xt7wst7dvc9b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wst7dvc9b/data/mets.xml Anderson 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, Sponsored; Other contributors include: United States Work Projects Administration, Division of Community Service Programs; v, 89 leaves: illustrated, charts, plans, 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.1 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 1 Anderson County (Clinton) text Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee, Number 1 Anderson County (Clinton) 1941 1941 2015 true xt7wst7dvc9b section xt7wst7dvc9b  j“_;;;/ me m n1n@
M0. [

 Q
Q INVENTORY OF THE COUNTY ARCHIVES
V' OF TENNESSEE
{ NO. 1; ANDERSON COUNTY (CLINTON)
I Prepared by
 ‘
in The Tennessee Historical Records Survey
T Division of Community Service Programs
i "Work Projects Adudnistration
 
 
y‘ Sponsored by
? Tennessee State Planning Commission
rl
 
Q
 
ii Nashville, Tennessee
{ The Tennessee Historical Records Survey
{C July 1941
  LIBRARY
°  . UNIVERSHY CF KENTUCKY

 ( I
The Historical Records Survey Program 5
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i
Sargent B. Child, Director ;
Madison Bratton, State Supervisor
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{
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I
Research and Records Programs 5
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4 (
Harvey E. Beoknell, Director ;
Milton W. Blanton, Regional Supervisor 1
T. Marshall Jones, State Supervisor i
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1
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Division of Comm nity Service Programs _ I
· `V
Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner
Blanche NL Ralston, Chief Regional Supervisor
Betty Hhnt Luck, State Director E
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WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION i
Howard O. Hunter, Commissioner
R. L. MacDouga1l, Regional Director
S. Tate Pease, State Administrator

 FOPENORD
The Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee is one of a
A number of guides to historical materials prepared throughout the United
States by workers on the Historical Records Survey Program of the Work
Projects Administration, The publication herewith presented, an inven-
tory of the archives of Anderson County, is number l of the Tennessee
series,
The Historical Records Survey Program was undertaken in the winter
of 1935-36 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, ‘Up to the present time, the
Survey Program has issued approximately 1,300 publications throughout the
country, The archival guide herewith presented is intended to meet the re-
quirements of day—to-day administration 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 re-
search 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——thcy attempt fur-
ther to sketch in the historical background of the county or other unit
of government, and to describe precisely and in detail the organization
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 bibliography of local archives,
The successful conclusion of the work of the Historical Records
SL1I‘VGy PI‘OgI‘€‘JD., OVO1'1 lll G single COU3&`{3y, WOL1].d not be pgggjblg without thg
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 Harch l, 1940, when he was succeeded by Sargent B. Child,
who had been National Field Supervisor since the inauguration of the Sur-
vey, The Survey Program operates as a Nation-wide series of locally
sponsored projects in tho Division of Com unity Service Programs, of which
Mrs. Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner, 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,
1939. 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 1, 1959. It is sponsored by the Tennessee State Planning Com-
mission 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 Inventory.
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 ex-
ample, 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 Anderson 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 conplexities of
the school laws, however, have made it necessary for the sake of conti-
nuity that the discussion of education be more detailed. This treatment
has also been followed, but not as fully, with regard to highway legis-
lation.
The issuance of a title-line inventory, instead of a full-entry
inventory was undertaken because of the early preparation of the inventory
in Anderson County, and the difficulty of issuing a full length publica-
tion meeting present editorial standards without delaying considerably the
publication program. It was deemed preferable to make the information
available at the present time on the archives of Anderson County in the
form of this title-line inventory. Descriptions of similar records in
full entries may be found in the Inventory pf the Cpppty Archives pf
Tennessee: §2._§g Tipton County.
The arrangement of offices and entries in this Inventory is a result
of a process of trial and error and the pattern followed is one settled

 v
Preface
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 govern-
ing body, is followed by the county judge, the chief executive officer;V
the courts are placed together, followed by the law enforcement offices.
Similarly, in the title—line entries, related and similar records are
grouped under appropriate subject headings. The entries indicate the
title, dates, quantity, labeling, arrangement, indexing, and location of
the records.
The original field inventory of the archives of Anderson County was
completed by workers of the Federal Historical Records Survey in Tennessee
in the spring of 1937. The inventory was rechecked the following summer.
The archives listed in this book are those available on September l, 1957.
The field inventory in Anderson County was made under the general
supervision of Mary Alice Burke. The draft was reviewed and approved for
publication by Robert Cassell. The record entries were prepared under the
supervision of Vylva Holland; the legal sections, Henry Hight; the histori-
cal sketch and alphabetical index, Ruth Winton assisted by Ruth Foster;
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, Patsy R. Floyd, and Arthur D. Knox.
The Tennessee Survey staff has profited in all phases of its work by
the constructive advice and criticism of the Washington staff. The Ander-
son County inventory was made and preparation of this book instituted dur-
ing 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 His-
torical Records Survey Program, served as Regional Supervisor.
The Inventory of the County Archives of Tennessee will, when com-
pleted, c;;siss*·zr"s·szt‘zrtesteoiumes with a separate number for each
county in the State. The number assigned this Inventory, merely indicates
the alphabetical position of Anderson among the counties of the State.
The publications 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 location of the nearest
depository should be addressed to the State Supervisor 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
Program.
Madison Bratton, State Supervisor
The Tennessee Historical Records Survey
Nashville
July 50, 1941

 .. ]_ ..
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Page
1-     QIIOIIIIOIOOOOIIIC!IIOIOIlIOOIOOOIOOIIOOCOIOOIIOI 5
MBP of Anderson COUHDY o••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 14
Counties of Tennessee with Years of Creation .................... 15
2. Housing, Care, and Accessibility of the Records ................... 17
F].OOI° Plans of Anderson County COU.I"tJhOl1SB •••••••••••••••••••••••  
3g Abbreviations, Symbols, and EXp1&H&tOTy Notes ••••••••••••••••••••• 22
4. The Present Governmental Organization of Anderson County .......... 26
Chart of Anderson County GOVGrHmBHt ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 55
Anderson County Offices and Their Records
I• Qu&Tt€Tly COUHty Court •••••••••.•·•••••·•••••••••••••••••••••••••• 54
Original Papers. Court Proceedings. Official Bonds.
Financial Records. ·
II•     •••••••I•••••••••O••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
Accounts. Warrants. County Bonds.
III. County Court Clerk •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 56
» Licenses. Professional Registrations. Vital Statistics.
Bonds. Financial Records.
IVQ   IQOIOIIOIOOOIIOIIOOOIOCOllllOOO!•;lIOIOIl|l|IOIO|IOOI§IODI  
Original Instruments. Real and Personal Property,
Financial Record. Miscellaneous.
vi   IIOICOOIIIOOOOOGOOIIIOIIOUIOIOOUIOOOIOIIIOOIOOOOOOOIIIO  
VI• Surveyor ••••¤•••••••••••••••O|lO•••••••••••l••••••|•••••••I•l•••••  
      OIIIIOOIOOOIOIOIOIOIOOOOOOOIOOIUOIOOICOIIOIIIIOOIOQQQ  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings.
Jury Service. Financial Records.
          IIIIOIIOIOOIIIIOOIOCUOI|•IOOOIOOIIOOII•l•OI•  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings.
Jury Service. Financial Records.
]X• Criminal COl1I"b ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings.
Jury Service. Financial Records. Grand Jury Proceedings.
XO     O|OIO·I•IOO••IOIOIOIOIOIIOOIIIOIOIOIIIUQIOIIIOOOOCOO  
Original Instruments. Dockets. Court Proceedings.
Insolvent Estates. Land Sales. Financial Records.

 Q 2 1
Table of Contents
` Page
XI!     QQOIOIOOOOIOOOOIIOIOOOIOOIIOIIIUOIQIIOOOOIIIOIU  
Original Instruments. Court Proceedings. Inheritanoes.
Insanity Proceedings. Special Taxes.
      OIIIIOCSOIIIIIIOOOOOOOOQOIODIOIIQIIIOOOIIIOOO!  
  Justice of th.6 Peaciv ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
XIV!   QIIIIOIOIOIOOUOOOOIODIOIIOOIOOIOOIOIIOIOOOOOIIOIOIIOI  
XV}     OUIIIOICIIO|‘*|IOIO||IItIIOIIOOOIIOOOIOIOOIOOIOIOI  
XVIO   OIIIOIIIIOOOIOOUIOIIIIOIOOOOIIOIOOOOIIIIOOIODOOOOIOOI  
Tax Records. Accounts.
XVII• D€p&I°`bUI9I`1t of EdU.C&`biOn •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
Minutes. Record of Teachers. Record of Pupils. Reports.
Final Records. Miscellaneous.
  Health Department |•••\••••••|•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
General Index. Family Records. School Records.
Vital Statistics. Correspondence and Reports.
my     ••||IOIII•|IDIIIIOOIOOIOOIOIIIIIIOOIO•|§\O  
EL .AgI°j.OU1tU.I°G Department ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
County Farm Agent. Home Demonstration Agent.
  •|OO•II•||••t•••••••••••••••••••••••••••l••••••I  
I ChI°OI`1010giC8.1 Ind9X |¢•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
A A].ph9.bGtiO£1]. II’ldGX ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••  
` Publications of the Tennessee Historical Records Survey ..... 88

