When Tennessee was admitted to the Federal Union on June 1, 1796, John Sevier was its new governor. The state constitution, which was adopted in 1796 was revised in 1835 and again in 1870. In April 1953 a constitutional convention took place to consider revision of certain specific portions of the constitution. This was the first successful attempt to hold a constitutional convention since 1870.

Nashville became the Capitol in 1834.

Presidents' Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, and Andrew Johnson were from Tennessee and also two Presidential candidates, Hugh L. White and John Bell.

Settlers in large numbers came to Tennessee beginning shortly before the American Revolution. People came from Virginia and the Carolinas. They settled in eastern Tennessee along the main waterways such as the Watuaga, Nolichucky, and Holston rivers and shortly set up an independent government called the Watauga Association. Sometime later the settlers set up the district of Washington which was annexed to North Carolina in 1777, and in 1784 when the state ceded its western lands to the United States the state of Franklin was organized. Franklin only lasted four years and in 1788 North Carolina reestablished jurisdiction over the area. Again the area was turned over to the newly established Federal Government in 1789.

Tennessee was the last state to secede from the Union during the war between the states and the first to return at the end of the war. The first battle in the west was at Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862 and the last battle of importance was fought at Nashville, December 15-16, 1864.

Henry County was created on November 7, 1821 by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, along with Carroll, Henderson, and Madison Counties. By an act of the General Assembly Sterling Brewer, James Fentress and Abram Maury was authorized to select a site for the county seat. These men were not residents of Henry County but members of the General Assembly from other counties.

The site consisting of 50 acres was obtained near the center of the new county, 12 ½ acres bought from Peter Ruff and 37 ½ from Joseph Blythe. On September 30, 1823, the General Assembly passed an act incorporating the town of Paris. The city was set up "Mayor and Alderman" style. On April 14-15, 1823, a public sale of lots was held on the site selected by Commissioners Brewer, Fentress and Maury. Of the 104 lots sold, the first was bought by Daniel CuIp. This lot was located on the southwest corner of Poplar and Washington Streets.

The lots around the court square brought "around" $200 each, and those further back from one hundred to as low as $20 according to location. A large number of people attended the sale, reportedly about three hundred were present. About one fourth of these present bought lots.

Paris was the first town to be incorporated in West Tennessee, Lexington was the second, and Memphis was the third. The original act of incorporation for Paris in 1823 did not establish any city boundaries. It is assumed that the area incorporated was limited to the original fifty acres obtained from Peter Ruff and Joseph Blythe.

On a map drawn by Lytton Taylor the original 104 lots were shown. The twelve and one half acres obtained from Peter Ruff lay North of the South boundary of present Ruff street. The thirty-seven and one half acres obtained from Joseph Blythe lay South of this boundary line.

From Mr. Taylor's map it appears that the Northwest corner of this original tract was at the intersection of present CaIdwell Street and Hudson Avenues; the Southwest corner at the intersection of McNeill Ave and CaIdwell Street if extended to the Board of Utility lot near the jail; the Southeast corner at the intersection of NcNeill and Dunlap; the Northeast corner at the intersection of Church Street with the Old Paris Cemetery near the A. M. C. Church.

The first federal census taken after the creation of Henry County was in 1830. At that time Henry County had a total population of 12,230. This was the largest total for any county in West Tennessee at that time. Madison County was the second largest with 11,750 and Hardeman County was third with 11,628. Shelby County had only 5,652.

The Tennessee River brought settlers from East Tennessee. With its Duct River tributary it provided a water route for settlers from Middle Tennessee, who then used the route of the Big Sandy to reach a big area in Henry County. Overland routes from Kentucky, from Clarksville and from Dickson brought numerous emigrants on foot, by pack horse, and by wagon train.

These routes were an extension of those by which the entire state had been settled from East to West, for Tennessee was largely settled by immigrants from the parent state of North Carolina. There were several reasons why the stream of population flowed from North Carolina into Tennessee in addition to that of the national drift of the flow from East to West.

It was not until the Census of 1850 that there was an enumeration of population by state of birth. By this time many of the earliest settlers had passed away but even then 44 percent of Tennessee residents gave North Carolina as their native state while another 27 percent said that they had been born in Virginia.

Among the first settlers was John B. House, who in 1819 settled on the North Fork of the Obion River near the Indian Mounds. Also, in 1819 Joel Hagler, John Stoddart and James Williams came to the area and settled near the present Manleyville.

These men were from Stewart County and very soon became identified in the fiscal affairs of the county when it was organized. John Stoddart and James T. Williams were two of the five commissioners appointed by the court to lay out and sell the lots for the area which had been chosen as the site for the new county seat. In 1825, John Stoddart was chairman and presiding magistrate for the Henry County Court. In 1836 Joel Hagler was among the men appointed to take a list of the taxable property in Henry County.

In 1822 David Searcy Greer and his father James Greer, a revolutionary war soldier brought from Robertson County, Tennessee, a stock of goods for a store which they put in a log cabin on the Middle Fork of the Obion River.

David Greer tells about this store and much other interesting history of Paris and Henry County in a letter which he wrote in January 1880 to William Dunlap in Paris. Some portions of the letter are as follows: "On the 14th day of August 1822 I crossed the Tennessee River at Thomas Gray's ferry at the Mouth of the Big Sandy River. We camped there. Our company consisted of Mr. S. Ellis, a young man by the name of Robertson, my father and myself."

"We were carrying a stock of goods to the Obion River. The goods belonged to my father. The next morning we took the road leading about a Southwest course; about a mile we came to Crawford Bradford's place. He came out and inquired of us where we were moving to and sold us some corn. Nine miles further we came to Arby Brown's place, and eight miles further

William Deloach's."

"The road was a plain wagon way. There we left the road and turned to the left on a trail no wagon had ever traveled, but the country was level, hickory barrens, and had no hills. We reached the Middle Fork of the Obion River about sunset the second day after leaving the Mouth of the Big Sandy. The stream was small; we dug down the bank and got across safely. This being our destination, we found our store house all ready and we at once unloaded. The wagon started back next morning."

"Our store house was a small log cabin. We made a counter of boxes, and shelves of common boards. It stood in the wild woods, and high dry grass. We commenced selling. There being little money in the county we exchanged the goods for furs, venison, hams, hides, beeswax, and tallow. These were the first goods sold on the Middle Fork of the Obion River, so you will see that I was the pioneer merchant of a large scope of the county."

The first mill built in the county was a horse mill erected by John Carter near the present Springville in 1820. In time there came to be numerous water mills. One of those was the Old "Rogers Mill" about a mile south of Como near the old M. Young place.

The availability of water power for grinding corn and wheat and also for sawing lumber was a valuable asset for any community. Mill ponds were constructed by building a dam across a stream of running water. The formation of one of these ponds often involved ownership of land on each side of a stream and the court would be called upon to arbitrate proper compensation for the flooded land.

Streams most often mentioned for locations of these mills were the Big Sandy, West (Little) Sandy, North Fork and Middle Fork of the Obion, and Bailey's Fork.

Land was the chief means for accumulating wealth in pioneer days and "land Hungry" was the primary impulse that stimulated settlers to move into the new territory.

The acquisition of this land followed a set pattern: A man by purchase or otherwise obtained a land warrant from a specified number of acres. He then had the official surveyor make a survey for him for this acreage. Since the warrant did not specify the location, he could have the survey made where he wished so long as he did not conflict with another claim. The bounds and calls of some those early survey made interesting reading.

After the survey was made he then entered the tract al the nearest land office, where the entry was recorded and sent to the governor of the state for his signature.

The system by which a person holding a land grant could sell it even before an entry was made was the basis for large numbers of assignee grants, and this type of land transfer is often noted in early Henry County deeds. The ease with which these warrants could be bought and sold led to the accumulation of large holding of them in the hands of speculators and the resultant large acreage held by those speculators in newly opened territories.

In the disposition of land the mother state of North Carolina laid a heavy hand upon the daughter state of Tennessee. During the Revolutionary War North Carolina in 1782 had passed legislation enabling her to pay the soldiers of her Continental line with land in the future Tennessee.

