History of Unicoi County Tennessee United States of America

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Unicoi County was erected on March 19, 1875, out of Washington and Carter counties, and was named for the Unicoi mountain. The name Unicoi means White. Section 16 of the act creating this county says: "for the purpose of organizing the county of Unicoi, Wm. Tillson, Esq., Chas. Bean, Josiah Sams, James V. Johnson, Wm. McInterf, David Bell, Franklin Hannum, Richard N. Norris, and Thos. Wright shall be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners on the part of the several fractions in which they reside."

Unicoi County was attached to the first judicial court.

The first county court was organized on January 3, 1876, with the following named magistrates present: Henry McKinney, A. E. Briggs, D. T. O'Brian, B. W. Woodward, M. C. Burchfield, Isaac Gilbert, Alexander McInturf, G. F. Tompkins, James M. Norris, R. B. Hensley, R. L. Rowe, Alexander Masters, J. M. Anderson, Wm. Parks, G. Garland, J. S. Yader, Wm. McInturf, and Baptist McNabb.

The county seat was first named Vanderbilt, which name was retained until 1879 when it was changed by the Legislature to Ervin. By an error the post-office department of the government spelled it Erwin, which spelling it still retains.

Early settlers were: Jesse Brown, Enoch Job, Richard Deakins, Geo. Martin, Wm. Lewis, Jas. Acton, Jonathan Webb, Robert Hampton. In the early days, like most of the early pioneers of East Tennessee, they suffered much from the Indians. The first church was Baptist, established probably in 1785.

Unicoi County is rich in timber and mineral resources.

Statistics of Unicoi County: Population, 1920, 10,120. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $4,590,561. Area, 196 square miles. Number of farms, 811. Railway mileage, 21. Drained by the Nollichucky River and intersected by Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway. Surface mountainous. Cotton, corn, oats, grasses and live stock are the staple products. Erwin, the county seat, with a population of 2,965, is 15 miles south of Johnson City and is a flourishing manufacturing town, one of the principal industries being the production of chinaware. Erwin has good schools, churches, a weekly newspaper and flourishing business establishments. Scholastic population of county, 3,163; high school, 1; elementary schools, 33.

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

History of Unicoi County Tennessee

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