USA > Tennessee > Old times in West Tennessee : reminiscences, semi-historic, of pioneer life and the early emigrant settlers in the Big Hatchie country > Part 9
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
" You are more than a match for me to-day. Iam not in a fix to fight to-day. I am drunk; too drunk to hold you a good fight. I'll see you again."
" You can see me whenever it may suit you. I take no advantage of a drunken man. I will meet you in a 'square fight' whenever it may please you to name the time and place," said Barnes.
"It had as well be on this Hill, and this day two weeks; I will be here with my friends," said Gaines.
" It suits me," said Barnes; " name the hour.
" Let it be an hour to sunset," responded Gaines.
it
d e
r
b
F e d
8
3
1
134
Reminiscences of Old Times
" I'll be here," said Barnes, when he separated himself from the crowd.
The interest taken in the coming "square fight,? between two of the most powerful men in the settle ment, had caused the other belligerents to forget their differences. Black eyes and bloody noses only remained to give evidence of the bloody "set-to that had just occurred. All hands made friends took a drink, and went home.
It was soon norrated through the settlement that Ab Gaines and John Barnes were to have a "square fight;" that the bully of Hurricane Hill had found his match. It was a matter of much surprise, how ever, to the sober, steady men of the neighborhood that a man of Barnes' steady habits should enter the list of prize fighters. It was agreed, however, that Ab needed taking down, and no man could be found better able to do it than Barnes. Gaines was the heaviest man of the two; he stood full six feet five, broad and deep through the chest, and wore a number eleven shoe; and a hand-it was difficult to find a glove large enough to fit. Barnes, less' in pounds and inches, was greatly his superior in the material of flesh, tissue and muscle. Made more pow- erful by hard licks at the anvil, he had never failed in an enterprise or undertaking dependent upon his manhood.
Time was required for Ab to work the mean whisky out of him, and reduce himself in flesh. Could he do it? was the grave question among his intimate friends. Their coming together upon equal advantages was fearful to contemplate. Barnes'
1
135
in West Tennessee.
courage was undoubted; Gaines had played the bully, but had never sought his match; it was doubted whether he had the courage of his adver- gary in the coming conflict. As the time drew nigh for them to meet, it was whispered through the neighborhood that Ab was softening-that he would " ficker." Bets were being freely offered that he wouldn't come to time, and found no takers. His friends began to rally him; the boasting and big talk on their part had "dried up." Ab, through the aid of his friends, had well nigh gotten the whisky out of himself, and cheered on to the conflict, when, a few days before the appointed day, he, with several of his friends, were at the Hill, and he got a taste of whisky. He tasted often, and drank deep; his friends could do nothing with him, In their efforts to keep him from drinking too much, he "let fly" with that great fist of his and smashed several of their noses, and they left him to his fate. They had gone before he discovered that he was alone. With some difficulty he got on his horse and started for home. In going home he had to pass a squatter set- tler's house situated on the roadside. When getting near the squatter's house, he observed a man flailing a woman in the front yard. Spurring up his horse, he went to her rescue. The squatter had his wife by the hair of her head, slinging her around, when Ab took hold of him, jerking him loose from his hold upon her hair and flat of his back, and com- menced pounding him heavily in the face. The wife, freed from the rough handling of her husband, turned upon Gaines. Seizing an ax that lay near,
136
Reminiscences of Old Times
she sent it into his back up to the eye, leaving it sticking in him, with the remark: "Now, let my husband alone." -- Ab rolled off the squatter, crying out, "Murder! murder!"
The husband rose to his feet and pulled the out of his back, when the rush of blood was most fearful. Mounting Ab's horse, he rode for the near est doctor as fast as he could, who was soon in attendance, and examined the fearful cut. The af had gone in over the region of the liver, severing one or more ribs, and cutting off a portion of the liver, which the Doctor took out. The bleeding was profuse, and the Doctor pronounced it fatal.
"There is no hope for you, Ab," he said ; "the bleeding is internal and can't be stanched. If you have any worldly affairs about which you want to leave instructions, it will be well that you go about it."
" I have none," said Gaines. "Only one request will I make. You say there is no hope; then my last request is, that you will send up to the store and get me a gallon of whisky."