A military reservation was laid off in which these soldiers claims were to be located. As finally determined this reservation began where the Cumberland River crossed the Virginia-North Carolina line (Now the Kentucky-Tennessee line in present Clay County near Celina). The East boundary then ran due South for 55 miles, thence west to the Tennessee River, then down the river northward to the state line and then eastward along the state line to the beginning.

This reservation took the major portion of Middle Tennessee and was to be granted to the North Carolina soldiers on the basis of military rank, beginning with 640 acres for a private and increasing the number of acres for each succeeding higher rank until 12,000 acres were granted to a Brigadier General.

Ultimately, many of these soldiers sold their warrants to speculators for cash rather than move to and settle in a new country.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, six of the 13 original states claimed by grant of their charter land west of the Allegheny Mountains. New York also held a claim, based upon her relationship with the Iriquors Indians.

There arose an insistent demand by the six states holding such claims and by the national government that these seven states surrender their claims to the central government. Gradually this was done, and in 1784 North Carolina made her first effort to surrender her claim to the future Tennessee. It was not until 1789 that the final act of cession passed.

The first settlers that came to the region made their way through a wilderness of underbrush, cane, briars and brambles. Often they followed trails, or traces as they were called, that the Indians used. Many of these were the trails followed by wild animals to their feeding grounds or the numerous salt licks.

Prior to the opening of a new region for settlement there were the visits of the hunter and the trapper, as well as the traders, who were engaged in the business of collecting, transporting and selling the pelts of wild animals. Local Indians also dealt with the traders.

The skins of the buffalo, deer, bear, beaver, mink, and other small animals were exchanged for guns, bullets and powder, knives, hatchets, hoes, kettles, and mirrors. Obviously all these items were such as could be carried on pack horses and sometimes by Indian burden bearers.

According to one source a schedule of prices for the year 1716 was found in which the Indians received a Gun for 35 deer skins, a pistol for 20, a hatchet for 3, a knife or pair of scissors for 1, a blanket for 16, and a broadcloth coat, laced, for 30.

This was a schedule for the trade between the traders of Charles Town, (Charleston) South Carolina, and the Indians of the lower Appalachian Mountains of Western Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. It should be noted that the date was approximately a hundred years before the settlement of West Tennessee began.

A trader might have 15 or 20 pack horses in his train. Several traders joined forces for safety and companionship. The importance of these traders in early colonial history has been largely overlooked by writers of local history.

By far the greater amount of pelts traded in the South were deerskins, for southern beaver and other furs were inferior to the thick heavy pelts of the North. The Charles Town colony exported to England, often for reexport to Germany, enormous quantities of deerskins. In one year, from Christmas 1707 to Christmas of 1708, the Charles Town merchants shipped abroad 121,355 deerskins; their average was generally over 50,000.

As the eighteenth century ended and the nineteenth began, the western frontier of settlements along the border between Kentucky and Tennessee ended at the Tennessee River. Logan County in Kentucky constituted the organized government in that part of the state, while Sumner, Robertson and Montgomery Counties comprised the northern area of Tennessee.

In the early days of Henry county men and women had many hardships. The modern conveniences that we enjoy now were unheard of luxuries back then. Most of the people who settled this county were poor and made their living by farming. There were no fine cars, no modern plumbing, no fancy clothes and no tractors to do the hard work in the fields.

For the early farmers their day started before dawn and ended after sundown. They spent all their time making a living. There was little time to pursue other interests, the days were long and the work was never finished. The children also did their share of work. By the time they were old enough to understand what work was they were doing it. This continued until they were old and no longer able to work. It took the labor of all members of the family to survive. Children learned to carry out the various tasks without being told. They had respect for the parents and it was expected that they would obey when they were given instruction.

There were not many schools, but education was not as important then as it is today. Life was simple and the need for reading and writing was not required to carry out their work. If there was a school close by many of the children went only long enough to acquire some basic knowledge in reading and writing and some simple math. For the most part the families were not too concerned about anything above these simple skills.

The people grew most of what they ate and made their own furniture, their own clothes, and most of the other necessities of life. The garden was very important and necessary to the point that their very survival depended on it. Many varieties of fruit and vegetables were grown and processed in such a way that the family could eat through the winter as well as the summer when fresh food was available.

The land had to be cleared so they could farm. This was also a matter of survival. They built their homes from logs that were cut and shaped on their own land. These homes normally had dirt floors and in the winter it was cold inside the house because the wind would blow through the cracks.

Disease and starvation were common in the early days and people lived with these enemies every day of their lives. Many children did not grow up and many of the small farms had a few graves close by as stark reminders of the rigors of pioneer life. These people and all the other American pioneers did not give up, but fought and won the battle----thereby paving the way for a great nation to follow.

There were not many roads and what there were little more than trails. In fact most of the early roads were just that Indian trails and animal trails. These trails eventually became the highways that were the forerunners of the modern freeways of today.

Our own people were among those early pioneers, and our roots are embedded deep in the southern part of this country. We are part of the history of this country from the beginning. Our ancestors built the roads, cleared the fields, built the bridges and populated the land.

In the beginning people would move west to find land and many of the families that moved into Tennessee are still there. Land was wealth and it was a way to survive. There were no jobs to speak of because there were no big companies to pay wages. So, you see, if your were not a farmer you did not eat.

There were no welfare checks, no social security, no government handouts and no food stamps. People worked and made their own way. No one depended on the earnings of his neighbor and no one decided that he would not work because someone else would pay his way. Those who didn't work didn't eat and that is the way it should be.

Each family took care of their own people. There was a voluntarily charity at that time. People helped their neighbor when they needed help and in turn they were helped also.

There was not a lot of traveling other than moving their families from one place to another. The only way to get anywhere was on foot, on horseback, by boat or in a wagon. Travel was very slow and many people who moved never returned to their "home-ground" again. Some left relatives whom they would never see again.

In the early 1800's the frontier had not yet reached the Mississippi River. Many times we relate the frontier as being out west but this is not the case. The frontier moved west only as the people moved west. At any rate at this time not many people had ventured very far west. The frontier was wild and filled with many dangers. There were hostile Indians, wild animals and other problems that had to be overcome.

The first real problem that faced the pioneers as they moved into a new area was clearing enough land to grow food. The trees were cut, the stumps removed, the holes were filled in and the planting was done. This must have been a tremendous task for a man especially if he was working alone. Removing large stumps took a lot of time and the help of a strong team of horses or mules.

In most cases the people did not have enough food to last any length of time so it was necessary that they get seed into the ground the first spring or face starvation. Building a home and clearing land and planting had to be done in short order.

It is hard to realize what a tremendous task faced a family as they moved into a new area and settled. The "elements" were not always favorable and at times floods, hail, and drought would destroy much of the work that had been done. The life of a pioneer could not have been a pleasant one, especially those first few years after settling in a new place.

Not much money was ever seen by the average pioneer family. Most of the supplies that were needed were purchased with furs or pelts, or sometime chickens and eggs. The pioneer families hunted and acquired pelts much as we would work today for wages. The system of trade without money was used almost exclusively at that time.

Hunting also provided much of the food for the table. Wild game was abundant ---deer, rabbits, squirrels, turkeys and wild pigs were among those animals hunted for food.

The essentials of life became somewhat easier as the towns grew and industry began to flourish. Many of the people who had been farmers went to work in the mills and factories. This didn't decrease the numbers of farmers because more and more people came and soon all the cleared land east of the Mississippi was under the plow.

Many of the people who obtained land grants in Tennessee never moved there, and many of the people who did move there sold their land and moved on westward. These early pioneers were a hearty people and they were willing to keep looking for what they wanted. The land was free and also it was their wealth so it mattered little that they had to suffer some hardship to reach the "perfect place"----they were willing to pay the price.

It's hard to imagine what prompted people to leave their home if it wasn't the land. They went in covered wagons, walked and got there any way they could to claim the land. They surely must have been a wandering people because some of them moved many times before they finally settled in one spot. Many of them had already crossed the ocean to get to this country so it is no surprise that they were willing to endure hardship to get what they wanted.

Many of the wagon trains would be made up of people from the same or related families, and they would settle together in the same area. I remember my grandparents telling me about how their people had come to Henry County in covered wagons.

Those same families that settled our part of the country still live there although many of the descendants have moved to many other parts of the country. It has been 150 years since our people settled in Henry County, but you will still find most of the families represented in the same area that they settled originally.

