History of Rutherford County Tennessee United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Rutherford County was erected on October 25, 1803, from Davidson and was named in honor of Gen. Griffith Rutherford, of North Carolina. It was organized on January 3, 1804.

Uriah Stone, who discovered Stone's River, in 1766, explored it as far as Old Jefferson in Rutherford County. The famous Indian chief, Black Fox, had a camp near Murfreesboro and the old Indian war trace from Nashville to Chattanooga passed through this county.

Early settlers were: Sam Wilson, who located at Wilson's Shoal on Stone's River; Wm. Adkinson, Thos. Nelson and Thos. Howell, near Stewart Creek; Robt. Overall, on Overall Creek; Nimrod Menifee, near the Federal cemetery; Col. Robt. Weakley, Robt. Bedford, Col. Richard Ransom, Rev. Jas. Bowman, Charles Ready, Thos. Rucker, Richard Saunders, and Capt. Wm. Lytle, the last named being the owner of the land on the site of Murfreesboro.

On August 3, 1804, the commissioners, John Hill, Frederick Barfield, Mark Mitchell, Alexander McBride, and Peter Legrand, selected a county seat. Through the influence of Col. Robt. Weakley and Robt. Bedford they selected Jefferson, known now as Old Jefferson, on land between the forks of Stone's River. The first court was held at the house of Thomas Rucks, on January 3, 1804, and the first courthouse erected in 1804-1805. Parry W. Humphreys was made county solicitor. Thos. H. Benton tried his first case at Jefferson.

On October 17, 1811, the Legislature directed that a county seat be determined and named and appointed seven prominent land owners to select a site of sixty acres, centrally located. A struggle ensued between rival factions. The site was first called Cannonsburg in honor of Newton Cannon, governor 1835-1839, but, by an amendment to the Act of 1811, it was called Murfreesborough in honor of Col. Hardy Murfree, who led the advance at the battle of Stony Point, and was incorporated on October 17, 1817. The first mayor was Joshua Haskell, who resigned and was succeeded by Joseph Wendell. Lawyers of early days were: S. R. Rucker, J. R. Martin, Charles Ready, S. A. Laughlin, W. Brady, Samuel Anderson, John Bruce, Joshua Haskell, and P. W. Humphreys. Early physicians were Drs. Jam. Mooney, J. King, Henry Holmes and P. Yandell.

The Tennessee Legislature held its sessions in Murfreesboro from 1819-1826, its meetings being in the courthouse.

Important educational institutions: Soule College, originally Soule's Female Academy, founded in 1825; Old Union University, chartered February 5, 1842; Tennessee College, Anderson's School for Boys and the Middle Tennessee Normal School.

Murfreesboro has been the home of two great literary celebrities: Dr. Samuel P. Baldwin, author of "Armageddon," and Miss Mary N. Murfree (Charles Egbert Craddock), whose lamented death occurred recently.

Statistics of Rutherford County: Population, 1920, 33,059. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $25,441,330. Area, 580 square miles. Number of farms, 5,254. Railway mileage, thirty-four. Drained by Stone's River, a tributary of the Cumberland. Its surface is undulating and the soil fertile. Portions of the county are well timbered. Staple products are corn, cotton, wheat, sorghum, peas, clover and grass. It is one of the best live stock counties in the state. Murfreesboro, the county seat, has a population of 5,367, and is on the N. C. & St. L. Railway, thirty miles from Nashville. It has fine public and private schools, and is the seat of the Middle Tennessee Normal. It has splendid churches, two weekly newspapers, several manufacturing establishments and prosperous stores. Christiana, Fosterville, Smyrna and LaVergne are other towns in the county. Scholastic population of county, 14,367; high schools, fifteen; 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:

Winfield Scott Featherston, soldier, was born in Rutherford county, Tenn., Aug. 8, 1821. He served for a brief period against the Indians in 1836 and shortly afterward removed to Houston, Miss., where he was admitted to the bar in 1840. He was a Democratic representative in the 30th and 31st congresses, 1847-51; was a presidential elector in 1852, and in 1860 was delegated by the people of Mississippi to consult with those of Kentucky on the question of secession. He joined the Confederate army in May, 1861, as colonel of the 17th Mississippi regiment, and in March, 1862, was promoted brigadier-general in recognition of his bravery at the battle of Ball's Bluff, Oct. 21, 1861. He served in the Seven days' battles in Virginia, being wounded on the sixth day, June 30, 1862. In January, 1863, he was transferred to Vicksburg, and early in 1864 led an expedition to meet Admiral Porter's gunboats, joining General Johnston in Georgia in March. He resumed the practice of his profession at the close of the war and served in the Mississippi legislature, 1876-78, and 1880-82. As chairman of the judiciary committee in 1879-80 He assisted in revising the state code. He was appointed circuit judge in 1881. He died in Holly Springs, Miss., May 28, 1891.

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

Henry Eustace McCulloch, soldier, was born in Rutherford county, Tenn., Dec. 6, 1816; son of Lieut. Alexander McCulloch. He engaged in rafting on the Mississippi, and at the outbreak of the Florida war of 1836 he served as a volunteer. He removed to Texas in 1837 and engaged in land surveying. He was married, in 1840, to Jane Isabella Ashby. He was appointed tax-collector for Gonzales county in 1840. He was elected captain of four different volunteer companies during the war with Mexico; raised a company of rangers in 1850, of which he was elected captain, and engaged in several skirmishes with hostile Indians. He was mustered out of service, Nov. 4, 1851, and returned to Texas, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1853-55; state senator, 1855-59; and U.S. marshal for the eastern district of Texas, 1859-61. He was appointed by the session convention a colonel with authority to recruit a regiment of volunteers, with which he captured U.S. stores at Camp Colorado and at Fort Chadburn. He was commissioned colonel by President Davis, and raised a regiment of mounted men for the Confederate army. He assumed command of the department of Texas; was elected colonel of the regiment he had raised and was subsequently appointed brigadier-general. After the war he returned to Texas. He was superintendent of the state deaf and dumb asylum, 1876-79, and agent of the state land board, 1885-87.