 - 3 -
(First entry, p. 54)
· 1. HISTORICAL SKETCH
Anderson County lying partly in the valley of East Tennessee and along
the Cumberland Plateau, is drained by the Clinch and Powell Rivers.1 It
has an area of 542 square nulesz and an altitude that varies from 1,700 to
5,550 feet.3 Almost triangular in shape, the county was established from
parts of Knox and Grainger Counties on November 6, 1801.4 It is delimited
on the southeast by Knox County,5 on the southwest by Roane Countv,6 on the
1 east by Mbrgan7 and Scott Counties,8 and on the north by Campbellg and
Union Counties.lO Formerly Anderson was also bounded by Jackson,11 Clai-
bourne,12and Grainger Counties.13 The county was named for Joseph Anderson,
who was at the time a member of the United States Senate.14
1. Austin P. Foster, Counties of Tennessee, p. 5.
2. Tennessee Blue Book, 1940, ET 195.
- 5. C1_1:_1111rEd1Y¥{711T, Tgbnessee, Econondc and Social, pt. ii, The
` Counties, p. 15.-* ~*¤——-_— —__- _—_
4• A-cts   Ch• 4:5•
5. Ibid., secs. 1, 2; Acts 1807, ch. 51, sec. 1; Acts 1889, ch. 124, sec. 1.
  6. KFEQ 1801, ch. 15, EETEE.-—5T”15; Acts 1505, sx.'§6§.TE'H. 51, ses. 1;
` Acts 1807, ch. 90, sec. 1; Acts 1855-56, ch. 161, sec. 7; Acts 1855-56,
cn. 175-T*sec. 7; 1¤.A. 1857-Ei?-ch1”4`i'-sec. 10; 9.11. 1857-58, JH; ss,
ssc; 5; P1~..¤.. 1s57-5s,`Fh.‘I2e, ssc. 5; Acts 1555-7o,'5T‘a sés., ch. se,
sec, 1; AEtE°1887, ch. 127; Acts 1889, ch. 54T_§eET—1; Roane Co. v.
Anderson Co.,_5~?ickle, 259-268; Acts 1899, ch. 517. l-
7. Acts`18177—ch. 58, sec. 1; Pr.A. 1857-58, ch. 129, sec. 5; Acts 1869-70,
2nd ses., ch. 88, sec. 1; AEts_1905T—EhT 504, sec. 1; Acts 1905,_EhT—__
504:, S8C• 19 B-- ____-
8. Acts 1849-50, ch. 45, secs. 1, 2; Acts 1855-54, ch. 520, sec. 25;
KFC? 1875, ch. 75, ssc. 1; Ac;-.5 18-85,_c1T—51T~
9. AGE? 1805, ex. ses., ch. 21, sec. 1; Acts 1807, ch. 51, sec. 2; Acts
1811, ch. 56, secs. 1, 2; Acts 1815, ch. 101,‘sec. 1; Acts 1817,
ch. 20, sec. 1; Acts 1857-587*ch. 90, secs. 1, 2; Acts 1855:54T oh.
129, S50. 1;Act-E"-1-8-5-5--56,15h. 175, ssc. s; PLA. 1`s55,`T§FEEs.,
ch. 29, sec. 1E*?.A. 1857-68, ch. 60, sec. 8?1AEts 1885, ch. 51; Acts
1887, ch. 55; Acts_1895, ch. 50, sec. 1; Acts 1905, ch. 55; Pr.A.
1919, ch. 95; Pr.A. 1927, ch. 598, sec. 1; Pr.A. 1955, ch. 612[—
10. KE55 1849-50, Eh.—6l, secs. 1, 2; Acts 1851:527 ch. 22, sec. 1; Acts
`1855-54TT$H1 2, secs. 1, 2; Acts 1855:55T~EhT—165, sec. 1.
A 11. IE’€?f€jc1, Ch. 57, ssc. 1; 1?;’€§“15i7`j"5H. 55, Sec. 1.
12. 1§T5`b'I, eh. 45, sec. 1·1;"IGES"E‘<$1, ch. es, sec. io; Acts isos,
ex. ses., ch. 21, sec. 1; Aet§1184§:50, ch. 61, secs. 1, 2. —_———
15. Acts 1801, ch. 45, secs. 2Tn27; Acts`1807, ch. 51, sec. 1; Acts
1849-50, ch. 61, secs. 1, 2.
14. F5§5EFf op. cit., p. 5; Tennessee Blue Book, 1940, pp. 177, 178.
Anderson—had_EErved as one of the t5F?itorial judges from 1791 to
1796. He succeeded William Blount in the Senate after Blount had been
expelled as a result of his participation in the so·cal1ed Spanish
Conspiracy. Anderson remained in the Senate until 1815 and served
for a time as Comptroller of the Treasury in the lbnroe Administration.

 - 4 -
HlS13OI‘lC&1 Sketch (Fjrgig gntryl P, 54)
The territory of Anderson County was obtained from the Cherokee
Indians by the Treaty of Holston made in 1791 and the First Treaty of
Tellico negotiated on October 2, 1798.15 In the year following the Tellico
Treaty, most of the region which was to become Anderson County lying be-
tween the Clinch River and Cumberland Nbuntain and south of Cross Mountain
was attached to Knox County.l6 ‘
There soon were enough settlers along the Clinch River to justify the
formation of a new county, and in 1801, an act of the General Assembly,
partitioning Knox and Grainger Counties, created Roane and Anderson Coun-
ties.17 The Anderson County boundary began on Chestnut Ridge where the
Knox and Grainger line crossed it, ran north to the northern boundary of the
State, then southeast striking Walden*s Ridge and to Double Springs on the
east fork of Poplar Creek, to the Clinch River at the mouth of Hickory
Creek, and up the creek to the Knox County 1ine.l8 The area was more than
twice the size of the present county. In 1806 the northeastern portion of
the county, extending to the Kentucky line, was detached to form a part of
Campbell County.19 The northwestern boundary of Anderson County was ex-
tended in the following year to take in Wa1den's Ridge and a part of the
Cumberland Plateau which had been obtained from the Cherokees in 1805.20
The first white men known to have entered the region of Anderson County
were a party of hunters from Virginia. Wallen, from whom Wa1den*s Ridge
probably was named, and fifteen others came into the West in 1761, and
hunted upon Powe1l*s Valley and Clinch River.21 The settlement of Anderson
_ County was begun near the close of the seventeenth century, in the country
near Bull Run Creek. Among the first settlers were David Hall, Issac Coward,
John Chiles, Joseph Black, Joshua Frost, and John Garner.22
William Lea, Kinza Johnston, William Standefer, William Robertson,
Joseph Grayson, Solomon Massingale, and Hugh Montgomery, the commissioners
selected to choose a site for the county seat,25 were authorized to pur-
chase land not exceeding fifty acres on the Clinch River, “between the `
Island ford, and where Samuel Worthington now lives" and to lay off a town
15. John P. Brown, Old Frontiers, p. 551 and map facing p. 552. The
Holston Treaty EEverEd—tEF?itory in East Tennessee and Western North
Carolina, and the First Treaty of Tellico extinguished Indian claims
to the region between the Clinch River and Cumberland Mountains.
16. Acts 1798-99, ch. 22.
17• Kcts   Ch• 4:5•
18. nT1'.§"§6¤. 2.
19. KEYS 1806, ex. ses., ch. 21, secs. 1, 8.
20. .Acts 18TW, ch. 51, sec. 1.
21. JT—G[fMTTRamsey, Annals of Tennessee, p. 67. The present spelling of
name of the ridge—EppEars—t$—5e a corruption of the original spelling.
22. Clinton Courier—News, February 15, 1941.
25. Acts 1801, ch. 45, sec. 5.

