History of Tipton County Tennessee United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Tipton County was erected on October 29, 1823, from the Western District, and named in memory of Capt. Jacob Tipton, who fell at St. Clair's defeat.

By the act which created this county provision was made that the County and Circuit Court should meet at the house of Nathan Hartfield until otherwise provided for by law. Among the early pioneers were Gen. Jacob Tipton, son of Capt. Jacob Tipton, Dr. Hold, Captain Scurry, Major Lauderdale, George W. Frazier, K. H. Douglass, and Jesse Benton, brother of Senator Thos. H. Benton. Jesse Benton lived at Randolph and was very active in promoting the interests of that place which posed as a rival to Memphis, and which became a very important center of trade for all the western sections except the counties of Shelby and Fayette.

Covington was selected as the county seat, which was located on land donated by John C. McLemore and Tyree Rhodes. In 1852 an effort was made to remove the county seat from Covington to Randolph but it failed by a small vote.

Statistics of Tipton County: Population, 1920, 30,258. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $15,074,391. Area, 400 square miles. Number of farms, 5,271. Railway mileage, 27. Bounded on the west by the Mississippi River. Soil is fertile and surface level except for a range of hills near river. Well timbered and watered by running streams and artesian wells. Cotton, corn, wheat, oats, fruits, vegetables, and live stock are staple products. Traversed by L. & N. and the Illinois Central railroads. Covington, the county seat, has a population of 3,410, and has fine churches and schools, a weekly newspaper, three banks, electric light plant and waterworks, cotton mill, cottonseed oil mill and other manufacturing enterprises, and is a flourishing town. Brighton, Atoka, and Tipton are other towns. Scholastic population of county, 10,703; high schools, 11; elementary schools, 78.

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

Biographies:

Augustus Hill Garland, statesman, was born in Tipton county, Tenn, June 11, 1832; son of Rufus K. and Barbara (Hill) Garland. He was taken by his parents to Hempstead county, Ark., when he was nine months old and there spent his boyhood days. He was graduated at St. Joseph's college, Bardstown, Ky., in 1849 and returned there in 1851, taking the degree of A.M. in July, 1852. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, practised a few years at Washington, Ark., and in 1856 removed to Little Rock, the state capital, where he gained renown in his profession. He was an elector on the Bell and Everett presidential ticket in 1860 and afterward opposed the secession of the state and was elected to the constitutional convention of Arkansas in 1861 as a Union delegate, but when the ordinance of secession was passed he upheld the movement and was elected to the Confederate provisional congress at Montgomery, Ala., and to the 1st and 2d Confederate congresses at Richmond, Va., as a representative from Arkansas, resigning his seat in the house to accept one in the senate which he held during the remainder of the existence of the Confederacy. On resuming the practice of his profession he was denied the right to appear before the U.S. courts, because he could not take the test oath. He appealed to the U.S. supreme court who, upon listening to his argument and that of the cause, decided in his favor. This incident gave him national reputation as a constitutional lawyer. In 1867 he was elected to the U.S. senate by the legislature of Arkansas, but was denied a seat, as the state had not then been rehabilitated. In 1874 he was elected governor of Arkansas without opposition, and his administration of the affairs of the commonwealth brought order out of chaos, paved the way for rapid development of its great natural resources, re-established the credit of the state, and gave a good market value to Arkansas securities. In 1877 he was again elected a U.S. senator and took his seat as successor to Powell Clayton, Republican, March 4, 1877. He was re-elected in 1883, resigning. March 4, 1885, to accept the position of attorney general in President Cleveland's cabinet. He attained high rank as a member of the judiciary committee of the senate and as attorney in the cabinet, his knowledge and interpretation of constitutional law and insistence on its enforcement marking his career in both positions. At the close of Cleveland's administration he resumed the practice of law in Washington, and in 1892 he supported the renomination of Mr. Cleveland. He was married to Sarah Virginia, daughter of Simon T. and Zenobia Sanders. He studiously avoided society while senator and a cabinet officer, his eccentricity extending even to the refusal to read the daily newspapers. His mother presided over his household after the death of his wife and besides his house on Rhode Island avenue in Washington, he maintained a summer home at "Hominy Hill," near Little Rock, Ark. After leaving public life he engaged in the practice of law. He published Experience in the Supreme Court of the United States (1898), and in collaboration with Robert Ralston of the Philadelphia bar, Federal Practice (1898). While addressing the U.S. supreme court in Washington he was stricken with apoplexy and died a few minutes later, Jan. 26, 1899.

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

History of Tipton County Tennessee

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