Maury County TN Archives History - Books .....Maury Co. 1906 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com September 18, 2005, 7:21 am Book Title: Century Review MAURY COUNTY. But few settlers were found in this section prior to the extinction of the Cherokee Indian title at Washington, D. C., Jan. 7, 1806, through which, for $10,000 and $100 per year annuity to "Old Black Fox," they surrendered all claims to lands from Duck River to Alabama. On Nov. 24, 1807, an Act was passed at Knoxville to take Maury Co. from Williamson; and on Dec. 4 Gov. Sevier appointed the following justices to establish a county government: Isaac Roberts, Jno. Dickey, Wm. Frierson, Jno. Spencer, Jno. Lindsey, Joshua Williams, Jno. Miller, James Love, Lemuel Prewett, Wm. Dooley. The name of Wm. Gilchrist appears as a justice early in 1809. Maury Co. originally comprised all of Giles, most of Lewis and Marshall, and portions of Bedford, Hickman, and Lawrence Counties. The present area is 590 sq. m. It is named in honor of Maj. Abram P. Maury, who was a prominent pioneer and later distinguished in military service. Originally pronounced "Mawry," provincially it has become " Murry," although still spelled, as formerly, "Maury." Healthfulness.-The salubrity of the "Middle Basin," its fine drainage, good air, etc., tends to longevity and makes it a superior section for blooded stock, as well as healthful for the human race. Nowhere in America can a larger percentage of population be found that are above eighty years of age or have died nearing the century mark. It is worthy of note that Columbia has a negro living in its suburbs who came here ninety-five years ago, and was then twenty-five years of age when working on the first brick courthouse, built in 1810. A negress died this year some five miles from Columbia reputed to be one hundred and five. Another lives in Columbia who is about that age. Minerals.-Maury Co. has gypsum, glass sand, limestone, chocolate marble, and some ores; but its greatest mineral wealth is to be found in the phosphate rock, of which 1,659 car loads were shipped from the Mt. Pleasant District in Dec., 1904. A full description of this product will be given under Phosphate Mining. The fertility of the soil is wonderful, a record of 38 bu. of wheat and over 300 bu. of potatoes per acre having been made. Chemists assert that all durable soils must have large stores of mineral plant food-phosphoric acid, potash, lime, etc. Maury Co. is well supplied with these elements, without which fertilizers must be used to make land highly productive. Progress.-Notwithstanding the devastation consequent upon the Civil War, the county has steadily continued to increase in population and wealth with each decade, excepting 1880-90, at which time an exodus of negroes to Alabama and other States for industrial purposes made a decrease of 1,792 for the decade. But with the mining industry now within Maury Co., the present decade will show a large increase. The county and its towns are in a very prosperous condition, with bright prospects for the future, as the soil is fertile and adapted to raising nearly all of the products found in the temperate zone. Vegetables, cereals, and grasses grow to perfection; and vineyards, or fruits, do well under intelligent culture and proper care: Peaches and apples sometimes fail on account of unseasonable weather, etc.; but under the careful method of spraying, etc., adopted by good fruit culturists, the crop is as reasonably certain here as elsewhere; and it is purely a lack of push in this direction that causes the importation instead of the exportation of fruits to Maury Co. The grapes which have proven best adapted to this section are Concord, Ives, Worden, Moore's Early, Niagara, Delaware, Lutie. Japanese plums do well, as do nearly all varieties of apples and pears; cherries, excepting sweet varieties; and plums, excepting the European. Berries of all kinds thrive here; and when better methods of fruit culture prevail, Maury Co. will export heavily, instead of any importation. Stock and Poultry.-Maury Co. presents the most perfect conditions for raising blooded or common stock, and many prize winners or otherwise noted herds are to be found here. Swine do particularly well. Many farmers feed all of their corn, and produce large quantities of pork. Maury Co. is a magnificent place for the growth of turkeys and chickens, as shown by its annual shipments to the metropolitan markets of over 300 cars per year of live and dressed poultry and eggs. The common chicken thrives almost without care, roosting in cedar trees, the disinfecting qualities of which prevent vermin; and the product from eggs and poultry in Tennessee is now estimated at $10,000,000 annually. Maury Co. is the first in the State in this respect, as well as in agriculture. The old Dominique hen has largely been supplanted by new and improved breeds, and thrifty housewives support the family from poultry and eggs. Pikes, Schools, Etc.-The Nashville and Franklin Pike was extended to Columbia about 1840, and later to Pulaski. Next a pike was built from Columbia to Waynesboro through Mt. Pleasant. Then came the Hampshire Pike and others. Next to railroads, nothing facilitates the marketing of the farmer's products like good pikes; and but few counties in the United States of like size can show as great a percentage of macadamized roads as Maury, which has fourteen pikes, diverging to all points of the compass from Columbia, the hub, and aggregating about 150 miles in the county. Churches and schools are dotted at convenient intervals in every portion of the county; plenty of woodlands .are found for the necessities of timber and fuel; and with all the advantages before described, Maury Co. presents a great contrast from pioneering in the West or wintering in the North. Steamboat Co.-In 1820, when Columbia aspired to become the capital of the State, a stock company was formed to build a highway westward to the Tennessee River and operate a boat to New Orleans. Pat. McGuire, P. R. Booker, Saml. Polk, David Gillespie, Dr. Wm. McNeil, Jas. Walker, E. W. Dale, Ed. B. Littlefield, Jno. Hodge, Jno. T. Moore, Maj. Jno. Brown, Wm. Bradshaw, Jos. B. Porter, and Wm. Frierson, incorporators. The company had a boat built at Pittsburg., Pa., for $40,000, and named it "Gen. Greene," Maj. Littlefield's wife having been a daughter of that noted Revolutionary soldier. The boat was run on the Tennessee, with T. P. Miner, captain; Lem. Duncan, clerk; Wm. J. Dale, barkeeper; but after an unprofitable experience of one season, it was transferred to the Cumberland, where, after two seasons, it was sold for $9,000, and the corporation closed. Duck River.-About 1848 a company was formed to erect slack-water navigation on Duck River to Columbia. A survey was made, and two dams were built, when it was found that, by a mistake in mathematics, the engineer had left off one-half of the elevation. The stockholders refused to pay further assessments, and the project was abandoned. A small boat, "The Lunette," once made the trip in high water up to Columbia; but the experiment was never repeated until the present season, when a naptha launch that carries twenty persons has been equipped by Joe Catina for recreation. Additional Comments: From: CENTURY REVIEW 1805 - 1905 MAURY COUNTY, TENNESSEE A Condensation of the Most Important Events of the Past One Hundred Years, and Descriptive Sketches of the Cities and Villages File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/maury/history/1906/centuryr/mauryco17nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/tnfiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb