VIEW IN TRENTON, THE COUNTY SEAT, ON A FIRST MONDAY
These pages from Gibson County Illustrated is courtesy of Jere Cox and Eddy G. Clark who gave their permission for the volunteers of Gibson County TN to transcribe it and place it on the Gibson Co. TN web site on Rootsweb. Special thanks to both of them!
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GIBSON COUNTY TENNESSEE
(ILLUSTRATED)
A SERIES OF PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES
COMPRISING
A PASSING GLANCE AT THE HISTORY, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT
STATE OF INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN GIBSON COUNTY
Historical, Descriptive and Biographical
EDITED AND COMPILED BY W.P. GREENE
PUBLISHED BY THE BUSINESS PEOPLE OF GIBSON COUNTY
1901
PRESS OF GOSPEL ADVOCATE PUBLISHING CO., NASHVILLE, TN
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PREFACE
This little work is discursive rather than exhaustive. It contains some historical, some descriptive, and some biographical matter, but makes no pretense as to detail in regard to any of the subjects treated. Those who expect to find something here about everything and everybody in Gibson County will be disappointed. It is only a series of pen and picture sketches, exhibiting the salient points in the county's industrial and social development, together with a glance at its history and progress. With this exegesis of its scope and purpose, I present it to the public. The work is in some respects a public enterprise, in that is advertises the county abroad and memorializes it at home, thus entitling it to the favor of the wide-awake, progressive people of the county.
I am under obligations to a number of good people for timely and valuable aid in preparing the work. I mention J.H. Koffman, Esq. and his accomplished wife, Mrs. Mattie Boyd Koffman, who assisted me greatly in my sketch work. Mr. James R. Deason, of the law firm of Deason, Rankin and Elder, also gave me great assistance and encouragement.
To Mr. E. E. Benton, of the Herald Democrat, I am indebted for special courtesies, and to the press of the county in general I own thanks for editorial favors. Indeed, I may say, I am indebted to all the people of the county with whom I came in contact for courtesies extended and kindly interest in my work. W.P. GREENE
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REGIONAL HISTORY
TRACING THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE COUNTRY.
For the purposes of a work historical and descriptive of Gibson County, Tenn., we are not particularly concerned with the voyages of the Norsemen to the Western world, said to have occurred in the year 874; nor with the visit Leif the Lucky, son of Eric the Red, is said to have paid to the coast of North America in the year 1900. If Leif did visit our Eastern coast away back there, five hundred years before Christopher Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci found it, he deserved to lose his sobriquet, "Lucky", for he missed a good thing in not staying with his discovery. Still, we are somewhat interested in the discovery of America, for the reason that if America had not been discovered, Gibson County would have remained terra incognita.
VIEW IN TRENTON, THE COUNTY SEAT, ON A FIRST MONDAY
In order to be logical, therefore, we begin the history of Gibson County with some remarks about the discovery of America. It is nothing more than right that the people of Gibson County should know the facts about this event, as two or three very worthy persons have not received the credit they deserve in the matter.
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Christopher Columbus got the sole credit for discovering America, though he really did not do it; he only discovered some of the islands adjacent. He never saw the continent of North America; in fact, he died ignorant of the fact that America was a continent at all, and in the full belief that the islands he had discovered were a part of Asia. In consequence of this belief, he called the natives of the islands "Indians," by which name all the natives of both North and South America came afterwards to be designated. Although it is said that there is nothing in a name - which may be true outside of banking circles - yet this was clearly a misnomer and an injustice to the inhabitant of India, who was a decent, civilized individual, compared with the cruel, skulking, treacherous, scalp-taking sans-culottes that prowled in the forests of North America. Another misnomer grew out of this same error of Columbus. The islands were called "West Indies," perhaps as a kind of protest against the fact that they proved not to be the East Indies, as Columbus had supposed.
Residence of General W.W. Wade, Attorney-
General of the 18th Judicial Circuit
Still, we must give Columbus the credit for breaking the ice, as it were, in introducing the old world to the new. Columbus made his discovery of the islands off the coast of America on October 12, 1492. He made three other voyages, the last of which was in 1502, always seeking a passage to India and never reaching America.
The news of Columbus' discovery reached Europe, however, and excited the spirit of adventure and cupidity too, no doubt, among the nations of Western Europe. It must be remembered that with these nations, at this time. India was the land of gold and precious stones and all manner of riches; hence the craze to find a western passage to India.
Portugal sent out an expedition in 1497, under an experienced navigator, named Vasco da Gama," which actually sailed around the new world on the south and reached India, returning two years later, laden with riches.
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Da Gama must have seen South America, but we have no record of his landing upon it, nor whether he, like Columbus, thought it a large island lying east of Asia.
Henry VII., of England, sent out an expedition under John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497. They must have sailed in different vessels, as John Cabot reached the northern part of North America in the same year and named the land he saw 'New Found Land"; while Sebastian's voyage did not take place till 1498, when he sailed along the Atlantic Coast as far as the Carolinas and claimed the whole country for England.
