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The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture © Tennessee Historical Society
Aaron V. Brown (1795-1859) served in both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly
and the U.S. House of Representatives before becoming governor of Tennessee (1845-47).
In 1847 Brown, a Democrat, was defeated in the gubernatorial race by a fellow
Giles Countian, Neill S. Brown, a Whig. Aaron Brown's political activities focused
on national issues, particularly slavery, and he is credited with authorship
of the "Tennessee Platform" in defense of national unity presented to the Nashville
Convention of 1850.
The location of Giles County on the Nashville and Decatur Railroad made it a
center of activity during the Civil War. Though no major battle was fought within
its boundaries, the county fell into Federal hands after the battle of Fort Donelson
and was occupied by Union troops for several years. Grenville Dodge was in command
in 1863 when Sam Davis, a young Confederate soldier and member of Coleman's Scouts,
was condemned and executed for spying. A statue of Davis stands on the south
side of the town square, a monument to the twenty-one-year-old soldier whose
last words were immortalized by Confederate veterans: "If I had a thousand lives,
I would lose them all here before I would betray my friend or the confidence
of my informer." The county contributed four generals to the Confederate cause:
John C. Brown, G. W. Gordon, John Adams, and Preston Smith. More than two thousand
soldiers from Giles County filled the Southern ranks.
Pulaski was the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. Organized shortly after the war
by John C. Lester, James R. Crowe, John Kennedy, Calvin Jones, Richard R. Reed,
and Frank O. McCord, the secret society spread across the state as its reputation
for violence and intimidation evolved. In recent years attempts to stage Klan
activities in Pulaski have met stiff resistance from the community.
Giles County was the birthplace of noted African American architect Moses McKissack,
founder of McKissack and McKissack, one of the oldest African American architectural
firms in the nation. The firm's Bridgeforth School was built with support from
the Rosenwald Fund in 1927. Giles County has more than one hundred National Register
properties including large downtown districts in Pulaski. Elkton boasts the Gardner
House (ca. 1896), which belonged to Matt Gardner, a local minister, merchant,
and community leader.
Giles County is also the birthplace of two nationally known writers, Donald Davidson
and John Crowe Ransom. Davidson and Ransom were associated with the group of
poets at Vanderbilt University in the 1920s known as the Fugitives. These men
and women have been credited with the literary flowering that emerged as the
Southern Renascence. Davidson and Ransom were also involved in another famous
literary group, the Agrarians, whose 1930 anthology I'll Take My Stand: The South
and the Agrarian Tradition received widespread attention.
From its inception, education has played an important role in the history of
Giles County. Pulaski Academy, later known as Wurtenburg Academy, then Giles
College, and chartered by the legislature when the county was organized, was
the first of many academies, colleges, and private schools. Martin Methodist
College, established in 1872, was a gift from Thomas Martin in honor of his daughter,
Victoria, an advocate for female education. The four-year college is administered
by the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church.
A county library, donated by the late C. A. Craig, a founder of the former National
Life and Accident Insurance Company in memory of his wife, serves the public
in a renovated building. The building also houses a county genealogy room and
a museum containing artifacts brought to the county by the early settlers. The
Sam Davis Museum, a Civil War museum organized by the United Daughters of the
Confederacy is located on Sam Davis Avenue and is administered by the historical
society.
In the post-World War II era, a number of institutions including the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, local banks, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Retail Merchants
Association have developed a diversified economy to carry the county into the
twenty-first century. The county's 2000 population was 29,447.
