JONES CEMETERY, BEAR CREEK, MAURY COUNTY TENNESSEE

Compiled & kept by Faye Huckaby Bradford, 6 Sep 2009

Author & Source unknown

For those who longed to discover precious metal their ears probably perked up upon learning that
copper had been found at Duck Town, Tennessee in 1843. Prior to 1843 the schools, such as there
were, were supported by revenue from 500,000 acres of land. A clamor went up to sell the land.
Thousands of acres sold; for one cent per acre. In 1843 the state contributed 40 cents per white child
toward the cost of education. About 1/4 of the grown people could neither read nor write. The
extent to which farmers in Tennessee had invested in slaves is revealed in a summary of taxable
property in 1850. Land was valued at $84,000,000, slaves $55,500,000. In politics we had the Whig
Party and a newspaper in Nashville was known as the "Nashville Whig." In 1842 Maryville College
was founded in East Tennessee. 
Disease was an ever present risk since so little was known. In 1830 Cholera swept
into Nashville. Pulaski lost 34 in one week, total population about 1000, all the stores were closed.
There were not enough persons in town to bury the dead nor hands to make coffins. In 1840 there
were two classes of Negroes, Slave and Free Negro. In Tennessee there were 183,000 slaves and
5,524 free Negroes. James K. Polk served as Governor (1840) and Henry Clay made one of the
greatest political; speeches of his career at a huge Whig convention in Nashville. 
Soldiers who served in the American Revolution were now old men. Sylvester Chunn, who fought at Brandewine,
Germantown, and Monmouth died at Pottsville in 1840. Texas was not yet a state but, Texans and
many Tennesseans who fought with them won their independence from Mexico in 1836. During the
time that Robert M. Nicholson was shoeing horses and repairing wagons Texans were on the move
to join the Union. It was yet 8 more years to go before gold would be discovered in California and
set off the stampede for riches. There was talk of building a railroad from Franklin to Nashville
upon, which the builders proposed to run a steam powered locomotive. Just imagine that in Robert
M. Nicholson's day there was not even a Choo Choo

Transcribed into Text from an image of the original writing author & date unknown, by Wayne Austin 14 Sep 2009 for Faye Bradford & to be used here. Information compiled by Faye Bradford 10 Sep 2009