History of Maury County Tennessee United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Maury County was erected November 24, 1807, from a part of Williamson County, and was named in honor of Maj. Abram P. Maury. It is one of the best counties in the state. From an agricultural point of view no county in the state is superior to it.

The first County Court was held at the house of Col. Joseph Brown, about three miles south of Columbia. He was licensed to keep an 'ordinary' and gave bond to furnish "good, wholesome and clean lodging and diet for travelers, stabling with hay, oats, corn, fodder and pasturage, as the season of the year may require, and not to suffer or permit gambling, nor on the Sabbath day permit any person to tipple or drink more than necessary!"

The magistrates of this first court were: John Dickey, John Miller, Wm. Gilchrist, Wm. Frierson, Isaac Roberts, John Spencer, John Lindsey, Joshua Williams, James Love, Lemuel Pruett, and William Dooley. Peter R. Booker was appointed solicitor. Joseph Herndon was the first resident attorney admitted to practice.

The commissioners appointed by the Legislature in 1808 to select the county seat were: Joshua Williams, William Frierson, Isaac Roberts, John Lindsey, and Joseph Brown. They selected Columbia, which was incorporated in 1817. The first physicians were Doctors O'Reilly and Estes. Later physicians were: Doctors DePriest, McNeil, Sansom, McJimsey and Graves.

The first paper, The Western Chronicle, was founded in 1811, by James Walker, who married a sister of President Polk, in 1813.

The early settlers in Maury County came from North Carolina and Virginia. Attention to this county was brought early and particularly because of the location there of the 25,000 acres given Gen. Nathanael Greene, on account of his services in the Revolutionary war.

One of the earliest colonies, however, came from South Carolina, in 1807 and in 1808, led by John Dickey and settled in the Zion Church neighborhood. Besides Dickey prominent settlers were: Moses Frierson, James Blakeley, William Frierson, Eli Frierson, James Armstrong, Thomas Stephenson, Nathaniel Stephenson, ?Old Davy? Matthews, Samuel Witherspoon, John Stephenson, James Frierson, P. Fulton, Alexander Dobbins, Moses Freeman, the Flemings and Mayes. They built a church, which served also as a schoolhouse, in which the minister, Reverend Henderson, was a teacher. At one time James K. Polk was one of his pupils.

Not far from Mount Zion was the Polk settlement. From the first settlers, in 1807, Wm. Dever and his sister, Wm. Polk bought their 5,000-acre grant. He divided the estate among his four sons: Bishop Leonidas Polk, Lucius P. Polk, George N. Polk and Rufus K. Polk. This became known as the ?Polk neighborhood.? Near it was the home of Gen. Gideon J. Pillow.

Another prominent settlement was the Spring Hill community which was started about 1808-1810, by Abram Hammond, Colonel Russell, Nathaniel Cheairs, James Black and others. James Black was the grandfather of Col. Henry Watterson, and father-in-law of Judge Stanley Matthews, of the United States Supreme Court.

Few counties have been so prolific in prominent, noted and great men. Among them were President James K. Polk, Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer, General Ewell, Stanley Matthews, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Henry F. Cooper, A. O. P. Nicholson, Wm. Fields,27 Bishop Leonidas Polk, Bishop Otey, Gideon J. Pillow, Terry H. Cahal, Wm. Polk, Thos. Wrenne, Maj. James Holland, Dr. Samuel Mayes, Jas. Armstrong, a member of Lee's Legion, David Matthews, who served under Gen. Francis Marion, Gen. Richard Winn, Edward Ward Carmack, and many others.

Statistics of Maury County: Population, 1920, 35,403. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $29,694,070. Area, 596 square miles. Number of farms, 3,728. Railway mileage, 102. Drained by Duck River. Land is very fertile, and is one of the richest agricultural counties in the state. Staple products are corn, wheat, oats, hay, fruits and live stock. The dairying industry is extensive, the county having some of the finest herds in the state. There are immense phosphate deposits in the county which have been worked for years. Columbia, county seat, has a population of 5,526, is on the Duck River and has two railroads. It is the seat of Columbia Institute for Girls and Columbia Military Academy and has a fine system of public schools, splendid churches, daily and weekly newspapers, four banks, several manufacturing establishments, mills, etc. It is one of the largest mule markets in the country. Mount Pleasant, the center of the phosphate mining industry, has a population of 2,093, and has good schools and churches, two banks, a weekly newspaper, cotton mill, two creameries and prosperous manufacturing and mercantile establishments. Other prosperous towns are Culleoka and Spring Hill. The latter place has excellent private schools. Scholastic population of county, 11,352; high schools, thirteen; elementary schools, 100.

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

Biographies:

James Phillip Eagle, governor of Arkansas, was born in Maury county, Tenn., Aug. 10, 1837; son of James and Charity (Swaim) Eagle, and grandson of Joseph Eagle, who migrated from North Carolina to Tennessee in 1829. The family removed to Pulaski county, Ark., in i839, and settled on a farm. In 1861 James Phillip volunteered in the Confederate service in the 5th Arkansas regiment and was transferred to the 2d mounted riflemen. He was promoted lieutenant, captain, major and lieutenant-colonel, and served in the campaigns of the Indian country, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, including Chickamauga, and North Georgia from Dalton to Atlanta. He was a prisoner in 1862, was wounded before Atlanta, saw his last service at Bentonville, N.C., and surrendered with Johnston's army in 1865. On returning to Arkansas he found his residence destroyed, and building a cabin on its site, he went to work to restore his fortune. He was soon able to purchase several thousand acres of land and although thirty years of age he took a course in college and in 1870 was ordained a Baptist minister. In 1872 he was elected as a Democrat a representative in the state legislature, and in 1874 became prominent in the Baxter-Brooks contest for possession of the state government, serving in the Baxter forces, and afterward as one of a committee of three to adjust the war claims against the Baxter government. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1874, which framed a new state constitution. He was again a state representative in 1877 and in 1885, serving the last year as speaker of the house. He was governor of Arkansas, 1889-92, and retired in January, 1893, to engage in agricultural pursuits and in work connected with his profession as a clergyman: He served as president of the annual meetings of the Arkansas Baptist state conventions, 1878-98, and as chairman of its executive board. He was married in 1882 to Mary, daughter of William and Kate (Oldham) Kavanaugh of Madison county. Ky. Mrs. Eagle became a prominent worker in the Baptist church, and was president of the Woman's central committee on missions and of the Woman's missionary union. She was also a member of the board of lady managers of the World's Columbian exposition, and chairman of the state committee on congresses, preparing the program, presiding over the woman's congress which met daily in the woman's building during the continuance of the exposition, and editing The Congress of Women, the official organ of the congress.

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

William Hawkins Polk, representative, was born in Maury county, Tenn., May 24, 1815; son of Samuel and Jane (Knox) Polk, and brother of President James K. Polk. He was a student at the University of North Carolina, 1832-33; was graduated from East Tennessee college; was admitted to the bar in 1839, and began practice in Columbia, Tenn. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1842-45; charg? d'affaires at Naples, 1845-47; negotiated a treaty with the Two Sicilies, and resigned, Aug. 31, 1847, to take part in the war with Mexico. He was thereupon commissioned major of the 3d dragoons and served in the army in Mexico until July 20, 1848. He was a delegate to the Nashville convention in 1850, and a Democratic representative in the 32d congress, 1851-53. He was married first to a Miss Corse of New York, and secondly, July 14, 1854, to Lucy E. Williams of Warren county, N.C. He opposed the secession movement in Tennessee in 1861, and joined the Union party. He died in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 16, 1862.

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

History of Maury County Tennessee

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