As previously discussed, most of our people were farmers and they knew only the land. It would have been hard to transplant these people into another atmosphere. The land was part of their soul and without it they would have perished.

Not only Horses were used as beast of burden back then but Oxen as well. The Oxen were much slower and it took much longer to travel but they were animals with much endurance. They traveled at their own speed but they got where they were going.

The farmers spent their days walking behind these animals as they plowed and prepared the ground for planting and also for cultivation and gathering the crops. By the time the nineteenth century rolled around most of the Oxen had been replaced by Horses. However, you could still see Oxen being used as late as the thirties.

Many of the farmers could not afford to buy tractors and many of them didn't want them. So the change was not made very quickly. In fact, some people still use Horses in some parts of the south today.

Work on the farm started around 4 A. M. and lasted until the sun was down. The livestock had to be fed in the morning and the Cows had to be milked. This work was done before daylight and was also done after dark in the evening. In the busy season the women worked in the fields as well as the men.

During the planting season and harvest, the farm was a busy place. Some of the neighbors worked together to get the crops in but normally with a large family there was plenty of help to get the work done without any help from the neighbors. When there were neighbors working together, or when the harvest crew came the women would prepare the noon meal for all the workers.

There was not much work done for hire because the families were large and the neighbors worked together when it was necessary.

During those time of trouble, such as an illness, or if there was a fire, all the neighbors would help. If the man happened to be ill during planting, or harvest, he would have all the help he needed to get his work done. This was a great time of people helping people and they did it willingly---no one knew when they would need help themselves.

During the "hog killing" season was especially a time for people to help each other. This was done in the fall after the crops were gathered. October and November were the traditional months because it was cool enough that the meat would not spoil.

The neighbors would gather at the various farms, ---the men, would kill the hogs and scald them in vats or barrels, the women would then help with the various other procedures that had to be done.

After the hogs had been killed, they were moved to the vat where they were to be scalded. Most of the vats were made of heavy boards about four inches thick and about 20 inches wide. They were cut at an angle on both ends and a piece of sheet metal was nailed to the boards along the bottom and up the ends. This metal had to be nailed snugly and sealed so the water would not leak out. These vats were then placed over an open trench that was long enough to allow fire wood to be fed in under the vat to heat the water.

A platform was placed at the side of the vat with the top level with the top edge of the vat. The platform was sturdy enough to hold the hogs, with a chain anchored in two places about one and a half feet a part near the center of the vat. The hogs were then rolled into the vat with the chain under them. One or two of the men stood on the other side of the vat and held the chains as the hog was lowered into the hot water.

The chains were raised an lowered so the hog could be scalded. The hog was then turned on the other side and the procedure repeated. When this was done, the men would walk around the vat and upon the platform and pull the hog out of the water using the chain which was attached to the edge of the platform.

When the hog was out of the vat the men would take sharp knives and scrape the hair off the hog. This worked well provided the scalding had been done properly. When this had been done, the hog was hoisted up by the back legs and dressed. Normally a "single tree" was used to hold the hog up. The leaders behind the heels were exposed and the hardware from the single tree was inserted.

When the meat was cut into the various cuts, the fat was trimmed and put into black kettles with a fire under it to render the lard. When the fire was hot and the lard was cooked out of the meat a big dipper or a pan was used to dip the lard out of the vat or kettle. It was strained through a clean white cloth into lard buckets. The "cracklings" as they were called, were also put into the straining cloth and wooden paddles were used to squeeze the lard out.

When the straining cloth was full of "cracklings" they were put into big pans. What was not eaten was used to make "cracklin bread," and for various other things. As soon as the lard had cooled, it would turn white and lids were put on the cans for storage---to be used later for cooking.

Various trimmings and some of the hams and shoulders were cut up and ground into sausage. The sausage was then mixed with sage and other seasonings and put into white cloth sacks. These sacks were hung in the smoke house to cure, and later cooked and eaten.

These hams, shoulders and bacon sides, were salted down in big wooden boxes to cure for a specified time and then taken out and put in cloth sacks and hung up in the smoke house for later use.

Life was hard for the early settlers in Henry County but people were happy and with no time for boredom there was no complaining about how bad things were.

