"And when he passed out of the wood, and saw the peaceful sun going down upon a wide purple prospect, he came to an old man sitting on a fallen tree.  So he said to the old man, 'What do you do here?'  And the old man said with a calm smile, 'I am always remembering.  Come and remember with me!'      "So the traveler sat down by the side of that old man, face to face with the serene sunset; and all his friends came softly back and stood around him.  The beautiful child, the handsome boy, the young man in love, the father, the mother, and children; every one of them was there and he had lost nothing." - Dickens' Child's Story.

     I have intended for several years to write my Recollections of old times; and have, at length, forced myself to commence the task, before it shall be too late.  I have had good opportunity of knowing the matters of which I shall treat.  I came with my father's family, to Lawrence county, when I was a youth of fifteen yes, and have lived here sixty years (1880)
     I have resided, for years, in each of three main divisions of the county.  After marriage, my first home was in Moulton, the county seat.  I then moved to the Courtland Valley, and have spent many summers at the Chalybeate Springs, on the mountain (where I had a home).  I knew the early settlers well, and of them I design to write; those who were here fifty or sixty years ago, or more.  Of later ones I shall not speak, except they be descendants of early settlers, or incidentally connected with their history.  Even confined within these limits, I foresee that my subject will become so broad, I shall have to use a simple and concise style, to bring it within proper bounds.  I have taken much pains, where my own recollections were faint, to consult with the few friends of my youth, who still survive, to avoid mistakes.  In speaking of the ancestors of the living, they must not expect me to picture the men as saints, and the women as angels; but such as they lived, and died on the earth.
     In writing these sketches, although my most profound emotions are excited, I have not been actuated by mere sentiment; but the higher motive of being useful to the fathers and mothers, who have sons and daughters growing up.  It has always been a mooted question what state of life, in respect to fortune, is best for a family.  Now, as I pass the old families of the county in review before you, commencing with Moulton - passing through the Southeast section, thence to Courtland, thence around the "Valley" and back over the "Mountain" - and thence close with the Southwest section, I invoke the special attention of the young and old, to the application of the facts, to the solution of the question propounded.  I have no desire to forestall opinion, but I predict that many parents who are compelled to make an effort to support and educate their children will be more content with their condition than they were.
     After I shall have finished the work embraced, in the above plan, I shall write exclusively for the benefit of the boys who will read or spell through my articles, several chapters, on "Hunting and Fishing."

THE CHEROKEE INDIANS.

were the earliest settlers of our county of whom we have any knowledge.  They occupied, once, from Cane Creek, below Tuscumbia (where their domain joined that of the Chickasaws), up the Tennessee river, to its head-waters; and their scattered towns

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spread far into the Northern parts of Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.  The Cherokees were the "Mountaineers" of aboriginal America, and extended over the most picturesque and salubrious region eat of the Mississippi. - (Bancroft's History of the United States.)  This powerful and extensive tribe came from the Eastward; and first had settlements on the Appomattox river, and were allied to the Powhatans.  The Virginians drove them thence, and they retreated to the head-waters of the Holston river.  Here, after having made temporary settlements, the Northern Indians compelled them to retire to the Little Tennessee river, where they established themselves permanently.  About the same time a large branch of the Cherokees came from South Carolina (near Charleston), and formed towns on the main Tennessee, extending as far as the Muscle Shoals.  They found all that region unoccupied, except upon the Cumberland, where was a band of roving Shawnees. - (Pickett's History of Alabama.)
   Of the Cherokees in North Alabama, the earliest authentic account we have dates back to the invasion of the Spanish under De Soto, in 1540, just 340 years ago.  In his wonderful march he crossed the branches of the winding and historic Coosa river; remained some time at Chiaho, where stands Rome, in Georgia; then marched down the right bank of the Coosa to Costa (the site of Gadsden, in Alabama), where live the Cherokees.  Never before had our soil been trodden by European feet.  Never before had the natives beheld white faces, long beards, strange apparel, glittering armor, and, stranger than all, the singular animals bestrode by these dashing cavaliers (Pickett).  The country of the Cherokees was described by the early historians as the most beautiful and romantic in the world; as abounding in delicious springs, fertile valleys, lovely rivers and lofty mountains; the woods full of game and the rivers of fish.  But none of these early writers had ever seen the country about the Muscle Schoals, which was last settled and most highly valued by these Indians.  The buffaloes roamed over the plains in countless numbers.  As late as 1826, at the licks in this county, their paths, knee deep, radiated in every direction.  In 1780, the small colony which made a crop of corn that year at Nashville, Tenn., had to leave three men to prevent the buffaloes from destroying the crop, whilst the rest returned to East Tennessee for their families. - (Guild's "Old Times in Tennessee.)"  Deer, wild turkeys and the smaller game continued abundant, even after the whites took possession of the country.  As many as sixty deer were counted in a single herd.  The Tennessee river and its affluents swarmed with fish, for there never was anywhere a better inland feeding ground for them than the Muscle Shoals.  Its shallow waters stretch for fifteen miles along the channel, and spread out two or three miles wide, and produce a thick growth of aquatic plants (called moss) which come to the surface and sport the tips of their leaves on the swift, sparkling current.  These plants, roots and leaves are freely eaten by fish, and wild fowls ground in old times) the number was fabulous.  Added to this, the bottom of the river was strewn with mussels and periwinkles, which were not only highly relished by the fish and fowl, but by the Indians, who had in them a sure provision against starvation in times of scarcity.  I could well imagine that the last prayer of the Cherokee to the Great Spirit, when he was leaving this scene of beauty and abundance, would be that he might, when he opened his eyes n the next world, be permitted to see such another hunters' paradise as this.
     The males of the Cherokees, in ancient times, were larger and more robust than any other of our natives; whilst their women were tall, erect and of a delicate frame with perfect symmetry (Bartram).  And on account of the pure air which they breathed, the exercise of the chase, the abundance of natural productions which their country afforded and the delicious water which was always near, they lived to an age much more advanced than the other tribes (Adair).  I saw a good deal of them from 1815 to 1834, when they were removed to the West, and also had a personal knowledge of other Southern tribes, and I think this pre-eminence was maintained to modern times.
     Sir Alexander Cumming, in 1730, sent an envoy who was guided by Indian traders to Neguasse, on the Little Tennessee, which was the seat of empire of all the Cherokee

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Lawrence County, Its Organization, Topography and Soil.

     Lawrence county was laid off, and organized as early as the 4th of February, 1818.  This was shortly after the termination of the war with Great Britain, when military fervor had not much abated, and the Legislature conferred on it the name of Lawrence.  He was a naval captain, who during a bloody engagement at sea, exclaimed as he sank

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Its Topography.

     To enable....

 

 

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The Soil.
 

 

ANALYSIS.

 

 

INSOLUBLE MATTER.

 

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MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF SOIL.

 

 

 

Remarks of Professor Stubbs on the Analysis of North Alabama Soil.

 

 

 

 

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The State of Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bennett, the Magician.

     There was, however, in early times, a man called Dr. Bennett, who had a wonderful run with a simple game with three thimbles, placed on his knee, and a small paper ball.

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He was dexterous in handling the ball, and would bet that no person could tell under which thimble the ball was left.  The boys lost a good deal of their change, and even grown-up men had their curiosity excited about that tiny ball.  General B. used to tell an amusing story about it.  One night he and Mr. H., a rising lawyer, went to Bennett's room, not to bet on the game, but just to see how it was done.  Bennett very politely agreed to perform his trick for them, as they were men of high standing.  He would manœuvre the ball and they would guess where it was; very often successfully.  At length, he proposed to bet Mr. H. that he could not tell where the ball was.  Mr. H., who had acquired confidence, from guessing correctly, put up $25, and lost it.  Bennett having tasted blood, continued to handle his thimbles, until General B. saw exactly where the ball was.  He was a land dealer, and never had any money, but plenty of land; a quarter section was staked, and lost.  The two gentlemen rose.  Bennett, while politely lighting them down the steps, said: "Call in daytime, gentlemen, you will have better light."  "Thank you," said the General, " we are perfectly satisfied-"  There was a perfect epidemic in the country in regard to the thimbles.  The profits of Bennett were so great that he is said to have purchased a large part of the town of Tuscumbia, when an untoward event put an end to his harvest.  At Columbia, Tenn., he won from a gawk of nineteen years of age, his horse.  It belonged to the boy's father and he hesitated to deliver him to Bennett, who jerked the bridle from the boy's hand, and carried the horse to a livery stable.  He was thrown into jail on a charge of robbery.  He thought light of it at first, but in a few days he was convinced that the people were bent on having him hung.  He sent for the great advocate, Mr. Grundy, and was acquitted.  He invited the advocate to his room, and inquired the amount of his fee.  Mr. G. pulled a slip of paper from his vest pocket, and answered, "$752.10."  "Yes, sir," said Bennett, counting out the money and paying it over."  And now, Mr. G., do tell me how you arrived at the fraction in the feet"  "O ! that is very simple.  I had a notion of charging you $1000, but I had falling due in the Nashville Bank a note for the amount specified."  "Yes, sir," answered Bennett, " you have relieved my mind."
     This sleight of hand knight went to the Texan war with the invincible Davy Crockett, and fell bravely fighting the Mexican foe.
     There is another feature in the state of society which has improved much of late.  People, both male and female, do not shun labor, as they did in old times.  Idlers were numerous then, but very few are to be seen now.  Formerly, our schools, male and female, were filled with Northern teachers, although there was a large number of our young people of both sexes who were poor and needed such positions for a living.  The people of New England were much wiser, in that generation, than we.  Many of her most accomplished daughters, who were not compelled by necessity, but by a noble desire of independence, came to the South.  I remember many years since, that the Hon. Freeman Smith, a senator in Congress and the chairman of the Whig National Executive Committee, came to Town Creek for his wife; and carried home a beautiful New England girl, who for the "glorious privilege of being independent" and enabling her parents the better to educate her brothers, made her home as a teacher, with the Rev. Wm. Leigh.  All honor to such women!  We are beginning to have them among us, and our schools are now filled with Southern teachers.

Style of Dress, and Type of Love in Early Times.

     The young men in full dressed wore blue cloth coats with metal buttons and swallow tails, and vests sometimes embroidered on the edges.  The pants were tight about the hips and knees and loose below - of cloth in the winter and linen drill in the summer, with all the flap all in one piece.  The boots sometimes had brass heels which were highly polished when the wearer was going into company.  The hats were stovepipe.  The face was clean shaved except that the more mature beaux sometimes wore short side-whiskers, not of the Englishcut, which hang down like the ears of a hound.  The refined taste of your grandmothers would have revolted at the sight of a young man

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The Moulton Merchants.

 

 

 

 

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