McNAIRY COUNTY, TN - HISTORY - Old Purdy
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 	  McNairy County Independent February 22, 1924
			   Old Purdy

E. A. McCann, attorney of Henderson, on a recent visit, gave to us
an old day book kept by his grandfather, when he was in business in
old Purdy in 1852-53.  The items charged in the book, and all the
entries in same are with pen, and the writing is wonderfully well
preserved.  The business mentioned was a saloon and grocery store,
and was conducted in a building on the south side of the square.
The names of the old customers, as they appear in this old book,
will kindle the fires of memory among the older ones who now live
in the county, and who knew old Purdy in her hey day-when it was
one of the most prominent towns in this section of the State, and
at a time when its people were like-wise prominent in the affairs
of the county and State.

In a spirit of reminiscence, in retrospection, imagine that you
were in old Purdy on Christmas Eve, and that you were in the
business house of one Jo McCann.  The time is nine years before the
beginning of the Civil war, and about the time of the return of
Gen. Sam Houston from Washington, when he met Major Benjamin Wright
in the bar room of the old Kinkead tavern. It is soon after the
election of Franklin Pierce as President, and W. B. Campbell   was
Governor of the State.  The county officials then were, Andrew
McKee, Sheriff,  A. A. Sanders, County Court Clerk, Lindsay
Sanders, Circuit Court Clerk, Benjamin Wright, Register, and John
H. Meeks, member of the Legislature.

As you remained in that old store, these were some of the customers
who came in during that evening, as shown from the fourth page in
this old day book: The tall and knightly County Register, Benjamin
Wright, the lately retired warrior from old Mexico, sauntered in
and ordered a glass of whiskey, which no doubt was served him, and
the jovial storekeeper, made a note of it by charging the
distinguished gentleman with the price of five cents.

Then came into the store the old and familiar character, known and
beloved by many, Dr. W. C. Kindle.  He bought 32 pounds of candles,
and these were charged to him, the price being $1.32.

Not long thereafter came the old tavern keeper, A. J. Kinkead, and
not satisfied with the effects and results of a five cent purchase
of whiskey, he ordered a whole quart, and that was charged to him,
the price being the sum of fifteen cents.  Wm. G. Dunn, the
father-in-law of old Uncle John Beard, living north of Purdy,
wanted to enliven the Christmas proceedings and so he bought a half
gallon of whiskey, and Mr. McCann entered a charge of 30 cents
against him.  With him came P. H. Braden, the father of all of the
older set of Bradens in Purdy, and he would not be content with any
thing less than a gallon of the fiery liquid for Christmas purposes
and he bought a gallon, and this amount was charged to him, and the
price was sixty cents.  Another old settler from the Mt. Peter
neighborhood strolled in, and just before time to go home, Jack
Kirby bought a glass of whiskey for personal and immediate
consumption, and this was charged to him at five cents.  He
remembered that he would need a little more to finish the
celebration, and he ordered five pints in flasks, the charge for
this and the flasks being entered on the books at 60 cents.  Uncle
Daniel Hill wanted as much as a quart, and he got it, for he is
charged on the books with that much at fifteen cents.

Christmas times had caught some of the old settlers without
sufficient funds with which to carry on during the holidays, and so
H. Walker borrowed $12.00, and that event is a record on the old
book.  Wm. Hendrix had more than he needed at the time and so he
paid the accommodating storekeeper forty cents on account.  A. S.
Walker wanted about $1.25, and so he got that accommodation, and it
was entered on the old book.  B. Walker wanted a Whiskey Barrel, no
doubt having the required amount on his premises, with which to
fill it, and he got the barrel.  Mr. McCann promptly entered a
charge of sixty cents against him.  About this time the old
rattling stage coach, whose approach had been heralded  by the
blasts from the driver's horn, drove in from Bolivar, and Nathan
McAfee, the old and reliable driver of the stage, while waiting for
a change of horses, and for his passengers to partake of a meal at
the old tavern, dropped in and bought some candy.  For that he was
charged ten cents.

The old Registrar was not satisfied with his first purchase of five
cent's worth of whiskey, came back, and bought a quart.  He was
charged fifteen cents of that second visit. No doubt desiring to
walk in the footsteps of his father, and to emulate his virtues, in
walked John W. Wright, and it is presumed that as it was Christmas
Eve, he was not alone.  He bought five drinks, and a quart.  The
charge against him was twenty-five cents and then fifteen cents. E.
Kirkpatrick, felt the tightness of the money situation, and so the
old storekeeper relieved him by loaning him a quarter.  This is
charged.  James Hornbuckle, wanted to take something home with him
to remind everybody who saw him, and who heard him that he knew
when Christmas came, and so he bought a half gallon and two ginger
cakes.  The charge for it was forty cents. Uncle Nat Shull took a
quart with him, and left a fifteen cent charge on the old day book.
Stanford Sanders would not be satisfied with a drink, nor even with
a quart, so he got a gallon, and was charged sixty cents for that.
Tobe Braden did not want a Christmas to pass by without a big
racket, and so he bought some gun powder.  He was charged a quarter
for it.  Shep Holman wanted to satisfy the cravings of an appetite,
for he had been shoeing horses all morning.  He got fifteen cent's
worth of "cheese" and ginger cakes.  That purchase is of record on
the book.  R. W. P. Pool wanted some of the substantials with which
to begin the Christmas and so he got a half bushel of meal, and was
charged twenty cents or it.  Wm. Hendrix must have come with him,
for he got the same thing, and paid the same price, or that is he
was charged on the book the same price.

John Beaty wanted to go out the road with Jack Kirby, and so he had
himself charged with a half gallon at forty cents a gallon. Abraham
Hill had sent his son in for some intoxicating stuff, and he no
doubt got it, for there is a charge against him of forty cents.
Charley B. Atkins  was a little different from the usual run, and
so he was satisfied if he could get a half pound of "raisins."  He
got it, for he was charged fifteen cents for this. Green Gullet had
a craving for something different, and he ordered pint of goobers.
He obtained the quantity, and was charged ten cents for that.
Benjamin Walker wanted to remind the storekeeper that he had not
forgotten his account, and so he made a deposit of sixty cents on
account.  Wm. Runnels wanted something substantial with which or
within which to carry to carry his "Christmas" and so he got a
gallon and also a "Dicanture."  Mr. McCann found time to charge him
a dollar and a quarter of that.  Old man McGraw walked in, and
bought some " cheese and crackers," and three pints of wine.  That
all cost him sixty five cents.  J. C. Huddleston wanted to change
the general run a little bit, and he bought a "twist" of tobacco.
He was charged ten cents.  John Bell sent Frank after some brandy.
He got it and then he had to pay an account of fifteen cents.

And so on through the page, and the pages of the book.  There are
recorded many of the names of the county's oldest and most
respected citizens.  They all were a part of that day and time, and
what they did, either in the buying and the drinking of
intoxicating liquors, and the selling of the same, did not subject
them to criticism.  We only mention these names and the purchases
to call attention to other people, and to other manners and
customs.  Times have changed.  Sentiment has changed.  What was
once permissible is not now tolerated.  Little did they dream that
within a quarter of a century, there would be legislation against
the sale of intoxicating liquors.  It came with the four mile law.
What did they dream of the future?  Nation-wide prohibition, and
the adoption of the 18th amendment to the Federal Constitution, and
not a legalized saloon within the boundaries, or on the possessions
of the United States, have come as apart of this modern
civilization.

But these were good old days, and the were good people.  They
played their art upon the stage of the world.  They have all
crossed the river.  Their records are closed as is the old account
book of Uncle Jo McCann.  Many Christmas Eves have come since that
one in 1852.  Many have been the changes that have been recorded
during these seventy two intervening years.  A great civil war has
been fought, and the destinies of men and nations have been settled
since that day in old Purdy.

We are approaching the day when the Birth of the Nazarene will be
celebrated with appropriate services and ceremonies; when Universal
Peace, for which he prayed will be the religion of the earth; when
individuals and nations will forget war, and when all people
everywhere will "sacrifice unceasingly" upon the alter of Peace.


 			   Old Purdy

                McNairy County Independent April 25, 1924

We  have before us the same old day book about which we wrote some
issues back  It records the business done on a day in old Purdy 74
years ago today.  That is a long time back in the history  of this
county.  The town of Purdy was only 25 years of age; not as old as
the  town of Selmer.  The courthouse was an imposing one the center
of the square on the four sides of which were the numerous stores;
grocery stores, saloons, amusement hall, livery stables, the
offices of lawyers and of doctors, eating houses, the old tavern,
shoe and saddle shops, stage stand, and other places.  On that day
Andrew McKee was the sheriff of the county, serving his second
term; Aaron A. Sanders had been county court clerk 9 years; Lindsay
Sanders had been circuit court clerk about a year; Major Benjamin
Wright had been register 9 years; Wm. F. Brown was the county's
representative.  W. D. Jopling was a young man, and it was 6 years
before he was sheriff the first time. J. R. Adams now 82 years of
age, was a little 8 year old boy.  Hugh Kirby, the first white
child born in the county, was 28 years old.

