Shelby County Tn - History - The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887

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                              SHELBY COUNTY TN HISTORY



  SHELBY COUNTY is situated in the southwest corner of the State of Tennessee.  It is

bounded on the north by Tipton County, on the east by Fayette County, on the south by

the State of Mississippi and on the west by the Mississippi River.  In area it

contains about 700 square miles.  Generally speaking the surface is either level or

gently undulating, and the soil is extremely fertile.  Outside of the bottoms, at the

lowest points the La Grange sands outcrop.  This is a stratified mass of sand mostly

argilleceous and quite variable in color.  Their thickness is not known, and in them

occur veins of lignite, as at Raleigh.  The Orange sandstone also appears at the

slopes at the bluff, and at the surface in the eastern part of the county.  Above all

lies what is known as the Bluff deposit or loess loam.  This is a stratum of fine

siliceous loam, and is usually of a light ashen, yellow or buff color.  In thickness

it varies from a few feet to about 100 feet.  Memphis is built on this deposit.  The

loess deposits are famous the world over for their excellence as a subsoil, on

account of their porosity and fertility, by which crops growing above them are

enabled to survive long periods of drought better than those growing above most other

kinds of subsoil.  Above all is a rich alluvial deposit or vegetable mold, furnishing

abundant material for the sustenance of crops, and is as rich as is anywhere to be

found.  The surface of the county is interspersed with a few creeks and small rivers,

and the upland back from these creeks and rivers frequently rests upon a bed of

reddish fire brick clay.  The water courses are as follows: Wolf River, Loosahatchie

River, Big Creek, Nonconnah Creek and Bayou Gayoso.  There are two sets of mineral

springs, one of Raleigh, the other at Nashoba, both containing sulphur and iron; but

neither has as yet become famous as a health or summer resort.  For convenience of

reference the bluffs may be here enumerated: The first Chickasaw bluff is at Fulton

in Lauderdale County, the second at Randolph in Tipton County, the third at Old

River, and the fourth or lowest at Memphis.  It is generally believed and it is

probably true that it was from this bluff that De Soto crossed the Mississippi River,

instead of at Randolph, as is suggested by Killebrew.  The remains of extinct animals

found in the county are thought by geologists to be representatives of the genera

mastodon, megalonyx, castor and castoroides.  Some think these remains belong to

diluvium of the Mississippi Valley, but Prof. Safford thinks they are more probably

from the Bluff loam.



     The general trend of testimony seems to be that De Soto first saw the

Mississippi at the lowest or fourth Chickasaw bluff, and that Chisca was located

thereon, at the point where Fort Pickering was afterward built, where are the remains

of two Indian mounds, since called the Jackson mounds.  Authorities differ somewhat

as to the date of De Soto’s approach to the Mississippi River.  Bancroft fixes the

date at April 25, 1541, while others with perhaps too little investigation prefer the

8th of the same month.  From this time forward for a period of 132 years the foot of

white man is not known to have trod the sacred soil of West Tennessee.  In June,

1673, two of the most celebrated personages known to the early religious history of

this country, Father Marquette and M. Joliet, entering the Mississippi from the

Wisconsin, passed down the Father of Waters to the mouth of the Arkansas, stopping on

their way at the fourth Chickasaw bluff, where they were kindly received by the

native Indians.  After their return to the North a map, prepared by Marquette, was

published in 1681, on which dense settlements are marked along the “Mitchisipi

Highlands,” corresponding to the first, second and fourth Chickasaw bluffs.  After

Father Hennepin returned from his trip down the Mississippi, made shortly after 1680,

the Chevalier de La Salle in 1682 passed down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico,

and on his way down stopped at the fourth Chickasawbluff, built a cabin thereon and

erected a fort which he named Prud ‘homme.  In 1686 Chevalier de Tonti stopped at

this same bluff on his way down the Mississippi, and in 1699 M. D’Iberville,

ascending the Mississippi, landed at this bluff and found here a letter written by De

Tonti thirteen years before addressed to La Salle.  In 1735 Bienville also visited

the country, as did also D’Artaguette.



     In 1739 Bienville again entered the Chickasaw country, this time passing up

through Arkansas, crossing the Mississippi River at the fourth Chickasaw bluff and

remaining there all winter.  In March, 1740, a portion of his troops having sunk

under the climate and all having become discouraged, he made a treaty of peace with

the Chickasaws; returned to New Orleans, leaving Fort Assumption (now Memphis) in

their possession.  But little is known about the history of this portion of the

country from this time until the arrival at this point in 1783 of Benjamin Foy, sent

by Gen. Don Gayoso, and who in that year erected at the mouth of Margot (Wolf) River

fortifications, to which he gave the name of Fort San Fernando.  The Spaniards

remained in possession of this fort until the ratification of the treaty by which

Louisiana was ceded to the United States, and the thirty-third degree of North

latitude made the boundary line between the two countries.



     Soon after this treaty Lieut. Pike was sent by the United States Government to

take possession of the fort and the Spanish troops, evacuating it, crossed the river

and established Camp L’Esperance, afterward called Camp Good Hope, near the terminus

of the Military Road.  Gen. Wilkinson came on soon after the arrival of Lieut. Pike,

dismantled Fort San Fernando and established Fort Pickering about one mile below on

the Mississippi River.  The Chickasaws remained in possession of this country, then,

more as a hunting-ground, however, than as a residence country until the treaty of

1818, by which they ceded West Tennessee to the United States.  This treaty was

ratified in 1819, and proclaimed by the President January 7, that year.  By its terms

the Chickasaws removed to the Indian Territory and received $20,000 annually for

fifteen years.



