xt79319s4h2t https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt79319s4h2t/data/mets.xml Blount County, Tennessee Tennessee Historical Records Survey 1941 Prepared by the Tennessee Historical Records Survey, Division of Community Service Programs, Work Projects Administration; Tennessee State Planning Commission, Sponsor; Other contributors include: United States Work Projects Administration, Division of Community Service Programs; v, 89 leaves: illustrated, maps, plans, charts, 28 cm; Includes bibliographical references and index; UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries; Call number FW 4.14:T 256/3/no.5 books English Nashville, Tennessee: The Survey This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Tennessee Works Progress Administration Publications Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee, Number 5 Blount County (Maryville) text Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee, Number 5 Blount County (Maryville) 1941 1941 2015 true xt79319s4h2t section xt79319s4h2t    K ``   T TVVTTHRTH T1Hanna
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     INVENTORY- or THE coumr AEcN1vEs ‘
° 5  OF TENNESSEE
J   ‘
1  
ggj _;iA- ?   No. e. BLOUNT comm (NAEYV ILLE)
 
  U Pr epared by
  The Tennes s ee Histor ical Records Survey
  Divis ion of Community S erv ice Programs
  Work Pro jects Administration S
2T ii;. ij ig
I ‘aj·dA?T   .
  vAa‘   Sponsored by
  The Tennessee State Planning Commiss ion
 ii   Nashville, Tennessee
  g; The Tennes s e e His tor ical Records S urvey
 ¢ si ’ April 1941
  T V f
  * f M A

 z
 
{ The Historical Records Survey Program
a Sargent B. Child, National Director
E Madison Bratton, State Supervisor T
s’ I
[ {
{ -C
} 4
{ N
I r
il Research and Records Programs
is Harvey E. Beeknell, Director I
gi Milton W. Blanton, Regional Supervisor
Q T. Marshall Jones, State Supervisor
xg
Ee?
 
E Division of Community Service Programs
E Florence Kerr, Assistant Conmdssioner
§ Blanche M. Ralston, Chief Re ional Su ervisor
F Betty Hunt Luck, State Director
 
 
F-;
§- WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
  Howard O. Hunter; Commissioner
§· R. L. MacDougall, Regional Director
rj S. T. Pease, State Administrator
 
vi
 · 

 FOREWORD ·
The Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee is one of a
number of guides to historical materials prepared throughout the United
States by workers on the Historical Records Survey Program of the Work
y Projects Administration. The publication herewith presented, an inven-
A tery of the archives of Blount County, is number 5 of the Tennessee
I series.
The Historical Records Survey Program was undertaken in the winter
of 1955-36 for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy
unemployed historians, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical
workers. In carrying out this objective, the project was organized to
compile inventories of historical materials, particularly the unpublished
government documents and records which are basic in the administration
of local government, and which provide invaluable data for students of
political, economic, and social history. The archival guide herewith
presented is intended to meet the requirements of day-to·day administra-
tion by the officials of the county, and also the needs of lawyers,
businessmen and other citizens who require facts from the public records
for the proper conduct of their affairs. The volume is so designed that
it can be used by the historian in his research in unprinted sources in
the same way he uses the library card catalog for printed sources.
The inventories produced by the Historical Records Survey Program
attempt to do more than give merely a list of records-they attempt
further to sketch in the historical background of the county or other
unit of government, and to describe precisely and in detail the organi-
zation and functions of the government agencies whose records they list.
The county, town, and other local inventories for the entire country
will, when completed, constitute an encyclopedia of local government as
well as a bibliographyof local archives.
The successful conclusion of the work of the Historical Records
Survey Program, even in a single county, would not be possible without `
the support of public officials, historical and legal specialists, and .
many other groups in the community. Their cooperation is gratefully
acknowledged.
The Survey Program was organized by Luther H. Evans who served as
Director until March l, 1940, when he was succeeded by Sargent B. Child,
who had been National Field Supervisor since the inauguration of the
Survey. The Survey Program operates as a Nationewide series of locally
sponsored projects in the Division of Community Service Programs, of
which Mrs. Florence Kerr, Assistant Com issioner, is in charge.
. HOWARD O. HUNTER
Commissioner

 iv
PREFACE
The Federal Historical Records Survey was inaugurated in Tennessee
early in 1956; it expired, pursuant to an act of Congress, on August 51,
1959. By the provisions of the Emergency Relief Act of 1959, it became
necessary for the project to become locally sponsored. The present
project, the Tennessee Historical Records Survey, succeeded the Federal
Survey on September l, 1959. It is sponsored by the Tennessee State
Planning Commission and cosponsored by the counties and municipalities of
the State and several libraries. The Tennessee Survey is engaged not only
in surveying county archives, but also municipal archives, church archives,
manuscript depositories and collections, and imprints; and preparing
transcriptions of selected early county court minutes. A list of the
Tennessee Survey's publications follows at the end of this Check List.
While the new order has in no way brought about a change in the
standards of the Federal Survey, it has been partially responsible for
certain revisions of editorial concepts. The Tennessee Survey, for
example, has instituted a series of special publications to make available
certain materials accumulated in the State Office editorial procedures
which may be of general interest.
The Tennessee Survey is now engaged in preparing a comprehensive
statement of the general law regulating county government in the State.
It is expected that this book, to be entitled "County Government in
Tennessee," will serve as a handbook on the organization, structure, and
evolution of county government in Tennessee, and will make it unnecessary
to repeat certain items of general information in the various inventories.
The exposition of the government of Blount County is, therefore, limited
to special legislation concerning the county and a statement of the manner
in which the general law, in effect, has been altered, together with such
considerations of the general law as are necessary to state the facts of
existence of the offices, the dates of their creation, their present
status, the manner in which filled, and the terms. The complexities of
the school laws, however, have made it necessary for the sake of continuity
that the discussion of education be more detailed. This treatment has also
been followed, but not as fully, with regard to highway legislation.
The issuance of a Check List, instead of a full-entry Inventory was
undertaken because of the early preparation of the Inventory in Blount
County, and the difficulty of issuing a full length publication meeting
present editorial standards without delaying considerably the publica- -
tion program. It was deemed preferable to make the information available
at the present time on the archives of Blount County in the form of this
title-line Check List. Descriptions of similar records in full entries
may be found in the Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee: No.
Q5, Loudon County. _————-n _— __-

 v
Preface _
The arrangement of offices and entries in this Check List is a result
of a process of trial and error and the pattern followed is one settled
upon in earlier publications; however, the complex nature of some offices,
particularly those with divergent functions, precludes an absolutely
logical arrangement. In general, the arrangement of offices consists of
grouping those of a similar nature, in the performance of the county's
business. For example, the quarterly county court, the governing body,
is followed by the county judge, the chief executive officer; the courts
are placed together, followed by the jury cmmnission and the law enforce-
ment offices. Similarly, in the title-line entries, related and similar
records are grouped under appropriate subject headings. The entries
indicate the title, dates, quantity, arrangement, indexing, and location
- of the records,
The original field inventory of the archives of Blount County was
completed by workers of the Federal Historical Records Survey in Tennes-
see in the spring of 1957. The inventory was rechecked the following
summer, The archives listed in this book are those available on September
l l, 1957,
, The field inventory in Blount County was made under the general
4 supervision of Mary Alice Burke. The record entries were prepared under
the supervision of Vylva Holland; the historical sketch, Edmund C. Gass;
the legal sections, Henry Hight; the alphabetical index, Ruth Winton
assisted by Ruth Foster; and the housing and care essay, floor plans, and
chart, Charles G. Kimbrough assisted by William H. Etter; the typing and
» stencil cutting were done by Helen P, Allen and Patsy R. Floyd.
S The Tennessee Survey staff has profited in all phases of its work by
the constructive advice and criticism of the Washington staff. The Blount
County inventory was made and preparation of this book instituted during
the administration of T. Marshall Jones as State Supervisor of the
Tennessee Survey before he became State Supervisor of the Research and
Records Programs and while Dan Lacy, Assistant to the Director of the
Historical Records Survey Program, served as Regional Supervisor.
The Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee will, when completed,
consist of a set of—§5*volumes with a separate number for each county in
the State. The number assigned this Inventory, 5, merely indicates the
alphabetical position of Blount among the counties of the State. The pub-
lications of the Historical Records Survey Projects in all states are
limited in number and consequently are placed in designated centrally
located depositories. Inquiries requesting the locations of the nearest
depository should be addressed to the State Supervisors or to the Division ·
of Community Service Programs, Work Projects Administration, Washington,
D. C., for the attention of the Director of the Historical Records Survey
A Program.
, Madison Bratton, State Supervisor
- The Tennessee Historical Records Survey
Nashville
April 28,.1941

 C 1 O
TABLE OF CONTENTS ‘
Introduction
Page
` X.     OOOOOOOOOIODOOOOOIOOOIOOOOOIOIOIOOOOIOOOOUOQ 3
lhp ef B10\l!lt cbullty Q••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.• 13
Counties of Tennessee with Years of Creation ............... ‘ 14
2. Housing, Care, and Accessibility of the Records .............. 16
Floor Plans of   cOuYlty cOuYthOU$° ••••••••••••••••••••  
3. Abbreviations, Symbols, and Explanatory Notes ................ 21
4. The Present Governmental Organization of Blount County ....... 25
  of B1OU!lt   GOV9I°D.m9Xlt •••••••••••••••••••••••¤••  
Blount County Offices and Their Records
I• Quarterly COUIlty CO\).I"b •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
Original Papers. Court Proceedings. Officia1s* Bonds and
Oaths. Road Records. Financial Record.
II.     ··IIIOIIIIOOIOIIIOOQOOOOOIIIIOIOIICOOOIOOOIIIIIOI  
g     Court   §II••••••e•••••••••••••••••••••••O•••••••••  
Automobile Records. Licenses Issued. Registrations. Vital
. Statistics. Probate of Deeds and Mortgages. Financial
Record. Miscellaneous.
IV.   QIIOOQIOIIOOI!||lIOIIIIOI|Ol·Q|OIl|OOlIIOOOIOIOOOOIOOO  
Index. Real and Personal Property. Financial Record.
Miscellaneous. Entry-taker's Record.
V V.   OOQIOOOOIOUOIOIQIQOIOOOQOOOIOOICOIIOI|l••||¢OI|I|lIOO  
VII     QQIOOIIOOIOIOIIO||||O|l||C|O•OIIIOIOOIOIOUOOIIll  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings.
Financial Records. Countersigned Licenses.
I       QIIOOOOIOOOOOIDOIICIIOOOOIIOII|Il·I••••O|||lI•·  
Original Instrunmnts. Dockets. Court Proceedings.
Financial Record.
  Jury COmmiSSj.Oll ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
me ChBIlC6I'y COUI°`b •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••·••••••••••••••••••  
Original Instruments. Docket. Court Proceedings.
. Financial Record. Delinquent Taxes.
X.     UIIIOIOIOIIOOIIOCIOIIOOOOIOIOOOQOIIOOOOOOIIOUOCO  
Original Instruments. Docket. Court Proceedings. Wills.
Bonds and Settlements. Insolvent Estates. Insanity Proceed-
ings. Financial Record.

 - 3 -
Table of Contents ‘
Page ’
XIQ     IIIIIOOIOOIOIOIIIOIIIDIOIOOIIIOOOIIIOOOIOIOIO  
XII. Justice of the Peace ....................................... 66
Civil and Criminal Docket. Civil Dockets. Criminal Dockets.
·     OIOIIOIOIOOUIIIOOOOIIIIOIIIIIIIIIOOOOUOOOIQOIIIOIOOO  
XIV!     IIOIOIOIIOIOOIIOOOIOIIOIOIOOIDIOIIOOIOOIIOIOOI  
· XVI   OOOOOIIOICIIOOCOIIIIIOIOIIOIIIIIIIIUUIIIIOIIOIDCIOOI  
_ Tax Records. Warrants Paid. Accounts. Miscellaneous.
I XVI. Department of Education .................................... 68
Minutes. Record of Teachers. Record of Pupils. Reports.
Financial Records. Correspondence.
      Q||•|lO•||||¢I|¢IIlOOIiII|IIOl•lIIOIIIOOIOOI  
      QIOIOOOIOIOIIOIIOOIIOIOOOOIOIIIIUOIIOIIOII  
Index. Family Records. School Records. Immunizations.
Vital Statistics. Correspondence and Reports.
XD(•   Departlncnt •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
XX!     IOIOIIIIIOIOUOOIOOIIUIIOIIIIUOIIIIIO.  
  IIOIOOOOOIOIIOIIOICIIUIOOIOIOIOIOIOIIIOIIIIIOIQ  
    ||IlIIlIIO|•O|IIIIIIOIIIOOIIIDOOOOIIIICI  
    QOIIIOOOIIOIOOOOIOIOOOOIIlllllltllllltlOI  
Publications of the Tennessee Historical Records Survey .... 88

 i
- 5 -
(First entry, p. 55)
1. HISTORICAL SKETCH ,
Blount County, one of the oldest counties in Tennessee, lies in
the extreme eastern portion of the State. The county is bounded on the
north by Knox County,1 on the east by Sevier County,2 on the southeast
by the State of North Caro1ina,5 on the southwest by Monroe County,4
and on the west by Loudon County.5
Blount County's present area of 571 square miles gives it a rank
of twenty-fourth among the State's 95 counties in size.6 The county's
altitude ranges from a minimum of approximately 700 feet above sea level
to more than 5,400 feet in the towering peaks of the Great Smoky Moun-
tains.7 Maryville, the county seat, is 1,025 feet above sea level.8
The northwestern portion of Blount County comprises valley lands im-
mediately south and west of the Tennessee River, while the southeastern
portion of the county is dominated by rugged meuntains.9 The average
annual rainfall in the county is approximately 50 inches,1O and the
mean annual temperature is about 58 degrees Fahrenheit.11 The county is
‘ drained by three major streams and their minor tributaries. The Little
River flows through the northeastern portion of the county and empties
into the Tennessee River a few miles northeast of the town of Alcoa.
I 1. Acts 1795, ch. 6, sec. 1; Acts 1801, oh. 45, sec. 1; Acts 1801,
ch. 52, sec. l;—AEts 1869-70, 2nd ses., EhT—2, secs. 1, 2.
- 2. Acts 175§‘eHZ“`“`s, See. 1; Acts 1796, 15+;. ses., eh. se; Acts
1798:99, Eh:n6; Agts 1801, ch. 52, seg? 1; Aots 1809, Sept. ses., ch. 91;
ETA: 1819, ch. 7, secs. 5, 4; Pr.A, 1852, called ses., ch. 64, sec. 1;
Kate "1E$:T%`s§`-710, oh. ss, Soo. 1; `Ets 1849-50, eh. ea, Seo. 4; Acts 1879,
EHT"1T§j"EEE} 1; Acts 1887, ch:—51, sec. 1; Acts 1901, ch. 208, sec. 1;
Acts woe, oh. saj"é.?s'oT'i§' Acts 1905, oh. 478, Seo. 1; Acts mos, eh. 514,
EEK i3""1}.A. 1917, eh. 8167-sec. 1.
5. “1b¥k 17§5] oh. 6, sec. 1; Acts 1796, lst ses., ch. 55; Acts
1798-99, ET{]"6`;'7¤`E>`ts 1801, ,1»‘’ oh. sz, "Sé`¤". "1."
-·~”*Z:` Acts 1819:“bhT“7f secs. 4, 8; Pr.A. 1825, oh. 256, sec, 1;
1,..1. 1as5T-`sbj Shi-*145, see. 1; Acts 1837:5-8-, eh. 270; Acts @9-70, zna
Eb§],*bEiTTx secs. 1, 2; Acts 1877: Eht“150, sec, 1; Apts 1885, ch. 102,
sec. 1. —*-_ _n-
5. Const. 1870, art. 10, soc. 4; Acts 1869-70, 2nd ses., ch. 2,
secs. 1, `4;"BTouHt`”C`o. v, Loudon Co., 8_11`5`s1@_1, 854 and 8 §a_1c_t_e_r, 75;
Acts 1sse-7o“f“§ET&‘“s"é€., oh. 77; Acts 188`5_,-mcli. 217, Seo. 1. Prior to the
E?§§t1EE7EE'1oudon County in 18W0;—§LEE$t County's western limits touched
Roane County.(Acts 1801, ch, 45, sec. 5; Acts 1815, ch. 200, sec. 1).
6. C. E.-Ejjre8Tet al., Tennessee   pt. ii, »
The Counties, in University of Tennessee*Pecord, Extension Series, 11,
mf '$j"’2b"Z"" `“"`
7. Ibid., 15.
9. `FBTFI`., 15.
' 10. THEY., 19.
11. "fb'iE1‘., 16.

 - 4 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p, 55) A
The Tennessee River forms part of the county's northern boundary, while
_ the Little Tennessee River drains the southwestern areas of the county.
' Indian title to the region including present Blount County was
extinguished by three treaties between the Cherokees and the Federal
government.12 By the Treaty of Holston, or Blount's Treaty, of July 2,
1791, the Indians ceded a tract of land which included that portion of
present Blount County lying northeast of the Hawkins Line, surveyed in
1797,15 which ran just south of Maryville, By the First Treaty of
Tellico, of October 2, 1798, the Cherokees surrendered title to lands
_ south of the Hawkins Line and as far east as the Chilhowee Mountains.14
Finally, by the tenns of Calhoun's Treaty of February 27, 1819, the
Indians relinquished claims to an area embracing the remainder of present
` Blount County.15
White settlement of what is new Blount County began before the
first of these treaties was negotiated, and preceded by a full decade
the creation of the county. The early settlers were mainly Presbyte-
rians of Scotch descent, and the first settlement in the county took
place about 1785.16 Prominent family names among the pioneers were Craig,
McTeer, Ish, Henry and McCu1loch.17 It is quite probable that the early
settlers came into what is new Blount County with the belief that the
Treaty of Dumplin Creeklg had removed the danger of Indian attacks.19
But that treaty afforded no protection. The white pioneers were savagely
attacked by the Indians, and in some instances ruthlessly s1aughtered.2O
» As a protective measure, the whites built blockhouses, called forts, for
12. In 1785 the State of Franklin negotiated the Treaty of Dumplin
Creek with some of the Cherokee leaders, whereby the Indians purported
to cede lands lying between the Little River and the Little Tennessee
River.(Phillip M. Hamer, Tennessee: A History, 1673-1932, I, 120, 125,
126.) This treaty, of course, had no—va1idity, and with the collapse of
, the State of Franklin the treaty was regarded as void ab initio,
15. Charles C. Royce, comp., "Indian Land Cessions in the United
" States," Eighteenth Annual   of American Ethnology,
vol. II, 652, 655, and Map N0. 54; 7 U. S. Statutes at Large, 59.
14. Royce, loc. cit., 660, 661, Zhd—Ma§E`54 and_55; 7_Q._§. Statutes
at Large, 62. ——* -*
A ——--15T* Royce, loc. cit., 696, 697, and Map 54; 7 E._§. Statutes at
Large, 195. *_m- _*—_
~ 16. Allred, op. cit., 6. .
17. Joseph CT~Battaglia, "The Social and Economic History of Mary-
- ville Since l890," Master’s thesis, 1956, University of Tennessee Library,2.
18. Supra.
19. Battaglia, op. cit., 2.
20. Allred, op.—EitT:—9; Randolph C. Downs, "Cherokee-American Rela-
tions in the Upper“Tennessee Va11ey," East Tennessee Historical Society's
Publications, No. 8 (1956), 46-49.

