History of McMinn County Tennessee United States of America

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McMinn County was created on November 5, 1819, out of lands ceded by the Cherokee Indians to the United States in that year, and was named for Joseph McMinn, who was governor at that time.

McMinn, Monroe and Bradley counties embraced the largest and best portions of the land thus ceded.

A new judicial circuit was established in lower East Tennessee, composed of seven counties, of which McMinn was one, and the Hon. Charles F. Keith, then a leading lawyer of Jefferson County, Tennessee, was elected the first judge, and held the first Circuit Court in the county, at the house of John Walker, in the town of Calhoun, on the Hiwassee River, fourteen miles southwest from Athens, the present county seat, on the first Monday of March, 1820.

Maj. John Walker was part Cherokee and laid off the town of Calhoun on land allotted him and named it for John C. Calhoun. In 1821-1822 the Town of Athens was laid off and, in 1823, the courts of the county were moved there. Noted members of the Athens bar were: Return J. Meigs, Spencer Jarnagin, Thomas Campbell, later clerk of the House of Representatives in Congress, and J. W. M. Brazeale, the historian.

Early settlers in McMinn County were: A. R. Turk, E. P. Owen, John Cowan, George Colville, and Eli Sharp.

After he had served his third successive term as governor, McMinn was appointed agent to the Cherokee Indians and, on his death, was buried in the yard of the Presbyterian Church at Calhoun which was built in 1823.

A pretty romance is told of the marriage of Miss Emily Meigs, daughter of Return J. Meigs, to the son of John Walker. The young man was very handsome but as he had Cherokee blood, her father opposed the union. So they eloped. But, as he was a Cherokee chief, he was compelled to placate his people by espousing an Indian girl, named Nancy Bushyhead. He was murdered by two Indians as he was returning from the council which decided upon the Cherokee cession.

John H. Reagan, postmaster-general of the Confederacy, who also achieved renown in Texas, and Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama, were natives of McMinn County.

Statistics of McMinn County: Population, 1920, 25,133. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $11,063,543. Area, 452 square miles. Number of farms, 2,654. Railway mileage, 56. Drained by the Hiwassee River and tributaries. Fine growth of timber and soil very fertile in the valleys. The Louisville & Nashville and Southern railways intersect the county. Corn, wheat, oats, grasses are staple products. The county has a fine system of public highways. Athens, the county seat, has a population of 2,580, and is on the Southern Railway fifty-five miles northeast of Chattanooga and fifty-five miles from Knoxville. It has a fine electric light plant, splendid churches and schools, including a branch of the University of Chattanooga, two newspapers, flour mill, two box factories, roller mill, hosiery mills, table and chair factory, two planing mills, concrete tile plant, etc. Etowah, with a population of 2,516, is on the main line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad sixty miles south of Knoxville. It is headquarters of the Atlanta Division of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. This town is fourteen years old and has had the most remarkable growth of any town in the state. Etowah has two banks, one newspaper, fine electric light plant and water plant, manufacturing and commercial establishments, and is in a rich agricultural section. Scholastic population of the county, 8,858; high schools, 6; elementary schools, 97. Other towns in McMinn: Riceville, Calhoun, Niota, Englewood, each of which has a bank.

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

History of McMinn County Tennessee

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