     But long previous to this treaty North Carolina, while Tennessee was yet under

territorial government, made numerous large grants to individuals, mostly at the rate

of 10 for every 100 acres so granted.  The first grant recorded in the register’s

books of Shelby County is North Carolina Grant, No. 17, to Samuel Harris for 5,000

acres, lying on the North Fork of Loosahatchie River, near the mouth of that fork and

adjoining Grant No. 1010 to John McKnitt Alexander, and Grant No. 572 to Robert

Goodloe; Grant No. 561, for 2,000 acres in favor of William Alston, lay on the north

side of Looshatchie River adjoining No. 465 of 2,000 acres to James Robertson.  John

Gray Blount and Thomas Blount had granted to them eight separate tracts of land each

containing 1,000 acres and numbered 117, 178, 190, 195, 219, 224, 225 and 239.  Grant

No. 86 for 5,000 was in favor of Richard Cross, and lay on the North Fork of

Looshatchie.  No. 306 lay on Big Hatchie and was for 5,000 acres in favor of Robinson

Mumford.  Alexander McCullock had two grants, No. 41 for 3,000 acres and No. 42 for

2,000 acres.  But perhaps the most interesting grants made within the limits of

Shelby County were those to John Rice and John Ramsey, because of their connection

with the great city of Memphis.  The John Rice grant was No. 283 and was described as

follows:

 

     Know ye that we, in consideration of 10 for every 100 acres hereby granted, paid

into our treasury by John Rice, have given, granted and by these presents do give and

grant unto the said John Rice, a tract of land containing 5,000 acres lying and being

in the western district on the Chickasaw bluff, beginning about one mile below the

mouth of Wolf River at a white oak tree marked J.R.; running thence north 20

(degrees) east 226 poles; thence north 27 (degrees) west, 310 poles to a cotton-wood

tree; thence due east 1,377.9 poles to a mulberry tree; thence south 625 poles to a

stake; thence west 1,304.9 poles to the beginning, as by the plat hereunto annexed

doth appear, together with all woods, mines, hereditaments and appurtenances, to the

said land belonging or appertaining, to hold to the said John Rice, his heirs and

assigns forever; this grant to be registered in the register’s office in our western

district within twelve months from the date hereof, otherwise the same shall be void

and of no effect.



     In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent, and our

great seal to be hereunto affixed.

     Witness: Samuel Johnson, Esquire, our Governor, Captain-general and Commander-

in-Chief, at Halifax, the 25th day of April, in the XIII year of our independence and

of our Lord 1789. By his Excellency’s command.                                       

SAM. JOHNSON.

  J. Glasgow, Secretary.



The John Ramsey grant was No. 19,060, and was recorded May 10, 1823, the record in

this case being as follows:

     Know ye, that in consideration of Warrant No. 383, dated the 24th day of June,

1784, issued by John Armstrong, entry officer of claims for the North Carolina

western lands, to John Ramsey for five thousand acres, and entered on the 25th day of

October, 1783, by No. 383 there is granted by the said State of Tennessee unto the

said John Ramsey and John Overton, assignee, &c., a certain tract or parcel of land,

containing five thousand acres by survey bearing date March 1, 1822, lying in Shelby

County, Eleventh District, Ranges Eight and Nine, Sections One and Two, on the

Mississippi River, of which to said Ramsey four thousand two hundred eighty-five and

five-sevenths acres, and to said Overton seven hundred and fourteen and two-sevenths

acres, and bounded as follows, to wit: Beginning at a stake on the bank of said

river—the southwest corner of John Rice’s five thousand acre grant, as processioned

by William Lawrence in the year 1820—running thence south 85 (degrees) east with said

Rice’s south boundary line, as processioned aforesaid, one hundred and seventy-five

chains to a poplar marked R.; thence south two hundred chains to an elm marked F.R.;

thence west, at sixty-two chains crossing a branch bearing south at seventy chains

crossing a branch bearing southeast, at one hundred and nineteen chains crossing a

branch bearing south, and at one hundred and sixty chains a branch bearing south, in

all two hundred and seventy-three chains, to a cottonwood tree marked F.R., on the

bank of the Mississippi River; thence up the margin of said river with its meanders

(here follows a minute description of the course of the river) to the beginning, with

the hereditaments and appurtenances, to the said John Ramsey and John Overton and

their heirs forever.

     In witness whereof William Carroll, governor of the State of Tennessee, hate

hereunto set his hand and caused the great seal of the State to be affixed, at

Murfreesborough, on the 30th day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1823, and of the

independence of the United States the forty-seventh.

     By the governor,

       Daniel Graham, Secretary.                        WILLIAM CARROLL.



     At the time the country was organized, May 1, 1820, there were probably less

than twenty actual settlers within its limits, and no other settlement within

seventy-five miles.  The office of the Eleventh Surveyor’s District was opened about

the 6th of December, 1820, at the house of Thomas D. Carr on the fourth Chickasaw

bluff.  Those in attendance at that time, as near as can now be ascertained, were

Jacob Tipton, William Lawrence, John Ralston, W. L. Byler and the clerk of the

office, Alfred Taylor.  The land locators were Gideon Pillow, O. B. Hays of

Nashville, in behalf of R. Hightower & Sons; James Vaulx in behalf of McLemore, Vaulx

& Caruthers; M. H. Howard, on behalf of Samuel Dickens & Co.; James Walker and Col.

James Brown, on behalf of Polk, Porter & Co.  John Overton, one of the proprietors of

the new town of Memphis, then recently laid out, was present with his plans of the

upper part of the place and made attempts to sell some of his lots, but did not meet

with much success, selling only a few at from $40 to $100 per lot.  Mr. Overton was

well satisfied in his own mind, notwithstanding, that Memphis was destined to be one

of the great cities of the United States, if indeed it did not at some future day

rival in splendor the ancient city of Memphis on the Nile.  Mr. Overton’s liberality

toward various people and interests deserves to be perpetuated in this work.  He gave

two lots to T. D. Carr upon which to build a tavern; to A. B. Carr he gave a lot for

the location of a mill, and he also donated one on Bayou Gayoso for a tannery yard.

In order that it may be understood what is meant above by the Eleventh Surveyor’s

District, it is proper to explain that during the session of the Legislature which

convened in October, 1819, the western district of Tennessee was laid off into five

land districts, numbered from 9 to 13 inclusive.  District No. 9 embraced the

southeast part of West Tennessee, beginning on the Tennessee River, where the line

previously run between Tennessee and Alabama crossed it, the presumption then being

that this line was on the 35 (degree) of north latitude, running thence due west

thirty-five miles; thence north fifty-five miles; thence east to the Tennessee River,

and thence up the Tennessee River to the beginning.  The Tenth Surveyor’s District

adjoined the Ninth on the west, extending west thirty miles; thence north fifty-five

miles, and thence east to the Ninth District.  The Eleventh District lay between the

Tenth and the Mississippi River, including Shelby County.  Jacob Tipton was appointed

surveyor of this district.  The Twelfth District embraced the northeastern part of

West Tennessee, commencing at the intersection of parallel of latitude 36 (degrees)

30’, north with the Tennessee River, and extending with this parallel westward to a

point midway between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers; thence south to the north

line of the Tenth District, and thence east to the Tennessee River; and the

Thirteenth District lay west of the Twelfth, extending to the Mississippi River.



     The names of the early settlers in Shelby County, so far as can be consistently

given in this work, are introduced in connection with the sketches of the towns in

the vicinity of which they settled.  It is deemed appropriate here to present a brief

outline of the famous institution of Frances Wright, about which much has been

written and much misapprehended, the name of which was Nashoba.



     Nashoba (the name in the Chickasaw language meaning wolf) was an institution

established by Miss Frances Wright in the year 1826 upon lands purchased in 1825, for

the purpose of benevolence and the emancipation of the slave.  The lands of Nashoba,

amounting in the aggregate to 1,940 acres, lay on both sides of Wolf River, in Shelby

County, in the vicinity of Germantown and Ridgway, and are described as follows:



     1st.  A tract of 640 acres, granted by the State of Tennessee to William

Lawrence and William A. Davis by Grant No. 21,815, and conveyed by them to Miss

Wright.

     2d.  A tract of 240 acres, granted to her as assignee of William Fewkes.

     3d.  A tract of 240 acres, granted to her as assignee of James Richardson

     4th.  A tract of 200 acres, granted to her as assignee of Andrew Jones.

     5th.  A tract of 200 acres, granted to her as assignee of John Gilliam.

     6th.  A tract of 200 acres, granted to her as assignee of Powel Busby.

     7th.  A tract of 200 acres, conveyed to her by the grantee, Richard 

            Hensband.

     8th.  A tract of 20 acres, entered in the name of T. H. Persons, by entry

            No. 907 under date of August 5, 1824, and conveyed by Mr. Persons

            To Miss Wright.



  In order to accomplish the purpose she had in view, Miss Wright appointed certain

trustees to manage the institution, giving the lands described above in trust to

them.  Their names were the following: Gen. Lafayette, William McClure, Robert Owen,

Cadwallader D. Colden, Richardson Whitby, Robert Jennings, Robert Dale Owen, George

Flowery, Camilla Wright and James Richardson.  The lands, according to the deed of

trust, were to be held by them, their associates and successors in perpetual trust

for the benefit of the negro race.  The object of the trust was confided to the

discretion of the trustees, with the limitation that a school for colored children

should always be a principal part of the plan, and with the further limitation that

all negroes emancipated by the trustees should on quitting the limits of Nashoba be

sent outside of the limits of the United States.  The trustees were not at any time

to permit their own number to be reduced below five, and the trustees on the lands of

Nashoba, provided their number should not be less than three, should be a quorum for

the transaction of business.  Besides the trustees, coadjutors were provided for, and

the trustees were permitted to admit other coadjutors, with the unanimous consent of

the trustees, and provided the proposed coadjutors had lived six months on the lands

of Nashoba; but the coadjutors were not to have anything to do with the management of

the affairs of the institution.  In order to secure the independence of every one

connected with the institution it was provided that no one admitted as either trustee

or coadjutor should be liable to expulsion for any reason, but from the moment of

admission each person was to have an indefeasible right to the enjoyment of the

comforts afforded by the institution, i.e., to food, to clothing, to lodging, to

attention during sickness and protection in old age.  No member, whether trustee or

coadjutor, who might quit the institution was to be entitled to any compensation for

past services in addition to the participation he might have had in the comforts of

the institution while residing therein.  Every admission to the institution was to be

strictly individual, except in cases of children under fourteen years of age, who

were to be admitted with one or both parents, and reared and educated by the

institution until they should be twenty years of age, when they should either be

admitted into the institution or assisted in forming themselves into a community

elsewhere.  Among other provisions was the following: That on the Fourth of July,

1876, the trust should devolve on the then existing trustees and coadjutors jointly,

and thenceforward every member was to be a trustee; and Miss Wright said:

“Notwithstanding the legal inconsistency such a reservation may seem to involve, I

reserve to myself all the privileges of a trustee.”



     Miss Wright proposed a system of education for the young black people which

should fit them for self-support, and a system for the young white people having the

same end in view, and her institution at Nashoba was founded on the principle of

community of property and labor.  Following is a bit of philosophy by Miss Wright:

“Were a system of prevention adopted instead of punishment, laws would be

unnecessary.  In all the transactions of life the only effective precautions seem to

be those which provide against the occurrence of evil, not those which attempt to

remedy the evil after it has occurred.”  She made an appeal “to all the friends of

men and of their country, to those who respect the institutions of the Republic and

to all endowed with favorable principles, to all who believe in the possibility of

the improvement of man, to all who sympathize in the sentiments expressed in this

paper,” to aid in the prospective work of the institution of Nashoba.  This paper was

dated December 17, 1826.



     On January 6, 1827, Miss Wright gave to the trustees of the lands of Nashoba

above mentioned, and to their associates and successors in office, the following

named slaves: Willis, Jacob, Grandison, Frederick, Henry, Nellie, Peggy and Kitty and

the male infant of Kitty, on the condition that when their labor—together with the

labor of another family consisting of female slaves entrusted to her by Robert Wilson

of South Carolina—should have paid to the institution of Nashoba a clear capital of

$6,000, with six per cent interest on that capital from the 1st of January, 1827 and

in addition a sum sufficient to defray the expenses of colonizing them, they should

all be emancipated and colonized by the trustees.



     The institution of Nashoba did not, however, by far come up to the expectation

of its founder, and in about four years it failed.  During three years she was from

ill health compelled to be in Europe, and the institution’s failure she attributed,

not to any defect in the scheme or plan nor to the intractability of the negro, but

wholly to the base conduct of those she left in charge.  But to the negroes named

above, whom she had placed in the institution, she was true, at her own expense

sending them to Hayti and establishing them there in independence.  Then, on the 1st

of November, 1831, “on account of its being impracticable for them to conduct the

school or to be of service as trustees of the lands of Nashoba, Gen. Lafayette,

William McClure, Robert Owen, C. Colden, Richardson Whitby, Robert Jennings, Robert

Dale Owen, George Flowery and James Richardson resigned their trusteeship,” and also

for the further reason “that Miss Wright had emancipated the slaves and colonized

them on the island of Hayti.”  After this failure of her cherished schemes Miss

Wright continued for a number of years to manage her estate in her own way, and at

length it became involved in litigation, which is sufficiently traced in the history

of the courts of Shelby County.



     Commencing with 1840 the political history of Shelby County is succinctly as

follows: In that year William Henry Harrison received 950 votes for President of the

United States while Martin Van Buren received 681.  In 1843 James C. Jones received

1,352 votes for governor; James K. Polk received 1,026, and in the next year Henry

Clay received 1,625 votes for President while James K. Polk received 1,352.  In 1845

E. H. Foster received for governor 1,307 votes and Aaron V. Brown 1,316; in 1847

Neill S. Brown received 1,409 votes, and Aaron V. Brown 1,207.  In 1848 Zachary

Taylor received 1,828 votes for President, to 1,607 for Lewis Cass.  In 1849 there

were cast for Gen. William Trousdale for governor 1,405 votes to 1,453 for Neill S.

Brown.  For congressman, F. P. Stanton received 1,426, and Harris 1,425; for the

State Senate George W. Fisher 1,351, and Farrington 1,464.  In 1851, for governor,

Gen. William Trousdale received 1,490 votes, and William B. Campbell 1,563; for the

State Senate William C. Dunlap 1,543, and Mr. Wickersham 1,480; for representative,

M. B. Winchester 1,490, and Pope 1,474.  In 1852 Winfield Scott received for

President 1,824, and Franklin Pierce 1,628.  In 1855 Meredith P. Gentry received

1,831 votes for governor, and Andrew Johnson 1,467.  At the presidential election of

1856 James Buchanan received 2,016 votes, and Millard Fillmore 2,083.  By a review of

the votes given above it will be seen that at every presidential election during

those twenty years the Whig candidate, considering Millard Fillmore a Whig, received

a majority of the popular vote in this county, as was the case in nearly every

gubernatorial election.  In 1859 Isham G. Harris received 2,231 votes, to John

Netherland 2,026.  In 1860, the most important presidential year thus far in the

history of the country, the vote in Memphis was as follows: for John Bell 2,319,

Stephen A. Douglas 2,250 and John C. Breckenridge 572; and in the rest of the county,

for Bell 3,048, Douglas 2,959 and Breckenridge 744.



     On the 7th of February, 1861, a meeting was held to discuss the questions of the

day at which Luke W. Finlay and James Brett delivered enthusiastic speeches in favor

of secession, the latter gentleman especially dwelling eloquently upon the

“Government as it was and as it is.”  This meeting was held preparatory to the

election which was to take place on the 9th, at which the following votes were cast. 

Marcus J. Wright received 2,089 votes for State senator from Shelby and Fayette

Counties; Solon Borland 1,574 and David M. Curry 2,088 for representative from Shelby

County, and Humphrey 2,087 votes for floater from Shelby, Fayette and Tipton

Counties.  On the question of convention or no convention the vote stood: For the

convention 4,720 votes, against it 209.  The Union ticket and votes for each

candidate were as follows: Dunlap, 2,711; Harris, 2,722; Topp, 2,808; Carroll, 2,715.

These votes were cast in Memphis, and indicate the state of feeling then existing;

but when the vote was taken in June following on the question of separation or no

separation the result showed that meanwhile a great change had taken place in public

sentiment.  The vote on the 8th of June, 1861, for separation and representation was

in the entire county 7,132, against both, five, the five being cast in Memphis; and

the vote in Memphis for separation was 5,608, for representation 5,604.



     In 1867 the vote for congressman was as follows: For David A. Nunn 4,414, and

for John T. Leftwick 2,745; and for governor, W. G. Brownlow 4,419; for Emerson

Etheridge 3,009.  In 1868 Gen. U. S. Grant received 5,004 votes as candidate and

Horatio Seymour 3,009.  This was one of the most remarkable elections ever held in

Shelby County, and was watched, particularly in Memphis, with the keenest interest,

as it was the first presidential election at which the newly enfranchised colored man

cast his ballot.  In order to know with certainty how he did vote, separate ballot

boxes were prepared for the white and black electors, and the result found to be as

follows: In Memphis Gen. Grant received 535 from white men and from colored men

4,283, a total vote of 4,818; Horatio Seymour received from white men 2,436 votes and

from colored men 86; in all 2,522.  The total white vote was 2,971, and the total

colored vote 4,369.  On congressman the vote stood for W. J. Smith white vote 291,

colored vote 4,212; for John T. Leftwick, white vote 2,431, colored vote 85; David A.

Nunn, white vote 232, colored vote 71.  In the entire county, however, Mr. Leftwick

was elected over W. J. Smith by a majority of 633 votes.



