History of Warren County Tennessee United States of America

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Warren County was erected in 1807, from a part of White County and is said to have been named for Gen. Wm. Warren, who fell at the battle of Bunker Hill. It is believed that Elisha Pepper, who came from Virginia about 1800, was the first settler. Other early settlers were: Joseph Colville, John Lusk, Lyon Mitchell, Wm. Lusk, Dr. John Wilson, Edward Hogue, Dr. W. P. Lawrence, Absalom Clark, Elijah Fletcher, Jno. England, Irwin Hill, Oliver Charles, Abner Womack, Wm. Womack, Chesley Webb, Jno. Kirby, Robert Biles, Archibald Prater, Allen Youngblood, Brown Spurlock, Thos. Gribble, Mason French, Jas. Northcutt, Wm. Smartt, Dr. Archibald Faulkner, Asa Faulkner, John Gross, James Cope, Wm. Cummings, Joshua Hickerson, Oliver Charles, H. J. A. Hill, W. J. Stubblefield, John Davis, and Jas. Elkins.

Until 1810, the courts were held at the home of Joseph Westmoreland and in a log house near it about a half mile south of Barren Fork. This was near the celebrated Poplar Tavern where people intending to settle on Elk River, usually stopped. In March, 1809, McMinnville was selected as the county seat by the commissioners, Jas. Taylor, Thos. Matthews, Benj. Lockhart, Jas. English and John Armstrong. It was located on the lands of Joseph Colville, Jno. A. Wilson and Robt. Cowan. In August, 1810, McMinnville was laid off and lots sold.

Among the early lawyers were: T. V. Murray, Washington Britain, Geo. Stubblefield, John B. Forrester, Wm. Armstrong, Stokeley D. Roman, Andrew J. Marchbanks, Napoleon B. Baird, B. L. Ridley, Thos. K. Harris.

This county has furnished soldiers for all the wars in which Tennessee has had a part.

Early educational institutions were: Quincy Academy, founded in 1809; Edmondson Academy, established in 1820; Carroll Academy, in 1830; and the Cumberland Female College in 1850.

Early churches were Shiloh, and Sulphur Springs churches, both Union and Hickory Grove, Methodist. The Primitive Baptist Church was the first church established in McMinnville in 1837. Rev. Isaac Woodward, a saintly and eccentric Methodist, was the best known of the pioneer ministers.

Dr. J. P. Lawrence was one of the first physicians.

Statistics of Warren County: Population, 1920, 17,306. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $7,715,632. Area, 440 square miles. Number of farms, 2,756. Railway mileage, twenty-five. Drained by the Caney Fork and Rock rivers. Surface hilly with fertile valleys. Splendid fruit growing section. Some sections are well timbered. Staple products are corn, wheat oats and live stock. A branch of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway intersects the county. McMinnville, the county seat, has a population of 2,814, and is a flourishing town with fine schools and churches, a weekly newspaper, three banks, manufacturing establishments, and prosperous stores, flour mills, saw mills, etc. Morrison and Rock Island are other towns. Scholastic population of county, 5,760; high schools, seven; elementary schools, sixty-six.

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

History of Warren County Tennessee

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