook of E. Wright, a Liberty merchant, his customers are frequently charged postage. It may be he was an early postmaster. Thus under date of June 23, 1832, is this memorandum, "Liberty Lodge No. 77, Dr., to postage paid on letter from G. States Secty., 66 cents," and this under date of August 20: "Lemuel H. Bethel, Dr., to cash to pay postage, 181/4 cents." The adhesive postage stamp was not used in America until 1847. The method was to fold a letter, fasten it with sealing wax (no envelope), and mail it, the re- ceiver to pay the postage. The rates of postage from 1789 to 1816 were : For any distance under forty miles, 8 cents; under ninety, 10 cents ; under one hundred and fifty, 121/2 cents. From 1816 to 1837 they were : For distances under thirty miles, 614 cents; under eighty, 10 cents; over four hundred, 25 cents; and these rates were quadrupled upon letters which weighed an ounce.
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CHAPTER XI.
THE COUNTY SEAT.
THE country adjacent to Smithville was settled by a most worthy class of people, second to none in any part of the county. Old names that come to mind are : Giles Driver, Jesse Allen, Martin Phillips, Tobe Mar- tin, Britton Johnson, Allan Johnson, James Lockhart, John Wooldridge, J. C. Kennedy, P. G. Magness, Zach Lafever, D. League, Henry Cameron, Bernard Richardson, Samuel Chandler, Elijah Chambers, Ed- ward Hooper, William Adcock, Luke McDowell, John Maynard, the Whaleys, Wades, Beckwiths, Atwells, Bradfords, Smiths, Gilberts, Dunlaps, Colverts, Pot- ters, Cantrells, Pedigoes, Isbells, Bonds, Bozarths, Rheas, Davises, Dearmans, Wests, Fosters, Tyrees, Grays, Magnesses, Judkinses, Titsworths, Dentons, and others.
When the county was organized at Bernard Rich- ardson's in March, 1838, a committee, composed of Joseph Clarke, Thomas Allen, Joseph Banks, Watson Cantrell, and Thomas Durham, was appointed to select a site for the seat of justice and erect a courthouse and jail. James Dearman, one of the middle-aged men of Smithville, thinks the center of the county was found to be a mile north of the present Smithville ; but as Bernard Richardson had donated fifty acres of land for the town, it was located thereon. But Rev. W. P. Banks, grandson of one of the commissioners, writes under date of April 27, 1914: "My grandfather was
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
the first trustee of the county and one of the men who located the county seat. It was first selected two miles south of the present town on the McMinnville road ; but when on digging a well (the mound of dirt is there now plainly visible) the commissioners failed to get water they accepted the proposition of Mr. Richardson, provided they should find water for the public well. Grandfather was a leading spirit in all this."
The first name selected in the original bill for the seat of justice was Macon, but by amendment it was changed to Smithville in honor of Samuel G. Smith, one of the Secretaries of State, who died in 1835. He held this office from 1832 to his death.
The first courthouse was soon erected. Prior to 1844 it was replaced by a two-story brick building, costing about $6,000, while the log jail was replaced by a brick structure, costing something like $2,500. Subsequent to 1890 the present courthouse was erected.
It may not be out of place to chronicle the fact here that on August 28, 1890, when new county buildings were seen to be needed, an election was held to change the county seat. A site was offered by C. W. L. Hale on his farm, about halfway between Dowelltown and Liberty. Much excitement prevailed, the election re- sulting in a majority for no removal.
The following lawyers have been residents of the county at various times. If all are not included, it is not an intentional omission, but an oversight: M. M. Brien, J. J. Ford, A. M. Savage, J. H. Savage, W. W. Wade, Sr., W. W. Wade, Jr., John B. Robinson, Ralph Robinson, Solon Robinson, Joseph Clarke, J.
