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Tag Archives: genealogy
The Execution of Andrew Blakemore
A daring raid, a final expression of true love, and an execution by firing squad? It all happened in Lawrenceburg, 141 years ago today. A Scottish immigrant and adopted northerner, Colonel George Spalding (pictured here) was certainly not a native … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Tennessee!
Happy birthday, Tennessee! Tennessee was first admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796 and had been a state for 21 years when Lawrence County was founded on October 21, 1817. Tennessee’s road to statehood was long and arduous. In … Continue reading
The Military Career of Corporal Silas Smith, USCT
On this day in 1865, one Lawrence County man was promoted to corporal in his artillery unit. Little did he know that he would make the ultimate sacrifice for his country in less than a year’s time. Born free prior … Continue reading
The Great Lawrenceburg Bacon Raid of 1862
On this day in 1862, Union and Confederate soldiers met in Lawrenceburg in one of the first recorded fights of the Civil War in Lawrence County…and it ended with Union troops hauling off thousands of pounds of captured bacon. On … Continue reading
The Re-establishing: Lawrence County’s Wartime Unionist Government
Our county government was founded on October 21, 1817 by the state legislature. But did you know that it was re-founded 47 years later? On February 13, 1864, a group of local Union sympathizers met at the courthouse in Lawrenceburg … Continue reading
Veterans’ Accounts of the Battle of Sugar Creek
A few veterans’ accounts of the Battle of Sugar Creek in southeastern Lawrence County survive. At least two are found in the book ‘The Military Annals of Tennessee.’ In the mid-1880s, a Nashville educator and civic leader named J. Berrien … 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 Daring Escape of John Bell Hollis
John Bell Hollis was just 19 years old, and it looked like he would never see 20. The young Lawrence Countian was scheduled to be shot the next day just outside of Lawrenceburg–until quick thinking and whiskey intervened. Hollis, despite … Continue reading
The Alabama Migration to Lawrence County
Did you know that, for the early part of the 20th century, our county became home to a massive influx of people from North Alabama? This period of our history is known as the “Alabama Migration,” and it played a … Continue reading
The Destruction of Crockett’s Mill
Thanks to Hurricane Francine, the weather forecast calls for lots of heavy rain over the next two days, increasing our chances of localized flooding. A little over two-hundred years ago, another September flood in Lawrence County helped change American history. … Continue reading
