During the first part of the 1800's many people came from Virginia and North Carolina and various other states and countries to find land in West Tennessee. The Jackson Purchase opened up a large section of land between the Mississippi River and the Tennessee River. Most of these families were connected with this land purchase in one way or the other. The explanation about the land purchase below will help you understand why these families came to West Tennessee.

The Jackson Purchase

Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby were appointed federal commissioners to negotiate with the Chickasaw Indians for the purchase by the United States government the land that is now West Tennessee. On October 19, 1818 the treaty with the Indians was concluded with a purchase price of $300,000 which was to be paid in 15 installments over 15 years.

The purchase included the land north of the Mississippi state line and bounded on the west by the Mississippi River, on the east by the Tennessee River, and on the north by the Ohio River.

Following the acquisition of the "Jackson Purchase" as it was known , the Tennessee General Assembly by an act passed on Oct.23, 1819, provided for a survey of the new territory.

The land lying east of the Tennessee River had previously been divided into eight subdivisions known as "Surveyor*s Districts."

These districts had well defined borders and each district had a surveyor elected by the General Assembly who had the authority to appoint assistant surveyors. The elected surveyors were responsible for all surveys made in their districts and were to oversee all the surveys made by their assistants.

An explanation of the districts is made by W. O. Inman in his "Pen Sketches of Henry County", and shown below:

The northern part of West Tennessee was divided into only two surveyor districts, the twelfth and the thirteenth. In the language of the above mentioned act the twelfth district was described as follows:

Since these districts were quite large it was necessary to establish a grid for each district which would divide them into smaller units and thereby enable the surveyors to reference their surveys to these grid lines. This was accomplished by using ranges and sections. Rhea’s Map 1832 of Tennessee shows a base meridian running north and south and passing through the city of Dresden.

Range lines run north and south and section at five mile intervals. Those lines to the east of the base meridian were titled Range 1 east, Range 2 east and progressed east as necessary to include the appropriate districts. Likewise the Range lines west of the base meridian were titled Range 1 west, Range 2 west through the western line of the state.

Beginning at the southern boundary of each surveyor’s district section lines were placed at five mile intervals. Starting with Section 1, Section two, and progressive through the north border of the district. In this manner the whole of west Tennessee was laid out in five mile squares except for meanders of the Mississippi river or where there were fractional sections.

In the twelfth district there were nine full sections and a partial section along the Kentucky line between two and two and one half miles wide known as fractional section 10.

Our focus in these publications is concerned mostly with Surveyor’s District 12 and includes mainly those range lines east of the base meridian primarily in Henry County. So all references to range lines would be "east."

The land laws that governed the grants and sales of land in Tennessee are complex and require a great deal of explanation. The scope of these publications does not include a detailed explanation of the land laws but some mention of them in certain areas may help to clarify the way some of the entries are made.

North Carolina provided pay for the Revolutionary War soldiers of her Continental Line by land grants in what is now the State of Tennessee.

The size of the grants were made according to rank with private’s receiving up to 640 acres, with higher ranks receiving increased amounts up to 12,000 for Brigadier General.

The area set aside for these land grants was located in what is now middle Tennessee. The land began at the point where the Cumberland River crosses the Tennessee line then due south 55 miles to a point, thence due west to the Tennessee River, thence up the Tennessee to the Kentucky line, thence along the border to the beginning point. Prevision was made that if this area was not sufficient to provide grants to all the soldiers additional land would be set aside for this purpose. This additional land included what is now Henry County and many military warrants were entered there.

It is not known what the smallest grant was but the largest was 16000 acres to General Robert Howe and recorded May 19, 1820. Since General Howe had died some 45 years earlier the land was granted in the name of his heirs. This grant began at the corner of range 4, section 7and ran as far north for 7 or 8 miles to south of Puryear. This huge grant was located west of Paris.

Very early a number of what could be considered squatters moved into West Tennessee. These men did not have warrants or any claim to the land. They settled where ever they wanted without regard to any claims by those who did have warrants or other valid claim to the land. These men were referred to as occupants. Later these families who were residing on this land caused some conflicts and these families were afraid they would loose their land to those who had been granted warrants or other legal claims to this land.

The concern over this land that had been claimed was of the utmost and in 1819 Tennessee prescribed conditions that occupants must fulfill in order to obtain legal title to their land. Occupants residing on this land were required to gain possession of North Carolina land warrants by purchasing from holders of military warrants or holders of land grab warrants. The occupant then had to present his claim to the surveyor of his respective district and to secure two witnesses, acceptable to the surveyor, who along with the occupant had to verify certain condition. Some of these were that the occupant honestly believed that the land he was residing on was ungranted and unappropriated and that he had occupied the land on or before September 1, 1819. After the requirements were complied with the satisfaction of the surveyor the occupant was entitled to make and entry for 160 acres of land which would be marked off in a squar or rectangle. At this time the occupant would receive a grant upon presentation of sufficient land warrants. In 1826 the Tennessee legislature provided that if an occupant had resided on Congressional Reservation lands on or before May 1, 1826, he would be entitled to preempt his holdings in a similar manner to the Act in 1819. This act provided not less than 25 acres and not more than 200 acres.

Vast amounts of land in Henry County was obtained by land speculators who purchased land warrants from Revolutionary War soldiers or from land offices opened under the land grab act of 1783. Many of these speculators obtained land from both of these sources expecting to sell the land at a profit. Some of these speculators obtained land by fraudulent papers, fraudulent signatures, Manipulation of records and all to a very large degree. Probably not as much of this activity was in Henry County as in other parts of the state. In some cases military grants were issued to persons who were not soldiers.

Some of these men who were involved in land fraud schemes were William Terrell and William Terrell Lewis his nephew. Others were Martin Armstrong who was issuing military warrants to non soldiers and duplicate warrants and forging papers, and the Blount brothers Thomas, John and William.

Not all land speculators were involved in these schemes.

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