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

John Berry McFerrin, clergyman, was born in Rutherford county, Tenn., June 15, 1807; son of the Rev. James and Jane Campbell (Berry) McFerrin; grandson of William McFerrin, a farmer and soldier in the Revolution, and a descendant of Scotch-Irish ancestors, who came to America about 1740, and settled in York county, Pa. His father, originally Presbyterian, joined the Methodist church in 1820, and was a circuit preacher until his death in 1840. John received his education at home and in the schools of Tennessee, and worked on his father's farm. He was appointed a class leader by the Methodist conference in 1823, and was licensed as an exhorter in 1824. He joined the Tennessee conference in 1825, became a preacher, and travelled various circuits in Alabama and Tennessee, 1825-28. He was a missionary to the Cherokee Indians, 1828-30, stationed as pastor of several churches, 1830-36, and was presiding elder of the districts of Florence, Ala., and Cumberland, Tenn., 1836-39. He was editor of the Christian Advocate at Nashville, Tenn., 1840-58; agent for the Methodist Book Concern, 1858-66, and again 1878-87; missionary to the Army of Tennessee, 1861-66, and secretary of the board of missions, 1866-78. He was a delegate to the ecumenical conference of the Methodist church in London, England, in 1881, and to the centennial conference in Baltimore, Md., in 1884. He was married, Sept. 18, 1833, to Almira Avery, daughter of William V. and Sarah (Johnson) Probart of Nashville, Tenn., and secondly, Nov. 12, 1855, to Cynthia Tennessee, daughter of John McGavock of Nashville, Tenn. He received the degree of D.D. from Randolph-Macon college and La Grange college in 1847. He is the author of a History of Methodism in Tennessee (3 vols., 1870-72); sermons, and contributions to periodicals. He died in Nashville, Tenn., May 10, 1887.

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

Benjamin McCulloch, soldier, was born in Rutherford county, Tenn., Nov. 11, 1811; son of Lieut. Alexander McCulloch, an aide-de-camp to Gen. James Coffee. He worked on his father's farm, was a raftsman on the river, and became an expert hunter and trapper. In 1835 he removed to Texas to aid that colony in its struggle for in dependence. He arrived at Nacogdoches too late to join General Houston's army, and started alone for the Brazos river. After the fall of the Alamo he joined General Houston's army and was in charge of one of the "twin sisters" guns at the battle of San Jacinto which he used with such effect that he was promoted on the field, and his heroism formed the subject for a poem, "Ben McCulloch at San Jacinto." He was engaged in recruiting a company in Tennessee until the close of the war, when he settled in Gonzales, engaged in exploration and surveying, and defended the frontier against Indian raids, taking part in the engagement at Plum Creek. He was a representative in the Texas congress in 1839; and while in congress he had a duel with Col. Reuben Davis, in which he received a severe wound in the shoulder. In 1840 he rendered notable service during the Indian raid as a scout and as commander of a company. He declined the nomination for representative in the Texas congress in 1842, and upon the annexation of Texas to the United States in 1845 he was a representative in the first state legislature and was appointed major-general of state militia for the western district. At the outbreak of the war with Mexico, in April, 1846, he organized a company of picked scouts, and joined General Taylor after the battle of Resaca de la Palma, May 9, 1846. He was promoted quartermaster with the rank of major, July 16, 1846; participated in the battle of Monterey, Sept. 20-25, 1846, and with his scouts was sent forward one hundred miles into the enemy's country, and discovered the exact strength of Santa Anna's forces. At Buena Vista, Sept. 22-24, 1847, by his great bravery he won the recognition of the commanding general and was placed on duty at Scott's headquarters. After resigning his staff position he organized a company of spies and performed valuable services at the taking of the city of Mexico. He returned to Texas after the close of the war and resumed his business of surveying. In 1849, upon the discovery of gold in California, he removed to Sacramento, and was elected sheriff of Sacramento county. He returned to Texas in 1852; was appointed U.S. marshal for the eastern district by President Pierce, and was retained by President Buchanan. In 1857 he was appointed one of the commissioners to adjust the Mormon troubles in Utah, and to report on the condition of Arizona. He refused the nomination of U.S. senator in 1855, and at the outbreak of the civil war he was engaged on official duty at Washington. After the conclusion of his final reports he returned to Texas and offered his services to the Confederate cause, and he was commissioned brigadier-general, May 14, 1861, and ordered to Fort Smith, Ark. He hastily organized an army and marched to the relief of Governor C. J. Jackson, and after forming a junction with Generals Sterling Price and N. B. Pearce, he assumed command of the combined forces and met and defeated the Federal army under Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, at Wilson's Creek, Aug. 10, 1861. Having no orders to make Missouri a fighting ground, he refused to pursue and gave up the command to General Price. He participated in the attempt made by General Van Dorn to surround the Federal army at Bentonville, Ark., and succeeded in driving General Sigel from the town. McCulloch commanded a division composed of an infantry and cavalry brigade at the battle of Pea Ridge, March 7, 1862, and while leading his troops in a furious attack against the division of Gen. P. J. Osterhaus, he was mortally wounded and his command, deprived of its commander, was beaten back. He died near Elkhorn Tavern, Ark., March 7, 1862.

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

History of Rutherford County Tennessee

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