 - 5 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 55) I
~ i refuge, and blockhouses soon dotted the region. Craig's Fort, around
which the town of Maryville was to grow, was built in 1785.21 Other
early forts were McTeer's Fort, Ish's Fort, Gamble's Fort, and McGaughey's
Fort•22 The existence of the early settlers was indeed precarious. On
one occasion the Indians massaered 28 white persons,23 and it was the mur-
der of the entire Kirk family on the Little River near Houston's Fort in
1788 that led to expeditions against the Chickamaugas by John Sevier and
y Joseph Martin.24
Despite the hardships and dangers of frontier life the hardy Presby-
terians of present Blount County did not neglect affairs of the spirit.
Organized religion came to the area soon after the first settlers. In
1786 the New Providence Presbyterian Church was established near Craig's
Fort, and in the same year the Eusebia Presbyterian Church was erected
at Fort McTeer, some 12 miles east of Fort Craig.25 The founder of each
of the churches was the Reverend Archibald Scott, a native of Scotland
who came to Tennessee after having lived in Pennsylvania.26 Subsequently
the Reverend Gideon Blackburn became pastor of both the New Providence
and Eusebia churches, serving until 1810.27 The spiritual needs of other
. S communities in the region were not neglected, for the early itinerant
preachers of the section, as intrepid as their parishoners, armed with the
Gospel, hymn books and rifle, preached in various localities in what is
now Blount County.28 As early as 1796, Quakers from Virginia and North
, Carolina established a congregation at the site of present Friendsville.29
.A decade after the coming of the first settlers, Blount County was
created,$O being one of the few counties whose legal existence antedates
“ Tennessee's statehood. On July 11, 1795, the Territorial Legislature
p created the county from a portion of Knox County,$l and named it in honor
A of Willimn Blount, the territorial governor.$2 William.Wallace,
21. Battaglia, op. cit., 5.
- 22. mired, ¤p.`?>‘n;2j"a.
, 25. Ibid. `—* "_-
. 24. GEEK P. Brown, Old Frontiepi, 272, 275, 276; Thomas Perkins
‘ Abernathy, From Frontier—t5 Plantation in Tennessee: §_Study in Frontier
, Democracy, 57:*-__-*_—¤—* *—'——__ _*`
4 25. 'Wil1 A. McTeer, history gf EEE Egpvgdgnge Presbyterian Church,
_ Maryville, Tennessee, 1786-1921, 25.
_ _ "` -2"6._—Ik>i.`d.,_2Y’>—:`-24.
y 27. lbid., 28, 56-38; V. M. Queener, "Gideon B1ackburn," East Tennes- A
see Historigad Society's Publications, No. 6 (1954), 14.
_, 28. McTeer, op. cit., 26.
29. Federal Writers' Project, Tennessee; A Guide to the State, 551.
_ 50. In 1785 the legislature of the State ET Franklihfhad erected
` in the region of the French Broad River a county named in honor of
Willimn Blount.(Hamer, op. cit., I, 124; Abernathy, op. cit., 82.).
— · si. Acts wes, Cafe,   1. " "““
sz. ECii`Fe2T,"§p. Egg., 8.

 w
- 5 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 55)
Joseph Black, Samuel Glass, David Craig, John Trimble, Alexander Kelly, ·
and Samuel Henry were named as com issioners to select a site for the
seat of justice,$5 which was to be named Maryvi11e,34 doubtless in honor of
Governor Blount’s wife, Mary Grainger Blount.55 It was further enacted _
by the legislature that the first court of the new county should meet
at the house of Abrahan1Wkir.56 In due time, the commissioners reported
that they had obtained from John Craig 50 acres of land for "a courthouse,
prison and stocks" and that they had laid out the town of Maryville.57
Whereupon the General Assembly of the Stategg extended to the citizens
of Blount County the privilege of holding two annual fairs at Maryville
"for the purpose of selling all kinds of goods, wares and merchandise,"
provided that the fairs were free to all citizens of the State.59 There
is evidence that by 1796 a log building served as a courthouse and that
. in 1800 another log structure served the same purpose.4O
Blount County*s growth before the Civil War was that of an average
Tennessee County.41 It was an aaricultural county, without a railroad
until the Reconstruction period.E2 Its products, chiefly corn, bacon and
whiskey, vers loaded on flatboats at Louisville, on the Little Tennessee
River, and floated downstream as far as New Orleans for trans-shipment.45
In 1806, Maryville was made a scheduled stop on the stage coach route
between Blair’s Ferry (now Loudon) and Knoxvil1e.44 An indication of the
modest rate of the county's growth is the fact that Maryville was not
incorporated until 1857.45 In 1825 only 259 persons lived in Maryvil1e,46
and in 1855 the town’s population was only slightly in excess of 600.47
55. Acts 1795, ch. 6, sec. 2.
sa. T5¥§.""`“
55. Federal Writers' Project, cp. cit., 550.
56. Acts 1795, ch. 6, sec. 5. *The-Tirst justices named by Governor
Blount wsssttsvid Craig, William Wallace, George Ewin, James Greenaway,
Matthew Wallace, John Trimble, Samuel Houston, James Scott, Andrew Bogle,
Thomas McCu1och, and William Lowery.("Governor Blount's Journal,"
American Historical Magazine, Vol. Il, No. 5, 276).
sf" A"%'s` 179Q-1,s-{T-s-es., eh. ze.
58. Tennessee was admitted to statehood on June 1, 1796.(l U. S!
Statutes at Large, 491).
*—-_5EK-Bits 1796, lst ses., ch. 26, sec. 2.
40. FEET GT—Hbuts, "An Educational, Economic and Community Survey
of Blount County, Tennessee," Master's thesis, 1928, University of Tenn-
essee library, 4, 5.
41. Between 1800 and 1860, the population rose from 5,587 to 15,270
(U. S. Bureau of the Census, Twelfth Census of the United States, I, ·
Population, pt. i, 59). ~~ 1---—‘-—~——”——
*“—m42T_¢d}fra, p. 9.
45. Houts, op. cit., 4.
44. mid., ti`.? ‘*‘“
45. Acts 1857-58, ch. 246.
46. Battaglia, op. cit., 7.
47. Eastern Morris,~T%e Tennessee Gazetteer, or Topographical Diction-
gry ... 218. Among Maryv€1je7s_distinguished7a5rKy_cit1zens was