The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887
The surface of Giles County is much broken and very rough, being made up of winding valleys and high ridges, some of which rise to a height of from 300 to 500 feet above the common level. The county is divided almost equally north and south by Richland Creek, the most important but not the largest stream in the county. This creek has a large, wide valley, which remains some of the richest farm land to be found anywhere in the State. Richland Creek has also many tributaries, each of which has its valley of fertile land. Elk River, the largest stream of the county, flows across the southeastern corner, receiving numerous creeks and branches. Sugar Creek, in the southwest part of the County, supplies splendid water-power for machinery. The water falls through a succession of cascades more than thirty feet within a distance of 100 yards, and it is cheaply utilized. Though called a creek, Richland is really a river, and was declared navigable by act of Legislature passed In 1809, the said act prohibiting the building of dams or other obstruction that would impede the passage of boats. The act was repealed in 1811, so much as related to that above that above the shoals at Pulaski. Other creeks are Big Creek, Lynn Creek, Robertson Fork, Weakley Creek, Haywood Creek, Buchanan Creek, Silver Creek, Indian Creek, Jenkins Creek, Bradshaw Creek, Shoal Creek, Little Shoal Creek and Leatherwood Creek, all of which are very good streams. The northern boundary of the county lies on Elk Ridge, an arm of the highlands. This ridge runs nearly east and west, dividing the waters of the Elk from those of Duck River, and cutting off the portion of the Central Basin of Middle Tennessee lying in Giles and Lincoln Counties.
The geology of the county is simple and easily understood. The strata are horizontal, and, excepting the summits of the ridges, are mainly limestone. The ridges are capped with the lowest and flinty layers of the Carboniferous Period, below which formation, outcropping on the slopes and underlying the lowlands, are the limestones which belong to the Silurian Age. There is also a thin formation of black slate, called the black shale, in the county, which lies next below the sub-carboniferous strata and above the limestone, and is often mistaken as an indication of stone coal. All the soils in that part of the county which lie in the Central Basin are fertile. The hillsides and slopes of the ridges are very fertile and productive and the amount of alluvial soil in the county, owing to the numerous streams, is great. The lands bordering on Elk River and Richland Creek are the best in the County far cotton. On Big Creek around Campbellsville the lands are very fertile, and continues so on to the south and east, but on the north and west they run into "barrens," on the highlands, where the land is very thin. The products of the county are cotton, corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, hay, tobacco, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, hops, grass and grass seeds, sorghum, all the different fruits and wine.
The cereal products of the county in 1885 were as follows: Corn, 1,545,605 bushels; oats, 33,289 bushels; wheat, 190,205 bushels; rye, 5,020 bushels During the same year the live-stock in the nearly was horses and mules, 11,123, head; cattle, 15,126 bead, sheep, 12,651 head; hogs, 46,762 head. In 1870 the county ranked first in the production of corn in the State, producing in that year 2,054,163 bushels of that product. In the same year 8,367 bales of cotton were produced in the county, and in 1885 between 12,000 and 15,000.
A treaty was made with the Chickasaw Indians in July, 1805, by which they ceded their claim to all lands north of Duck River, and east of the Nachez road as far as the ridge that divides the waters of Elk from those of Buffalo. This line passed through Giles County entering it near the northwest corner, crossing the Lawrenceburg road at the eight mile post, passed four or live miles West of Pulaski, crossed Elk River about three miles above Prospect and the State line at Phillips' mill, leaving considerable portion of the western and southwestern part of the county in the Chickasaw territory.
Probably the that white men to penetrate and explore the forests and canebrakes of Giles County were the commissioners and their guard of citizens, who were sent to lay off a district fifty fly, ties wide in the northern part of Middle Tennessee it satisfaction of land warrants issued by North Carolina to officers and soldiers of the Continental line, and also to lay off a tract of 25,000 acres south of said district, donated by mid State to Gen. Greene. Among those to whom Wants for land lying in Giles county Were issued, were the following: Martin Armstrong, 5,000 acres William P. Anderson, 540 acres; Stockley Donelson 5,000 acres; Robert Fenner, 300 acres: John Haywood, 5,000 acres; Henry Montford, 200 acres: Phillips and Shepperd, 5,000 acres; George Simpson, 152 acres; Henry Shepperd, 2,000; Howell Tatum, 311 acres; Henry Toomer, $40 acres; George Breckenridge, 150 acres; George Shields, 252 acres; Sam Shields, 416 acres; John Dobbins, 165 acres; James Reynolds, 5 acres; Charles Girard, 232 acres; James P. Taylor, 640 acres; James Williams, 100 acres; John Childers, 300 acres; John Dougherty, 500 acres; John Reynolds, 300 acres; James Montgomery, 200 acres; John Strother, 95 acres; John Temple, 83 to.; Richard Hightower, 100 acres; John Hughes, 50 acres; James Temple, 300 acres, and John Armstrong. 5,000 acres.