I am inclined to think that the Cabots were not Englishmen, as the name has not an English sound, and I have never met with the name in English history or literature. I am inclined to believe that they were Portuguese
sailors, employed by King Henry, of England, on account of their experience as navigators. At any rate, this English expedition was the first to discover the mainland of North America, and John and Sebastion Cabot should receive whatever of credit is due therefore.
Marble Works of James Gillen, Humboldt, Tennessee
Whether these navigators were possessed with the current delusion that the land they discovered was a part of Asia, is not known, but it is quite likely they were, as that seems to have been the prevailing belief.
There was an Italian, by name "Amerigo Vespucci," who got a great and lasting honor out of the discovery of the new world, to which he was not entitled. The circumstances which brought this about serve to illustrate the
value of advertising and the power of the press. He sailed along the coast of South America in 1506, ten years after de Gama sailed along the same coast and nine years after Sebatian Cabot sailed along the coast of the Carolinas, but he wrote out and published an account of the new land and what he had seen. This account got into the hands of a Dutchman named "Waldseemiller", who published, in 1507, a geographical work in which he gave the name "America" to the new world. The Italian's name has stuck to the country ever
since; and what is more, this Italian, obscure, except for this, and known nowhere else in history, has thus unwittingly conferred his name upon a nation which, in it's own estimation, at least, is the very salt of the earth
among nations and divinely appointed to take care of the balance of mankind. It is hoped it will be true to it's mission.
The early voyages that succeeded the discovery of Columbus were made partly to see what was to be seen, but mostly in seat of gold or other treasure.
No attempt was made by any of the nations of Europe to establish homes for their people in the new world. Silence and mystery continued to reign beyond the dark forests that curtained the land, and the muse of history held her pen for a hundred years, waiting to begin the marvelous story of the amalgamation of peoples and the building of a new nation.
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It is not my purpose to enter into an account of the explorations and settlements that were begun by the various nations of Europe on the continent of North America at the end of the sixteenth century. I shall only briefly
outline the history of the settlement, by our English ancestors, of the particular region which embraced the State of Tennessee and the section which forms the subject of these sketches.
My design in this outline is to note specially those controlling acts and events which finally established the sovereignty of the United States of America over the region and led up to the division of the country into States
and counties and the formation of local governments.
In the year 1600 almost nothing was known of the interior of North America. It was only known as a vast continent of indefinite extent and proportions, and wondrously endowed by nature with every element necessary to the human race. The fact that it was already occupied by human beings seems to have received but little consideration at the hands of our forefathers. John and Sebastian Cabot had sailed along the Atlantic coast and claimed the land for England by right of discovery, and England proceeded to exercise the
rights of ownership thus conferred by granting the land to her subjects. It is to these grants that we must look in tracing our civil divisions and our titles to the lands we occupy, because they have been recognized through all
the mutations of time and events as delineating the rights of States and the limits of sovereign proprietorship over the country.
The first permanent settlement that was made by our English ancestors was in the year 1607, at Jamestown, forty miles up the James River. Some previous attempts at settlement had failed. The settlement at Jamestown was by a company called the "Virginia Company" or "London Company." This company received from James I., who was then king of England, a grant of territory which embraced the Atlantic Coast from the thirty-fourth to the thirty-eight degree of north latitude, and an indefinite extent of country in the interior, presumably as far as the country extended. This grant was extended, two years later, and made to embrace more of the coast; but in
1624, after King James' death, the grants to the London Company were annulled by King Charles I., who took the government of the colony into his own hands, and after that Virginia was a royal province.
The Virginia colonists had a hard time of it for the first ten or twelve years to even preserve their existence; but English tenacity and perseverance eventually triumphed over all obstacles, and the English people became fixed in America.
This was the period when Capt. John Smith, Powhatan, and Pocahontas figured in history. During the next forty years the colonists, with other emigrants from Europe, including some of those grand people, the Huguenots, fleeing from religious persecution in France, spread over the country southward and gave occasion for the establishment of another colonial government.
So, in 1663, King Charles II. executed a most munificent grant, conveying to certain nobles of his court the right to occupy, possess, and govern, subject to the laws of England, all that portion of America lying between the thirty-first and thirty-sixth degrees of north latitude, on the Atlantic Coast, and as far westward as the South Seas. The recipients of this charter were Edward Clarendon, George Albemarle, William Craven, John Berkeley, Anthony Ashley, George Carteret, John Colleton, and William Berkeley.
This grant, and a supplemental grant two years later, extending its northern limit to 36° 30' north latitude, constituted the title under which North Carolina afterwards claimed and obtained the sovereignty of the region
which includes the State of Tennessee. The region covered by this grant was called "Carolina" in honor of King Charles, and continued under the government of North Carolina as colony and State for one hundred and
twenty-six years.
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In the meantime, a settlement at the mouth of the Ashley River "Charles Town," and the two portions of the country became designated as "North Carolina" and " South Carolina."
In the year 1729 King Charles divided the country into two provinces, establishing different governments in each. In this division South Carolina was left with the territory above the thirty-first degree of north latitude
as far as the Cape Fear River and westward; but afterwards, in 1732, a grant was made to James Edward Oglethorpe by King George, who succeeded King Charles, of the country between the Savannah River and the Alabama River, leaving to South Carolina only that portion east of the Savannah river and an
indefinite strip westward.
No royal grant was ever made to any of the country lying west of North Carolina, so that King Charles' grant of 1663 and its enlargement two years after stood as the monument of title which North Carolina held to all the
country west, not assigned to South Carolina nor included in King George's grant to Oglethorpe.
There is a little confusion as to the exact date of this grant of Charles II to Clarendon and his associates. The histories and encyclopedias which I have consulted place it in the year 1663; Whitney, in his "Land Laws of
Tennessee," recites the document itself, which gives the date of its execution as June 30, in the seventeenth year of the reign of Charles II. If we ignore the eleven years of the Commonwealth, or Protectorate, and place
the beginning of the reign of Charles II. at the date of his father's death, in 1649, the seventeenth year of his reign would be the year 1666. If we count from the time of his actual ascendance to the throne of England, in
1669, the seventeenth year of his reign would be the year 1677. I leave this matter to be straightened out by those who have leisure and taste for the inquiry.
The creation of the royal province of South Carolina, and the grant to Oglethorpe, left to North Carolina all the territory westward between the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude and Virginia. The northern boundary of
this territory between North Carolina and Virginia remained unsettled until after the Revolutionary War, when it was finally surveyed and fixed upon the line of 36° 30' north latitude, the present northern boundary of the State of Tennessee. 
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From this time forward the territory of North Carolina remained as delineated by the great grant of Charles II. No king of England changed her boundaries, no other colony disputed her title; her western frontier still
extended to the South Seas, and her people remained ignorant of the vastness of her possessions.
SOME OF THE MAGISTRATES OF GIBSON COUNTY
England was one hundred and sixty-six years in establishing her title to the counties of America which she claimed by virtue of the discoveries of John and Sebatian Cabot.
From the first settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the peace of Paris in 1763, England and her colonies were engaged in almost ceaseless war, either with France, Spain, or the Indian tribes, for the possession of the country. Her greatest and bloodiest wars were with the French and the Indians. The French claimed the country about the Great Lakes by right of discovery, and had pushed their explorations and discoveries down the Mississippi River and laid claim to all the country west of the Alleghany Mountains, and pretty much all the continent, except the narrow strip on the Atlantic Coast occupied by the English. This our forefathers would not permit; so a great struggle took place, which resulted in the French being entirely driven from America. The struggle ended in 1763. A treaty was made in that year, to which England, France, and Spain were parties, in which France gave up to England all her claims to the country east of the Mississippi River. In the same treaty France turned over to Spain the city of New Orleans and all of the country west of the Mississippi, which she had named "Louisiana:" and Spain was also confirmed in her possession of Florida. I will state in
passing, for the benefit of casual readers, that Spain afterwards ceded the country west of the Mississippi River back to France, and France sold the same to the United States in 1803. Spain retained Florida until 1819, when she also sold out to the United States.
The treaty of Paris in 1763, fixing the western boundary of England's possessions in the new world, also determined the western limit of North Carolina's holding under her grant from King Charles. The Mississippi River became the South Seas of that instrument.
In the long war that finally established English sovereignty over the disputed portions of North America, the colonists had borne the brunt of the struggle. Their privations and struggles, both in establishing their homes
and defending them, had developed in them a spirit of independence and self-confidence that soon brought them into collision with the English Government; and within thirteen years after the treaty of 1763, we find them
declaring themselves free and independent, and capable of managing their own affairs.
The descendants of the old North Carolina revolutionists, who form so large a portion of the population of Gibson County, may be proud of the part the old mother State took in asserting and maintaining the rights of freemen in 1776.
In the excitement of impending revolution, North Carolina did not forget her grant from King Charles II. On the eve of confederation with the other colonies to assert and maintain the liberties of all, she passed an Act
asserting and declaring her sovereign right to the country embraced in that grant. This Act was passed by the Assembly of North Carolina in 1776.
In 1777 the Assembly erected the whole of the territory west of the mountains into a county of North Carolina and called it "Washington County." This included all of Tennessee.
In 1779 Sullivan County was created out of the northeast corner of the county of Washington.
These were the last acts of sovereign authority exercised by North Carolina over her territory until after the close of the Revolutionary War.
In 1783 the colonies had fought to a triumphant conclusion their war for independence; and England at the treaty of Paris, February, 1783, had acknowledged the independence of the American colonies. The form of this acknowledgment was such that it left each of the colonies the sovereignty of the lands it had formerly held by grant from England.
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In 1783 the Assembly of North Carolina commenced the work of dividing its territory into civil divisions, and divided Washington County, designating a small portion south of Sullivan County as "Washington County" and naming the remaining portion "Greene County."
In the same year Davidson County was created on the north line of the territory west of Cumberland Gap.
In 1786 Sumner County was cut off of the east end of Davidson County.
In 1788 Davidson county was again divided, and Tennessee County was created out of its western part.
These were the final acts of sovereignty exercised by North Carolina over the territory she held by virtue of her grant of 1663. None of these acts affected, except by implication, the section in which Gibson County lies.
In 1789 North Carolina ratified and signed the Constitution of the United States and became one of the States of the American Union. In December of the same year, by formal Act, she ceded to the United States all the territory she possessed beyond her own limits. For seven years this territory remained the common property of all the people of the United States, open to settlement under the laws provided by the United States for the government of its common territory, except the lands reserved to the Indians and grants previously made by North Carolina.
In 1796 Tennessee was admitted to the Union of States, thus completing the establishment of civil government over all the
country embraced in the original grant of lands to North Carolina.
The last Act of North Carolina before the cession of her territory to the Unites States was the creation of Tennessee County off the west end of Davidson County. The Government of Tennessee now took up the work of dividing the territory where North Carolina left off.
In 1796 Tennessee County was divided into two counties--Robertson and Montgomery-- and ceased to exist, the name "Tennessee" having been given to the State. Robertson County was created out of the
Residence of Col. C.H. Ferrell, Pres.
Merchant's State Bank, Humboldt
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eastern portion, and Montgomery county was left to embrace the remainder, which was all of the western part of the territory.
In 1803 Montgomery County was divided by a line beginning on the Kentucky line thirteen miles west of the meridian of Clarksville and running south to the southern boundary of the Sate. All west of this line was named "Stewart County." Stewart County thus embraced all of West Tennessee, and, after the Chickasaw Purchase and before the formation of the new counties in West Tennessee, had jurisdiction over all the territory west of the Tennessee River; but Stewart County stood as embracing all of West Tennessee from 1803 to 1818.
Residence of J. Freed, prominent merchant in Trenton
I have not space to go into a discussion of the methods adopted with the Indians whom they found in possession of the country. I have an idea that the Indian did not receive the full measure of justice to which he was entitled as the man in possession; still he was making mighty slow progress in civilization, and required to be hurried up or suppressed. He had no business to be just roaming around, hunting and fishing, and tomahawking and scalping people. It was his duty either to work, or stand aside and let somebody else do it. He was occupying a pretty large extent of the universe to very little purpose, and it was his duty to divide up with fellows who had been a little crowded in their former habitations. So the exercise of a little compulsion and of a little superior trading talent, on the part of our forefathers, was perhaps justifiable, all things considered.
After the sovereignty of the entire country passed from England to the United States, the rights of the Indian in the soil received greater consideration. He was kept moving however, but for a consideration--nominal, merely, it is true, but sufficient to give the transaction an air of fairness and open dealing.
As regards our Gibson County region, it was the home and the hunting ground of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, and was so recognized by the Government of the United States. All of the State of Tennessee west of the Tennessee River was recognized and treated as the hunting ground of this tribe of Indians. No whites were permitted to acquire title to any of it's lands. They were
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permitted to trade with the Indians and live among them, if they so desired; but the lands continued to remain the public domain of the United States, subject to the Indian right of occupancy. North Carolina had made some grants of land within the territory, but even these were subject to the Indian title. There were a number of these grants in Gibson County. A portion of the land upon which Trenton stands was one of these grants; nearly all the land in the Twenty-fourth District was covered by one of these North Carolina grants.
After the cession of the territory by North Carolina to the general government, in 1789, all grants of land west of the Tennessee River ceased, and for a period of twenty-nine years West Tennessee continued to be the home and habitat of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians. From all I can gather about the Chickasaw Indians, they seem to have been the most peaceable and least bloodthirsty of any of the tribes that inhabited our Southern country. Their friendship for the whites was very marked through all the bloody wars that attended the settlement of the country; and they seem to have been a tractable and docile people, indisposed to war and inclined to domestication.
On October 19, 1818, at the Treaty Ground, on the Tennessee River, near where Riverton now stands, a great convention took place between the chiefs and the head men of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, on the one side, and Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby, commissioners of the United States, on the other.
PHOTO: Residence of H.M. Elder, Cashier Gibson County Bank, Trenton
At this convention, the great and final treaty was negotiated, signed, and published, by which the Chickasaw Indians, in consideration of twenty thousand dollars to be paid annually for fifteen years, gave up to the United States all claim, right, and title to the lands lying north of the thirty-fifth parallel, and bounded on the north, east, and west by the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers. The treaty reads: "Beginning where the thirty-fifth parallel cuts across the Tennessee River; west with the parallel to the Mississippi River; up the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Ohio River; up the Ohio River to the mouth of the Tennessee River; up the Tennessee River to the place of beginning." Thus was settled forever the title to the soil of West Tennessee, and thus were opened up the lands to the occupancy and settlement of the white people.
In the year following the treaty a good many white people settled in the region, who, together with those already there, formed the nucleus of population in several parts of the territory.
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The State of Tennessee now began the establishing of local civil government throughout the region, and to this end began the dividing up of the country into counties.
On November 19, 1819, Shelby County, was delineated and organized. This was the first county created in West Tennessee; others followed, until in a few years the entire region that had been occupied by the Chickasaw Indians was divided into counties, and organized local governments were established over the entire country.
The history of a people passing from the first rude stage of social and industrial life (incident to the occupancy of a new and uninhabited country) to a condition of thorough political, social, and industrial organization is always an interesting and pleasing study. All our American communities have such a history, and it is this fact which gives to American history its peculiar charm and to the American people their peculiar character of independence, resourcefulness, and push that distinguishes them from all the other people of the world.
In many parts of our country the page of history as regards the triumphs of the people over natural forces has closed; in other and newer sections the struggle is still going on. New settlements are being formed, privations endured and social conveniences and organizations introduced.
Every foot of territory gained in the new world, every advance made in the establishment of social order and the securing of domestic comforts and conveniences, and, indeed, in the establishment of civil government, has been fought for. From the time when the first colonists set foot on American soil down to the present time, the history of the American people has been that of aggressiveness -- of warfare upon the forces, moral and physical, that stood in the way of their progress.
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GIBSON COUNTY
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ORGANIZATION
Gibson County was the twelfth county organized in West Tennessee after the Chickasaw Purchase. The words of its institution are as follows:
"An Act to Establish A New County, West of Carroll County, Passed on October 21, 1823."
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That a new county to be called by the name `Gibson County,' in honor of and to perpetuate the memory of Col. John H. Gibson, shall be, and is hereby, established west of Carroll County; beginning at the northwest corner of Carroll County, running thence west on the fourth sectional line to a point four miles west of the second range line in the Thirteenth District; thence north to the fifth sectional line; thence west on said sectional line to the fifth line range; thence south with the said range line to a point two and one-half miles south of the line separating the Tenth and Thirteenth Districts; thence east parallel with said line to a point directly south of the southwest corner of Carroll County; thence north to the beginning."
Col. John H. Gibson, for whom the county was named, was one of that noble band of pioneers and patriots conspicuous in American history as leaders in the great struggle to establish the supremacy of the American people on the soil of America. He was with Jackson at New Orleans, and during the War of 1812 was in the same command with Dyer, Williamson, Lauderdale, and Elliott. He also served under Wayne in his Northwestern campaign against the Indians. He died in 1823, near Jackson, Tenn., and was there buried with the honors of war. The Legislature of Tennessee, shortly before the Civil War, passed an Act authorizing the removal
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of his body to the State capital, but his grave could not be identified. Thus this distinguished soldier and patriot sleeps in an unknown grave in the land he loved and served, and hard by the grand county that perpetuates his name and memory.
There are a number of the descendants of Colonel Gibson in the South. He was married to Miss Anna McConn, of Frankfort, Ky., and had three sons and five daughters. One of his grandsons, Capt. Paul Shirley, is in the United States Navy. A granddaughter of his, Miss Frank Dobbs -- to whom I am indebted for the above facts about her grandfather -- resides at Fort Payne, Ala. Mr. Gibson, of near Rutherford, is also a grandson of Colonel Gibson, and the only one of his descendants living in Gibson County.
In 1870 the boundaries of Gibson County as defined by the Act of its creation were changed somewhat. About thirty square miles of its territory in the southwest corner were taken, which, with other territory taken from Madison, Haywood, and Dyer Counties, was erected into a new county, called "Crockett County," in memory of the famous hunter, statesman, and Texas martyr, David Crockett. Another change was made in the northeast boundary of the county, making the South Fork of the Obion River the dividing line between Gibson County and Weakley County, instead of the fourth sectional line, as provided in the Act of creation. Except these changes, the county remains as first delineated by its organic Act.
PHOTO: Residence of Dr. W.F. Mathews, Brazil
If you will look at a good map of Tennessee, you will see that Gibson County is situated near the center of what is denominated "West Tennessee," being that portion of the State lying between the Tennessee River and the Mississippi River; in fact, the exact geographical center of West Tennessee is a few hundred yards south of the southern line of the county.
Speaking generally of West Tennessee, there is probably no other portion of the United States of equal extent that is better fitted by nature for the pursuits of agriculture. Nature has provided every essential here for the hand and home of the tiller of the soil. The soil is fertile and easily tilled; the climate is mild, healthful, and adapted to the growth of every product of the temperate zone; exhaustless veins of limpid water course their way within easy reach beneath the soil; noble forests of timber provide the materials for homes and shelter for both man and brute. What more does a country lack that possesses these? I think, nothing, accepts God's blessing upon the work of human hands.
These words in regard to the general section will apply with equal, if not stronger force to Gibson County. Taken as a whole, there is no other county in West Tennessee richer in natural endowment than Gibson; and as respects the extent of its population and of its agricultural development, it is the leading county in the section, outside of Shelby, and it is second to Shelby only in the number of its population.
There were but few settlers within the limits of Gibson County before its organization.
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In 1819, so far as I can find any accurate record, there were but three. These were Thomas Fite, John Spencer, and James T. Randolph. In that year Luke Biggs settled about four miles west of where Trenton now stands, and John Eubanks settled near the present site of Bell's Chapel.
In 1822 there were six families in the county. These were the families of Thomas Fite, Isaac Sellers, Luke Biggs, and John Eubanks on the west side; Oliver Blakemore and James Blakemore on the east side. David Crockett became a citizen of the region in 1822, settling a little east of where the town of Rutherford now stands.
In 1822 and 1823 settlers entered the county rapidly from Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee, and North Carolina; so that early in 1824, when the county government was inaugurated, the county had a considerable population. As evidence that North Carolina contributed most to the settlement of Gibson County, by far the larger portion of the population of the county to-day is composed of the descendants of North Carolina ancestors. At the time of the organization of the county there were probably within its limits five hundred persons.
The session of the Legislature of 1823 and 1824 sat at Murfreesboro. This Legislature created seven new counties in West Tennessee -- McNairy, October 8; Hardeman and Haywood, October 10; Dyer, October 16; Gibson, October 21; Obion, October 24; Tipton, October 27. Provision was made for a local government in each of the counties.
Gibson County was divided into four districts -- the Northern, Southwestern, Central, and Southeastern.
The Ninth Judicial Circuit was formed, embracing Gibson County; and John C. Hamilton was elected by the Legislature as judge of the circuit. His commission from Gov. William Carroll, was issued on and dated October 23, 1823. The Ninth Judicial Circuit, when first created, was composed of the counties of Carroll, Henry, Henderson, Perry, and all the counties to be established west of Carroll and Henry Counties. This brought Gibson County into Judge Hamilton's circuit.
The justices of the peace for Gibson County, elected by the Legislature and commissioned by Governor Carroll were: William P. Seat, Robert Edmonson, Oliver Blakemore, Benjamin White, Robert Reed, Yarnell Reese, Abner Burgan, John D. Love, William W. Craig, William Killingsworth, and Isham F. Davis.
A commission -- composed of James Fentress, Robert Jetton, Benjamin Reynolds, and William Martin -- was appointed with instructions to obtain, by purchase or donation, a tract of land of not less than fifty acres, as
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near the center of the new county as practicable, upon which to locate the county capital.
The first movement in the organization of the county took place at the house of Luke Biggs, about four miles west of the present county seat, on January 5, 1824. On that day the justices of the peace, who had been commissioned by the Governor in pursuance of the Act of the Legislature, met and organized the County Court, or "Court of Pleas and Sessions," as it was then designated. The house in which they met is no longer standing, having given place to a more modern edifice; but the site, as well as the farm, which the event thus made historic, is still in the hands and occupancy of the descendants of Luke Biggs. It is owned by Rev. S. B. Scott, who married a daughter of this pioneer settler of Gibson County.
The Court of Pleas and Sessions was organized by the election of William P. Seat as chairman and Thomas Fite as clerk.
John W. Needham was chosen sheriff; Robert Reed, trustee; William W. Craig, register; and William D. Blakemore, ranger.
I notice that this initial County Court appointed two of its members -- Robert Reed and William W. Craig -- to the two best offices in the county. This augurs well for the economic talent of that body, and proves that our ancestors were fully alive to the advantages of opportunity.
"Make hay while the sun shines," is a maxim that, I think, was evolved from American experience; at least, it is a maxim that describes with accuracy a trait of the American people. It embodies the very essence of wisdom, and is so universally applicable in all the affairs of life that he who neglects to heed its teachings is pretty apt to fail of a harvest. The sun of official position had begun to shine in Gibson County, and our ancestors of blessed memory proceeded to take advantage of its haymaking energies.
PHOTO: Residence of J.W. Jetton, Trenton
Lack of space will preclude a detailed account of the proceedings of the County Court after its first organization; in fact, such account would be foreign to the design of this publication and prove dull reading for the busy, practical generation of the present day, whose thoughts and energies are more concerned with the present and future than with the musty records of the past. Those, however, who have taste and leisure for such inquiry are referred to my chapter entitled "Incidents of the Early Settlement of Gibson County."
At this time Gibson County was only a wilderness. The face of the country was covered by an almost unbroken forest. As yet, no mill wheels disturbed the silent flow of the rivers; the smoke of the settler's hastily and rudely constructed cabin curled lonesomely among the tree tops, and the small clearings before his door were scarcely large enough to receive the welcoming smile of the noonday sun; wild animals lurked in the dark recesses of the forest; and deadly fevers stretched forth their burning hands from the
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tangled canebrakes. But the sturdy settlers of these untamed wilds heeded not these things; or if they heeded them, with the inherited pluck of their ancestors they attacked them and subdued them. With ax and rifle and a courage and perseverance that nothing could daunt, they hewed and fought their way, until mansions stood where once the lowly cabin had crouched beneath the trees, and billowy fields of cotton and grain spread their broad acres over the spot where the wild beast had made his lair.
The Court of Pleas and Sessions held but one term at the house of Luke Biggs. It held its April term at the house of William C. Love, who lived about four and one-half miles east of the present county seat. From this time forward until the county seat was located, the house of WIlliam C. Love was the de facto seat of justice of the county. Here, on May 24, 1824, Judge John C. Hamilton held the first term of the Circuit Court for Gibson County. Joseph H. Talbot was appointed clerk.
The grand jury of this first Circuit Court was composed of the following citizens: William B. G. Killingsworth, foreman; Robert Reed,, Isham F. Davis, George F. Crafton, William McKendrick, William W. Craig, Robert Temple, Robert Edmonson, John Spencer, Benjamin White, William Blakemore, Andrew Cole, and John Parker. James R. Chalmers was attorney-general at this time.
PHOTO: Residence of Hon. J. C. McDearmon, Trenton
During the summer of 1824, the commissioners who had been appointed by the Legislature to select a site for the seat of justice of the county, made choice of a spot near the center of the county, on the North Fork of the Forked Deer River, on which Thomas F. Gibson had built a storehouse and was engaged in selling goods to the settlers. The settlers had given the place the name "Gibsonport." The land belonged to John B. Hogg, James Whitaker, Jesse Blackfin, James Caruthers, and Frank McGavock. Hogg and Whitaker donated twenty acres, and the others together donated thirty-six and a quarter acres, making in the aggregate fifty acres for the county seat site, as required by the instructions to the commissioners, and an additional six and a quarter acres, which was set apart as a town common.
At the October (1824) term of the County Court, held at the home of William C. Love, the following commissioners were appointed to lay off the county town of Gibson County: John W. Evans, John W. Buckner, William C, Love, Robert Tinkle, and John P. Thomas.
At the January (1825) term of the court, held at the same place, Robert Jetton, James Fentress, Benjamin Reynolds, and William Martin were allowed one hundred and twelve
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dollars for their services in locating the county seat. At this term the commissioners who had been appointed at the previous term to lay off the county town were ordered to construct a temporary courthouse in the town of Gibsonport, for the use of the courts of the county, and have the same ready for the use of this court at its next term. The order stipulated that the house should be constructed of hewn logs, one story in height, with a clapboard roof, and floor of rough plank securely pinned down. The dimensions of the house were to be 20 x 35 feet. A jury room, 10 x 20 feet in size, was to be made at one end by running a log partition across the building. A convenient bench was to be provided for the use of the court, and such other benches and bar as the commissioners might direct. This rude structure served as the temple of justice of Gibson County until 1829, when it was removed and a two-story brick building erected in its place.
The town commissioners were prompt in the execution of the order of the court, and the April (1825) term of the County Court was held in the courthouse in Gibsonport.
Two terms of the Circuit Court were held at the house of William C. Love -- its first term on May 24, 1824; its second term on November 25, of the same year. The May (1825) term was held at the courthouse in Gibsonport. The County Court held five of its sessions at the house of William C. Love before the county government became finally settled in a home of its own.
"Gibsonport" continued to be the name of the county seat until February, 1826, when an Act of the Legislature confirming the acts of the commissioners in locating the county seat gave it the name "Trenton."
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GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTY
The influx of population into the new county was rapid. Settlers from Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia spread themselves over the county, and soon the county was dotted with settlements and incipient plantations. Roads were opened through the forests, mills were erected upon the streams, stores were set up here and there; and within a very short time after the county was organized, a fair degree of social order had been attained, and many social conveniences had been established. Still, everything was rude and of hasty contrivance -- from the log courthouse in the county town to the most pretentious residence of the wealthiest citizen.
The County Court, at its April (1824) term, ordered a road to be opened from the house of WIlliam C. Love to the Huntingdon road on the Carroll County line, and also one from the same place to Nash's Bluff, on the Middle Fork of Forked Deer River.
At the April (1825) term roads were ordered opened from Gibsonport to Jackson, Dresden, Lexington, and Obion County. These were the first roads opened in the county.
The number of acres of land reported for taxation in 1824 was 273,163. A great deal of this land was owned by nonresidents. The rate of taxation on each 100 acres of land was 12 1-2 cents; on each town lot, 25 cents; on each slave between twelve and fifty years old, 16 2-3 cents; on each four-wheeled carriage, $3.33 1-3; on each two-wheeled carriage, $1.66 2-3. The tax lists showed only forty-sic slaves and sixty-nine white polls. The revenue derived from all sources was $885.85. (Minutes of County Court.)
Sixteen years afterwards (in 1840), when the assessment was made upon the value of the land, I find the following figures: Number of acres assessed, 256,086, valued at $894,869, or nearly $3.50 per acre; the aggregate value of personal property was $628,225, and the tax collected was $6,350.09.
Twenty years from this time (in 1860) the number of acres assessed was 400,019, valued at $4,238,519; the value of town lots was $233,765; the value of personal property,
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including slaves, was $2,993,514; making the total taxables of the county, $7,465,798.
In 1830 the population of the county was 5,801; in 1840 it was 13,689; in 1850 it was 19,548; in 1860 it was 21,777; in 1870 it was 25,666; in 1880 it was 32,685; in 1890 it was 35,859; in 1900 it was 39,408.
The log courthouse built in 1824, stood five years. In 1829 it was replaced by a two-story brick building, which cost the county about $6,000. This building stood until 1837, when, being deemed unsafe, it was taken down, and a temporary courthouse was erected out of the material.
