History of Hamblen County Tennessee United States of America

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Hamblen County was created on May 31, 1870, and was named for Hezekiah Hamblen. It was formed from parts of Grainger, Jefferson, and Hawkins counties. The first settlement in what is now Hamblen County was made by Robert McFarland and Alexander Outlaw in 1783. They located at the ?bend? of the Nollichucky.

One of the historic spots in this county is ?Hayslope,? the handsome old home of one of the pioneer settlers, Col. James Roddey, one of the signers of the First Constitution of Tennessee. The Town of Russellville is built on a tract of land awarded Colonel Roddey for services in the Battle of King's Mountain, and was named for his second wife, Miss Russell.

Morristown was named for the Morris family of whom three brothers, Gideon, Daniel and Absalom, settled near it, having gone thither from their former home on the Watauga.

Through the territory now included in Hamblen extended the stage road from Knoxville to Abingdon, Va., which road was constructed as early as 1792-1793; and along this road most of the settlers located, among them William Chaney, Thomas Daggett, Phelps Read, Richard Thompson, Isaac Martin, and John Crockett, father of David Crockett.

On October 3, 1870, the county court was organized in an old storehouse in Morristown. The magistrates present were: S. P. Hixon, L. D. Milligan, L. F. Leiper, C. L. Gregory, George McFarland, R. M. Hamblen, A. J. Donelson, Alexander Williams, Jonathan Noe, G. W. Carmichael, C. J. Burnett, D. S. Noe, R. P. Sharp, William Felkner, S. M. Heath, James Hale, W. B. Ninnie, S. J. Couch, I. P. Haun, and Samuel Smith.

Statistics of Hamblen County: Population, 1920, 15,056. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $11,184,675. Area, 150 square miles. Number of farms, 1,564. Railway mileage, 31. Drained by the Holston and French Broad rivers. The surface is undulating and the soil fertile. The Southern Railway intersects the county. Principal products are grass, fruit, live stock and poultry. It is one of the best fruit counties in the eastern section of the state, and the poultry industry is also of large proportions, Morristown, the county seat, being one of the largest poultry markets in the South. Morristown, on the Southern Railway and the Holston River, has a population of 5,875, has splendid churches and schools, daily and weekly newspapers, three banks, manufacturing establishments, and prosperous mercantile concerns. Scholastic population of the county, 5,416; high schools, 5; elementary schools, 35.

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

History of Hamblen County Tennessee

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