Among those who lived in Purdy on that day were Wm. S. Wisdom, Col.
Fielding Hurst, Richard Harwell, N. C. Riggs, Drs. Richard and
Charles Crump, James Kinkaid, Isaac W. Nash, Jeremiah Cloud, Dr. W.
C. Kendal, C. H. Dorion, Wyley B. Terry, Hon. John M. Johnson,
Maclin Cross, Jacob Chaney, Maj, Wright, and his sons, Marcus J.
and John V., Nat and Tab Shull, Sam Chaney, W. D. Jopling, "Long
Tom" Johnson, Harbert Tatum, W. C. Sanders, Mitchell Adams, and
many others, all of whom have long since answered the summons.

The election of Zachary Taylor for president, had not been over for
a great while.  The old Mexican warrior, the 12th president, had
been inaugurated the year before and died the following July.  The
old hero of Matamoros, Buena Vista, Palo Alta, and Monterey; the
companion of Winfield Scott, Bragg, and Kearney, and the son-in-law
of Jefferson Davis, died in July, 1850.  His last words were:  "I
have tried to do my duty; I am not afraid to die."

The only means then of getting information concerning the current
happenings was through an occasional newspaper that came by way of
the old stage coach to the town, and the crowd in those days
eagerly awaited the coming of the coach, to the town, and the crowd
in those days eagerly awaited the coming of the coach, that they
might know what had happened.  There were many things of moment and
interest that concerned the people then.  About the only paper that
came to town then was the Louisville Journal, the brilliant editor
of which was Geo. D. Prentice.

The crowd that day assembled about the old stage coach, and the old
post-office, would listen to the stories of the impending conflict
between the north and the south, which had only been pushed further
into the future by the great compromise, the sage of Ashland, the
pride and admiration of the old Whigs then living in the town.
John C. Calhoun, of the immortal triumvirate, had just died the
month before.  The other two of that immortal three died later,
Henry Clay in June, 1852, and Daniel Webster in October, 1852.  The
discussion was the Missouri Compromise and the opposition of the
south to the admission of a free state as contrary to that famous
doctrine.  It was the hear of the compromise 1850, and of the
Gadsden Purchase, the $10,000,000, paid for land south of the Gila
river, to be added to the United States. Major Wright was fresh
from the Battlefields of Mexico, and he no doubt, was the central
and entertaining figure in the conversations on that day.

He could tell them of the omnibus bill, and of the most widely
discussed part of it--the Fugitive Slave Law.  Just a short time
before the whole population of the town of Purdy had turned out to
welcome home the old Mexican fighter, who had followed the flag "in
the perilous ridges of battle beneath a foreign sky."  He had been
the comrade and friend of Gen. Sam Houston, the hero of San
Jacinto, and the conqueror of Santa Anna.  Right near where the old
stage stopped was the Kinkead tavern, and in the bar room of that
famous old hostelry, a year or two later, Major Benjamin Wright and
Gen. Sam Houston met.  The latter was on his return from Washington
to Texas, traveling by stage. Many in the crowd there assembled on
that day, went into the nearby grocery of Mr. McCann, for there is
on the age worn pages of the book a record of the customers for
that day.  They purchased cheese, "reesins," tobaccer, candies,
whiskey by the drink at 5c. and by the gallon at 40c., ginger
cakes, meal wine, brandy, and a little of the whole stock carried
by this antebellum merchant.  Some of the crowd was "broke," as we
find some in a crowd now, for the record shows that the kindly
disposed and generous storekeeper loaned a few of the customers
"cash," in amounts from 15c to $1.45.

There were no railroads then, for it was about eight years before
the Mobile & Ohio was built. There are very few now living who were
living then, and those who are among us now have passed the
allotted three-score an ten. Wonderful  and, marvelous has  been
the progress of civilization since that day.  So much so has it
been, that it does not belong to any of us, the power to see, or
the ability to contemplate the things in store for the world in the
century that is upon us.