 .. 7 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 55)
In the early years of the nineteenth century, some cotton was
grown in Blount County,48 but it was soon discovered that the county's
location and physiography made cotton cultivation unprofitable. Flax
was also a crop in the county's early history.49 Both cotton and flax
were processed and converted into cloth by crude manual methods. Tub
mills dotted the countryside, one of the first of which was built on
v Pistol Creek by John Craig and James McNutt.5O
Ante-be11um.Blount County, in spite of its slow growth and rural
characteristics, was not_lacking in cultural influences. In 1806 Porter
Academy was established,b1 and in 1815 a female department was added to
the school.52 In 1819, Dr. Isaac Anderson, pastor of the New Providence
Church founded the Southern and Western Theological Seminary at Mary-
ville.55 The school, direct antecedent of Maryville College, was set
up under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Synod of the Presbyterian
Church.54 In 1842, the General Assembly issued to the school a charter
changing the name to Maryville College.—5 In 1850 the East Tennessee
Masonic Female Institute was opened,~6 and seven years later the Quakers
established Friendsville Academy at Friendsville.57
· The press, no less than education, flourished in Blount County
before the Civil War. As early as 1855 the Maryville Intelligencer was
published by Ferdinand A. Parham.58 Three years later~Montgomery
McTecr began the publication of the American Journal of Productive
Industry, and in that same year the first issue of the_Temperance
BanneF—Eame from the presses.59 In 1855 W. P. Collins Ibhnded the Blount
Cbunty Advocate.5O
Sam Houston, later Governor of the State of Tennessee, President of the
;· Republic of Texas, and Governor of the State of Texas. In 1807, at the age
-2 · of 14, he settled in Maryville with his widowed mother and 8 brothers and
» sisters, and subsequently worked in the family store there.(Hamer, gp) git.,
· I, 269; Federal Writers' Project, op. cit., 550.).
"5 48. Battaglia, op. cit., 6. _" `**—
49. Ibid. _-` —_—-
, ‘ 50g ];b1d•
i' ` 51. Acts 1806, ex. ses., ch. 8, sec. 1; Houts, op. cit., 98;
Battaglia, op. cit., 55.
I 52I I’t)_jT(-ig,-“`5-A-I-Q
es. l'v1E“T'5er, Op. cit., 40-42.
M 54. Federal W?iters' Project, op. cit., 350.
_ r 55. Acts 1841-42, ch. 58. Thr5ughEut its entire history, the College
_. has had OEE§*sI§ presidonts.(Federal`Writers' Project, gp) Sit., 551.).
‘ 58. Houts, op. cit., 99.
57. Federal7FriteYs' Project, op. cit., 351.
58. Houts, op. cit., 4.
59g I-bj.dO' I-— I--
so. @§.