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
W. Clarke, Robert Cantrell, William B. Stokes, James A. Nesmith, Robert C. Nesmith, T. M. Wade, B. M. Webb, Boone Trapp, R. M. Magness, W. G. Crowley, M. A. Crowley, B. M. Cantrell, J. W. Overall, Alfred Smith, B. G. Adcock, P. T. Shore, Alvin Avent, Will T. Hale, Dan O. Williams, J. W. Botts, John Gothard, H. A. Bratten, W. D. G. Carnes, R. B. Ander- son, I. C. Stone, M. D. Smallman, S. H. Collins, Richard Saunders, J. J. Foster, B. T. R. Foster, J. B. Foster, W. B. Staley, T. J. Bradford, Pallas Smith, White Turney, W. B. Corley, M. M. Brien, Jr., J. M. Allen, Albert McClellan, R. W. Turner, Joseph H. Blackburn, Caleb Davis, J. W. Parker, Eli Evans, D. M. Robinson, L. N. Savage, Thomas Fisher, Jr .. J. A. Drake, J. E. Drake, P. C. Crowley, William O'Conner, J. B. Crowley, R. L. Cantrell, Brown Davis, and Dixie W. Floyd.
The following were practicing in the county in 1814 : T. W. Wade, Alvin Avant, J. E. Drake, R. L. Turner, P. C. Crowley, E. G. Lawson, D. M. Robinson, J. B. Robinson, J. A. Gothard, Dixie W. Floyd, Brown Davis, Smithville; W. B. Corley, Dowelltown ; James W. Parker, Alexandria ; and H. A. Bratten, Liberty.
These have occupied the bench while residents of the county or after having removed therefrom: M. M. Brien, Robert Cantrell, M. D. Smallman, W. G. Crow- ley, W. W. Wade, Jr., Thomas Fisher, and John Fite.
The act to incorporate Smithville was passed De- cember 4, 1843. The boundaries were as follows : "Beginning at the dwelling house of E. M. North, in- cluding the sawmill; thence to the southwest corner
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
of the plan of the town; thence east with the line of the said town plan to the northwest corner of the lot of land which M. M. Brien purchased from John C. Cannady ; thence with the lines of the same so as to include it in the town plan ; thence a direct line to the stage road so as to include the dwelling house of P. M. Wade; thence north to Fall Creek; thence up the said creek to the chalybeate spring ; thence a direct line, in- cluding the dwelling house of W. W. Wade, to the northeast corner of the original town plan ; thence to the beginning." As in other towns of the county, the corporation was abolished soon after the four-mile law was enacted to secure the statute's educational benefits.
Among the first merchants were Willis W. Wade, P. M. Wade, and Samuel Chandler. Then came W. P. Harvey, P. G. Magness, J. M. Allen, W. H. Mag- ness, J. L. Dearman, George Beckwith, J. Y. Stewart, S. B. Whaley, and Elijah Whaley. Still later the fol- lowing were business men: R. B. West, Isaiah White, G. R. Smith & Son, Black & Bond, Smith Bros., T. B. Potter, S. D. Blankenship, J. L. Colvert, Hooper & Bro., D. S. Harrison, F. Z. Webb, A. L. Foster, and E. J. Evans. Business is carried on to-day by the fol- lowing individuals and firms: W. H. H. Bond, gen- eral merchant and undertaker, in business 40 years; F. Z. Webb, druggist, 34; H. E. Mason, druggist, 10; Conger Bros., gentlemen's furnishing goods, II ; H. E. Staley & Son, dry goods and shoes, 25 ; J. C. Fos- ter & Bro., grocery and hardware, 15; Mrs. W. R. Smith, millinery and dress goods, 20; S. C. Tyree, dry goods and notions, 15; W. H. Smith & Co., hard-
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
ware, 10; J. C. Bond & Bro., groceries; Fred Robin- son, groceries ; Potter, Love & Hays, ladies' dress goods and millinery; W. L. Taylor & Co., general store and freight transferers; J. E. Foster, groceries ; G. S. Davis, groceries; H. Calhoun, groceries ; Bur- ton & Jennings, groceries; James Burch, general store; Young & Conger, groceries and produce; Caslı Hardware Company, W. F. Hooper manager ; James Dearman, hotel and livery stable; A. H. Lane, livery stable; Mrs. E. M. Bailiff, hotel; Mrs. T. W. Wade, hotel; E. J. Evans & Son, spokes, also millers; Sam McGuire, barber ; Mart Talley (colored), barber; La- fayette Pack, C. Shaw, C. H. Vickers, and George Summers, blacksmiths; Lee Magness and Thomas Beckwith, photographers.
