Land Sale

By an act of the General Assembly in the year 1807 a board of commissioners was created for the purpose of selecting a site for a county seat. The language of Section 3 of said act is "Joshua Williams, William Frierson, Isaac Roberts, John Lindsey and Joseph Brown are hereby appointed commissioners, who or a majority of whom shall, as soon as may be, fix a place most convenient, on or as near Duck River as the nature of the case will admit, for a courthouse, prisons and stocks for the use of said county of Maury, which place shall not exceed three miles from the center east or west, and after agreeing on a place they shall proceed to purchase or otherwise procure not less than one hundred acres of land, for which they shall cause a deed or deeds to be made to themselves or their successors in office by a general warranty, on which they shall cause a town to be laid off, with necessary streets and alleys, neither of which streets shall be less than one hundred feet wide, reserving two acres as near the center as may be, on which the court house, prison and stocks shall be erected, which town shall be known by the name of Columbia." One half the lots near the square were to be sold to the highest bidder at public auction on twelve months credit. The sale was to be advertised for sixty days in the Nashville Gazette and Impartial Review. The money arising from the sale was to be used in the erection of the court house, prison and stocks, and, in case there was not sufficient money obtained, the commissioners had power to levy a tax of 12½ cents on each 100 acres of land, the same amount on each white poll and double that amount on each black poll and $5 on each merchant or peddler, to be collected by the collector of public taxes.

On May 30 1808, the commissioners received a deed from John White for 150 acres, more or less, of laud, for which White received $500. The land is described as "situate and lying on the south side of Duck River, being a part of 5,000 acres granted to Nicholas Long, bounded on the west by General Greene's Survey." The land was conveyed by Congress to Long, and by Long, Arthur Bledsoe, and by Bledsoe's heirs to John White, and by White to the commission" aforesaid. The land adjoined the lands of Joseph McDowell and were a part of Grant 216.

The Sale of Lands began August 1, 1808. The following were the original purchasers:

By an act of Section 2, approved November 14, 1809, the commissioners were to appropriate two acres of ground unsold for a church and burying ground. This ground was called "Greenwood," and lies on the left bank and on the south side of the river. This was the chief burying place for the people of Columbia till 1854, when the new cemetery was chartered.

Section 3 of the above act required the commissioner to cause a jail to be built "on some part of a lot not sold, not on the square, other laws to the contrary notwithstanding. Section 5 required the commissioners to build a market-house on the Public Square for the sale of lots. On November 14, 1809, the commissioners of Columbia were authorize to; appropriate money from the sale of lots to purchase a bell and clock for the common house. The exact location of the county seat was attended with much difficulty, as conflicting interests divided the opinions of the commissioners. The places taken under serious advisement were the present site of Columbia, and the place owned by Gen. Roberts, a few miles from Columbia, on the north side of the river. It is claimed received a majority vote of the commissioners, but on reconsideration the vote was given for Columbia.

 AHGP Tennessee

Source: History of Tennessee, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1886