Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-09-12
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
County Seat-Clarksyille.

eastern shore of the Cumberland River
at what is now called the mouth OF
Red River, in the county of Montgom-
cry, Moses Renfroe landed the rude
boat constructed by his own hands far
away upon the head-waters of the Hoi-
ston. That boat, loaded with his
household goods, had brought him
down stream, and up stream, more than
1000 miles through h country inhabi-
ted by hostile Indians. 1t had been
the home of himself and his family fol
four months of the hardest winter OF
record, and here it rested in the gentle
waters of Red River, and from it step
ped his brave old wife, and his sons,
and sons-in- law and their families, led
by the old patriarch who entered into
and possessed the land" And as Mo.
ses Renfroe disembarked with his fam.
lily and his dogs (for of these he had
an abundance) and his household
goods, he might have felt proud, for oi
all the adventurous men and women
who lived in these adventurous times
he was the first to occupy that goodly
land. But one band had preceded him
in the settlement of the country west
of the Cumberland Mountain, and that
band was led by Captain James Rob,
ertson, who, in the early spring of 1779
sent out from the parent hive at Wa
tauga, crossed the wild Cumberland
Mountains, or Table Land, penetrated
the thick cane brakes, and pitched
their tents near the French Lick where
the city of Nashville now stands. Six
hundred miles away to the east, andsep-
arated by trackless wilderness, lay
the old home of Moses Renfroe, il
North Carolina-and the settlement Of
the Watauga, half that distance, then
the extreme frontier, and looked upor
blythe old colonists as beyond the
verge of civilization, and outside the
pale of their protection. 1t were a
pleasant task to narrate the many haz-
ardOus adventures encountered, the
dangers and trials, the tolls and suf-
fering, and the many privations endur.
ed, and deeds of daring performed by
this resolute band, but our task is one
of the present, and not of the past
to deal with what is, and not what was
In the year 1873 new county, called
Tennessee county, was organized by
the Legislature of North Carolina, and
its boundaries embraced the present
counties of Robertson, Montgomery
and Stewart. The State was admitted
into the Union in 1876. Tennessee
county gave up its name, and the Stat'
took it, and during the same year, by
authority of the Legislature, then sit
ting at Knoxville, the counties of Rob.
ertson and Montgomery were estab
lished. The county was named il
honor of Colonel John Montgomery
native of Virginia, who came ives
early, and was Killed on the frontier
James Ford was the first Senator from
the county of Tennessee, and Thomas
johnson and William Ford Represen
tatives-electedi in 1896. This Thomas
johnson was the father of the lat
Hon. Cave j Johnson.
SIZE, GEOGRAPHY AND ToPoGRA
PHY.-The county of Montgomery a
present embraces nearly 500 squar'
miles, and is divided into nineteen civi
magisterial districts. 1t had popula
ton, according to the last census, O
24,747, of which II $40 were colored
1t is one of the northern tier of coun
ties, and is bounded on the north b,
the State of Kentucky, on the east b.
the counties of Robertson and Cheat
ham, on the south by Dickson, on tn,
west by Houston and Stewart. Th,
general surface of the county is undu
lating, with mean elevation of owe
500 feet above the sea. The records o
the survey of the Memphis, Clarks
vile and Louisville railroad, for whicl
we are indebted to j. B. Tapscott, civi
engineer, show the subjoined elevation
from Sailors Rest, in the southwest
ern part of the county, to crossing o
the State line, near the north -easterl
corner. The figures on the left Civ
the distance in miles between station: