History of Anderson County Tennessee United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Anderson County, named in honor of Judge Joseph Anderson, was created by act of the General Assembly, November 6, 1801. It was formed from parts of Knox and Grainger counties. It lies partly in the valley of East Tennessee and partly on the Cumberland plateau. It contains about four hundred and fifty square miles.

Settlements began in this county about the year 1800 principally by David Hall, Wm. Tunnell, Isaac Coward, Wm. Hogshead, Jno. Chiles, Joseph Hart, Thos. Hart, Joseph Black, Joshua Frost, Collins Roberts, Jno. Garner, Aaron Slover, Jno. Gibbs, Robt. Ross, Jno. Wilson.

The Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions was organized on December 15, 1801, at the house of Jno. Denham, Sr. The justices of this court were: Hugh Montgomery, Wm. Underwood, Frederick Miller, Jas. Grant, Jno. Kirby, Wm. McKamy, Jos. Sinclair, James Butler, Wm. Standifer and Solomon Massingale. Wm. Hogshead, who began practice about 1802, was the first lawyer of the county.

The county seat was first named Burrville, in honor of Aaron Burr. By act of the Legislature, in 1809, the name was changed to Clinton in honor of DeWitt Clinton. The site of Clinton was first owned by Jno. Leib and the lands surrounding it were settled by a colony of Germans, among whom were John Clodfelter, Geo. Bumgartener and John Leinart. Besides the Germans there were: Jno. McWhirter, Jno. Sutherland, Stephen Bradley, Richard Luallen, James Kirkpatrick, Robt. Kirkpatrick and those mentioned above.

The greater part of the wealth of Anderson County is in its coal and timber lands. Many large mines are in operation.

Statistics of Anderson County: Population 1920, 18,298. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $8,701,767. Area, about 360 square miles. Number of farms, 1,677. Railway mileage, 78. County drained by Clinch and Powell rivers. Its valleys are very fertile. Staple products: Wheat, corn and oats. Live stock industry is very flourishing. County seat, Clinton, about twenty-two miles northwest of Knoxville; population, 1,409. Has churches, schools, weekly newspaper; 2 banks, enterprising mercantile establishments, several flourishing mills, and other industries. Coal Creek has a population of 1,204. Scholastic population of county, 6,512; high schools, 7; elementary schools, 55.

From: Moore, John Trotwood. Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923. Vol. 1. Chicago, IL, USA: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1923.

Biographies:

Richard Llewellyn Kirkpatrick, educator, was born in Anderson county, Tenn., Jan. 13, 1817; son of Maj. James and Susannah (Llewellyn) Kirkpatrick; grandson of Alexander Kirkpatrick, and a descendant of Sir Roger Kirkpatrick, who came from Scotland to America and settled in Virginia. He was graduated at East Tennessee university, A.B., 1845, A.M., 1848; was instructor there, 1845-48; professor of Latin and Greek, 1848-50; of mathematics and mechanical philosophy, 1851-53; in 1853 accepted a chair in the college at Strawberry Plains, where he remained until 1857, and was president of the Female institute, Knoxville, 1858-64. The school closed on account of the war, and President Kirkpatrick with his family returned to his old home, where he engaged in farming, 1864-67, and in engineering the Knoxville and Ohio railroad, 1867-68. He then returned to Knoxville and was elected city engineer, which position he held until the reorganization in 1869 of the East Tennessee university, Knoxville, where he was professor of Latin language and literature, 1869; of English language and literature, 1870-73; of English language and mental science, 1873-76; of logic and English literature, 1876-78, and of history and pbilosophy, 1878-79. He died in Knoxville, Tenn., July 15, 1879.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Anderson County Tennessee

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