ORGANIZATION AND EARLY INCIDENTS OF THE COUNTY

Lewis County was created by an act of the General Assembly of the State, passed December 23, 1843, providing that a new county be formed out of fractions from Maury, Hickman, Lawrence and Wayne, and named Lewis County in honor of Meriwether Lewis, who met his tragic death near the center of the county, on the line of the Old Natchez Trace, while on a journey from the territory of Louisiana, of which he was governor at that time (Oct. 11, 1809)

The Act creating the county appointed John Aikin and Albert G. Cooper of Maury; Shadrick Morris and James Voss, of Lawrence; James Gullick and David Voorhies, of Wayne; Hugh B. Venable and John Clayton, of Hickman, as a commission, authorized to employ a competent surveyor to make the necessary surveys, to hold the elections in the respective fractions, to select and purchase a suitable location for the county seat; and they were further authorized and empowered to lay off the county town, to sell the lots, in order to derive funds with which to erect the court house and other county buildings.  Elections ere accordingly held in pursuance of the act, and a majority of the voters residing within the fractions voting favorable to the creation of the new county, the county of Lewis was duly and legally organized.

The act establishing the new county, in addition to providing for its name, and that the county was to be composed of fragments of Maury, Wayne, Lawrence, and Hickman, also provided that the county line was not to run closer than 12 miles each other respectively county seats; and providing further that the line would begin on the south bank of duck river, at a point 12 miles on a straight line from Columbia, and running in a southern direction leaving Columbia twelve miles to the East to the Turnpike leading from Mt. Pleasant (The Columbia and Clifton Turnpike), thence with said turnpike to the Wayne county line, running thence in a northeast direction leaving Waynesboro West 12 miles, thence in a Northeast direction through Hickman county, leaving Centerville 12 miles to the West to Duck river, and thence up said river to the beginning.

This act further instructed the commissioners to lay off and designate civil precincts, in event the county should be established that the new county be within the 8th Judicial Circuit, and that court should be held upon the 4th Mondays in March, July and November of each year.  It was also provided in the act that the Militia of the county was to form the regiment, known as the 158th regiment, and to be attached to the 24th Brigade of Tennessee.

So it will be seen that the county when originally established was much larger than at present.  The first line to be surveyed and marked by meets and bound was run by A.G. Cooper, Robert O. Smith, W. H. Flanigan, John J. Hunter and George Nixon.

In accordance with the provisions of the law creating the county, the commissioners divided the county into eight civil districts, and the first election ever held in the county was in the year 1844, when the following officers were duly elected:  David C. Mitchell, Chairman of county court; Josiah K. Strayhorn, Clerk of the County court, Hugh B. Venable, Trustee; and Alexander King, sheriff.  The first magistrates to be elected were John Clayton, Redding Reeves, Durry D. Goodman, William Hines, Jas. F. Henslee, David C. Mitchell, John Aikin, Gideon G. Carter, Kincheon Carter, John S. Layton, Geo. Nixon, John W. Kilpatrick, Cy Hudson, Griffeth Cathey, John D. Sharp and James G Shaw.

The Act creating the county provided that the first court be held at the residence of John Blackburn, on Swan Creek, which was done and here on the lands of Mr. Blackburn, the first county seat was laid out, and in honor of Powhattan Gordon of Columbia, through whose efforts in the Legislature the county was established, the town was called "Gordon".  The town was never a large one, of course, it had a log court house, however, and by special act of the Legislature a school was chartered for the village, known as "Swan Creek Academy".  Swan Creek Academy was regarded as an important institution of learning in its day and time.

The first county seat had no jail at all.  The court house was a simple rough log structure, not even affording the luxury of a floor, excepting the stand or place occupied by the Judge.  Colonel Nat Jones of Maury County attended the first session of court ever held at Gordon, and remembered many interesting facts in connection with the early days in the history of the county.  Colonel Jones told that the Grand Jury at this first court occupied the "shuck pen" of Mr. Blackburn.  In speaking of the incident, Col. Jones said:  "I shall never forget the morning when the Grand Jurors came crawling out of John Blackburn's shuck pen.  Colonel Jones at that time resided at Hampshire which was within the borders of this county.

Major J.G. Cisco, Assistant Immigration Agent for the L & N Railway, who had his office at Nashville, spent many years in historic research and contributed much to Tennessee History.  He has especially devoted much time to the histories of the various counties through the state.  His articles frequently appeared in the Nashville papers.  In his treatise on Lewis County, he gives the following interesting account of Col. Powhattan Gordon, which is her reproduced:

"Lewis county was established  through the efforts of Col. Powhattan Gordon who was a member of the Legislature at that time from Maury County.  The first court, at which the county was organized, was held at Gordon, on Swan Creek,  Monday, March 20th, 1844.  That court selected a site on Swan Creek at J.P. Blackburn's, for a county seat and gave it the name of Gordon, in honor of Col. Powhattan Gordon, who was born November 15, 1802 and was educated in the best schools the country could afford then.  While he was still young, his father Capt. John Gordon, of  "The Spies," a brave and gallant officer moved with his family to the lands he had purchased on Duck River at Gordon's Ferry.  Here he grew to manhood and, at the age of 25 married Miss Caroline Coleman, a daughter of a wealthy Maury county citizen.  In 1843 and 1845 he served as a ;member of the State Legislature and introduced a bill to establish Lewis County in memory of Capt. Meriwether Lewis.  The new county was laid off according to the boundaries indicated by him and its citizens honored him by naming the county seat Gordon.  Afterwards in 1848, when the boundaries of the county were changed, Gordon was to run to the new line, for the convenience of the citizens, and Newberg was made the seat of Justice.  Col. Gordon died in Burlison county, Texas while on a visit to his son in 1879."