     In 1870 the vote for governor was, W. H. Wisener 2,968, John C. Brown 6,713; for

congressman, Smith 2,804; Shaw (colored) 170; DuBose 6,506.  The total city vote at

that election was 6,726, and the total county vote, including Memphis, was 9,687.  In

1872 occurred another remarkable election for President, the two candidates being

President Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley.  In Shelby County Mr. Greeley received

6,356 votes, and President Grant 8,445.  For governor, John C. Brown (Liberal

Republican) received 6,598, and A. A. Freeman (Grant Republican) received 8,275

votes.  At the county election held that year the vote for sheriff was W.J.P.D.- - -

7,797; A. P. Curry, 6,081; for trustee A. Woodward 7,747; T. Foley 5,042; privilege

tax collector, J. H. Mathes 12,614, no opposition; chancellor, S. P. Walker 8,210, J.

B. Bigelow 4,574; supreme judge, R. McFarland, 9,735, J. B. Cook 2,416.  The vote in

1874 for governor was James D. Porter (Democrat) 8,828, Horace Maynard (Republican)

5,877; for congressman, H. Casey Young 8,841, ---- Lewis 5,849.  The presidential

vote in 1876 was more nearly equal, Samuel Tilden (Democrat) receiving 8,539 votes,

R. B. Hayes 8,127; for congressman, H. Casey Young received 8,503 votes, and ----

Randolph 8,092.  In 1878 E. M. Wright (Republican) received 1,817 votes for governor,

A. S. Marks (Democrat) 2,099, and R. M. Edwards (National) 1,729; for congressman the

vote stood, H. Casey Young 5,522, ---- Randolph 3,199.  In 1880 James A. Garfield

(Republican) received 7,788 votes, W. S. Hancock (Democrat) 6,927, and J. B. Weaver

(Greenback) 264; for governor Alvin Hawkins (Republican) received 7,758, and John V.

Wright 5,265.  In 1882 Alvin Hawkins as candidate for governor received 5,421 votes,

William B. Bate 5,524, and Joseph H. Fussell (low credit Democrat) 257.



     In 1884 James G. Blaine for President received 9,165 votes and Grover Cleveland

7,627.  For governor that year Frank T. Reid received 9,290 votes and William B. Bate

7,296.  The vote for congressman stood, Zach Taylor 8,732, James M. Harris 7,671.

For State Senate Smith received 8,565 votes, Ramsay 7,638, and Jacob S. Galloway

7,583, and J. D. Montedonico 7,715.  For representatives the following were the

candidates and their respective votes: James F. Hunter 7,812, M. R. Patterson 7,838,

Alfred Frohman 6,868, Morgan Kelly 7,795, and J. S. McKinley 7,465, Haynes 8,800,

Fields 8,591, Vernon 8,618, Evans 8,446, and Brogan 8,987.



     The most remarkable election of recent yeas, both for methods and results, was

that of August 5, 1886.  Following are the names of the various candidates and their

respective votes: Sheriff—W. D. Cannon (Democrat), in the city 11,537, country 6,122,

total 17,659; Silvers (Republican) 1,449; total vote for sheriff 19,108.  County

trustee—Andrew J. Harris (Democrat), city 8,689, country 2,877, total 11,566; Rumsey

(Republican) 7,546; total vote for trustee, 19,112.  Register—N. F. Harrison

(Democrat), city 9,294, country 2,971; total 12,265.  Fields (Republican), 7,017;

total for register, 19,282.  Attorney-general—George B. Peters (Democrat), city

8,599, country 2,985, total 11,584; Haynes (Republican), 6,536; G. P. M. Turner

(Independent Democrat), 1,280; total vote for attorney-general, 19,400.

Chancellor—Henry T. Ellett (Democrat), city 8,820, country 3,934, total 12,754; Smith

(Republican), 7,270; total vote for chancellor, 20,024.  Criminal court judge—J. J.

Dubose (Democrat), city 10,127, country 2,647, total, 12,774; Moss (Republican),

6,437; total vote, 19,211.  Probate judge—J. S. Galloway (Democrat), city 8,750,

country 2,794, total, 11,544; Eldridge (Republican), 7,653; total vote, 19,197.

Circuit court judge—L. H. Estes (Democrat), city 8,132, country 3,856, total 11,988;

Vernon (Republican), 7,323; total vote 19,311.



     In November, 1886, the votes for the respective candidates for governor were,

Robert L. Taylor (Democrat), city 4,871, country 2,144, total 7,015; Alfred A. Taylor

(Republican), city 1,403, country 2,102, total, 3,505; total vote in the county for

governor, 10,520, against 20,024, the total vote for chancellor in August previous.



     The following are the general statistics: The population of Shelby County in

1860 was whites 30,861, blacks 17,229, total 48,090; in 1870 it was whites 39,737,

blacks 36,640, total 76,377, and in 1880 it was whites 34,508, blacks 43,903, total

78,411.  In 1880 the assessed valuation of real estate was $17,794,085; of personal

property, $1,074,370.  The amount of taxes was for the State, school purposes,

$35,879; other purposes $18,868.  County purposes—schools, $36,309; other purposes,

$86,842.  The number of manufacturing establishments in the county was 186; capital

invested, $2,452,425; value of materials, $2,646,910; value of product, $4,759,691;

the number of males employed above sixteen years of age, 2,278, and the number of

females above fifteen, 69.  The total amount of wages paid was $876,566.



     Shelby County was named in honor of Gen. Isaac Shelby of Kentucky.  It was

erected by an act of the General Assembly, passed at Murfreesboro, November 24, 1819.

The act creating the county, directed Jacob Tipton, surveyor of the Eleventh

Surveyor’s District, to run the boundary line of the county.  This was done by

William Lawrence, deputy surveyor, for which the county court allowed him the sum of

$142.75.  The work was completed July 30, 1823.  The whole contained 625 square

miles.  A correct location of the thirty-fifth parallel added a fractional row of

sections from the State of Mississippi.



     On the third day of court $175 was set apart to Thomas D. Carr, with which to

employ laborers and erect a temporary log courthouse, jury-room and jail on the

public square.  This house was ready for occupancy in August, 1821.  In November,

1822, Lewis Williams received $72.50 for repairs on said courthouse.  This house

seems to have been wanting in capacity or comfort or both, as the courts frequently

met at private houses.  While sitting at Memphis, “Chickasaw Bluffs” was designated

as the place of holding the first courts.  In December, 1824, the commissioners,

James Fentress, Benjamin Reynolds, William Martin and Robert Jetton, who had been

selected by the General Assembly to choose sites for the various county seats for the

counties of West Tennessee, selected Sanderlin’s bluff, on the north side of Wolf

River as the most suitable site for the county seat of Shelby County.  The land

embraced a little over fifty acres, twenty-nine of which was owned by Wilson

Sanderlin and twenty-two by James Freeman.  The town was laid out and the lots sold,

the profits from which were to be used in the erection of public buildings.  This new

site was named Raleigh, in honor of Raleigh, N.C., in deference to Joseph Graham, who

was a native of that State.  Raleigh was laid off by Frederick Christian, John B.

Holmes, John R. Kent and Benj. Robins.  In January, 1827, the commissioners of

Raleigh were allowed to draw on the county for $180 to complete the public buildings;

if found necessary they were allowed $370 more out of funds not otherwise

appropriated.  This house was a small frame building built by Joseph Coe.  This was

replaced by a good brick building in 1834-35 about 40x50 feet and two stories high.

In 1836 the old house was sold for $231 and the money spent in building a fence

around the new brick courthouse.  This house served the county until the courts were

brought back to Memphis.  In July, 1860, a committee consisting of J. W. A. Pettit,

A. H. Montgomery, J. S. Dickerson, J. H. Goodlet and W. H. Walker with the county

judge and the justices of the peace, was appointed to consult with the municipal

authorities of Memphis, on the question of erecting a new courthouse at that city for

the common law and chancery court, and the criminal court.  The committee was to

report on the propriety or necessity of building a new house, the cost of grounds and

building, the amount Memphis was willing to pay and the amount of rents that would

have to be paid for buildings until new ones could be built.  A lot was purchased of

W. B. Richardson, and in April, 1861, a loan of $150,000 at 6 per cent, payable in

two, three, four and five years, in bonds of Shelby County, was offered to raise

money for the new courthouse.  The war coming up about this time, the matter was

delayed until after the reorganization after the war.



     In 1874 the large building known as the Overton Hotel was purchased at a total

cost of building and repairs of nearly $150,000, and in September, 1874, all the

courts were moved into that building.  The federal courts, with their officers and

effects, were moved into the same building in 1875.   



     At the August term, 1820, the court appointed Wm. A. Davis and Marcus B.

Winchester commissioners to build a jail, and appropriated $125 for that purpose.

They reported the completion of their work on November 6, 1821, and were paid $125

for the same.  On the following day the court fixed prison bounds as follows:

“Beginning and running so as to include the public square on which the courthouse now

stands, and the two lots on which Sam’l R. Brown now keeps entertainment, and the

street intervening between the two.”  On the removal of the county seat to Raleigh, a

new jail had to be built.  A permanent jail was built about the time of building the

brick courthouse.  This building stood east of the court square on the Somerville

road.  For the erection of these buildings a tax of 18 ¾ cents on each 100 acres of

land, 37 ½ cents on each town lot, 18 ¾ cents on each white poll and 37 ½ cents on

each black poll was levied.  On July 4, 1842, prison bounds one mile square in extent

were established, the court square being in the center.  In 1866 the present large,

expensive jail was begun.  J. B. Cook was the architect, and J. J. Powers the

builder.  The contract price was $144,000, but the total coast was largely in excess

of that amount.



     The first county court levied a tax of 6 ¼ cents on each 100 acres of land, also

6 ¼ cents on each white and each black poll for a jury and poor tax.  The first

official expenditure for the poor was the appropriation of $13 on February 7, 1821,

for the support of Phillip H. Friend, a pauper of the county.  The first

commissioners of the poor were T. D. Carr, William Irvine and Jacob Tipton.  The poor

were kept by allowances made by the county court through the commissioners of the

poor till 1836 when steps were taken to have them all kept at one place instead of

farming them out individually to different ones throughout the county.  No permanent

asylum, however, was built till 1873-74 when the present asylum was erected.  The

county now owns forty acres of land on which stand the asylum buildings.  These are

mainly brick and are well kept.  The farm lies about seven miles from Memphis on the

old Raleigh road.  The asylum contains about 200 inmates, including all classes.  The

superintendent is Dr. G. K. Duncan, under whose management the institution has been

remarkably successful.  A comparison of the number of inmates and the expense of

keeping the same will illustrate this point.  In 1875 with eighty-five inmates, the

expense of the institution was over $29,000; with 200 inmates in 1886, the expense of

the institution was but little over $9,000.  This amount includes salary of

superintendent and all other expenses.



     Public roads being a public necessity, early attention was given to them.  On

May 3, 1820, the county court ordered Thomas H. Persons, Charles Holman, Joshua

Fletcher, M. B. Winchester, J. C. McLemore and William Irvine to mark out a road from

Memphis to the county line in the direction of Taylor’s Mill settlement on Forked

Deer River.  This was the first public road in the county.  The second road in the

county was established in May, 1821, by Jessee Benton, John Ralston, Nat. Kimbrough,

John Kimbrough, E. Deason, Edward Bradley, D. C. Tradewell, Robert Mickleberry and

John Reeves.  This road led from Memphis to the settlement on Big Creek and

Loosahatchie, thence to Forked Deer River.  Joseph Graham was appointed overseer to

cut out a road from Memphis to the east line of the county in the direction of the

old Cherokee trace and Colbert’s wagon road.  In 1829 post-roads were established

leading from Memphis by way of Raleigh, Somerville, Bolivar and Jackson; also one

from Memphis by way of Randolph, Covington, Brownsville and Jackson.  The Memphis &

La Grange Railroad was chartered in December, 1835.  The road was to be about fifty

miles in length, connecting Memphis and La Grange.  The capital stock amounted to

$250,000 individual subscriptions and $125,000 furnished by the State.  The work was

not begun till 1838 and it was not till 1842 that six miles of the road was

completed.  The road came into the city on Washington Street, and where said street

crosses Main Street the cut was so deep as to require a bridge.  The track or rails

were of bar iron laid on streamers which rested on cross-ties.  A few passenger

coaches were run over the road and some cord-wood hauled from Col. Eppy White’s

plantation, the terminus of the road.  The funds of the company having become

exhausted the road was soon abandoned.



