The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1921-04-21


i Co. were commission merchants, buy
ers Of livestock, cotton, wool and
dealers in iron. Forsythe, Goodwin
+ & Fords, commission merchants; Ca
ruthers, Harris & Co, were commits
sion merchants. John H. Haight was
cotton buyer and commission mer-
chant.
J. A. Read & Co. were commission
men, so were Lowrence & Brown,
Charles Hood and J., T. Valleau. They
were dealers in wagons and farm
stuff
Randolph boosted Of four fine ho-
tells in 1884. Ore of the best, say
old inhabitants who remember of
having heard about it, was Washing
ton Hall 1t was located on the bluffs
near the best residential district and
in its large dining room were given
many fashionable dances by the
young people.
Among the doctors who lived at
Randolph then were B. II, Lyon and
Isaac N. Jones. Both men became
wealthy and lived their lives there.
John 7. Conley was a tailor He
made suits for the best families and
the town boosted of a weekly news
paper in 1885, edited by Frank S.
Latham.
That year Gen. Jacob Upton was
candidate for circuit court clerk Of
Upton county. Marquis Gaines, Nat
Hunt, William Cowan and William F.
Ramsey were candidates for sheriff.
Josiah Horne was candidate for
county trustee.
In 1885 Daniel Vaught was APP
pointed postmaster at Randolph, sue
ceediug Col. William P. Miller, who
resigned to command troops under
Gen. Houston. Col. Miller went to
Texas by the Mississippi river from
Randolph, carrying several Of the best
young men of the town with him. He
was captured by Santa Anna and
placed in prison. Samuel Wilson, one
of the young men who went with
Col Miller, was killed at the Fannin
massacre David Murfree, another
prominent young man escaped.
On June &c, 1886, the steamer Tus-
kina, with 300 Kentucky volunteers
on board, landed at Randolph for sup
plies. There was a big wood yard
near her landing and she remained
in port two hours loading fuel A fife
andedruni corps furnished the citizens
with music and the elite of the town
went on board, distributing flowers
among the soldiers. This steamer
went her way to New Orleans, from
which place the troops were sent by
water to Gen. Sam Houston.
Randolph was the great river ship
Ding point for West Tennessee from
it's earliest days to the forties, when
Memphis began to show better facili-
ties, but she could not get all the
trade.
The fight for business continued
until the Memphis & Charleston rail
road began operations in 1867, then
citizens Of Randolph saw it was not
much use to continue. A few sold
out. Some went to st. Louis, others
to Nashville and few to Memphis,
but others went to the town to take
their places. Business continued along
pretty we'll until the town was de-
stroyed by federal troops.
In the forties there were 10000
bales of cotton shipped annually at
Randolph. 1t boosted of the finest
steamboat harbor on the lower Mis-
sissippi, and the big packets Of those
days never passed up or down the
river without landing.
Mr.. Barton said if the old business
men had put their heads together in
the early fifties they could have got
. railroad and Randolph might have
been as large a city as Memphis.
"No set Of men would build city
on top of these bluffs" said the town
wit.
What are you talking about?" re-
marked Mr.. Barton. Il remember
when very little boy / went to Mem
phis. The bluffs there were as rough
as they are here. | saw Indians
camping where the postOffice building
is now"
Of the number Of doctors at Ran
dolph during its life, none remain. The
village is without a physician.
"We don't have much illness here
However, we notice more since the
bar built in front Of the town." re-
marked Mr.. Barton.
Of the larger number Of general
stores in former times, only three
are left. One is conducted by Tenn
pleton & Graves and one by Mr. Bar
ton E. M. and ]. A. Templeton are
descendants of the first families of
Randolph, They are interested in the
firm of Templeton & Graves.
"There is not much left to our
town. 1t is the memory Of those
days when our fathers and grand
fathers fought for business supremacy
over Memphis, | suppose, that is
keeping us here at home, where we
know all our neighbors for miles
around, and where we still try to give
the hand Of welcome to strangers
coming our way" the way Mr.. Tenn
pleton put the only reason for the
existence Of Randolph as it appears
today.
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