" You shall have it, Ab," replied the Doctor. . . The squatter, with the aid of his wife and the Doctor, got Ab in the house, and fixed a pallet on the floor. He then rode to the store for the whisky The Doctor remained until the squatter returned with the jug of whisky. A tin cup was provided and Ab told to drink at his pleasure.
The Doctor left him with his comforter, saying that he would ride over the next morning.
The next day, to the astonishment of the Doctor
187
in West Tennessee.
he found Ab alive, and the jug empty. He finally recovered, but was never himself again. The apol- ogy for not meeting Barnes in a test of manhood at the "Hill" on the following Saturday was satisfac- tory.
About this time the upper settlement was enjoying the relative merits of the manhood of John Smith and Daniel Parker. Both of them being quiet, good neighbors, and regular attendants at church, they startled the neighborhood by a falling out. A cotem- porary of " old times," on the Big Lagoon, relates - the occurrence to me in this wise:
Smith engaged Parker to dig him a well. The price for digging it was agreed upon. According to Smith's words, Parker would find water in thirty feet, and the price to be paid was twenty-five ears of corn per foot, which would be seven bushels and a half. Corn was then selling at two dollars per bushel. The bargain was made in the spring of the year. Parker was to go to work right away, and to take one-half of the number in roasting-ears, as soon as Smith's corn was old enough. Parker was slow in commencing the job, digging all through the roasting-ear season, taking home with him every night as many roasting-ears as his day's labor would come to. His family was large, and it was their only bread. The digging continued until the depth of thirty feet had been reached. The corn, in the meantime, had got hard; Parker continuing, how- ever, to take his twenty or more ears home every night, which would be grated and bread made of it. By the time the thirty feet was reached Parker
138
Reminiscences of Old Times
had taken up three hundred or more ears, and had not come to water, and, from the signs, was ne likely to find it in perhaps thirty feet more of div ging. A "water witch " had, with his " witch-hazle twig, located the place for digging the well, an given his guarantee to Smith that water would. found in thirty feet from the surface. Smith's fait in the mystic art had induced him to name third feet as the distance Parker would have to dig to find water. The average wells of the neighborhood wer sixty feet, and Parker declined digging any deep unless he got an increased number of ears of co per foot. Smith was not willing to accord it, an the digging stopped. Smith was excitable by nature a man of immense size in flesh, and the heavie man in the neighborhood by an hundred pound He vowed, and swore he would stand by it, that Parker didn't continue digging until he found water he should not have another ear of corn. Parke whose frame of bones was capable of carrying mo flesh than Smith's did, the largest raw-bony man in th settlement, and with all an acknowledged goo fighter, swore that if Smith didn't let him have the number of ears due him on the digging, he would whip it out of him. Smith was firm and Park resolute. They soon met. It was on road-work day, where all the neighborhood had gathered work on the road. Each party had their friend and the fight was to be a fair one; no interferen until Parker had whipped his two hundred and fift ears of corn out of Smith, if he should prefer the kind of a settlement. Smith announced that
139
in West Tennessee.
was willing to that kind of a settlement, if it would satisfy Parker, when he got through. So at it they went, stripped to their shirts. Smith was amiable in standing fair for Parker's blows, making it his aim to keep them out of his face and eyes, showing him- self an adept in fencing off the well aimed blows at his head and face. Parker, becoming a little weary in his futile effort in that direction, commenced his heavy digs in Smith's short ribs, and what he con- ceived to be the tender place, about the pit of his stomach, belaboring himself in using first one fist and then the other, until he was well nigh exhausted. In the meantime Smith's friends yelled out that Parker ought to be satisfied, when Parker, becoming good natured all at once, declared himself satisfied, saying that he would as soon undertake to fight a bag of feathers.
" And," says Smith, "I would as soon undertake to strike at a horu-beam stump."
140
Reminiscences of Old Times
CHAPTER VII.
The Character of the Men who Settled West Tennessee Tipton County, its Original Territory and Topographical Features-Organization and Officers of the First Court -The First Venire of Grand and Petit Juries-Jacob Tipton-Robert Sanford-Covington-The first Ma- chants-The First Physicians-The Calmes Tavern The Tavern- Keeper-The Boys about Town-The Ne Sign and the Bell-Ringing-The Calves in the Court House-Holnhouser's Court-Old Johnny Gidding Tacket Kills Mitchell-Gray Case ; his Life Staked upo a Game of Cards-Rufus Garland-Grandville D Searcy-The Fourth of July Celebration-Charles G. Fisher-Nathan Adams-William Coward and the Wo Story-Armstead Morehead-David Crockett and Mi Competitors for Congress.
