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Putnam County
Putnam County is named in honor of General Israel Putnam, who rose to prominence in the American Revolutionary War and fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. Putnam County was first established on 2 February 1842 when the Twenty-fourth General Assembly enacted a measure creating Putnam County from portions of Jackson, Overton, Fentress, and White Counties. Isaac Buck, Burton Marchbanks, Henry L. McDaniel, Lawson Clark, Carr Terry, Richard F. Cooke, H. D. Marchbanks, Craven Maddox, and Elijah Con, all of Jackson County, were named by the Act to superintend the surveying of the new county. Surveying was done by Mounce Gore (thanks to Nancy Hargesheimer for the correct spelling of his first name), also of Jackson County, and the Assembly instructed them to locate the county seat, to be called "Monticello," near the center of the county. However contending that the formation of Putnam was illegal because it reduced their areas below constitutional limits, Overton and Jackson counties secured an injunction against its continued operation. Putnam officials failed to reply to the complaint, and in the March, 1845 term of the Chancery Court at Livingston, Chancellor Bromfield L. Ridley declared Putnam unconstitutionally established and therefore dissolved. The 1854 act reestablishing Putnam was passed after Representative Henderson M. Clements of Jackson County assured his colleagues that a new survey showed that there was sufficient area to form the county. The act specified the the "county town" be named "Cookeville" in honor of Richard F. Cooke, who served in the Tennessee Senate from 1851-1854, representing at various times Jackson, Fentress, Macon, Overton and White Counties. The act authorized Joshua R. Stone and Green Baker from White County, William Davis and Isaiah Warton from Overton County, John Brown and Austin Morgan from Jackson County, William B. Stokes and Bird S. Rhea from DeKalb County, and Benjamin A. Vaden and Nathan Ward from Smith County to study the Conner survey and select a spot, not more than two and one-half miles from the center of the county, for the courthouse. The first County Court chose a hilly tract of land then owned by Charles Crook for the site.
Jackson County
Jackson County created by an act of the Tennessee Legislature on November 6, 1801. It was the eighteenth county established in the state. It was formed from part of Smith County plus Indian lands. The county name honors Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), U.S. congressman and senator, Tennessee Supreme Court judge, troop commander at the Battle of New Orleans, and the seventh President of the United States.
Overton County
Overton County, Tennessee was formed in 1806 from Jackson County, Tennessee and Indian lands. In 1835 the county seat was moved from Monroe to Livingston. Livingston, named for the honorable Edward Livingston, become incorporated in 1907. Overton County was originally a part of Davidson County and later Jackson County. In 1805 Moses Fisk surveyed the first village in what is now the community of Hilham. On September 12, 1806, the area of Overton County was established by the state legislature as a county. The Indian Territory that had been within, in which Cherokee Chief Nettle Carrier presided over, was conceded to Tennessee for use by the white man. Overton County, at one time, included part of the territory that eventually became Fentress, Clay, Pickett, and Putnam counties, and since many of the early records of these counties have been partially or entirely destroyed, the extant records of Overton County are important. The courthouse was burned in April of 1865. Neighboring Counties are Clay, Jackson, Putnam, Fentress and Pickett.
Clay County
The county was formed in 1870 by combining pieces from surrounding Jackson County and Overton County. Clay County has been part of 3 states: North Carolina, Tennessee, and the northern portion was south of Walkers Line, which put this portion in Kentucky. It has been part of six counties: Davidson, Sumner, Smith, Jackson, and Overton Counties in Tennessee with the part that was south of Walkers line being in Cumberland County, Kentucky. Its name is in honor of Henry Clay, famous American statesman, member of the United States Senate from Kentucky and United States Secretary of State in the 19th century. Clay County is the home of Cordell Hull's first law office, which is now part of the county museum.
Fentress County
Fentress County was formed in 1823 from portions of Morgan, Overton and White counties. It was named in honor of James Fentress (1763-1843), who served as speaker of the state house, chairman of Montgomery County Court, and commissioner to select seats for Haywood, Carroll, Gibson and Weakley counties. Alvin York, a hero of World War I about whom the 1941 Academy Award-winning movie Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper was made, was born and lived in Fentress County. He also established the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute in Jamestown (the county seat) in 1924, which is still in use today.
White County
On September 11, 1806, an act of the Tennessee General Assembly created White County out of Smith County, responding to a petition signed by 155 residents of the area. The origin of the county's name is in dispute, officially and widely held to be named after the first known white settler of the area, John White. However, some historians dispute this claim, and instead suggest that the county was named after Revolutionary War hero General James White, founder of Knoxville. A temporary county seat was established near Rock Island, now in Warren County. Three years later a permanent seat of justice for the county was established on the banks of the Calfkiller River and named Sparta. In 1840, White County became a destination for people from all over the country when Christopher Haufmann erected a large hotel on Bon Air Mountain, a part of the Cumberland Plateau. The hotel was located near some mineral springs as well as being at a high altitude, both thought to be health-bringing, and those with ailments came from far and wide to partake of the "cures" advertised by the resort. During this time, the Tennessee Supreme Court (including then-Judge Andrew Jackson) often met in Sparta, and the town was even considered by the Legislature as a potential site for the state capital, narrowly missing out to Nashville. The Civil War impacted White County heavily, even though no major battles were fought in the area. Being on the border between the pro-Union East Tennessee and pro-Confederate Middle Tennessee, the county saw its share of bloodshed from partisans (called "bushwhackers") of both sides. One famous Confederate guerilla was Champ Ferguson, who caused much mayhem and destruction before he was arrested on May 28, 1865. During the War, White County provided the Confederacy with 19 companies, and the Federals with one. Over the following decades, White County slowly rebuilt from the ashes of war. The county was connected to the outside world by railroad, mainly because of the booming coal mining industries being started on Bon Air Mountain. The mountain was rich in bituminous coal, and enterprising local businessmen were quick to realize the profit potential that represented. Several mining towns sprang up on the plateau part of the county, including Bon Air, Eastland, and Ravenscroft. The coal mining industry employed thousands of White County men for decades, but as the 20th century went on, the mines started to close and the people started to move away, and the industry had vanished by the time of World War II.
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