Conecuh County AlArchives History .....History of Conecuh County, Alabama 1881
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CHAPTER VII.
Centres of Population--Bellville--Hampden Ridge--Sparta 
Brooklyn-Fort Crawford.

   Reference has already been had to the settlements at Bellville and Hampden 
Ridge. Between the years of 1817 and 1823 the population of both these points 
was steadily increased. Several brothers, whose name was Bell, came to 
Bellville, then called "The Ponds," about 1818 or 1820, and having commenced 
an enterprising life in this region, they called the village after their own 
name-Bellville. At Hampden Ridge, the home of Mr. Autrey, as at every advance 
post in this uncivilized region of country, there was a nucleus formed, around 
which the elements of growth would accumulate as the stream of immigration 
would continue to flow. As has already been said, by the permission of Mr. 
Autrey, and partly by his direction, the first court house of the county had 
been built on Hampden Ridge during the year 1817. After this there came, in 
rapid succession, and settled hereabouts, the families of Savage, Charlton, 
Thompson, John and Duncan McIntyre, Dr. Houghton (who soon after died), Major 
Bowie, Stringer, Causer, Thomas Hodge and Jesse Baggett, the father of Richard 
Baggett, of Castleberry, who was the first white child born in the county of 
Conecuh.

   By mutual agreement between the white residents on Hampden Ridge, and the 
Indians, whose camps and villages lay beyond Murder creek, this stream was 
fixed as the boundary. But regardless of the agreement, the savages would now 
and then cross the creek in predatory bands, and commit depredations upon the 
white settlers, by stealing their cattle and driving them beyond the stream, 
and to the headquarters of the tribe at Old Town. So enraged did the whites 
finally become, that they resolved upon a total suppression of these wrongs. 
Accordingly they mustered every one who was able to bear arms and moved in a 
body to Old Town. This, they attacked with considerable spirit, driving the 
native inhabitants, terror stricken, away. They next proceeded to set fire to 
their town of huts and wigwams and reduce it to ashes. Flushed with victory, 
the triumphant whites returned to their homes, no more to be molested by the 
prowling Red Man. The Indians having disappeared from this region, the whites 
commenced to remove to the eastern side of Murder creek. Major Richard. Warren 
was the first to venture across the stream and pitch his home in a region so 
lately filled with peril. He was soon after followed by his son, who located 
at the point where he died, one mile east of Sparta. During the same year 
Malachi Warren entered eighty acres of land and built a log cabin on the spot 
where, afterwards, stood the Rankin House. This cabin was the first building 
erected upon the site of old Sparta, which, at this period, had not been 
honored with its classic name. At this point Malachi Warren opened a place of 
business that might have been aptly described as a pop-corn grocery. Between 
the homes of Major Warren and his son, Hinchie, a gentleman, whose name. was 
Spires, located. The place occupied by him was afterwards called the Callahan 
Place. He was the first to begin the improvement of what has been since known 
as the Cary Plantation. In 1819, Thomas Watts (uncle to Ex-Governor Watts), 
removed from Georgia and settled near Malachi Warren's home. During the same 
year a man named Gauf removed from Tallahassee, Florida, and built below the 
point where afterwards stood the Rankin House, on the road leading from Sparta 
to Brooklyn. It was near this spot, too, where the first jail was erected. Mr. 
Gauf established here the first hotel built in Sparta, and in honor of 
himself, called it the Gauf House. Like most other structures of this period, 
this primitive inn was of pine poles and flat upon the ground, and, in the 
absence of lumber with which to construct shutters for the doors, calico 
curtains and counterpanes had to be suspended as flaps. About this time there 
came to this community a Northern physician, whose name was Jonathan Shaw. He 
engaged board in the Gauf House, and built an office near where the Masonic 
Hall afterwards stood. It was just subsequent to the events already related, 
that the court house agitation sprang up between the rival communities of 
Hampden Ridge and the settlement on the opposite side of the creek. A vigorous 
effort was being made by the Warrens, Boykins and Hunters, to transfer the 
site of the county from Hampden Ridge into their own midst. Alexander Autrey 
led, in a stout opposition, but the decision of the ballot was against him, 
and, much to his dissatisfaction, he had to yield. Accordingly, in 1820, a new 
court house was built, and the village there-upon received the name of Sparta-
given to it by Thomas Watts, an attorney, in honor of Sparta, Georgia, from 
which point he had removed. This second court house is said to have been a 
slight improvement on the one originally built on Hampden Ridge. It was 
constructed of pine logs, and was, in size, about 20 by 30 feet, and had two 
doors. In the absence of a local church edifice, it served the double purpose 
of temple of justice and house of worship. Another court house-the one 
consumed by fire in 1868-was erected three years later, by a man named 
Simmons, from Tallahassee, Florida, and the Masonic Fraternity gave him $500 
additional to place the lodge room and attic above. Evidences of improvement 
began now to become manifest in all directions. The evidences of an ambitious 
civilization were beginning to show themselves in schools, and in more 
pretentious forms of business than had hitherto existed. The first school here 
was undertaken by John McCloud, who taught but a brief period, when he was 
succeeded by Murdock McPherson. The last named gentleman is said to have been 
the first Mason buried with the honors of that Fraternity upon the soil of 
Conecuh. To give marked solemnity to the occasion, a fiddle was brought into 
requisition, and its solemn tones were evoked in the strain of a funeral 
march, by a wooden-legged doctor, named Ogden. Anderson and Blackshear, two 
brothers-in-law, and John and Reuben Dean, built two places of business in 
this rapidly growing village. And after the removal of the court house, the 
bar of Conecuh was increased by the location of Samuel W. Oliver, Eldridge S. 
Greening and John S. Hunter, at Sparta.

BROOKLYN.

   Prior to the settlement of Brooklyn proper, quite a community had been 
formed on Ard's and Bottle creeks. There were in this community, as early as 
1818, two stores, owned respectively by McConnell and George Feagin. There was 
also a school being taught here by Mr. Graham, of Georgia; and a blacksmith 
shop, owned by John Brantley. No trace of this settlement, which was about six 
miles northwest of the present location of Brooklyn, remains. The last vestige 
has been obliterated by plantations. Among the earliest settlers here were Asa 
and Caleb Johnston, and Aaron Feagin-their father-in-law. They removed from 
Georgia in 1818. Richard Curry, grandfather to Rev. W. G. Curry, now of 
Wilcox, was also one of the founders of this community. The first settler of 
the village of Brooklyn was a man whose name was Cameron. He established a 
ferry across Sepulga river. Edwin Robinson, from Brooklyn, Connecticut, bought 
out Mr. Cameron's interest, opened a store, and called the place Brooklyn, for 
his native village in New England. This occurred in 1820, He was reinforced 
pretty soon by the location of Dr. Milton Amos, after whom Milton, Florida, 
was named. Then followed the families of George and Reuben Dean and Benjamin 
Hart, who had first settled at Bellville. Improvements were rapidly made in 
the promising village, and thereabouts. A church was erected in 1821, the 
pastor of which was Elder Alexander Travis; a school was established under Mr. 
Scruggs; a grist mill contributed to the comfort and convenience of the 
expanding village; new places of business were opened, and thus Brooklyn 
became, in 1821, the emporium of trade to Conecuh, and the river, which runs 
hard by, became the commercial outlet of the entire region of country.

   Transportation was begun on the Conecuh and Sepulga rivers in 1821. It is 
believed that George Stoneham was the owner of the first boat that sailed upon 
the waters of Conecuh. The inauguration of this movement was but the signal 
for many similar enterprises; for in rapid succession were boats entered by 
Messrs. Edwin Robinson, James and John Jones, Starke and Harry Hunter, and 
Frank Boykin, so that within a few years the river was alive with well-ladened 
boats, plying between Brooklyn and Pensacola, and when the depth of water 
would justify it, ascending as high as Montezuma, above Brooklyn. These were 
keel-boats, and would carry from fifty to sixty bales of cotton. In capacity 
they were from sixty to seventy feet long, and eight to ten wide. They were 
entered in the Custom House at Pensacola, tonnage paid, and then license 
obtained for steering into port. But the heroic enterprise of these early 
inaugurators of navigation on the Conecuh river, deserves more extended 
mention than a bare passing notice, and hence a detailed account of their 
reverses and successes is reserved for a subsequent chapter. Fresh additions 
were constantly being made to the population of Brooklyn, and but a short time 
after its location, we find the families of Hart, Hodges, Meeks, Manning, 
Slaughter, Folks, Amos, Turk, Burson, Horton, Lee, Halstead, and several 
families of the Stoneham relationship. These were, for the most part, men of 
enterprise, and under their direction the work of advancement went steadily 
on. Vast tracts of land were cleared in the direction of the river, where were 
soon some of the best improved plantations in the county. Eleven miles below 
Brooklyn there was a settlement founded on the river, the first inhabitant of 
which was Malachi Ethridge, who removed with his family from North Carolina in 
1818. This well-to-do colony were not neglectful of the advantages which they 
had enjoyed in the older States, and hence one of the first considerations was 
the erection of houses of worship. The first church built in this region was a 
Methodist house of worship, which enjoyed the pastoral ministrations of Rev. 
James King-favorably known for many years after, as "Father King." In another 
portion of the community a Baptist church was erected, under the ministerial 
auspices of Elders Travis and Ellis.

   One of the chief attractions of this thrifty community was a manufacturing 
establishment, which had been built by Thomas Mendenhall, whose ingenuity at 
that time was proverbial in all parts of the county. Here he was resorted to, 
from all directions, as the only manufacturer of chisels, augers, cotton-
cards, spinning-wheels and gins. Near the village of Brooklyn is a large cave, 
known as Turk's Cave. A tradition among the earliest inhabitants has it, that 
it was a place of resort to the noted highwayman, Joseph T. Hare, and his 
accomplices. It is said to have been the spot where they stored their 
treasures, and whence "they sallied forth to rob and murder the traders who 
plied their vocation between Pensacola and the Indian country." *
__________
*Brewer's History of Alabama, p. 194. -


FORT CRAWFORD,

now in Escambia county, was one of the points earliest settled in Conecuh. It 
derived its name from an officer in Jackson's command. Benjamin Jernigan seems 
to have been the first to pitch his tent in this region. He settled within two 
and a half miles of where Fort Crawford subsequently stood, and on the west 
side of Burnt Corn creek, within three-quarters of a mile of the present site 
of Brewton. This was in the latter part of 1816, or early in 1817. Not more 
than two or three settlements had been made in the county at that time. Soon 
after Mr. Jernigan came here, he was joined by James Thomson, Benjamin 
Brewton, R. J. Cook, Lofton and Loddy Cotten. At this time the fort was 
occupied by the Seventh Georgia Regiment. General Jackson was in the habit of 
visiting the home of Benjamin Jernigan-the father of the venerable William 
Jernigan, now a resident of Pollard. Mr. Jernigan had removed with his family 
from Burnt Corn Springs for the purpose of herding cattle for Jackson's army. 
From the direction of Pensacola, Jackson sent the Jernigan family supplies by 
the Conecuh river, and many were the annoyances to which the boatmen were 
subjected by the Indians firing upon them from the thickets along the banks. 
The army quartered at this point received their supplies from Montgomery Hill, 
on the Alabama river. They were hauled in wagons across the Escambias -to Fort 
Crawford, where for a time all the citizens of this section went to procure 
bread. The erection of the fort was commenced in 1817. Prior to this time only 
temporary earthworks had been thrown up. No Indian settlements were then near; 
but now and then prowling bands would pass through the country, ostensibly on 
hunting excursions. They usually encamped about the heads of streams, and 
built temporary shelters of pine and cypress bark. Sometimes they would linger 
at such points a week together, and then pass onward. In the winter of 1817, 
tracts of swamp laud were cleared of the trees and rank cane, which were 
burned in the following spring, and the soil planted in corn. Though 
unprotected by fences, these cleared spots yielded immense crops. The 
following year an effort was made to fence with the tall cane, but failed.

   Soon after the formation of the settlement, Rev. Radford Cotten, a 
Methodist clergyman, settled in its midst. He was afterwards joined by Rev. 
Mr. Shaw, also a Methodist minister. Some time prior to this, services had 
been from time to time held at the fort by Rev. Thomas Walls, a Baptist 
minister. These services were held at the request of the officers of the fort. 
In 1818, a church edifice was built on the west side of the river, about four 
miles above the fort, at a point called "The Bluff." It is thought to have 
been erected through the influence of Elder Walls. Near this spot a store-
house was also built.

   The inhabitants living in the neighborhood of Fort Crawford were devoted to 
farming and to raising cattle and hogs. As early as 1817 they furnished to the 
markets of Pensacola vast quantities of pease and pumpkins, which they 
transported in wagons, and exchanged for such delicacies as coffee. So highly 
were these farm products valued by the Pensacolians, and so great was the 
abundance of coffee at that period, that a bushel of peas was readily 
exchanged for a bushel of coffee. The year 1818 was one of sore trial to this 
interior settlement. The soil had been most fruitful in its yield, but the 
resources of the earliest farmers had been subjected to great drain by reason 
of the constant influx of immigration. Such were the straits to which this 
region was subjected, that corn was sold for four dollars per bushel. During 
that year the community sent Bartley Colley to New Orleans to purchase 
supplies of corn, which were shipped to Pensacola. As the Indians persisted in 
their disturbance of all boats ascending or descending the river, wagons were 
employed to convey these necessaries across the country. A decided check was 
put upon these troubles from the Indians, in 1818, by the capture of four 
hundred warriors, by General Jackson, at Ferry Pass.

   In 1818, Mr. Walls, brother to the minister, erected a small grist mill 
near "The Bluff;" and a few years later, Thomas Mendenhall built a saw mill 
above Fort Crawford. Very little of the lumber sawn here was sold to the 
citizens, and Mr. Mendenhall, aided by a man whose name was Roily Roebuck, 
transported his lumber on rafts to Pensacola. Prior to the erection of this 
mill, the "whip saw" had been used to some extent in the community. The lumber 
with which were built the houses of the officers of Fort Crawford, was sawn 
with the "whip saw." Other timbers were cut and rafted down the river to 
Pensacola. The readiness with which man adapts himself to surrounding 
circumstances is strikingly illustrated by the unique plan adopted here by the 
residents for conveying the products of their diminutive farms to a favorable 
market. These fresh bottom lands were abundant in their yield of pumpkins. In 
order to ship these to Pensacola, a huge cypress was scooped out, somewhat in 
the shape of a mammoth batteau, and of sufficient capacity to hold three 
hundred pumpkins. With a cargo like this these heroic farmers would speed away 
down the river, and Pensacola reached, their golden fruit was readily sold-
realizing for each pumpkin twenty-five or fifty cents-and rejoicing, they 
would return.

   Game abounded here, as elsewhere in Conecuh. But, strange enough, the 
community about Fort Crawford was destitute of dogs. To obviate this 
disadvantage, the officers of the fort, having become very intimate with 
Willie Jernigan, then a boy of sixteen, engaged him to "play dog" for them in 
routing the deer from their hiding places at the bushy beads of the streams. 
With many a bark and yelp, he would plunge into the thick coverts, and the 
affrighted deer would scamper out in all directions, only to be greeted by the 
leaden bullets of the officers from their stands. 
 
  When, in 1819, it was determined to erect a court house on the east side of 
Murder creek, Benjamin Jernigan, R. J. Cook, Allen and Alexander McCaskill, 
Mabry Thomas, and several others, were chosen by this community to select a 
site for its erection. As has already been stated, the point fixed upon was 
Sparta.



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Chapter VII

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