The first permanent settlement in the county wee made in about 1805, on Elk River, near the month of Richland Creek, and in the neighborhood, of the present towns of Elkton and Prospect, one of which lies above and the other below the mouth of said creek, by William Crowson, his four sons and son-in-law, Vincent, Thomas Whitson, Jordan Word, James Ford, James Wilkerson, Parish Sims, Thomas Dodd, John Reynolds, William Jenkins, Thomas Kyle, Thomas Easley Simon Ford, John Hunnicutt and John and William Price. When these pioneers came they found the county a vast cane-brake and forest, the cane being from twenty to twenty-five feet high. The settlers melted Body force, and cleared away the cane and built but bout. for each other, and the same kindness and courtesy Was extended to each new-comer for years thereafter.
Other settlements were made in the county as follows: Thomas Bond, William Riggs, Joseph Moore, Daniel Cox, James Kimborough, Joseph and Elijah Anderson, Thomas Westmoreland, floor. Amos Brown and sons (Thomas and William). John Butler and John Barnett settled in the now Aspin Hill neighborhood from 1807 to 1809; Dr. Gabriel Bumpass, William Buchanan and sons (Maximillian, Robert, John and Jesse) Timothy Emil, Mike Ezell and William Ezell settled in the neighborhood of Cross Waters in 1807 and 1808; John and Lewis Nelson settled a few miles northeast of Prospect in 1809; Lewis Kirk, Alex Black and Nathan and Robert Block settled on the site of Pulaski in 1806-07; Ralph Graves settled about 200 yards out of the present corporate limits of Pulaski, and in the neighborhood of the low. Charles and James Buford, Somersett Moore, John Clark and son (Spenser), William Gideon, Nelson Patteson and sons (James and Bernard), Solomon E. Rose, Tyree Rhodes, William Kirley, Charles Neeley and John White settled between 1807 and 1809; Reese Porter and sons, Reese, John, David, James B. and Thomas C. settled in the Mount Moriah Church neighborhood in about 1807; John Dickey, James Ross, Hamilton Campbell, Joseph Bozler, James Ashmore and Daniel Allen settled in the Campbellsville neighborhood between 1808 and 1809; John Fry, William Dearing, George Malone, Gabriel and John Foulk, Daniel Harrison, John and William Rutledge, Jacob and Andrew Blythe, Joel Rutledge, Nicholas Absalom, Hugh Bowen, Thomas Moody, Andrew Pickens, John McCabe, James Angus, James Wilsford and James Brownlow settled on the Waters of Lynn Creek between 1808 and 1810; John and Samuel Montgomery, Leander M. Shields, Samuel Shields, James Shields, Joseph Braden, Archibald Crockett, Alexander Shields and Robert Crockett settled in the neighborhood of Elk Ridge Church in 1808-10; Robert Gordon and sons (Thomas and John), rise Widow Clark and sons, John and Sam Jones, Robert Alsop, Jacob Jarmin and John Henderson settled in the Brick Church neighborhood between 1808 and 1810; Adam Hightower, Hardy Hightower, John Kennedy, John Eliff, James McKnight, Samuel McKnight, Joel Jarmin, John Young and Nicholas Holly settled in the Bradshaw Creek neighborhood between 1807 and 1810; Rev. Alex McDonald and brothers (Joseph, Robert and John), and their relatives, William McDonald and James McDonald. settled in the Mount Pisgah Church neighborhood in 1808; William Phillips, William Menifee, and sons (John and William, and son-in-law. Benjamin Long), and John Phillips, settled in the Elkton neighborhood in 1808 and 1809. Other early settlers were P. Moore, Peter Lyons, James Burst, James Knox, Walter York, John Jones, William Woods, Allen Abernathy, William McDonald, N. Boss, Abner Cleveland, John Wilson, William McGuire, David Flinn, James Flinn, Nathan Farmer, John Reasonover, William Centhall, John White, Thomas Taylor, John M. Cabe, James Grimes, John Yancy, James Hart, Robert Curren, Warrick H. Doyle, Edmund J. Bailey, Benjamin Tutt, James Morgan, William Eubanks, Joseph Johns, Richard Little, Absalom Bosin, John Cunningham, Owen Shannon, James Shannon, Isham Carter, William Hanby, Benjamin Phillips, Gabriel Higenbotham, Robert Miller, Lawson Hobson, Jonas Kindred. Samuel Parmly, Charles McCallister, James Reed, Andrew Erwin, Drury Storall, John Bridwell, William Ball, Eaton Walker, Guilford Dudley, Jonas Kindred, John Scott, James Hunt, Douglas Blue, Joseph Boyd, Samuel Black, John Bryant, William Riddle. William B. Brook, James Lindsey, Henry Scales, William Pillows, Robert McAshley, Richard Briggs, Jelly Pemberton and Orpha Black.
A number of the early settlers located on the Indian lands, cleared away the cane and undergrowth, built log cabins and began cultivating the soil. Complaints being made to the Government, the United States soldiers stationed at Fort Hampton, on Elk River, about four miles above its mouth, were sent to drive out the settlers. The soldiers burned the settlers' houses, threw down their fences and destroyed their crops, and succeeded in driving the people across the reservation line. After the soldiers returned to the fort, the settlers returned to their ruined homes, rebuilt their houses and fences, and planted their crops, only to be again driven out as soon as word was received at the fort of their presence on the forbidden territory. This destruction of property and crops by the Government soldiers occurred during the years 1809-11, and was a great hardship to the settlers, many of whom held grants for the disputed lands they occupied.
Previous to 1809 the settlers of Giles County were compelled to go to mill in Williamson County, or crush the corn into meal by means of the mortar, as there were no mills at that period in the county. In that year, however, Nathaniel Moody erected a small water-power corn-mill on Robertson Fork, one-half mile south of Old Lynnville. Soon afterward Robert Buchanan built a water-power grist-mill on Buchanan Creek, and at about the same time George Cunningham built one on Richland Creek; Hardy Hightower built one on Bradshaw Creek; John White built one on Robertson Fork, near what was afterward Buford's Station; Jacob Bozler built one on Big Creek and John Williams built one on the south side of Elk River, near where Norvell's mill was afterward erected, all of which were common corn-mills of water-power. Lewis Brown built the first horsepower mill in 1810. After Pulaski had been selected as the county seat, Nathaniel Moody moved his mill to a point near town an Richland Creek. This was in 1811, and during the same year, Clacks or Mayfleld's mill was built on the same stream, about one mile below Mount Moriah Church, and John Laird built a mill on Lynn Creek. James Cox built a water-power mill on Sugar Creek in 1818, which was afterward known as Malone's mill, and during the. same year James Paisley built a horse-power mill in the Shoal Creek and during the same year James Paisley built a horse-power mill in the Shoal Creek neighborhood, and Elijah Ruthony built a water-power mill on Sugar Creek.
The powder used in the early days by the settlers was all manufactured within the county. One of the first powder-mills built in the county was owned by Daniel Allen, and stood near Allen's Spring, since known as Wright's Spring, a few miles northwest of the present site of Campbellsville. John Williams also operated a powder-mill near the State line, one mile southwest from Elk Mount Springs, and James Ross owned one in the western part of the county. The saltpeter used by these manufacturers was obtained from different sources, principally from a cave near Campbell's Station in Maury County.
Many of the early settlers brought with them cotton seed, and though at first on small patches of that useful article were grown from a production for home consumption only. it soon grew into one of the largest crops produced in the county, forming one of the chief exports, and as such continues at the present. Cotton-gins were soon established and to-day the county is dotted over with them. One of the first cotton-gins built in the county was that of Lester Morris, and was erected in 1810 near Rehobeth Church. The power at first was furnished by hand, but later on the gin was enlarged and converted into horse-power. The first water-power gin was built in 1811 or 1812 on Lynn Creek, by John Laird. Soon afterward John Henderson built a water-power gin on a branch about a mile south of Cornersville, now in Marshall County, and Maj. Hurlston built a water-power gin on Dry Creek.
The mills and cotton-gins in the county at present are as follows, by districts; Firs District-Jacob Morrell has a steam saw-mill and cotton-gin; John Brown, has a water power grist-mill on Ragsdale Creek; S. H. Morrell has a water-power grist-mill on same creek; R. L. Donnevan has a water-power grist-mill on Sinking Creek; and J. N. Ruder Edward Copeland, W. F. Smith, James Arnett, Thomas E. Dailey, Thomas Whitfield, A R. Garrison, L. J. Bledsoe and Dr. Patterson each have one-horse-power cotton-gin. See end District-James Rivers has a water-power grist-mill on Richland Creek; M. B. McCallister has a water-power grist-mill on Elk River; Smith & Bell have a steam saw-mill Deal Prospect, and cotton-gins are too numerous in the district to mention, there being Dot less than twenty-five or thirty, each farm of any consequence owning its own gin. Third District-Thomas E. Smith has a steam saw and grist-mill and cotton-gin combined Joseph Edmunson has a similar mill, and Owen, English & Fowler have a steam saw and grist-mill; and Sterling Brownlow and Isaac Casey have each a horse-power cotton-gin Fourth District-Graves & Dougherty have a steam saw and grist-mill, and James Marbett has a horse-power cotton-gin. Fifth District-James Patrick has a water-power corn and wheat-mill and cotton-gin on Shoats Creek, and J. E. Pryor, S. C. Johnson, James Tidwell, A. W. Parker and Felix Petty each have horse-power cotton-gins. Sixth District-The Vale Mills. corn and cotton-gin, water-power, on Richland Creek; Babe Nance has a steam saw-mill, and Elihu Coffman and William Edwards each have steam cotton gins; David Shore, Samuel Williamson, Samuel Hower, James Short, Wiley Roger and William Morris each have horse-power cotton-gins. Seventh District-W. I. Rainey and Mrs. Elder have water-power grist-mills on Richland Creek, and T. B. Wade has 1 horse-power cotton-gin. Eighth District-F. D. Aymett has a water-power grist-mill on Leatherwood Creek, and John M. Aymett, F. D. Aymett, Giles Reynolds, George Suttle and Thomas Harwell have horse-power cotton-gins. Ninth District-Andrew Chamber has a water-power flour, grist and saw-mill combined; Bud Morrell has a water-power corn-mill on Richland Creek; Jacob Morrell has a flour and grist water-mill on Ell River, and C. O. Bull, R. I. Baugh, E. N. Grigsby, John R. Beasley, Gray Hopkins, Wilburn M. Stephenson, James Scruggs, Marion Ellison and James Rivers have cotton-gins all of which are of horse-power, except lose of Baugh and Rivers. Tenth District-J. K. Craig has a horse-power cotton-gin. Eleventh District-Joseph Parsons has a steam flour and grist-mill; William Abernathy has a water-power grist-mill on Buchanan Creek, and Monroe Smith has a horse-power cotton-gin. Twelfth District-T. S. Williamson has a steam saw and grist-mill J. M. Young has a water-power flour and grist-mill on Rich land Creek; W. T. Copeland has a steam grist-mill and cotton-gin combined, and T. B. Wade, G. S. White, John Phillips, B. T. Reynolds, Frank Bramlett, William Rivers Robert Rhodes and James Buford have cotton-gins, all with one exception, Wade's, being of horse-power. Thirteenth District-J. T. Steele has a water-power flour, corn and saw mill combined on Big Creek; Joshua Morris has a water-power corn and saw-mill on the same creek, and Mrs. Buford and Mrs. Elise have horse-power cotton-gins. Fourteenth District-L. Alexander has a flour, corn and saw-mill, water and steam-power, on Big Creek; Capt. Watson has a water-power flour and grist-mill on Brownlow Creek; A. Williams has a water-power wheat and corn-mill on Factory Creek, and Isaac Yokely and Mow Hays have horse-power cotton gins. Fifteenth District-Joseph Goldman and Griffis Bros. each have water-power grist-mills on Robertson Fork; Mrs. Fry has a water-power grist-mill on Lynn Creek; Wilkes & Calvert have a steam-power cotton-gin, and B. F. Walker has a horse-power cotton-gin. Sixteenth District-Horse-power cotton gins are owned by Ephraim Gordon, Hugh Topp, Mack Dougherty, David Simmons, G. H. McMillan and Thomas Spofford. Seventeenth District-J. M. Gordon and R. F. Jackson have horse-power cotton-gins. Eighteenth District-Levi Reed has a water power grist-mill on Egnew Creek; John Rector has a steam saw-mill, and Henry Purger has a horse-power cotton-gin. Nineteenth District-J. M. Parker and Sam Collins have home-power cotton-gins. Twentieth District-J. M. Brownlow has a steam saw-mill, and J. H. McCormick has a horse-power cotton-gin.
Giles County was created in 1810 In pursuance of an act of the General Assembly passed November 14, 1809, and at the suggestion of Gen. Jackson was Denied in honor of Gen. William B. Giles, one of the governors of Virginia. Giles County was formed out of Maury County and is bounded as follows: North by the counties of Maury and Marshall, east by the counties of Marshall and Lincoln, south by the State of Alabama, west by Lawrence County, and has an area of 600 square miles. The act erecting Giles County is as follows:
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A COUNTY SOUTH OF MAURY COUNTY, AND NORTH OF THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF THE STATE.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General assembly of the State of Tennessee, That there be a new county established within the following described bounds, to wit: Beginning at the southeast corner of Maury County; thence due south to the southern boundary of the State; thence west as far as to form a constitutional county; thence north to the line of Maury County, and with said line to the beginning, which county shall be known by the name of Giles County.
Section 2 provides that James Ross, Nathaniel Moody, Tyree Rhodes, Gabriel Bumpass and Thomas Whitson be appointed commissioners to select a place on Richland Creek, near the center of the county, for a county seat, at which site the commissioners shall procure at least 100 acres of land, upon which they shall cause a town to be laid off, with necessary streets at least eighty feet wide, reserving at least two acres for a public square, on which shall be erected a court house and stocks, also reserving a public lot sufficient to contain a jail, in a convenient part of town, which town shall be known by the name of Pulaski. Section 3 provides for the sale of town lots by the commissioners at public auction to the highest bidders. Section 4 provides that the commissioners shall contract with suitable workmen to build a court house, prison and stocks, the same to be paid for out of moneys arising from the sale of town lots. Section 8 provides for the due administration of justice and for the time and place of holding courts. Section 9 provides that nothing in this act shall prevent the collection of taxes due Maury County at the time of its passage, by the sheriff of that county. Section 12 provides that this act shall be in force from and after the 1st of January, 1810.
On November 22, 1809, the General Assembly passed another act, electing tile following magistrates for Giles County: John Dickey, Jacob Baylor, Somersett Moore, Charles Neiley Robert Steele, Nathaniel Moody, William Phillips, Benjamin Long, Thomas Westmoreland, David Porter and Maximillian H. Buchanan; at the same time Thomas H. Stewart was appointed Judge and Amos Balch attorney-general of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, embracing Giles County.