IT was not from the cesspools and scum of the society of old States that West Tennessee was peo pled. The rich and fertile virgin lands of the di trict early attracted the enterprising and industriona men of wealth and intelligence, the strongest and best material from the old States-a historic fact well attested by many now living who have kept pace with "ever marching time."
The brave hearts and strong arms of the heroie fathers, husbands and sons were nobly sustained by the heroism of their wives, mothers and daughters. ,
1
141
- in West Tennessee.
who shared with them the toils and hardships of subduing the wilderness. „,.
Oh, ye daughters of sunshine and ease! ye lovely women of romance and pleasure! ye dwellers in the gay "social solitude!" ye revelers in the fashions of gay city life, delicate exotics of a soft, luxuriant society ! think of the noble, brave-hearted mothers, wives and daughters who triumphantly battled against the perils and hardships of a frontier life, aiding and encouraging their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers in subduing the forests and opening up the wildwoods, making it the fitting abode for refined civilized enjoyment. Noble mothers ! Fond mem- ories of their heroism are embalmed in the heart's affection, the common heritage of their successors.
The eye of the traveler when passing through West Tennessee of the present day is amazed with pleas- urable delight in seeing its broad acres teeming with wealth and luxury, with its beautifully built cities and towns, its lovely resident mansions and refined and elegant society, and wonders when told that it is all the growth of less than half a century; that of the early settlers, who came with the pocket-compass in their hands, followed by the blazer with his ax, many are yet among the active men of the present day-are yet living to recount where the first "corner-stone" was laid, and point to where the first tent was pitched in the wilderness. The limits of these reminiscenees, however, is restricted alone to the past, to "old times," and it is of Tipton and Cov- ington that I would write in this chapter.
It was not until the year 1818 that the Chickasaw
142
Reminiscences of Old Times
title to the lands west of the Tennessee river, within the limits of the State, was extinguished. The year following, 1819, by an act of the Legislature, the territory known as the Big Hatchie country! was attached for judicial purposes to the county of Har- din. In 1821, by the act fixing the boundaries of Madison and Shelby, the territory forming the county of Tipton was attached to Shelby, until 1823, when it became a separate and independent county, and the boundaries established.
Bordering on the Mississippi river to the west. to the north and south by the waters of the Forked Deer and Loosa Hatchie, with the Big Hatchie running through the center, no county in the State could boast of so rich a body of virgin lands, or offered such inducements to the enterprising agri- culturist. The topographical features of the county differ but little from the other counties in West Tennessee, noted only for its beautiful western front overlooking the great river. The "Mill Stone Mountain," an interesting feature, found among the range of hills bordering on the Big Hatchie, near its mouth-a novelty of itself-is the more inter- esting for its being a solid mass of concrete rock from which is wrought the best mill-stones in use: said to be equal, if not better, than the celebrated French burr. Less than a half mile in diameter at its base, it rises in cone shape from the banks of the Hatchie, towering above the tallest forest trees, ite apex perfectly level, overlooking the surrounding country. Above and near it, on the banks of the Hatchie, is a well marked ancient fortification, from
143
in West Tennessee.
the foot-prints of time judged to belong to the pe- riod when the " Mound Race" inhabited the country. The location seems to have been well taken, in an abrupt bend of the river, and constructed after the manner of constructing fortifications in modern days; in the ditch forming a crescent towards the land-front, numerous forest trees are growing of huge size, in age apparently equal to the oldest in- the forest. Within the fortification are several "mounds," from which human bones have been taken, with specimens of pottery or earthen ware. It is related to the writer, by a descendant of one of the oldest and first settlers in Tipton, that many years ago a fragment of a well burnt brick.was picked up in the vicinity of this ancient fortification, upon which the foot-print of a goat was well defined. To suppose about it, would be that the goat left his foot-print upon the brick while lying upon the yard, and before it was put into the kiln to be burnt. In the same vicinity, many feet below the surface of the carth, charcoal and charred pieces of wood have been dug up. That brickbat, as well as the old fortification with its connecting history, must be left to the pen of the curious, who may assume to write of the period beyond the dark ages; of an extinct race whose only history is left in the silent tombs of their own making, possibly before Noah was called upon to lay the keel and temper the ribs of the ark. It is of Tipton and the first settlers under the do- minion of the State of Tennessee that I write.
