SKETCH OF HENRY RUTHERFORD.

THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE

Excerpt, pages 225, 229.
Public Domain Document

Tennessee Records Repository, TNGenNet, Inc.

Transcription by Fred Smoot, 18 December 2006

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THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE
Volume V., 1900
Devoted Especially to the History of Tennessee and Adjoining States

(225)
SKETCH OF HENRY RUTHERFORD.

(Read before the Tennessee Historical Society by Hon. P. T. Glass)

Henry Rutherford was born in Rowan County, North Carolina August 17,
1762, and was the second son of Gen'l. Griffith Rutherford, of that
State.

The latter was a distinguished actor in the struggle for American

independence, being identified with the earliest movements in that
direction. He was one of the band of Regulators organized to suppress
toryism in his part of the State under the guidance of Hermann
Husbands. He was sent to the first assemblage of patriots at Newbern,
in 1775, to protest against British oppression, and to the Continental
Congress at Halifax in August 1776. By this congress he was made a
brigadier-general, and served throughout the struggle. He was also a
member of the convention that framed the State constitution in 1776,
as well as member of the committee of safety. Among the military
achievement, of Gen'l Rutherford not the least was his march across
the mountain for the purpose of chastising the "over hill" Cherokees
for depredations on the frontier settlers. In this campaign he
advanced as far as their middle towns our the present city of
Chattanooga, driving the Indiana from their villages on the Little
Tennessee, destroying their houses and ,crops, and driving away their
cattle.

The route of his march was long known as Rutherford's Trace. He

commanded a brigade in the ill-fated battle of Camden, was taken
prisoner and sent to St. Augustine, Florida. As a reward for his
patriotism and courage, North-Carolina and Tennessee have each
preserved his name in one of their counties, and his native State
further honored and rewarded him by the gift of a warrant for five
thousand acres of land. This warrant was first located on a part of
the 25,000 acre grant to Gen'l Nathaniel Greene, in the present county
of Maury. Tennessee.

A lawsuit, growing out of the double location of warrants, was

finally decided by the United States Supreme Court In favor of the ban
of Gen'l Greene.

(226)
The Legislature, at a subsequent session, authorized the heirs, of
Gen'l Rutherford to lift the warrant, and locate it elsewhere. Gen'l
Rutherford was appointed by the President one of the legislative
counselors for the territory south of the Ohio, and was, elected
president of that body August 26, 1794; this territory two years later
becoming the State of Tennessee.

Gen. Rutherford removed many years afterward to Williamson County,

Tennessee, and settled on little Harpeth, where he lived until his
death. about 1810. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Governor
Graham, of North Carolina.

Henry Rutherford inherited a good constitution and the thrifty

habits of his Scotch-Irish ancestry, and was gifted with great
decision of character and indomitable energy. He was, educated at such
schools as the country then afforded, and was taught heart of
surveying, which he pursued in connection with farming for a
livelihood all his life. He was a resident of what became Tennessee
when the act was passed--October, 1783-creating the Armstrong land
office, which was established at Hillsboro [North Carolina]; and the
land warrants issued to officers and privates the Revolutionary Army
could be registered there and located upon lands in Middle or Western
Tennessee. Henry Rutherford. E. Harris, and James Robertson were
appointed deputy surveyors, and with Almer Bush and W. Bush as guides,
and hunters, and six chain bearers came in June, 1785 to the French
Lick, the future site of Nashville. Finding that much of the best land
was appropriated, they set out for the west end of the State, then
claimed by the Chickasaws. They descended he Cumberland in canoes,
proceeding cautiously for fear of Indians, examining the country as
far as practicable with the view of future locations. There was at the
time a new settlement near the present site of Clarksville, though the
Cherokees were claiming the country, and constantly roaming over it,
as were the Chickasaws, the Shawnees, called the roving band, having
been driven out.

Old Fort Massac had been built below the mouth of the Tennessee, on
the north side of he Ohio. The Spanish also had a trading post at New
Madrid, prior to that time occupied by thr. French, and called by them
Lauce de Grace. Notwithstanding the occupation by Indians of the
country traversed by Rutherford and his party, they were not molested.
They descended the Ohio (227) and Mississippi to the month of a small
swam emptying into it. which the Indian% called Okeena, The killing of
a deer here suggested the name Forked Deer. The party separated here.
Rutherford with two chain carriers. Amos and Alexander Moore, with
Almer and W. Bush went up this stream, while Harris and Robertson and
four chain carriers went down the Mississippi and began locating on
the Coosa Hatchie River, and later on the Obion. The two parties most
have rejoined each other in the neighborhood of the latter, as they
frequently exchanged chain carriers, as, their field notes show.