The commissioners, met early in 1810 and selected a place then known as the "Shoals," on Richland Creek, as a site for the county seat, which was named Pulaski, in honor of the gallant Polish count who fell at Savannah in 1779 while fighting for American independence. The land so selected was vacant land, lying south and west of the Indian reservation line, However, assurances of title were given, which authorized the commissioners to make the selection, and on November 11, 1812, a deed for the land was made to the commissioners by President James Madison.
There are 377,600 acres of land in the county, 194,479 acres being improved, and the total value of property assessed for taxation in 1885 was $1,587,977, an average of $8.82 per acre. The tax levy for 1886 was as follows: 30 cents for State, 80 cents for county, 20 cents for school, 11 cents for roads, and $1 each by State and county for school, making a total assessment of $2.91 on each $100 worth of property. In 1834 the first turnpike was built through Giles County, it being the Columbia, Pulaski, Elkton & Alabama Pike. The present pikes are the Pulaski & Elkton Pike, built about 1840, of which there are thirty miles; the Pulaski & Brick Church Pike, built in 1882, fourteen miles; the Pulaski & Bradshaw Pike, built in 1882, twelve miles, and the Pulaski & Vale Mills Pike, built in 1883, five miles. The Nashville & Decatur Railroad, the only one in the county, passes through from north to south. In 1856 the county subscribed $275,000 in aid of this railroad, payable in five annual installments. The road was completed in 1860, and has proven a great boon and benefit to the entire county. The Memphis & Knoxville Railroad has been surveyed through the county, and should the road be built the county would be quartered by railways, and Giles would have transportation facilities equaled by few counties in the State. The building of the latter road, however, is very indefinite.
The first court hold in the county was a court of pleas and quarter sessions, and was held on the third Monday in February, 1810, at the house of Lewis Kirk, who lived in a log cabin on a bluff on the bank of Richland Creek at the foot of the "shoals, " and about 200 yards above where the Nashville & Decatur Railroad depot now stands. The magistrates who had previously been appointed as such by the General Assembly, were sworn into office, and they at once elected John Dickey, chairman, German Lester. clerk, Jesse Westmoreland, register, and Charles Neeley, sheriff. By order of the court a log cabin was erected in Kirk's yard, in which the courts were held, and in a short while thereafter a rough log house was erected on the same yard for a jail. In this rude prison were kept those convicted of misdemeanors, contempt of court, etc., while the felons were sent to the Williamson County jail, and afterward to the Maury County jail for imprisonment. After the sale of town lots, August, 1811, the cave having been previously cut from a portion of the Public Square, a second court house was erected on the Public Square, and the records and courts moved thereto. This second building was constructed of round logs, which were covered with boards. The house stood for about two years, when it was destroyed by fire, presumably by the citizens, they having become impatient and indignant at the delay of the commissioners in giving them a more commodious and sightly building. A log jail was erected on the southeast corner of the Public Square at about the same time of the log court house, and it, too, was destroyed by fire soon after the court house burned.
The commissioners then contracted with Archibald Alexander, of Pulaski, to erect a new court house, and with Philip P. Many, of Williamson County, to build a new jail. This court house was a two-story brick, and answered well the purpose for which it was built. In about 1850 the building was torn down, and on the same site a handsome brick was erected, which stood until 1856, when it was destroyed by fire. The present court house was completed in 1859, and cost the county about $27,000. It is a large two-story brick, 60x150 feet, with four entrances and halls. Two large court rooms are on the second floor, while on the first are located six large well ventilated and lighted offices, including a chancery court room, an artistic cupola surmounts the building in which is a town clock, which was presented to the county court by Judge Henry M. Spofford, deceased in 1880. During the time between the destruction of the court home in 1856, and the completion of the present building in 1859, the courts were held on the first floor of the Odd Fellows Hall. The jail contracted by Philip P. Maney was of brick, and was erected on the northwest corner of the Square. When within a few hours work of completion it was destroyed by fire, having caught fire by sparks falling from someone's pipe or cigar into the shavings. Another jail was soon erected by the same contractor, which stood until about the close of the late war, when it was destroyed by fire by the retreating Confederates. The present jail is a handsome brick building, situated on First Main Street, about 150 yards from the Public Square, and was completed in 1867 at a cost of $25,000. It is provided with suitable apartments for a jailer's family, and has ten well constructed cells with necessary corridors.
