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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Sumner County, Tennessee.
Official Website
British colonial longhunters traveled into the area as early as the 1760s, following existing Indian and buffalo trails. By the early 1780s, they had erected several trading posts in the region. The most prominent was Mansker's Station, which was built by Kasper Mansker near a salt lick (where modern Goodlettsville would develop). Another was Bledsoe's Station, built by Isaac Bledsoe at Castilian Springs. Sumner County was organized in 1786, just 3 years after the end of the American Revolutionary War, when Tennessee was still the western part of North Carolina.
The county was developed for agriculture: tobacco and hemp, and blooded livestock. Numerous settlers came from central Kentucky's Bluegrass Region, where these were the most important products. Middle Tennessee had fertile lands that could be used for similar crops and supported high-quality livestock as well. The larger planters depended on slave labor, but Middle Tennessee had a lower proportion of slaves in the population than in West Tennessee, the plantation area of Memphis and the Delta, where cotton was cultivated.
During the American Civil War, most of Tennessee was occupied by Union troops from 1862. This led to a breakdown in civil order in many areas The Union commander, Eleazer A. Paine, was based at Gallatin, the county seat. He was notoriously cruel and had suspected spies publicly executed without trial in the town square. He was eventually replaced because of his mistreatment of the people.
In 1873 the county was hit hard by the fourth cholera pandemic of the century, which had begun about 1863 in Asia. It eventually reached North America and was spread by steamboat passengers who traveled throughout the waterways, especially in the South on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. An estimated 120 persons died of cholera in Sumner County in 1873, mostly during the summer. The disease was spread mainly through contaminated water, due to the lack of sanitation.
Adjacent Counties
- Davidson County
- Robertson County
- Simpson County, Kentucky
- Allen County, Kentucky
- Macon County
- Trousdale County
- Wilson County
Cities, Towns & Communities
- Bethpage
- Bon Air
- Brackentown
- Bransford
- Cairo
- Castalian Springs
- Corinth
- Cottontown
- Fairfield
- Gallatin (County Seat)
- Goodlettsville (part)
- Graball
- Hendersonville
- Millersville (part)
- Mitchellville
- New Deal
- Oak Grove
- Portland (part)
- Shackle Island
- Walnut Grove
- White House (part)
Cemeteries
Links
National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
