Micah Taul memoir

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29 Alvan Cullom since a member of Congress from Ten. & of Genl. William Cullom of Smith County, & Edwd. [Jr.?] C. the present clerk of the Chancery Court at Livingston in said state. I omitted to mention at the proper place, that the Quarter Session Judges were Colo. Samuel Newell Hugh McDermed & Colo. Isaac Chrisman. Mr. McDermed was a brother in law of the Mssr Cullom. Colo. Chrisman's first wife, was a sister of my first wife. Colo. Newelle was a man of the very first order of talents. He was a Lieut. in Campbell's Regiment at the battle of King's Mountain; & was severly wounded in that celebrated battle and afterwards for several years a member of the Tennessee Legislature. He afterwards removed to & settled in that part of the Pulaski County which was stricken off into Wayne. He was very poor - but had a pretty good library & was a great reader. He raised a large family - several of his sons are as I understand still living in the counties of Pulaski & Wayne & are highly respectable. Not withstanding his poverty, his pride prevented him from applying for a pension, then greatly disabled by his wound until he was very old & helpless. He proved his services & his receiving the wound by Gov. Shelby, whose deposition I saw & read & who paid him the highest complement, that was possible to have been paid to a gallant young officer. I have been thus particular in recording the names of my early friends, hoping that my children, if they should ever meet with any of their descendants, will reciprocate this kindness of their progenitors to me. Colo. Newell continued to be my firm & stedfast friend as long as our acquaintance continued. Mr. McDermed removed to Missouri & died there many years ago. Colo. Chrisman, died at a good old age in Wayne County, respected & esteemed by everybody. The Gentlemen of the County Court, I presume, are all dead except Esq. Jones, who is pro-

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30 bably still living at an advanced age in Wayne County: He is the father in law of the Honble Alvan Cullom. In the summer of 1801, an old man of the name of Dodson, murdered his son in law, Wamsley in Wayne County, & threw his body into the Cumberland River, or rather attempted to fasten it, in the bed of the river, by means of rocks put into the bosom of his shirt, & confining the body to a pole which he drove into the mud at the bottom of the River. Wamsley's neighbors missed him from home for several days & his wife could give no account of him. It was generally believed that he was murdered by Dodson, & on the seventh day after he was probably murdered, his body was found in the River. The news spread over of the county with great rapidity - the people were all up in arms & in less that 24 hours, hundreds of men, women & children were assembled at the place where the body was found. Dodson was known to be skulking about in the neighborhood. A guard was placed in & around his house, & all his family was strictly guarded. His residence was near the River, & altho' he was occasionally seen & fired at by patroling parties he escaped by the fleetness of his horse. The guard was continued at his house under the expectation that he would attempt to have some communication with his family before leaving the county. In this they were not disappointed. He came one night to the door of the house & pulled away a blanket, which had been hung up, in place of a shutter - they rushed out upon him with loaded guns, calling upon him to surrender, which he would not do. Several guns were discharged at him without effect. He ran & plunged into the river & was drowned. He probably attempted to swim across - but failed. When he was taken out of the water, some day afterwards, he had one of his shoes

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31 on one of his hands. He was not only the most loathsome looking, but the most offensive smelling object I ever saw. Such was the state of feeling & the vigilance of the people, it was not possible for him to escape. His house was not only guarded, but scouting parties were out in all parts of the country in search of him. If he fled from the neighborhood, troops of armed men would have followed him. The population of this country consisted of rough, backwoodsmen, mostly imigrants from Western Virginia & E. Tennessee; they had not yet been corrupted by avarice or luxury. A murderer could not be tolerated - could not escape. What a change in less than half a century. A murder now a days, excites no interest perhaps it may be mentioned like any other common occurrence. For 20 years in the S. & S. W. it has been next to impossible to convict a murderer indeed, they have become the magnates of the Land. I may in the sequel give the names of more than one. In the fall of this year, Anthony Gholson removed from Botetourt County, Virga to Wayne County, Ky. He had previously purchased a valuable tract of land & plantation, 5 miles N.E. of Monticello on the road to Pulaski &c. His son John & his youngest daughter Dorothy were one day ahead of the family, when they passed Isaac West's where I boarded. It was a cool, damp evening the young lady was wrapped up in a large blue cloth cloak, her face veiled & an umbrella over her. I guessed that they were members of that family & as they passed, I remarked to my brother Jonathan, who was then with me, that "that young lady was to be my wife". I saw her, a few weeks afterwards at a wedding (Abel Shrewsberry to Miss Telitha VanHanger) & soon became enamored of her. On the 26th of May, six days after I was 17 years old, we

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32 married with the approbation of both our families. My wife was younger than myself having been born on the day of 178 . Of course, we were a very young couple, too young. I am in favor of early marriages, but it is possible to marry at too early an age. I thought seriously on the subject at the time, young as I was - but I ranked amongst men - was the Clerk of two Courts. Had a license to practice law, which I had obtained in the preceeding month of March from Saml McDowell & John Allen, two of the Judges of the District Courts in Kentucky. I had picked up a little law, at the clerks table & in Court, but I had never read a Law Book. I had, to be sure, a few that I had looked into. I believed, that I was as good a Lawyer, as the most of those, who were at the Bar, in that part of the country & commenced the practice, but I soon became sensible of my want of law knowledge, & declined practicing in attempting al tho' I was determined to qualify myself for the bar. I read in a careless & desultery manner a few books & resumed the practice in 3 or 4 years and being considered, a good speaker, succeeded in getting business. I purchased two lots in Monticello, built cabins & my young wife & myself went to house keeping, in the fall of 1802. My father gave me a Negro boy, Frank, who served me faithfully until the day of 1847 when he died suddenly in the garden at our present residence in Talladega County. My wife's father gave her a young negress named Agness, who is still living and is now the property of my daughter, Mrs. Bradford. At the time, we "settled" in Monticello, the only inhabitants of the place were Joseph Beard, William Beard and Roger Oatts. Joseph Beard had a little store, which was kept by my wife's brother Benjamin Gholson. In the fall of this year, an Irishman of the name of McNulle brought a small stock of goods from Winchester, Virga & sold them out here & laid out the proceeds in the spring of 1803, on the

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33

purchase of a drove of beef cattle. In the summer of this year (1803) I purchased 100 acres of land, West of and adjoining to the town of Monticello, at the price of ₤100 (One hundred pounds) paid in Horses, & settled upon it, in the fall. Our first child, Thomas Paine Taul, was born in Monticello, on the 7th Day of March 1803. I thus became a father more than two months before I was 18 years of age!!! In a year or two afterwards, built a comfortable log house, & altogether we have a most desirable & comfortable residence. On pages 25 & 26 I have spoken of the manners, customs, amusements, &c of the people in the interior of the State. The population of Wayne county, consisted principally of imigrants from Western Virginia & East Tennessee; they were a rough, hardy race of men, very large & stout, & altogether an excellent population for a new Country. We have monthly courts, & of course monthly meetings of the people. Everybody came to court, & this day was spent in drinking, fighting & [?fying?] just "for fun" The people would have their fun. There were a few Horse thieves, but the great mass of the people were honest and in every way to be depended upon. In the year I was elected as a Militia Captain in opposition to William Jones - a new Company had been formed by dividing an old one. Jones had been the Lieutenant in the old company & expected to be elected Captain of the new one without opposition When the election came on, to his great surprise I was put up as a Candidate in opposition to him & was elected by a large majority. I am not now certain, that I had previously been on the Muster Roll. Jones was so much disappointed that he became quite enraged -swore I should not command the Company, & that he would whip me on the spot. He considered himself a very stout man & advanced upon me, in a menacing attitude. His rage unmanned him and as "luck would have it" I " whipped him"

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