On the first day of December, 1823, the first court was organized and held at the house of Nathan
144
Reminiscences of Old Times
Hartsfield, two or more miles southwest of where Covington now stands. It was organized and hela by the first magistrates appointed for the county b Governor Carroll, and were Nathan Hartsfield, John T. Brown, Jacob Tipton, Andrew Greer, John C. McKean and 'George Robinson. John C. Mckean was made chairman of the court. The court being organized, they went into an election for county officers, which resulted as follows:
: Andrew Greer, Clerk; John T. Brown, Sheriff Nathan Hartsfield, Register; William Henson, Ran- ger; George Robinson, Coroner. It may be observed that the members of the court elected themselves to the first offices of the county. We are not to conclude, however, that it was for the emoluments but for the lack of material in men to fill them. It is mentioned as an instance of the sparseness of the inhabitants of the county, that in that year the first wedding took place, and every white family in the county was invited, and when gathered together the male adults numbered not more than sixty.
It may not be uninteresting to the readers of Old Times in Tipton, to read over the first venire from which the petit and grand jurors were chosen for the first courts held in the county after the organi zation, on the first of December, 1823. They were Owen Evans, Samuel P. Givens, Matthew Isaacs, Matthew Alexander, Alexander Robinson, Daniel Young, William Wright, William Henson, John Smith, N. Elliot, G. Yarbrough, Clarke Burdsall; M. Hutchinson, William Robinson, Samuel Robin- son, A. R. Logan, Jubilee Gagin, G. Kenney, John
14
in West Tennessee.
Robinson, Jefferson Childress and Addison D. Packs- ton. Of these names, including the members and officers, none are now among the living. In 1824 the county site was located at
COVINGTON, 2 1:
and in 1825 the town was laid off, and the lots sold at public sale, on the twelfth day of April of that ycar, by commissioners appointed by the court. . The commissioners were Marcus Calmes, John Eckford, Robert G. Green, E. T. Pope and Alexander Robin- son. Covington is beautifully situated on an emi- nence overlooking the surrounding range of hills. Within a stone's throw of the public square gushes a bold spring, capable of affording water for a populous city, beside numerous smaller ones of excellent water. The town, when located and estab- lished as the county site, was near the center of the county, which comprised a large and fertile territory north of the Big Hatchie. In 1836 the county of Lauderdale was established, leaving Tipton alone south of the Hatchie, and Covington within six miles of its northern boundary.
The county was called for the gallant Jacob Tip- ton, who was killed while leading his men in a charge against the Indians, near Fort Washington, under command of General St. Clair, in 1791. History* mentions that when the intrepid Captain was on the eve of moving with his command to the support of General St. Clair, and after he had mounted his horse, he rode back in hearing of his wife, and left with her, as his last request, that if he should be
*Ramsey.
7
١
146
Reminiscences of Old Times
killed in the perilous service he was about entering, to change the name of their youngest son, who had been named Armsted Blevins, to Jacob. (Not Wil- liam, as is mentioned in Ramsey's history. The writer is enabled to make this correction by author ity of the immediate family of the late General Tipton.) On the fourth of November, 1791, the brave Captain was killed, and his last injunction to his wife was complied with, and Armsted Bleving became Jacob; the late General Jacob Tipton, among the first and most prominent settlers in Tipton · county. He was appointed to the clerkship of the Circuit Court upon its organization in the county which office he filled for many years. One of nature's noblemen, he was noted for his kind and generous hospitalities and courteous mien. A good and true man, his long and useful life was spent where he first settled, breathing his last midst his family and numerous friends in the old homestead. His name and his noble life fills an honored page in the early history of Tipton county.
ROBERT SANFORD
succeeded to the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court of Tipton. He was called from the plow-handle, and learned to handle the pen in the Clerk's office as deputy clerk. He soon became master of the situation, conducting the office with such marked intelligence and business precision that it was not long before he became the de facto Clerk. He was continued in the office by the votes of his fellow- citizens for many long years. Living to a ripe old age, highly esteemed and venerated, he was gathered
in West Tennessee.
to his fathers, and sleeps among the tombs of his deceased cotemporaries.
Covington had its steady, sober-always sober- men, beside its frolicsome and rolicsome boys. Among the early settlers and merchants of the place was Major Armsted Morehead. The Major, after a residence of more than a quarter of a century, fixed his residence in the vicinity of Memphis, where he still resides, honored and esteemed as an honest, upright man. For twenty odd years he has supplied annually the market of Memphis with choice watermelons of his own raising; having reached his three-score and ten years, he is yet found, as always heretofore, driving his own team.
Marcus Calmes owned and kept the only tavern in Covington. He had been elected Sheriff of the county; the duties of the office conflicting with his tavern keeping, he offered to sell or lease his tavern.
Good schools had been established in Covington. My father had decided to move there to educate his children. It was suggested to him that he had made reputation among the lawyers, riding the circuits, for feeding "man and beast;" that he would do well to lease Calmes' tavern, and make money while his children were going to school. Obtaining my mother's consent for him to become a tavern- keeper in Covington, he entered upon his new en- terprise.
THE OLD LOG TAVERN,
situated on the north side of the public square in Covington, is, or was, standing a few years ago. It was built in 1824 or '25, of hewed logs, sixty feet
١
148
Reminiscences of Old Times
long by twenty wide; two stories high, a frame shed in the rear its full length, and a broad front gallery with sleeping apartments overhead, containing ten rooms, including the dining room and ball room The ball room was large; and when a press of guests came in, it was filled with cots and beds, which only occurred when court was in session, or on the occasion of a general muster. My father entered earnestly upon the duties of tavern-keeping, enter taining all the travelers and many boarders. Coy. ington soon began to be a thriving village, with brick stores and handsomely built frame dwellings, painted white, with green blinds. Its first settlers were of the first families from the old States and Middle Tennessee. The rich, fertile lands of the county invited wealth and enterprise. Among the leading merchants of Covington were Booker, Clarkston. Holmes, Adams, Clarke, Smith and Morehead The doctors were Stone, Green, Fisher, Hall, , and David Taylor Woodward Cook, the latter a capital good fiddler. Old Dr. Cook was a great favorite with the boys and all lovers of good music. The practice of physic was an after-thought with him. The lawyers were Robert G. Green, Tom Taylor, 'an old widower,' and Grandville D. Searcy, young and sprightly. Phil Glen and Yankee White were added to the list a few years after.
The Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists; had good churches. In those days everybody went to church on Sundays. It was a great day for the exhibition of gallantry and finery. A young man felt lonely in going to church without a young lady swinging to his left arm.
in West Tennessee.
No town or village in the western district had better schools at that time than Covington. The Reverend Doctor Chapman long connected with, and late the l'resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, filled a high place both in the church and educational de- partment. His family was an acquisition to the society of Covington.
Among the men of wealth and personal merit, who early settled in the vicinity of Covington, were the Tiptons, Dunhams, Garlands, Browns, Rober- sons, Hills, Harpers, Pryors, Lauderdales, Cowards, Cottons, Taylors, and many others whose names are identified with the early settlement of the Big Hatchie country-connecting the past with the present.
Covington was not without its dancing master in those days. Who of us, who were young then, who learned how to "forward and back-one-two -three-four and five, and back to place, swing corners and balance all," that don't remember old man Chapman, the dancing master, and his tall and handsome son Gary ?
Christmas, New Year's Day, the Eighth of January, Twenty-Second of February and the Fourth of July never passed without a big ball, and no town was without its dancing master, as well as preacher. No store was considered to be well stocked with goods without silk stockings and dancing pumps. "Old times" in Covington were her best days.
Of the early settlers of Covington but few are among the living at this writing.
150
Reminiscences o) .
les
DR. CHARLES G. .
among the earliest settlers, has rvived all of his cotemporaries. He still resides in the place -- re siding in the same house that he built more than forty years ago. He was a practicing physician in my father's family forty-five years ago. His long and useful life will entitle his name to a memorial window in every household in and around Coving ton as one of the fathers of the land.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.