In 1848, the county seat was changed from Gordon to Newburg, a small town at that time located in the woods on the dividing ridge between Big and Little Swan Creek.  The town of Newburg was laid off on a fifty acre track donated to the county by Hugh B. Venable and Robert C. Smith, and derived its name from the fact that it was then the last named burg in the state, and hence a "Newburg".  It was situated about four miles from Old Gordon and about two miles from Lewis Monument, on the highlands, but near a very fine spring.                                                                                                                     

                                                     Newburg in 1915

The first court house to be erected in Newburg was the log house building previously erected at Gordon, which had been torn down and moved.  In 1857 the old log structure was again torn down and a frame building put up in its place, at a cost of $1500.00.  The frame building was a two story.  The court room was on the first floor, with upper story cut up into county offices.  A log jail was built at this place soon afterwards, but from all accounts served little purpose as very few prisoners were within it's walls, perhaps not over a dozen in all.

Robert M. Cooper was first Circuit court clerk.  The first term of Chancery Court to be held in the county, according to the records, was not held until April20, 1871.  This was at Newburg, with Hon. H. Nixon as Chancellor and W.H. Flanigan as Clerk and Master.  Prior to this, by special act of the Legislature, Chancery litigation was conducted at Columbia and at Lawrenceburg; and also a short while before the Chancery Court was created for the county an act was passed, allowing parties to file suits in the Chancery court at Centerville.

William H. Flannigan, the clerk and Master, was one of the most influential citizens of the county.  It was he who built the first dwelling house in Newburg.  He kept the first hotel there, and was also the towns first postmaster.  James Patton opened the first store at Newburg in 1849a.  The first school ever taught in this town was by Prof. John H. Cooper in the same year.  The first doctor to locate here was Dr. John Bowman in 1852.  The first lawyer to locate in the county was  John L. Miller of Columbia.  He moved to Newburg in 1850, having recently represented his home county in the General Assembly and having also held office of County Register in Maury.  He was still quite a young man, and being ambitious was not content to patiently wait for the town to grow.  He therefore soon pulled up and left for the State of Texas, where he went in quest of both honor and fortune.  Miller located at Corsicana, where he spent the remainder of his life.

                                                                                NEWBURG....PLAT AND RESEARCH BY N.D. AND MARJORIE GRAVES 

But let us drop back to our subject, Newburg.  In 1852, the town was incorporated, and doubtless about this time enjoyed its greatest period of prosperity.  It is claimed that the village about this time contained four stores, two saloons, two hotels, and several mechanic shops.  But during the four long years of the Civil War, the town declined, and never afterwards regained its old prosperity.  During the war the town was practically deserted and as a result of confusion brought about by the war, the county organization was practically abandoned, and did not resume the powers of a county proper until 1869 when an act of the Legislature was passed reestablishing the county.

When old Newburg was in her greatest days of prosperity it must have been a remarkable place.  Something concerning the town during the anti-bellum days has been chronicled already.  We will next look to some of the incidents which occurred subsequent to the war.  The principal boarding house for years was conducted by Mrs. Anthony.  She kept a nice tidy place and set a most excellent table.  When the courts would convene, many visiting attorneys from the surrounding counties would congregate here, and the week was always a pleasant one.  The lawyers especially of Centerville and Columbia, looked forward with pleasure rather than with dread to the coming of courts.  It is true the trips had to be made in vehicle else on horseback, through the county and over rough roads, but even this did not discourage them.  There was ever more or less romance and mystery associated with the place, situated remotely in a wild section, near the Meriwether Lewis Monument, there was something conjuring about the village.  So the novelty of the thing was quite enough.  They regarded the attendance at these courts as a sort of outing, a kind of vacation and no sense an arduous task.  During these days Hon. Henry Meeks was one of the Attorney Generals.  Judge Bateman and Patterson, both of Savannah, were among the Judges.  Judge Bateman was succeeded by Patterson.  Also Gen. Frank Boyd of Waynesboro, attended some of the courts here, as Attorney General before the county seat was removed to Hohenwald in 1896

At this time the county only had two or three lawyers none of them depending wholly upon the law for a living.  They had their regular occupations, and only practiced law, as a sort of supplement to their farming, or other work they might follow.  The Lewis county lawyers who practiced in the courts then were Dunce Pingington, John W. , M. Fain and John Vandiver, the latter being a Baptist minister, and never made much effort at the law.  But both Pingington and Fain, were noted because of their quaint style and manner.  Neither ever made much pretense so far as possessing any great degree of legal abilities, in the sense of a knowledge of the fundamental principles of law,  still they were fairly successful, especially in the conducting of a few criminal cases that came up the county at that time.