 .»5,-·
Historical Sketch First €ntry',p, 54)
with necessary streets and alleys, reserving two acres near the center for
the courthouse, jail, and stocks. The site selected was called Burrvi1le,24
, in honor of Aaron Burr, then Vice-President of the United States.25 After
. Burr's disgrace, the name of the seat was changed to Clinton,26 after
another New Yorker, DeWitt Clinton.27 The site for the town was purchased
_ from John Leib,28 a German, "who had a mill on the creek " at a cost of
$500 for 40 acres on the north bank of the Clinch River.é9 The court of
pleas and quarter sessions first met in 1802 at the home of Joseph Denham,
Sr.,5O and in 1805 a new log courthouse and a jail were built east of the
present courthouse site.51
About 1800, a community, known as Wallace Cross Roads, four miles West
T, of present Clinton, was established; after the Civil War, the name of the
l village was changed to Andersonville.52 Roseville, about six and one half
miles north of Clinton, was settled by Robert Ross, whose son James Ross
conducted an extensive mercantile business there and also served in the
legislature.55 The name of Rossville was later changed to Bethel.34 The
community of Robertsville was established by Collins Roberts, a merchant.55
In 1799 or 1800 a colony of Germans was led by Federick Saddler of York
County, Pennsylvania, into the county.56 The colony consisted of Saddler
’ and his sons-in-law named Bumgartner, Leinart, Leib, Shinliver, Clodfelter,
Claxton, and Spessard. They settled in the southern portion of Powe1l's
Valley, about four miles west of Clinton, a section which became known as
" Dutch Valley.57 There were, however, no large towns in Anderson County
u before 1825. Grantsborough which had been laid off in the northern part
of the oounty,38 was cut off from Anderson County in the formation of
Campbell County in 1806,59 and in 1825 Clinton did not nunmer over 150
inhabitants.4O
24. Ibid. "
25. Fbster, Counties of Tennessee, p. 5; Goodspeed*s, History of Tennes-
_ ses, EaS`E"`*F5rE'5§sE`§ Ed1ti5ii`§"p. ssa, hereinafter e1téd"`as' 'c75Od'§pee'ri·s,
History of_TeHEeEEeeT `
26. Acts 1809T`§ept. ses., ch. 46.
27. GE$dspEed's, History of Tennessee, p. 859; Foster, op. cit., p. 5.
28. Ibid. ni-Mm -"_“-__` —_ "—
29. Ibid.; Clinton Courier—Hews, February 15, 1941.
so. "”‘ACes 1801, eh. Ez§"?e‘6.‘Ti`
51. TmE}H£§i—Courier-News, February 15, 1941.
52. GoodspeedTsT*R?story of Tennessee, pp. 857, 858.
se. Clinton ceurier-TiJr?aE,`§€¢?r%T§r";r7` 1-5, ism.
54. Goodspeed's,HistEry”of Tennessee, p. 858.
` 55. Clinton Courier—NewsTfFebruary 15, 1941.
56. Anderson_CEEnty News, November 5, 1928.
‘ $7• R. Clifford Sceber7_"History of Anderson County," Master*s thesis,
1928, University of Tennessee Library, p. 25.
58. Ibid., 40.
59. Kcts 1806, ex. ses., ch. 21, sec. 1.
‘ 40. Seeber, op. cit., p..40.