In 1865, the County Court part based 130 acres of land in the Eleventh District. four miles east of Pulaski. for a county poor farm, and erected log buildings thereon for tile accommodation of paupers. In 1867, frame buildings took the place of the log house, and these were replaced with a good brick building in 1884, which cost about $4,000.
The Giles Circuit Court convened its first session in the log court house at Lewis Kirk's. on the second Monday in June, 1810, present and presiding the Her, Thomas H. Stewart, judge; Amos Batch. attorney-general. James Berry was appointed clerk, and the session was opened by Sheriff Charles Neeley. The court continued to hold its sessions at the above place until the December term, 1811, when the court wits opened at that place, and an adjournment was taken, to meet at once in the new court house in the Public Square. After the destruction of the court house in 1814, the court was told during tile April term at the house of David Martin, in Pulaski. During the year 181.5 the house of Isaac Smith, of Pulaski, was used as a temporary court house. From 1810 to 1822 there are no records of this court, they having been destroyed. The records are also missing between 1831 anti 1836 between 1848 anti 1852, between 1855 and 1858, and there were no courts between 1860 and 1865 but since the last date they are complete.
In 1827, for malicious stabbing, James Z. Maclin was sent to jail for twelve months; for an assault and battery, with murderous intent, Sterling Harwell was fined $25 and sent to jail for twenty days. In 1830 Arthur Jarnagar for committing forgery, Was given thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, sent to jail for one week and made to sit in the pillory two hours each morning for three consecutive days; and Drury Smith, for manslaughter was branded on the brawn of the left thumb with the letter M: and sent to jail for one month. In 1836 James McNune was sent to the penitentiary for two years for an assault and attempt to commit murder.
In 1837 William Inzer, for larceny, was sent to the penitentiary for three years. James Tooey five years for malicious stabbing, and Isaac Dale was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hung. In 1838 John W. Craft was sent to the Penitentiary for three years for perjury. In 1853 William Hall was sent up for two years on a charge and conviction of malicious stabbing; in 1855 Martin, a slave, was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hung.
In 1860 N. C. Wisend, for grand larceny, was sent to prison for seven years; in 1865, Samuel Marks, for the same offense, was given ten years; and in 1866 Benjamin Abernathy, Stephen Brown, Jacob Kennedy and Meredith Dabney, for grand larceny, were given terms of imprisonment of three years, one year and seven years, respectively. To 1867 Henry Ars, for stealing a horse, was imprisoned for a term of ten years; Pleasant Beckwith, for murder, in 1868, was sent to prison for one year; and John Lightfoot and George Springer were tried jointly on a charge of larceny and each sent up for three yours; in 1869, Caesar Allen, for larceny, was given one year; James Kelley, for rape, was sent up for fifteen years; and Pleasant Madison, for horse stealing, ten years. In 1870, Sterling Eddins and Harup Mason, for larceny, were each sent to the penitentiary for one year; in 1871, James Montgomery, horse stealing, fifteen years; Lewis Swinnea murder, twenty years; William Allen, larceny, five years; Green Turner, horse stealing, sentenced to be hung; Philip Maples, for administering poison, three years; and Lewis Taylor, larceny, three years. In 1872 Jesse Donaldson, Amanda Abernathy, Virginia Aberna |
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Tennessee 