     In 1850 the charter of this road was purchased by the Memphis & Charleston

Railroad Company.  In this the State gave 2,202 bonds of $1,000 each or $2,202,000,

and in the same year the city of Memphis subscribed $500,000 stock in the same road. 

This road was completed and opened for traffic in May, 1857.  The road was originally

chartered by the State of Tennessee, February 2, 1846.  The capital stock of the

company, of which Samuel Tate was president, was $800,000.  This company now owns 272

miles of road and operates 310 more under lease.  The freight handled within the last

year amounted to 68,000,000 tons moved one mile, and 18,000,000 passengers carried

one mile.  The earnings of ten months, ending November 30, 1886 was $1,228,851.  The

Memphis & Tennessee Railroad was chartered February 2, 1846.  In April, 1852, the

city of Memphis voted $250,000 stock to aid this road, and the State of Tennessee

made it a loan of $97,500.  This road connects Memphis with Grenada, Miss., a

distance of 100 miles.  At Grenada it intersects with the Illinois Central.  The

earnings of this road for the year 1886 were $425,718.



     The charter to the Memphis & Ohio Railroad was granted February 4, 1842, and

rechartered January 29, 1858.  It was intended to run to the Kentucky State line in

the direction of Cairo; work was not begun on this road till 1869, but was soon

suspended.  In 1871 it was consolidated with the Paducah & Gulf Railroad, and took

the name of Memphis & Paducah Road.  It was afterward sold under mortgage, and was

reorganized as the Memphis, Paducah & Northern.  It is now known as the Chesapeake,

Ohio & Southwestern.  It extends a distance of 345 miles.  The last report shows the

net earnings to be $301,806.  The original cost of this road was estimated at $30,000

per mile.  Shelby County voted $250,000 in stock to aid this road at its first

organization.  The Memphis & Little Rock Railroad was incorporated January 11, 1853. 

Besides the individual stock, and the stock owned by the city of Little Rock, also

the contractor’s stock, the city of Memphis took $350,000 stock, and the Government

donated 487,000 acres of public land.  This road, however, was not completed until a

few years since.  The first president of this road was J. M. Williamson; the present

president is R. S. Hays, of St. Louis.  The general offices of this road are in St.

Louis and Little Rock.  The road extends a distance of 135 miles, and is a great

cotton route.  The Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Company was organized in

1882 with Maj. R. T. Wilson, of New York, as president.  This company purchased the

interests of the Tennessee Southern, the Memphis & Vicksburg, the New Orleans & Baton

Rouge, the Vicksburg & Memphis, and the New Orleans & Mississippi Valley Railway, and

they were consolidated in 1884 under the name of Louisville, New Orleans & Texas

Railway.  This forms a connecting link between the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Southern

Pacific, these making a continuous line of 4,070 miles, said to be the longest line

in the world—the main line with its branches, an aggregate of 6,354 miles of line.

This company also owns 4,255 miles of steamship line.  The company owns 750,000 acres

of Yazoo delta lands, which have been reclaimed.  The yearly tonnage of this line is

380,000 tons, and the number of passengers carried is 500,000 persons.  The Kansas

City, Springfield & Memphis, one of the new roads centering into Memphis, is one of

the great systems of road belting the country.  G. H. Nettleton is president of the

road.  The general offices of the company are in Kansas City.  The gross earnings of

this road, for the ten months ending November 30, 1886, were $1,338,831.  This

company purchased, in November, 1886, $50,000 worth of additional ground in Memphis. 

The Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which has a branch into Memphis, shows, by its

report for the ten months ending November 30, 1886, gross earnings to the amount of

$12,718,144 for the whole system of its roads, which amounts to 3,281 miles.  There

are two other important roads to the city, the Memphis, Birmingham & Atlantic Road,

of which George H. Nettleton is president, and the Newport News & Mississippi Valley

(C. and O. route), of which C. P. Huntington is president.  The Iron Mountain

Railroad Company also has purchased, in the city of Memphis, $80,000 worth of grounds

for depot and other purposes.  A charter has just been filed for the Baltimore,

Memphis & Nashville Railroad.  The incorporators are E. W. Cole, Jas. M. Head, Wm.

Morrow, B. F. Wilson, A. S. Colyar and J. C. Neely.  It is intended to build the road

across the State, from Memphis to Bristol.



     The first telegraph line into Memphis was chartered October 18, 1847, and built

soon after.  The capital stock of the company was $28,000.  The president of the

company was Thomas Allen; secretary, James Coleman; treasurer, J. W. Smith.



     The telegraphic interests have grown wonderfully.  There are now located the

offices of the American District Telegraph Company, the Gold & Stock Telegraph

Company, and the Western Union Telegraph Company, in the Cotton Exchange Building.

The system of which this is a part has connection with nearly all the great cities.

It sends over 1,000,000 messages yearly, and uses 3,600 cells of battery, and has

invested $80,000,000 capital, and owns 75,000 miles of line.  At this point are

employed twenty-two skilled operators and thirty-three other persons.



     The principal express company operating in Tennessee is the Southern Express

Company, of which H. B. Plant, Augusta, Ga., and New York, is president; M. J.

O’Brien, general superintendent; Geo. H. Tilley, secretary; Hon. W. S. Chisholm,

general counsel, and C. L. Loop, general auditor.  The accounting department is

divided into two divisions, the eastern and the western.  The western division is

located at Memphis.  Of this division Mr. F. J. Virgin is auditor, and Mr. A. J.

