Petition Number 39, Year 1842

[Information from cover sheet: Petition was read in the House on Jan 17th 1842 and referred to the Committee on Claims. Clerk Thomas A. Brown noted that "The committee has authorized me to Report it un Reasonable and aught not to be granted". The repor t of the Committee was concurred in by the House on Jan. 21, 1842.]

To the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee Now in session.

The Petition of the Commissioners of the Town of Cleveland in the State of Tennessee, together with the citizens of said Town.

Your petitioners hereby represent and show to the General Assembly; That at the session of the General Assembly of said state in the Year 1837 the General Assembly passed a Law authorizing the Commissioners of said Town to build the public buildings, t o wit, a court house and jail for said county and required said Commissioners to pay one thousand dollars for the two quarter sections of land upon which said Town stands, and to pay eight thousand dollars for said public buildings.

Now your Petitioners show to the General Assembly that said Commissioners have paid the one thousand dollars to the State and have built the public buildings which have cost the said Commissioners the sum of Eight thousand dollars. It is impossible to raise the said sum of Eight thousand dollars out of Town lots in equal proportions as those lots were assessed when property was of high value, since which time the price of property has fallen, and the Lots which are unimproved will not bring the assessm ent upon the same, and also several persons having purchased Lots of said Commissioners have become insolvent them and their securities, who were perfectly solvent at the time of purchasing said Lots. And it is wholly impossible to raise said sum by reass essment, except it would be to raise the deficiency, here after shown, exclusively upon the improved lots of said Town, which would be oppressive and unjust and sacrifice the said Lots to the owners thereof.

And whereas the deficiency thus occasioned by the fall of the Value of said lots amounts to the sum of One thousand and twenty nine dollars and thirty cents, which if raised out of individual property of the Commissioners here undersigned who stand ind ividually bound for the same to the builder of said buildings, or collected by reassessment upon the improved Lots as aforesaid will greatly oppress the Commissioners individually or the owners of the Lots improved as aforesaid.

Wherefore your Petitioners humbly pray the General Assembly to donate the State Tax arising in said County untill said sum of

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One thousand and twenty nine dollars and thirty cents is paid.

The premises considered and your Petitioners will forever pray.

Cleveland, December 30th, 1841.

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Petition Number 60, Year 1843_

[Cover sheet reads: "Petition of Brigadier Genl. James H. Reagan on behalf of the Sixth Brigade of Ten[ess]ee Militia, praying certain am[endmen]ts to the Militia laws of the State." The petition was read in the House on Nov. 2, 1843 and referred to th e Committee on Military Affairs/]

To the Honourable General Assembly of the State of Tennessee now in Session.

The undersigned takes leave to inform your honourable body that he has the honour to command the Sixth Brigade of the Militia of this state, composed of the counties of Roane, Monroe, McMinn, Polk & Bradley including ten Regiments respectible both in number & character and by a vote taken in each of said Regiments, it is ascertained that about six-sevenths of all who are subject to perform military duty are in favour of the repeal of the law passed in January 1842 abolishing Spring Muster & etc.

Which fact I have promised to bring to your notice in form of a petition from our Brigade, and hope you, in your wisdom will see fit to make such repeal.

The officers of said Brigade wish a law passed requiring the commissioned officers of each county to meet at their respective court houses about the middle of September in every year and Drill two days, the older Commissioned Col. having command at suc h drill.

The undersigned would also inform your honorable boddy that he has been honored with the command of a regiment about four years and has filled the office he now holds near two years and finds from experience that the existing plan of procuring commissi ons is attended with expense, trouble & delay. And would recommend to your favourable consideration an amendment of the law on commissions so as to require the Govener to Commission the Major General, the Maj. Generals the Brigideer Generals, they the field officers and the commandants of regiments the companys officers.

Such a law would relieve the Governor and Secretary of State of immense labours and add nothing to the actual labour of the above named officers. All of which is submitted to your favourable consideration, hoping the above suggestion may meet your appr oval. I subscribe my name officially in compliance with my promise to the Brigade.

James H. Reagan,

Brig. Genl.

6th Brigade T. M.

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Petition Number 123, Year 1843_

[Cover sheet reads: "Petition of Thomas L. Twomey, praying for legislative relief. in the matter of a Land grant in Ocoee District."]