In 1839 the contract was let for the erection of a new and commodious building suitable to the wants of the county. The contractors upon this building were Robert Shaw and Robert Jetton, the latter an uncle of the present Mr. J. W. Jetton, of Trenton. This courthouse was completed in 1841, at a cost to the county of $20,000.
Here is a picture of this courthouse, which stood for fifty-eight years as the temple of justice of the county. It was removed in 1899, and the present handsome and convenient structure was erected in its place.
PHOTO: Old Courthouse
The construction of the lines of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Mobile and Ohio Railroad through the county in 1857-1859 gave immense impetus to the growth and development of the county. Prior to this time the surplus products of the county were conveyed by wagon to Hickman, Ky, on the Mississippi River, and goods and supplies were obtained from the same point. Eaton, on the Middle Fork of the Forked Deer River, became a considerable shipping place, and quantities of cotton and other products were hauled to this point and transported in keel boats to the Mississippi River. When the railroads were built, all this traffic ceased; Hickman and Eaton lost their consequence as ports of entry and egress for Gibson County, and their greatness became a memory. The two railroads mentioned passed through some of the best agricultural lands of the county, and brought these lands into close contact with the great markets of the country, North and South. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad, especially, was located through the most fertile portion of the county. This road, passing through the entire length of the county, from north to south, had a greater influence upon agricultural development than any other road.
The Illinois Central Railroad completed its
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road through the county in _____, thus giving the county three important lines of railroad, and affording means of transportation and market facilities unsurpassed by any county in the State.
The present state of progress and development in Gibson County is largely due to its railroads. I know of no county in this State or any other State that serves better to illustrate the influence of railroads upon production and the formation of social and business conditions than Gibson County. The population of the county has doubled since the advent of railroads; a number of towns, some of them important places of trade and manufacture, owe their existence to the railroads; facility of transportation and easy access to the great consuming centers of the country vastly increased the volume and variety of agricultural products, so that every season of the year had its distinctive activities fostered and stimulated by market demands and the wondrous capability of the soil; business opportunities and industrial occupations were multiplied, and every social interest was advanced. No wonder that Gibson County, at the beginning of the last decade, stood as the fifth county in the State in point of population, and first as owing all her consequence to her purely agricultural interests.
PHOTO: Residence of G.R. Howse, Noted Stockman, Trenton
PHOTO: Residence of A.R. Dodson, Cashier Merchant's State Bank, Humboldt
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GIBSON COUNTY TO-DAY
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Pen And Picture Sketches
My aim in presenting the following pen and pictures sketches of people and things in the Gibson County of to-day, as I see them, is to bring before the mind's eye the state of social, commercial, and industrial growth the county has reached during the seventy-six years of its existence as a civic organization.
An exhaustive presentation of the processes which have brought about the present advanced state of development along all lines of substantial improvement is not attempted and would be impracticable in a work of this kind. Hence, I shall ask the reader to be satisfied with a glance, as it were, at those things in picture and print, which stand as the indices of progress.
Gibson County contains something near six hundred square miles of territory. It has a population, according to the United States census of 1900, of 39,408, or a little over sixty-five persons to a square mile; thus exceeding the general ratio of population in the State, which is forty-eight to the square mile of territory.
Gibson County is strictly an agricultural county. It has no minerals, so far as is known, and no definite strata of hard rock, such as limestone, slate, or sandstone. Occasional limited beds of coarse reddish or brown sandstone are met with, but the county, as well as all of West Tennessee, is remarkable for the absence of rock formation. The surface of the county is considerably diversified by hill, plain, and valley, though there are no high hills as in other portions of the State. The hilly portion of the county is confined almost entirely to the eastern half; but even here the hills are not formidable, and there is no part so rugged that it cannot be utilized for some useful agricultural purpose. These broken lands of the county are poor compared with the level and valley lands, but if properly cared for will well repay cultivation. There is much good land in the valleys and level spaces that occur on the east side, and some of the best farms and most prosperous farmers are to be found here. The western half of the county is generally level or gently rolling, and is distinctively the best farming portion of the county as a whole.
The line of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad passing from north to south nearly centrally through the county, marks closely the dividing line between the best lands and those that are not so good by reason of physical formation. All over the county, however, the soil may be said to be productive, even in the poorest sections, though it differs vastly in productiveness. The soil upon the surface is loam, more or less mixed with sand and siliceous matter, and rests upon a subsoil of clay. In many places on the west side the surface soil is almost pure loam. The surface soil over the county varies in depth from six inches to twenty-four inches, and the depth of the clay subsoil is from eighteen inches to four feet. Below the clay in almost all parts of the county is found a stratum of sand, and below the sand very hard and impervious clay is found.
The soil of Gibson County is generally very mellow and easily cultivated, and also easily moved by washing; so that the farmer must exercise care, if he would preserve his farm from becoming a network of gullies.
The county has no specialty in the way of agricultural production. It is adapted to diversified farming, and, on account of climatic conditions, is capable of producing a wider range of farm products than many other portions of our country. Cotton, tobacco, all the cereals and grains, vegetables, and fruits grow and mature here in perfection. For several years past the strawberry and tomato crops of the county have been a source of
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