History of Humphreys County Tennessee United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Humphreys County Tennessee, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Humphreys County was erected on October 19, 1809, out of part of Stewart County and was named in honor of Parry W. Humphreys, a judge of the Superior Court of Law and Equity, 1807-1809, who held the first court in this county.

The act creating the county provided that the first court should be held at the house of Samuel Parker, Jr., on Trace Creek, about two miles from Waverly.

The first county seat was established in 1816, at Reynoldsville, which was named for John B. Reynolds, then a representative in Congress. The Supreme Court, also, at that time, held its sessions in Reynoldsville for that division of the state. The site of the county seat was on fifty acres of land donated by Alexander Brevard. When Benton County was erected in 1835, largely from territory previously included in Humphreys, the county seat was moved to Waverly, which was named for Scott's Waverley novels. The site of Waverly was donated by Davis Childress and the survey was made by Isaac Little in 1836.

Probably the first settlement in the county was made by Moses Box, in 1800, at a point on Trace Creek, but development was slow on account of the depredations of the Indians.

Humphreys has been conspicuous in all of the wars in which Tennessee has taken part and, in the War between the States, furnished more soldiers than it had voters. It was at Johnsonville in this county where Forrest captured the Federal gunboats and destroyed $5,000,000 worth of Federal property.

Statistics of Humphreys County: Population, 1920, 13,482. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $7,514,498. Area, 420 square miles. Number of farms, 1,805. Railway mileage, twenty-seven. Drained by the Tennessee and Duck rivers. Fine timber in some sections. Its surface is partly hilly, but the land along the rivers is very fertile. This is the largest peanut producing county in the state, and this is an important industry. Other staples are wheat, corn, cotton, grasses and live stock. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway traverses the county. Waverly, the county seat, has a population of 1,054, with good churches, schools, weekly newspaper, general stores, and manufacturing establishments. McEwen is another flourishing town in Humphreys County, and has a population of 635, with good schools, churches, bank, newspaper and business houses. Scholastic population of county, 4,817; high schools, four; elementary schools, seventy-one.

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

History of Humphreys County Tennessee

Local History Notes:

Local History and Genealogy Links: