1923 Status – Counties of Tennessee – Daniel Haston Family Association

100 Years Ago - Status of Middle Tennessee Counties

Politically, Tennessee is divided into three Grand Divisions–East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. The counties of East Tennessee are Anderston, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Cumberland, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Loudon, Marion, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Rhea, Roane, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Sullivan, Unico, Union, Washington–34.

The counties of Middle Tennessee are Bedford, Cannon, Cheatham, Clay, Coffee, Davidson, DeKalb, Dickson, Fentress, Franklin, Giles, Grundy, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Macon, Marshall, Maury, Montgomery, Moore, Overton, Perry, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Smith, Stewart, Sumner, Trousdale, Van Buren, Warren, Wayne, White, Williamson, Wilson–40.

The counties of West Tennessee are Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Shelby, Tipton, Weakley–21.

Here is a Sampling of Middle Tennessee Counties of Interest to Haston Descendants

White County

There are a couple of questionable assertions at the top of this article. (1) The May 1, 1806 petition to create White County was initiated by citizens of Jackson County, TN, which had been formed on November 6, 1801, out of Smith County. (2) There are reasons to believe that White County, TN was not named to honor John White.

Van Buren County

Someone, prior to 1840, from what is now the Spencer, TN area apparently created the oral tradition that the early longhunter Thomas “Big Foot” Sharp was killed by Indians on a hill where the town of Spencer was established. There is no reliable evidence to support that claim. But unfortunately, the tale has circulated widely, perhaps because some folks from Van Buren County have wanted to believe it and have not seriously studied the evidence. There is much better historical evidence to support the opinion that he was ambushed and killed by Indians near Crab Orchard, TN in what is now Cumberland County. In 1856 a bill was presented to the Tennessee General Assembly to change the name of the town of Spencer to Carnsville, but it was tabled and never acted upon.