Among the early physicians were: G. W. Eastham, Charles Schurer, J. C. Buckley, E. Tubb, J. C. Cox, P. C. Shields, J. S. Harrison, J. J. and Isaac Gowan, Dr. Evans, Dr. Barnes, and Ben Cantrell, herbist. Later: J. Z. Webb, J. S. Fletcher, T. W. Eaton, A. Avant, M. L. Wilson, and James Womack. Present : W. W. Parker, W. R. Parker, M. L. Wilson, L. D. Allen, C. A. Loring, and T. J. Potter.
Dentists, J. T. Bell and E. H. Conger.
The Smithville brass band of twenty-one pieces, J. K. Shields leader, has a well-merited reputation throughout DeKalb and surrounding counties.
A number of tanyards have been sunk in that sec- tion from an early day. Among the first were Tom Roe's, on Snow's Hill, and Henry Gray's, in town. J. L. Colvert, W. H. Magness, and D. T. Harrison were
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
formerly in this business. D. T. and J. B. Harrison established a tobacco factory in 1879, and for years did a good business, as did the Mack Shores factory.
The town has been noted for its excellent schools, though no record was kept of the old field variety. Fulton Academy drew attention to the county seat a score of years before the War between the States. It was incorporated January 17, 1838, with these as trus- tees : Thomas Durham, Moses Pedigo, Samuel Allen, Martin Philips, and Bernard Richardson. For further references to this subject see the chapter on educa- tional matters.
List of Smithville postmasters as far back as can be ascertained: J. Y. Stewart, George Beckwith, "Big Jim" Williams, George Bing, Felix Patterson, Robert Black, Ralph Robinson, J. S. Dunlap, S. P. W. Max- well, E. K. Atwell, Dick Goodson, J. H. Christian, and (present) C. W. Moore.
Like Alexandria and Liberty, Smithville has two banks-the Farmers and Traders' (J. B. Moore, Cashier) and the People's. The latter was organized in 1903 with a capital of $15,000, with R. B. West, President, and J. E. Drake, Cashier. Its resources in 1914 were about $75,000. Present officers: W. H. Davis, President; F. M. Love, Cashier ; W. L. Davis, Assistant Cashier.
Mention of the most noted Smithville taverns is given in the chapter on "Stagecoach and Tavern Days." It is thought that the earliest tavern keeper was Dr. G. W. Eastham. Then there were Bernard Richardson and James Erwin. 4 Dave James was
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TTrUIrt Y
POST OFFICE BLOCK, SMITHVILLE
HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
tavern keeper from 1850 to 1860, and Mack Shores in 1861-62. Tyree's Hotel has long been a favorite hostelry, as have the Dearman House and Bailiff House. A correspondent writes that many years ago there was a village adjacent to Smithville, a suburb, "just down the hill, across the creek and in the direc- tion of Sparta," called Chalk Hill, and that Jack Frazier kept a tavern there. Six miles from Smith- ville is a popular summer resort called Seven Springs, J. T. Odum, proprietor.
Pearl-hunting in Caney Fork has been carried on for some years, pearls bringing from $500 to $1,800 having been found. John Windham, of Smithville. was one of the most successful dealers. S. L. Fitts, of Temperance Hall, is also a successful dealer.
There are no stories to tell of the old-time modes of punishment of criminals. Before Smithville was thought of, whipping, branding, pillorying, and cutting off the ears of criminals were abolished-in 1829 as to whites and in 1831 as to negroes.
Relative to the early transportation of freight, Mr. Dearman writes: "The produce from Sligo Ferry, on the Caney Fork River, was carried to Nashville in flatboats, and merchandise which the people needed was brought back on these boats. The boats were pushed up the Cumberland and Caney Fork, and it often required a week or two to reach Sligo. J. L. Dearman, who served as sheriff of the county three terms and twenty years as a magistrate, Levi Bozarth, William Bozarth, David James, Nat Parker, Dave Koger, the Phillipses, and the Dildines are some of the
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· HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
men who made runs down the river and back. While the work was hard, the men were hardy and won their way."
Through the kindness of Mr. Tal Allen, now an honored citizen of Nashville, this list of papers that have been published in the town since the war is fur- nished: The Highland Sun, A. Max Ford; the Jour- nal, A. C. Carnes; the Index, W. D. Carnes; the Watchman and Critic, Dozier and Kelly; and the Re- view, Frank Wallace, later Eugene Hendon.
W. D. G. and W. B. Carnes were at one time con- nected with the Index, and M. L. Fletcher was once a Smithville publisher.
The following necrological note by a correspondent shows the sad changes that have taken place in the population in the last generation : "The following early citizens of Smithville are dead: W. G. Crowley, Chan- cellor for many years; Bernard Richardson, who do- nated the site of Smithville to the county; Jack Ken- nedy, Mexican War veteran and register for thirty years ; J. T. Hollis, who served as County and Circuit Court Clerk and Clerk and Master ; Mr. Dillard, drug- gist ; Joe Stewart, sheriff and old-time slave trader ; J. L. Dearman, sheriff, magistrate, and merchant ; 'Sporting Ike' Hays; G. R. Smith, merchant and magistrate for twenty years ; T. B. Potter, Confederate soldier, merchant, and banker ; W. C. Potter, merchant and banker ; Dave James, tavern keeper ; Mack Shores, tavern keeper ; O. B. Staley, merchant; J. B. Atwell, register for ten years; J. M. Allen, magistrate for thirty years and twice representative; J. L. Colvert,
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HISTORY OF DEKALB COUNTY
merchant ; S. D. Blankenship, merchant; T. N. Chris- tian, Circuit Court Clerk for sixteen years ; T. W. Shields, Circuit Court Clerk for twelve years; Rev. J. M. Kidwell; Z. P. Lee, County Court Clerk for eight years."
But time, tide, and progress await no man. Smith- ville is to-day a pretty and thriving town of about one thousand inhabitants. "The turnpike from the town to Snow's Hill," writes a correspondent, "resembles an urban avenue-new houses all along where thirty years ago none were to be seen. From Smithville to Sparta you are never out of sight of new residences and barns. People from the Caney Fork River and hill country have been buying the land and moving to it. Even a dweller of the western section-the Basin --- admits this fact: 'I am not sure but the flatwoods show more thrift to-day than any other part of the county.' Smithville has a flour mill, a spoke and handle factory, two banks, a paper, churches, and several general stores. The buildings are all com- paratively new, only three or four of those built forty years ago standing ; while every road leading out from one to eight miles is macadamized. Perhaps much of its prosperity is due to the enterprise of the farmers who have recently bought the lands surrounding and the awakened energy of the descendants of the pio- neers."
Smithville is a charming and prosperous inland town and growing. Its distance from Nashville is sixty-seven miles.
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CHAPTER XII.
HISTORICAL JETSAM.
IN a history of Kentucky by Prof. N. S. Shaler, who for more than a quarter of a century filled the chair of Agassiz at Harvard University, it is shown that by actual measurement the Tennessee and Kentucky sol- diers in the War between the States were the largest in the army and in the world.
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