Rutherford made his way up stream some nine miles, named a lake
there Boyd's Lake. which afterward was called Clear Lake, for Adam
Boyd, for whom he made the first survey August 30. 1795. Dissatisfied
with the character of the land, which was all either subject to
overflow or much broken, he went up the stream to the first bluff, and
near the mouth of a spring branch. on September 1st. he made the
beginning corner of his connected surveys on the Forked Deer River.

It is claimed that the name given this stream originated in this

way: That some member of the party killed, near their camp on its
banks, a large buck with horns of a peculiar shape, and it was decided
to call the river Forked Deer, and it was so referred to in
Rutherford's surveys. Here the beginning point, known as the "Key
Corner," was marked on a leaning sycamore standing on the south bank
of the river, on which he cut the letters H. R.. and R large key, to
indicate it as the key to all his Forked Deer surveys. This was the
beginning corer of four of his locations: & first of 3,000 acres in
the name of Griffith Rutherford, his father: the second of 5,000 acres
for Benjamin Smith; the third for Benjamin Smith, of 5,000 acres; and
the fourth for Martin Armstrong, Of 5,000 acres"

During Rutherford's first visit to West Tennessee he located there

mom than three hundred and sixty-five thousand acres of land, of which
thirteen thousand five hundred were for himself, six thousand for his
father, and five thousand for his brother John. He located besides
numerous warrants for the Blounts. John Carter, Henry Clark, John
Estes. E. Harris. W. Hughlett, George Doherty, and many others.

Rutherford began his surveys at the key corner more than a year
prior to the John Rice location below the mouth of Wolf (p.228) River,
that being made by Isaac Roberts December 1st, 1786. Rutherford's
surveys were made on the waters; of the Forked Deer, Obion, and
Mississippi rivers, and Reelfoot Lake; many on the spot that is now
Reelfoot Lack. None of the large lakes in the Mississippi bottom, in
West Tennessee, then existed. and were formed in 1811 by earthquakes.

Rutherford's Fork of Obion, on which he made many surveys, he named

for himself. He spent three months in locating lands in the latter
part of 1785. His father represented Rowan County in the Legislature
of North Carolina in 1785 and soon afterward removed with Henry to
Harpeth River. Henry resided there until West Tennessee was opened for
settlement by a treaty with the Chickasaws. October 18, 1818. In 1819
Henry Rutherford, in company with his brothers, John and Griffith, and
a Mr. Crenshaw and their families, descended the Cumberland from
Nashville, in scows or flat boats, and began to build houses and clear
their lands.

Henry Rutherford settled three miles east of Key Corner, on one of

the tracts he had entered in his own name, in 1785. The Baptist Church
near Double Bridges was built on this tract, on land given by him. The
church is called Elon, and was at first used be all the orthodox
denominations, and as a schoolhouse.

On his first visit to locate his warrants, Rutherford soon exhausted

his provisions. and then his supply of salt. and having reached the
forks of the river, he abandoned his canoe and depended for
subsistence upon the gun. His half-breed was a good woodsman and
guide, while W. Bush, his hunter, furnished the party with elk, bear,
deer, and turkey. His surveys were made according to the cardinal
points; he was not only a good surveyor, but did his work rapidly. He
had a remarkable memory, being able in many instances to name the
trees on which corners bad been made thirty or forty years afterward,
and to go to the places, and identify them.

The pea vine was at the time of his first visit so rank that persons
walking through it and dragging a chain left a conspicuous trail, and
it was Rutherford's practice, for fear of being ambushed, to move a
half mile from his line at night. He saw no Indians while in West
Tennessee, and in fact not until he reached the Tennessee River on his
way to Nashville. Rutherford possessed (229) superior business
qualities; he was of generous impulses, was ardent in his friendships,
and always trustworthy. He inherited slaves from his father, but was
too indulgent to make them a source of much income: most of them were
taught to read. He did not realize much from his large estate, much of
it being sold at low prices. Much of his time was given to the public,
in aiding new-comers and others in finding their lands and tracing the
lines. He was often summoned to testify as to land titles, and to make
resurveys to be used in litigation. Heavy drafts were made on his
hospitality by strangers who visited the country in quest of homes. As
he kept open house, declining to accept payment for the entertainment
of travelers, he not only did not become rich, but died poorer than at
the time of his settlement. Notwithstanding he was brave, and of much
experience in the forest, he was on one occasion frightened out of his
senses. While making a survey in what is now Maury County, he declared
he heard Indians, and leaving his camp started in the dark for
Nashville. He took a southern direction, and soon reaching Duck River
declared it had sprung up during the night, and was not there the
previous day. It was with great difficulty that his comrades, who had
followed him, convinced him that the stream was in its proper place,
and that there were no Indians near the camp.

Henry Rutherford contributed in great degree to the upbuilding and

development of the State. He was a broad-minded man, who gave
encouragement and pecuniary aid to all public and charitable causes.
After a long and useful career devoted particularly to the settlement
of the Western District, he died May 20. 1847, at the age of
eighty-five. and was buried at Elon Church Cemetery.

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