 - 5 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, P, 54)
In 1802 one Rice Levi came from North Carolina and bought fifty acres
of land on top of Walden*s Ridge. The settlers in that region built the
first schoolhouse in the section; levi was the first teacher.41 Among
other early schools in the county was Union Academy at Clinton, chartered
in 1806 but evidently not operated before 1820.42 In 1845, a Baptist
Seminary was established near the academy.43
The school systenn as late as 1868, was without organization or
funds.44 An attempt was made in the nineties by the Knights of Pythias,
to erect Pellepsi College, but the project was abandoned after Htafou dation
of the main buiising was iaid.45
The church played a prominent part in the early development of Anderson
County. The first settlers were chiefly of Baptist, Methodist, or Presby-
terian faith.46 The Baptists built a church about 1840 in Clinton, near
» the academy. Prior to that time, the courthouse and academy had both been
used for religious services. About 1851, the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, also erected a house of worship in Clinton.47 At the close of the
Civil War, there were 9 Baptist Churches in the county, and by 1895, there
were 27.48
Farming was the chief occupation in Anderson County before the Civil
War. The settlers congregated in the valleys, which were more productive,
well watered, and furnished easier access by streams to markets. Anderson
County early ranked among the leading counties in cattle raising in East
Tennessee.49 As nearly one-half of Anderson County is mountainous, and
much of the land in the agricultural section is divided into small farms,
slavery never played an important factor in the county*s development.5O
In 1810, there were in Anderson County 260 slaves, 5 free Negroes, and 5,694
» white people, compared with 471 slaves, 26 free Negroes,and 4,815 whites in
1850.5 In 1850, there were only 506 slaves and 41 free Negroes with 6,591
whites, and in 1860, there were counted 585 slaves, 8 free persons of color,
and 6,477 white persons.52
41. Anderson County News, August 5, 1929.
42. Seeber, op. cit.7—pT 54; Goodspeed*s, History of Tennessee, p. 859.
45. Ibid. __ —-_ `·_
_ 44. Khgwville Whig, lhrch 25, 1869, cited in Seeber, op. cit., p. 54.
45. Anderson Cgunty News, May 25, 1929. __. _——
46. Seeber, op. cit., ·p¤ 57.
47. GoodspeedTs,"History of Tennessee, p. 859.
48. Anderson County lews,_Uune 1,-1929.
49. Knoxville Chronidler November 28, 1871, and Clinton Gazette, April 20,
1888, cited in Seeber, op. cit., pp. 49, 50.
50. Seeber, op. cit., p. 6IT- *—— ‘
51. Ninth CeHEus_Ef the United States, Population, p. 62.
` 52. Ibid.

 - 7 -
Historical Sketch (First entry, p_ 54)
Like most East Tennessee countieg$ Anderson County voted strongly
Unionist in both secession referenda, and suffered heavily during the
Civil War. After the capture of Cumberland Gap and the overrunning of
the northern part of Powel1's Valley, Anderson County served as a buffer
between the opposing forces, the Confederates maintaining pickets along
the Clinch River, at Clinton, Andersonville, and Oliver Springs.54
The period following the Civil War in Anderson County was one of new
developments, rather than a reconstruction of old institutions. Before
the war, the county*s wealth had consisted primarily of farms and live
stock; mining operations had scarcely begun. The years following the war
saw the growth of mining and lumbering industries, railroad building,
manufacturing, and commercial enterprises.
The wealth of Anderson County at the close of the Civil War still lay
in her natural resources - iron, lead, zinc, marble, limestone,55 rich de-
posits of coal, and heavy forests of timber.56 A movement to develop these
resources began with the completion in 1870 of the Knoxville and Kentucky
Railroad from Copper Ridge, the point to which the road had been built from
Knoxville prior to the war, to Coal Creek in Anderson County.57 The com»
pletion of this road gave impetus to the nascent mining and lumbering
industries of the county, but at the same time, imposed a financial hardship
upon the populace because the county had purchased stock in the rai1road.58
More than any other industry, the post—war prosperity of Anderson
County was attributable to mining. Prior to the Civil War, some coal had
been floated down Poplar Creek into the Clinch River and trans-shipped to
the south, and some had been hauled to Knoxville in ox-drawn wagons.59 In
this period several attempts were made to mine coal in Anderson County, par-
ticularly in the region of Walden's Ridge and along the foot of Cumberland
Mountain. About 1850, Henry H.`Wiley opened a mine near Frost Bottom.6O
, Another effort was made in 1852 when the Poplar Creek and Cumberland Moun-
tain Coal Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000.61
53. J. S. Hurlburt, History of the Rebellion in Bradley County, East
Tennessee, p. 53?°Th5EEs7Ni1lEnHTEEEE§7*THe Z5yZl"Hountai£eeFE-ET -
irE"¤Eé`€sT65, pp. 77, ve. "" ""
54;•   cit., P• G8!
55. GoodspeedTs,*History of Tennessee, p. 857.
56. Ibid.; Kil1cbFEwT_Res$ErEEE"$f°TEnnessee, p. 456; Foster, op. pit.,
p. 5. `
57. Seeber, op. cit., p. 74; Goodspeed*s, History of Tennessee, p. 266.
58. Clinton UEzettEQ February 19, 1891, cited in Seeber, op. cit., p. 74.
59. Knoxvil1E`ChF$Hicle, February 14, 1811, cited in SeebEF, 557 pit.,
- p• 78•
60. Goodspeed's History of Tennessee, p. 264.
61. Acts 1851-52, ch. 165:

