Tag Archives: ancestry
William Hicks and the Struggles of Lawrence County’s Free People of Color
One Lawrence County man was taken to court in 1858 for the crime of…staying in Tennessee too long? Enslaved people who were freed before the Civil War or African-Americans who were born free were known as free people of color. … Continue reading
The Man Who Owned Three Square Miles of Lawrence County
How many people can say that they have owned over 3 square miles of land in Lawrence County AND had an American hero as a squatter on that land? John Christmas McLemore (1790-1864) was one of the most powerful men … Continue reading
A Yankee Spy in Lawrenceburg
A Confederate spy, a black market for clandestine cotton, and a town just as defiant in the middle of the Civil War as it was at the beginning? According to one eyewitness on this day 162 years ago, that was … Continue reading
Crime on the Wild Frontier
Lawrence County in the days of David Crockett was, indeed, the wild frontier–and that applied to the wild men who lived here as well as the wild animals. According to the Annual Report of the Tennessee Judiciary for 2022-2023, the … Continue reading
The Napier Iron Works
Before it was Napier, it was…the McLeish Reservation? When the Chickasaw nation ceded their lands north of the Tennessee River to the United States in September 1816, there were a few exceptions. One of those exceptions was a square mile … Continue reading
The Life of Captain Deavenport
Captain Thomas D. Deavenport of Lawrence County had an illustrious career of public service that was cut tragically short by his personal demons. Deavenport was born on September 18, 1837. He began life working on his father’s Lawrence County farm. … Continue reading
Lawrence County History Trivia 