Everyone had a big garden and what food wasn't eaten fresh was canned. There were no freezers and no other way to preserve the food except for certain things that could be dried. Canning was a lot of work, but, it was necessary to the point that if it wasn't done there would not be anything to eat through the winter. Several hundred cans of vegetables and fruits were canned each year by each family. Also soup and meat was canned.

There is still a lot of canning done in the rural areas where I grew up. Many of the old ways survive and maybe this is good. Many areas are much the same today as they were then. I like to visit that part of the country when I can because it holds so many fond memories for me. Most of the people that I knew and loved are gone now, but the memories still linger on as if those long past years were just yesterday.

In the spring the vigor is renewed and there is an urgency to get things done. The planting has to be completed by a specified time if there was to be a good harvest. Everything seems to be pressing and needs to be done at the same time. The ground has to be prepared properly and at the right time. The seeds need to be put in the ground and when this is done there is time for a short breather and then more work. Hoeing corn and cotton, cultivating and laying by takes up the summer months. During this time there are other things that have to be done also.

There was wood to cut for the coming winter. Not only for heating, but for cooking as well. Also, the garden had to be tended and the usual chores had to be done---caring for the animals and milking every morning and every evening. Also, during the summer there was hay to be cut and gathered into the barns, or put in stacks. In the early days there was not much bailing done, for the most part the hay was raked, picked up with pitchforks, loaded on horse drawn wagons, transported to the barn and loaded into the hayloft by hand.

As the summer gave way to fall, the corn would ripen and the cotton would have to be picked. These jobs were also done by hand, the modern machines such as cotton pickers and corn pickers were unheard of in those days. Picking cotton was a backbreaking job---crawling between the rows "day in" and "day out" pulling a long sack behind you filled with cotton. Working from early morning until the sun went down. There was not much else done during this time of year but go to the fields, do the chores, go to bed, get up, and start all over again. It was the same way with the corn. Pulling the corn by hand and getting cut by the sharp husk and leaves. Working long hours in order to get the crop in and making sure that there was enough food for the animals during the winter.

During the winter there was not as much to do, but always enough to keep busy. The equipment had to be mended, stalls to be cleaned, fences to be mended--no time for being idle. I don't remember every having everything "caught up." It seems there was always more to do than there was time to do it.

There were chickens to be fed, goats to be fed and milked, cows to be milked and fed, and horses to be cared for. While the men did the chores the women started breakfast and began preparing the noon meal.

It sometimes makes me sad that everything has changed so much in the past few years, yet we do not have to work as hard now, and we have time for other things also. I believe that our young people have lost the most by the changes because they do not have the opportunity to learn those things that are so important when they are growing up. There is not enough for them to do, so they are faced with finding ways that are not very good to occupy their time. Too much energy and no place to spend it. It has become a problem that seems to have no answer.

Our part of Henry County was settled about 1830-1840. Our families and related families came to this part of the country and started farming and making a home for themselves. During this period of time the young people did not venture very far from the place they were born. They married their neighbors children and found them a plot of ground and farmed as their parents were doing. Sometime they would move in with one set of parents---normally the boy's and help farm with the family. As the parents would get older and have to quit work there was normally kids to help theirs kids, and the farms were passed down to

the younger generations as the old folks died. In those days there was a lot of ground available for farming and it was not very hard to get. Many of the farmers gained their land by grant, as we have mentioned, and many of them homesteaded. So, you see, it was a matter of how hard you could work and not so much how much money you had in order to start farming.

The story of our beginning in Henry County is an interesting one and could fill many volumes. There are several books available about Henry County but I have not been able to find any that contains our people.

Our people, for the most part, were Christian people. They went to church when the doors were open. They believed the Bible and trusted its teaching. The people were bound together in faith and charity.

The Bible was the instruction to be followed in all things and the father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother were the teachers of the children in addition to what they saw and heard in church.

Children grew up believing in God and learning to work and take care of themselves. This is what made the community and the country great. Love, respect, and honor were learned at a young age.

How fortunate I was to have grown up in one of these families. The things that were taught to me by my parents and grandparents have helped me throughout my life and I have felt it my obligation to try to teach my children and grandchildren as much as I can of these truths.