 - 3 -
Historical Sketch (First Entry, P. 54)
Mortimer F. Johnson and William Clark, leaders of the company, also were
authorized to build a railroad through a gap in Wa1den*s Ridge at present
Oliver Springs, to connect the coal fields at the foot of Cumberland Moun- ‘
tain with Poplar Creek.62 Some of the mining companies in Anderson, Morgan,
and Roane Counties sought to cooperate in the building of a railroad from
their coal fields to some point on Poplar Creek or Big Emery River,63 but
the Civil War halted their operations. The first major coal operations in
Anderson County were made by the Knoxville Iron Company, which sought to
obtain coal for its iron works in Knoxville. This company leased land l
around Coal Creek and was operating a mine when the Knoxville Railroad
reached that place about 1870. Upon the completion of the railroad, the
company was able to supply Knoxville and the surrounding towns with coa1.64
Shipments of coal from this district in the early‘mining period amounted to
56,000 tons in 1871, 62,569 tons in 1875, and 150,000 tons in 1880.65
Anderson County became, in time, one of the State's most productive
coal counties, many of the rdnes being worked, as elsewhere in Tennessee,
by State convicts leased to the mine operators. Resentment of the free
miners against the convict lease system led to "the Anderson County War"
in the eighteenenineties.66 The situation was further aggravated by the
failure of the miners and operators to agree on checkweighmen, the payment
of wages in script which could be discounted at the company store, and the
demands of one company that the miners sign the so-called "Iron Clad
Contract" which was clearly prejudicial to the rights of the 1atter.57
When the miners refused to accept the operators’ terms, convicts were im»
ported. The miners drove the convicts out of the region, whereupon State
troops were brought in. Governor Buchanan, however, soon withdrew the
troops and promised to convene the legislature and recom end aboégtion of
convict lease system. Peace returned to the region temporarily.
62. Ibid., sec. 6.
ecs. EE 1851-52, ch. sea.
64. YEoxvillE—Chronic1e, December ll, 1871, cited in Seeber, op. cit.,
p. 80. __- _—_
65. Seeber, op. cit., pp. 78-80.
66. A. C. HutEonT—Ur., "The Coal Miners' Insurrections of 1891 in Anderson
County, Tennessee," East Tennessee Historical Socicty*s Publications,
(1955), p. 105; John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, ennessee,
The Volunteer State, I, 576. The convict lease system was one adopted
by_TeHHEEEEE_and*m5ny Southern States after the disorders of the Civil
War and Reconstruction had clogged the criminal dockets and overcrowded
the prisons.(Hutson, loc. cit., pp. 105, 104.) The inevitable result
was the demoralization‘of free labor, forced to compete with convict
labor.
67. Hutson, loc. cit., pp. 106, 107.
es. xbm., p'g>T““11`é`-TT21.

 - g -
7 Historical Sketch (First gntry, p• 54) `
Disorders broke out again in a few months, and it was another year
before peace was restored and the convict lease system abolished.69 During
, this period until 19CB, Anderson County led the State in the production of
I coa1.7O One of the most extensively mined seams of the northern Tennessee
coal field is at Coal Creek, now Lake City.71 The coal is a soft steam
type, and for years Coal Creek coal controlled the steam coal trade of the
. cotton mill°sections of Georgia and the Carolinas.72 Other seams are mined
at Windrock, Brioeville, and New River.75
During the Reconstruction period, the lumber industry of Anderson
County was also developed. About 1868, several lumber dealers and manufac-
turers established a large steam sawmill on the Clinch River about 6 miles
above Clinton. Very little timber was cut in Anderson County at this timo,
most of the logs being brought down the Clinch River from upper East Tennes-
see, and Southwestern Virginia to the mills.74 One of the 5 other mills
built along the Clinch River at Clinton employed about 60 men and cut
approximately 7 million feet of lumber a year.75 Lumbering operations in
this period were confined largely to the area east of Walden's Ridge, and
it was not until 1900 that extensive lumbering was undertaken in other parts
of the counzy.76
·· High taxes, due in part to the county's subscription to the railroad,
prevented many industries from locating in Anderson County in the two de-
cades after the Civi