History of Grainger County Tennessee United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Grainger County was the second county created by the first Legislature on April 22, 1796. It was named in honor of Mrs. William Blount, whose maiden name was Mary Grainger. It was formed from Hawkins and Knox counties. The county seat is Rutledge, named for George Rutledge, a prominent pioneer. Some of the pioneers were Col. James Ore, the Senters, Crabtrees, Hendersons, Taylors, Johnsons, Bassetts, Lebons, Lowes, Jarnagins, and Tates. Settlement began about 1784.

The county seat was not located until 1801 when the courthouse was erected. But the county court was organized on June 13, 1796 (less than two months after the county was created), at the house of Benjamin McCarty, with the following named magistrates appointed by Governor Sevier: Thomas Henderson, Elijah Chisum, James Blair, John Estes, Phelps Read, Benjamin McCarty, James Moore, John Bowen, John Kidwell, John Sims, William Thompson, and Major Lea.

Statistics of Grainger County: Population, 1920, 13,369. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $5,980,954. Area, 300 sq. mi. Number of farms, 2,257. Railway mileage, 47. Drained by Clinch and Holston rivers, has a high ridge surface called Clinch Mountain. County is well timbered; soil in valleys very fertile. Corn, oats, wheat, grass and live stock are the staple products. Fine iron ore deposits are found in the county. County has ample railway mileage. Tate Spring and other noted mineral springs are in this county. Rutledge, the county seat, is near the base of Clinch Mountain, about 33 miles northeast of Knoxville, and has a population of about 600, two banks, schools, churches, weekly newspaper, and flourishing business establishments. Other towns are Washburn, Noeton and Idol. Scholastic population of county, 4,480; high schools, 5; elementary schools, 56.

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

Biographies:

Spencer Jarnigan, senator, was born in that part of Southwest Territory afterward Grainger county, Tenn., about 1792. He was graduated from Greenville college in 1813, studied law with Hugh L. White, and was admitted to the bar in 1817, practising in Knoxville until 1838, when he removed to Athens, Tenn., where he became the defender of Indian land titles. He was a representative from Knox and Anderson counties in the state legislature, 1833-35, where he was chairman of the committee on Indian affairs and favored popular education and the establishment of an asylum for the insane. He was a Harrison and Tyler elector-at-large in 1840, the Whig nominee for U.S. senator in 1841, and in 1843 was elected U.S. senator as successor to Alexander Anderson, and held the office from March 4, 1843, till the close of the term, March 4, 1847. He was a brilliant orator and an advocate of a limited tariff to meet the demands of the government expenses, voting for the tariff of 1846, which reduced the average duty nine per cent. This displeased the Henry Clay Whigs, and he was not re-elected to the senate, and in 1847 failed to secure election to the supreme bench of Tennessee. He then removed to Memphis, where he practised law with eminent success. In 1848 he supported Taylor and Fillmore. He was a trustee of East Tennessee college, 1836-51. He died in Memphis, Tenn., June 24, 1851.

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

Luke Lea, U.S. attorney, was born in Grainger county, Tenn., Nov. 19, 1810; son of the Rev. Major and Lavinia (Jarnagin) Lea, and grandson of the Rev. Luke and Mary (Wilson) Lea. He was educated at East Tennessee college; studied law with Pryor Lea , and settled in practice, first at Knoxville, in 1832, and was secretary of the state of Tennessee; and afterward in Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss. He was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for governor of Mississippi in 1849. He served several terms in the Mississippi legislature and was commissioner of Indian aftalta by appointment of President Fillmore, 1849-53. He was married in Jackson, Miss., in 1848, to Mary, daughter of Maj. John Maysant, of South Carolina, and their son, Albert M. Lea, was U.S. attorney for the southern district of Mississippi in 1901. He was appointed U.S. district attorney by Grant in 1871, and filled the office under the administrations of Hayes, Garfield and Arthur, 1871-85. He died in Vicksburg, Miss., May 9,1898.

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

History of Grainger County Tennessee

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