 a
- 3 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 55)
Prior to the Civil War, Blount County was a veritable fortress in
the crusade against slavery. As early as 1815 a local branch of the
Manumission Society of Tennessee had been established in the county.61 ·
One indication of the county's sympathy for the Negro cause, is found
` in the ordination, in the l850's,of one George M. Erskine, a free
Negro and member of the New Providence Church, as a Presbyterian minis-
ter and his later dispatch to Africa as a missionary.62 Maryville Col-
lege was likewise a citadel of opposition to the "peculiar institution."
There is evidence that at one time more than one third of the students
of the College were abelitionists, and that they freely distributed
abolitionist literature among the residents of the community.6$ Aboli-
. tionist meetings, apparently well attended, were organized by one of the
.. V professors of Maryville College, and at least one of the meetings was
scheduled to be held in one of the town's churches.64 Similarly, the
Quaker element of the county's population strongly opposed slavery.65
In fact, so deep was the Quaker conviction on the subject that many
Friends fought in the Union army during the Civil War despite their
sect's conscientious opposition to war.66
In view of these facts, it is not surprising that Blount County
fervently opposed secession and ardently supported the cause of Union-
- ism. In 1860, of the county's total population of 15,270, only 1,565
_’ - were slaves.67 There were 11,711 white persons in the county,68 and
196 free Negroes.69 In that year the county produced only 5 bales of
— cotton,7O although production of wheat exceeded 100,000 bushels.7l
Blount County's economy and sociology were not closely bound to cotton
culture and to slave labor. In the presidential election of 1860, the
county manifested its sympathy for the Union by casting a particularly
heavy vote for John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Union
61. Asa Earl Martin, "The Anti-Slavery Societies of Tennesseo,"
· Tennessee Historical Magazine, Series I, Vol. I, No. 4, 264. Dr. Isaac
, Anderson, the Presbyterian divine and college president was an active
opponent of slavery and a member of the Society.(McTeer, op. git., 45.).
62. Hamer, op. cit., I, 469. -—-
65. Ibid., 469,*470; Federal Writers' Project, op. cit., 551.
64. W. Freeman Galpin, ed., "Letters of an saSa“ies56§S€s Aboli-
tionist," East Tennessee Historical Society's Publications, No. 5 (1951),
146.
65. Federal Writers' Project, op. cit., 551.
66g Ibid. -—_ _-_— .
67. §uperintendent of the Census, Population of the United States
in 1860, 461. *-_* .——~*__
""`€aIs‘Z` ima., 457.
se. TBTCT., ass.
70. Euperintendent of the Census, Agriculture in phi United States
ip_l§60, 155.
vi? rpg.

 w
- 9 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 55)
Party.72 In Tennessee*s secession-convention referendum of February
1861, Blount County voted against withdrawal from the Union by the
overwhelming margin of 1,552 to 450,75 although it nominated John F.
Henry, an influential Unionist as the County's delegate to the convention ”
· should that body meet.74 In the second referendum, Blount County actu-
_ ally increased the ratio of its anti-secessionist vote.75
Apparently no important military engagements took place in Blount
County during the Civil War. The region suffered, however, from the
activities of "bushwhackers" and guerrillas. So great was the disorder
that Maryville College was forced to suspend its work for some five
years.76 Some of the college's buildings were destroyed and its faculty
disbanded and scattered.77 It was not until 1866, after a tragic inter- ‘
lude during which the school's very life was threatened, that the College
reopened with one faculty member and 15 students.78
, The degree to which the Radical program of Reconstruction took root
in Blount County is indicated by the fact that in 1868 the voters of Mary-
ville elected four Negroes and three white men to the town's board of
aldermen.79 Moreover, the county's atmosphere was apparently to the lik-
ing of William.G. ("Parson") Brownlow, Tennessee's Reconstruction governor,
. who periodically sought respite from the affairs of state by vacationing
- at Montvale Springs, then a famous resort not far from Maryville.8O On
January 2, 1867, a local unit of the Union League was formed at Maryville,
· with the Reverend W. T. Dowel as president, R. J. Allen as vice-president
and James A. Goddard as assistant vice-president.81 The other officers
of the League were R. C. Tucker