History of Washington County Tennessee United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Washington County was erected by the General Assembly of North Carolina, in November, 1777. It was formed from Washington District which had been detached from Wilkes and Burke counties and included all the present State of Tennessee, although a part of it, as we have seen, was thought at the time to belong to Virginia. This county has the distinction of being the first political division in the United States which was named in honor of George Washington. From it all the other counties in Tennessee have been carved. It is, therefore, the oldest county in the state and was the theatre of the important events which occurred in its early history.

At this session of the Legislature, provision was also made for opening a land office in Washington County, permission being given that each head of a family might take up six hundred and forty acres, his wife and his children one hundred acres each, all at the rate of forty shillings per hundred acres. The facility with which settlers might obtain lands caused a large influx of pioneers immediately, although no wagon road had been opened across the mountains.

At least eight years prior to the formation of this county, permanent settlers had taken up their abodes on the Watauga, as we have seen. The Watauga Association was formed in 1772 and Henderson's Purchase of the Transylvania Country was made from the Indians by treaty signed in 1775 on the Watauga.

John Carter, who had been chairman of the court of the Watauga Association, appointed colonel of Washington County.

The county was organized on February 23, 1778, with the following named magistrates in attendance: John Carter, chairman, John Sevier, Jacob Womack, Robert Lucas, Andrew Greer, John Shelby, George Russell, Wm. Been, Zachariah Isbell, John McNabb, Thomas Houghton, William Clark, John McMahan, Benjamin Gist, John Chisholm, Joseph Willson, Wm. Cobb, Jas. Stuart, Michael Woods, Richard White, Benjamin Wilson, James Robertson, and Valentine Sevier. On the next day the officers were elected as follows: John Sevier, clerk; Valentine Sevier, sheriff; James Stuart, surveyor; John Carter, entrytaker; John McMahan, register; Jacob Womack, stray-master; and John McNabb, coroner.

The first courthouse was built by Charles Robertson. Andrew Jackson lived in Jonesboro when he first came to Tennessee and boarded with a Mr. Chester.

Jonesboro, the oldest town in the state, was selected for the county seat. It was named for Willie (pronounced Wylie) Jones, who had shown himself friendly to the Watauga settlers when they had sent delegates to Halifax, N. C., to see the governor. Jonesboro was laid off in 1779. The first and the last legislatures of the State of Franklin met at Jonesboro. Many noted men have lived in this historic place. Among them: David Nelson, author of "The Cause and Cure of Infidelity," B. F. Lundy, publisher of an abolition paper, W. G. Brownlow, before he moved to Knoxville, Landon C. Haynes, uncle of Robert L. and Alfred A. Taylor, Judge T. A. R. Nelson, and Chief Justice J. W. Deaderick.

Statistics of Washington County: Population, 1920, 34,052. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $24,687,316. Area, 344 square miles. Number of farms, 2,865. Railway mileage, 59. Drained by the Nollichucky, Watauga and Holston rivers. Surface diversified with mountains and valleys, with forests of fine timber. Mineral resources, iron ore and building stone. Intersected by the Southern Railway, and other railways are the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio and the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina. Jonesboro, the county seat, has a population of 815, is on the Southern Railway, and has fine schools, churches, newspaper, banks, iron foundry, and several manufacturing establishments. Johnson City has a population of 12,442 and has a large number of manufacturing establishments. It is the seat of the National Soldiers' Home and the East Tennessee Normal. It has daily and weekly newspapers and is one of the flourishing cities in East Tennessee. Scholastic population of county, 10,247; high schools, 10; elementary schools, 60.

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

Biographies:

Vincent Boreing, representative, was born in Washington county, Tenn., Nov. 24, 1839. He removed to Kentucky in 1847; was educated in Laurel Seminary, London, Ky., and at Tusculum college, Greenville, Tenn., and entered the Union army as a private in the 24th Kentucky infantry, Nov. 1, 1861. He attained the rank of 1st lieutenant and was wounded at the battle of Resaca, Ga., in May, 1863. He served as county superintendent of public schools in Kentucky 1868-70; established the Mountain Echo, a Republican newspaper at London, Ky., in 1875, and became a county judge in 1886; president of the Cumberland Valley Land Co., in 1887, and president of the First National bank of London, Ky., in 1888. He was elected a Republican representative from the 11th Kentucky district in the 56th, 57th and 58th congresses 1899-1905.

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

Henry Melvil Doak, journalist, was born in Washington county, Tenn., Aug. 3, 1841; son of the Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander and Sarah (Cowan) Doak; grandson of the Rev. Dr. John Whitefield Doak, president of Washington college, and great grandson of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Doak, its founder and first president. He was educated at Washington and Stewart colleges, enlisted in the Confederate service in 1861, served in the army of the west and was wounded at Shiloh. He then served in the Confederate navy at sea and on the Atlantic coast, was wounded at Fort Fisher, N.C., in 1864, and surrendered at Appomattox in 1865. He then studied law but relinquished its practice to engage in journalism. He edited the Ciarksville Tobacco Leaf, 1869-76, Nashville American, 1876-83, Nashville Banner, 1883, Cincinnati News-Journal, 1883-84, Memphis Avalanche, 1884-86, and in 1886 was appointed by U.S. Circuit Judge Howell E. Jackson, clerk of the Federal court at Nashville, Tenn.

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

History of Washington County Tennessee

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