History of Hardeman County Tennessee United States of America

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Hardeman County was erected on October 16, 1823, from the Western District and was named in honor of Col. Thomas Jones Hardeman. By the act which created it this county was directed to have the first sessions of its courts held at the house of Thomas McNeil. On October 17, 1823, the county was organized by the following named commissioners: Andrew Taylor, Wm. Polk, Jacob Pirtle, Jno. Y. Cochran, Wm. P. Robertson, Nathan Stell, and John Rosson. Wm. Polk was chosen chairman and Thos. Hardeman, clerk and J. C. N. Robertson, sheriff of the first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions.

Settlements began in 1819, but the first notable settlement was made in 1821 by Col. Ezekiel Polk, grandfather of President James K. Polk, William Polk, son of Col. Ezekiel Polk, Thomas McNeal, son-in-law of Col. Ezekiel Polk, Thomas J. Hardeman and his grandson, Rufus P. Neely.

The committee appointed to select the county seat was composed of Abram Maury, Wm. Hall, James Fentress and Benj. Reynolds. They selected a site one mile north of the present location, and Maj. Wm. Ramsey donated twenty-six acres for the site. The county seat was at first called Hatchie, but in 1824 the present site was selected and was called Bolivar in honor of Simon Bolivar, the patriot and liberator of Venezuela. Major Ramsey and Colonel Polk gave fifty acres for the new town site.

The first teacher in the county was, perhaps, Henry Thompson. Early papers were the Palladium, The Sentinel, and Free Press.

Bolivar is the home of the Western Hospital for the Insane.

Statistics of Hardeman County: Population of 1920, 22,278. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $9,282,472. Area, 640 square miles. Number of farms, 3,535. Railway mileage, 95. Borders on Mississippi and drained by the Big Hatchie. Its surface is nearly level and in sections covered with fine timber. Soil fertile, and it is one of the best cotton producing counties. Other staples are corn and hay. Traversed by Illinois Central, Southern, and N. C. & St. L. Railroads. Bolivar, the county seat, is on the I. C. 18 miles south of Jackson, and has a population of 1,031, with good schools and churches, weekly newspapers, two banks, and manufacturing and commercial establishments. Scholastic population of county, 8,414; high schools, 6; elementary schools, 104.

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

History of Hardeman County Tennessee

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