Signaigo is cashier.  The operating department is divided into five divisions, of

which the southwestern division is located at Memphis, under the superintendence of

H. C. Fisher.  The general accounting department at Memphis employs about forty

clerks.  There are purchased and distributed from the same headquarters supplies to

the value of $25,000 annually.



     From about 1845 to 1860 great attention was paid to the building of turnpikes

and plank roads through Shelby County.  The first road chartered was the Memphis &

Somerville Road.  This road was chartered on January 28, 1846, and rechartered

February 17, 1854.  The Pigeon Roost & Chulahoma Road was incorporated on October 31,

1853, with a capital stock of $41,000.  It was chartered by Thomas Holman, F. A. Owen

and thirty-five others for a period of ninety-nine years.  The Memphis & Horn Lake

Road was chartered by W. L. Lundy, John Arnold, W. Mathews, H. D. Small and S. Bailey

on January 28, 1854, with a capital stock of $50,000.  Owing to the peculiarity of

this soil, rendering it difficult to keep up these roads, and the disorganization

caused by the war, these roads were allowed to fall into decay, and in 1866 the

charters of most of them were dissolved.  The Memphis & Wolf River Pike Road was

chartered in December, 1866, by D. Pearson, W. M. James and others.  Several roads

were subsequently chartered, but all have been allowed to fall into decay.  Under a

general law of 1875, counties are allowed to build turnpikes and employ workhouse

convicts in their construction.  This law has worked very successfully in Hamilton

and Shelby Counties and possibly a few others.  Under the act of March 23, 1883,

Shelby County began work on her roads.  The levy of 10 cents on each $100 yielded

about $20,000; to this may be added one-half the privilege tax, and a subscription of

about one-half is usually obtained without difficulty along the line of the road from

the property holders.  This money is expended under the direction of the turnpike

commissioners.  These commissioners consist of the chairman of the county court, who

is ex officio chairman of the commission, and two other commissioners, who are

appointed by the county court.  In this county the convicts are hired at 10 cents per

day.  Under this law from two to three miles of good pike have been built on each of

the various public roads leading into the city.  The average number of convict

laborers is about fifty-five.  The salary of the chairman of the committee is fixed

by law at $1,000 per annum; that of the others at $250 per annum.  Squire Thomas is

the present superintendent.  The county owns forty acres of ground in connection with

the present workhouse building.  It also owns twenty head of mules, wagons, farming

implements and other supplies.  The buildings are of brick, and are comfortable and

substantially built.  They are kept scrupulously clean and the inmates are furnished

three good meals per day during the work season, and two while not at work.  The

convicts are worked on the county roads and on the farm, the product of which goes

toward the support of the institution.  The female inmates are employed mainly in the

laundry and in cooking.  The average cost of the institution is between $7,000 and

$8,000.  The labor of the convicts amounts to about $2 per day as estimated by

railroad work.  It will be seen that the profits of the institution almost equal the

expenses.  The following is a list of the county officers:



     Sheriffs: Thomas Taylor, pro tem.; Samuel R. Brown, 1833; J. K. Balch, 1835;

John W. Fowler, 1842; L. P. Hardaway, 1846; J. B. Moseley, 1852; W. D. Gilmore, 1856;

J. E. Felts, 1862; P. M. Winters, 1864-66; A. P. Curry, 1870; M. J. Wright, 1871; W.

J. P. Doyle, 1872; C. L. Anderson, 1875; W. L. Anderson, 1878; P. R. Athey, 1881; W.

D. Cannon, incumbent.



     County court clerks: John Read, pro tem.; Wm. Lawrence, 1823; Robert Lawrence,

1831; John W. Fuller, 1848; W. L. Dewoody, 1852; J. P. Trezevant, 1862; John Teague,

1872; James Reiley, 1878; Owen Dwyer, 1882; H. B. Cullen, 1886; P. J. Quigley,

incumbent.



     Circuit clerks: Joseph Graham, 1832; S. R. Brown, 1848; M. D. L. Stewart, 1870;

Frank Taft, 1876; B. F. Coleman, 1878; Joseph Uhl, 1886; D. Schloss, incumbent.



     Registers: Thomas Taylor, 1820; M. B. Winchester, 1831; Joseph Graham, 1836; A.

B. Taylor, 1842; W. P. Reaves, 1852; Henry Lake, 1862; J. W. King, 1862; C. W.

Johnston, 1868; G. M. Greeley, 1870; John Brown, 1877; H. W. Grible, 1879; F. R.

Hunt, 1883; John McCallum, 1886; N. F. Harrison.



     Rangers: Alexander Ferguson, 1823; Tilman Bettes, 1825; L. Bostick, 1826; James

Weaver, 1831; J. C. Cody, 1842; Hugh McAdam, 1848; J. A. Rudisill, 1854; A. S.

Thomas, 1860; J. R. King, 1862.



     Chairmen: William Irvine, 1823; M. B. Winchester, 1825; Isaac Rawlings, 1832;

John Pope, 1838; J. S. Edwards, 1848; J. B. Hodges, 1854; Sylvester Bailey, 1858; J.

W. A. Pettit, 1862; J. W. Smith, 1866; Thomas Leonard, 1870; T. C. Blackley, 1874;

Thomas Holeman, 1880; C. E. Smith, 1885; D. C. Slaughter, incumbent.



     Attorney-generals: James P. Perkins, 1822; Alex. B. Bradford, 1824; V. D. Barry,

1832; T. J. Turley, 1836; E. W. King, 1843; J. P. Caruthers, 1848; D. M. Leatherman,

1852; J. L. T. Sneed, 1855; G. M. Hardin, 1856; B. J. McFadden, 1858; J. L. Harris,

1860: W. F. Talley, 1862; George W. Reeves, 1868; Walker Woods, 1870; Luke E. Wright,

1878; G. P. M. Turner, 1886; Geo. B. Peters, incumbent.