The Honorable General assembly of the state of Tennessee now in session this is to Represent to your Honorable body that your humble petitioner Thomas L. Twomey Entered a quarter section of land in the land office of the Ocoee district at one dollar pe r acre as occupant and that the same quarter section is Entered by William Cook as general Enterer as two dollars per acre as is Exibbitted by the Entry takers Certificate and that said Cook has instituted a suit against your petitioner and gained the lan d by decisions in the Circuit Court and Supreme Court and by and order from the Supreme Court obtained possession and now is and has been in the possession for the last season and your Petitioner has paid the Costs in the different Courts and for Rejectin g as shown in Exibbit A and B your petitioner is therefore aggrieved and prays your honorable body to Redress his grievance by passing a law the the Entry taker shall Refund him his money there being no laws as is is said to pay Back the money and hour hu mble petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray and etc.

[signed] Thomas L. Twomey

Exhibit A

Received 2nd November 1842 of Thomas L. Twomey Eighteen Dollars & Eighty one and one fourth cents the amount of the cost of a suit commenced in the Circuit Court of Polk County wherein William H. Cook was Plaintiff and John Rice & Thomas E. Two mey was defendant and also the Cost of the Supreme Court amounting to seven dollars & seventy five cents on the same suit two Executions having Issued from the Supreme Court for the above amount.

William M. Biggs, Clerk

of the Circuit Court

Polk County

Exhibit B

Received of Thomas L. Twomey one dollar and seventy five cents the amount of Cost in a suit William H. Cook vs John Rice and Thomas H. Twomey in the Supreme Court at Knoxville this 6th March 1843 the Cost for Rejecting [--?--] from possession.

I Luke Lea Entry Taker of the Ocoee District, do hereby

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certify that on the 4th day of December 1839 William H. Cooke as a general enterer entered the South East quarter of Section Ten in fractional Township Two North and Range Two East of the Basis line in the said Ocoee District at two dollars per acre, a nd that afterwards, to wit, on the Twenty fifth day of January 1840, Thomas L. Toomy as an occupant, entered the aforesaid South East quarter of section Ten, fractional Township Two, and Range Two East of the Basis line, at one dollar per acre.

Given under my hand at

Office in Cleveland this 7th

day of August 1843.

Luke Lea, Entry

Taker of the Ocoee District

No. 3013

Elias Hutcheson enters as General enterer, forty acres of land, it being the South east corner of the South West quarter of Section four in fractional Township two South and Range One West of the Basis line in the Ocoee District, beginning at the South West corner of said quarter Section.

Entered at fifty cents per acre. June 2nd, 1841.

I Luke Lea Entry Taker of the Ocoee District do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of Elias Hutchesons entry No. 3013 taken from the records of my Office. I also further certify that afterwards, to wit, on the 5th day of June 1841 a certa in Evan Parker entered as General enterer, forty acres of land in the South West corner of the South West quarter of Section four in fractional Township two South and Range One West of the Basis line in the said Ocoee District, at fifty cents per acre.

Given under my hand at

Office in Cleveland this 18th

day of September 1843.

Luke Lea, Entry

Taker of the Ocoee District

State of Tennessee ))

Bradley County ))

This day personally appeared before me Henry Mitchell an acting Justice of the peace for said county, Elias Hutcherson and made Oath that he intended to enter forty acres of land lying in the South West corner of the South West quarter of Section four in fractional Township two south and Range One West of the Basis

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line lying in the Ocoee Dist., but through mistake entered forty acres in the South East Corner of the same quarter section the 40 acres of land that He entered is of but little value the land he intended to enter had his houses water and part of his c leared land on it and the land was it self much more valuable.

Elias Hutcheson

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 19th day of September 1843

Henry Mitchell

Justice of the Peace

for Bradley County, Tenn.

The said Elias Hutcherson prays the Legislature to make arrangements for him to recover the money which he has cost by entering land of no value.

I Luke Lea Entry Taker of the Ocoee District, do hereby certify that on the 4th day of December 1839 William H. Cooke as a general enterer entered the South East quarter of Section Ten in fractional Township Two North and Range Two East of the Basis li ne in the said Ocoee District at two dollars per acre, and that afterwards, to wit, on the Twenty fifth day of January 1840, Thomas L. Toomy as an occupant, entered the aforesaid South East quarter of section Ten, fractional Township Two, and Range Two Ea st of the Basis line, at one dollar per acre.

Given under my hand at

Office in Cleveland this 7th

day of August 1843.

Luke Lea, Entry

Taker of the Ocoee District

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Petition Number 59, Year 1845_

[Envelope is addressed to Cpt. James Lauderdele, Rep- resentative from Bradley County, Nashville, Tennessee. The clerk has added: "A Memorial of 73 citizens of Bradley County Tenn. Asking that a family of resident Cherokee Indians be given rights of ci tizenship, 1845".]

State of Tennessee ))

Bradley County )) October 18, 1845

To the honourable Legislature of Tennessee. We the citizens of said County wish to represent to your honourable body the condition of a family of Cherokees, viz Richard B. Foreman and family who failed to emigrate to the west. We the undersigned do pet ition your honourable body to Citizenise said family so that they may have equal rights and privaleges with us and by your Complyance we your petitioners in duty bound will every pray & etc.

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Petition Number 77, Year 1845_

[Cover sheet shows that the petition was read in the Senate on Nov. 20, 1845 and "laid on the table". The clerk has noted: "Petition of sundary citizens of Bradley County, for legislation to complete the Hiwassee R.R. project".]

To the House of Representatives and the Senate of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee.

Your memorialists state unto your honourable body, as is well known that the Hiwassee Rail Road Company is a body corporate one half of the stock taken in said corporation is owned by the State. The object of the incorporation of said company was the c onstruction of a Rail Road from Knoxville, Tennessee, to a point on the Southern boundary between the State of Georgia and Tennessee, to connect at its Southern termination with a Rail Road constructed by the State of Georgia and thus open a choice and di rect route for the products of East Tennessee to the Southron Market.

The company went forward in the prosecution of the Road. Large expenditures have been made of the funds of the state, and of the private Stockholders.

At Charleston, a bridge, at the cost of $20,000, has been constructed to cross the Hiwassee River at that place, for the use of said Rail Road. From this bridge to the Southern Terminus of the road, at the Georgia line, is a distance of about 22 miles, the whole of this distance, except about three miles, is graded and nearly in a state of preparation to receive the timber preparatory to laying down the rails.

Now your Memorialists state, that the further prosecution of the work of the said Rail Road, has been stayed by injunction under a Bill filed by the Attorney General on behalf of the State against the Hiwassee Rail Road Company and others. This Bill, a fter having been pending over two years, has been dismissed on final hearing in October 1845, from which decision an appeal has been taken to the Supreme Court at Knoxville. This appeal cannot be determined before the next Term of said court, which is abo ut a year distant.

Your Memorialist will here state, that from the Southron termination of the Hiwassee Rail Road to Cross Plains, in the state of Georgia, is 15 miles, at this point the great Georgia Rail Road passes and is now finished to within say 42 miles of said po int.

A company is incorporated & the stock taken in a rail road to connect with the Hiwassee Rail Road at the Southern termination on the Georgia line, and to intersect the great Georgia road at Cross Plains, a distance of 15 miles as before stated.

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Your Memorialists are firmly persuaded that all that is necessary to ensure the immediate construction of this 15 miles of railroad and thus answer a connection with the Main Georgia railroad is a proper assurance that the Hiwassee Rail Road will be co mpleted from the Hiwassee river to the Georgia line. That this portion of the work would be done your memorialists have no doubt, were it not for the pending of the Bill in Chancery, hereto before alluded to.

The premises considered your Memorialists pray that under such grounds as your wisdom may deem proper and just to the interests and rights of the state, that the Attorney General be directed to dismiss said Bill, and that your Honl. body to your consid eration a work of internal improvement on which large sums of money have been expended, in which the State has a deep interest as well as the individual stockholders.

Your Memorialists in recommending the present situation of the Hiwassee Rail Road Company to your honourable consideration might have trespassed on your patience with arguments in favour of the objects of their memorial, but these they waive, believing that the whole representation of a great State will look to the interests of the whole state and every part, with a truly parental care.

75. Samuel K. Richardson

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Petition Number 112, Year 1845_

[This pre-printed petition was read in the Senate on Dec. 15, 1845 and "laid on the table". Copies of this petition were also sent to Nashville by other east Tennessee counties. The signatures of those who signed the Bradley County copy follow.]

J.M. Stephens

Z. Bose

R. Royston

J. Yates

S.N. Robertson

J.C. Swinford

S.W. Chilcutt

Joshua Potts

Jas. W. McMillon

John Chilcutt

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PETITION REGARDING HIWASSEE RAILROAD

(continued)

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Petition Number 119, Year 1845_

[The cover sheet reads: "Memorial of Samuel Samples & one hundred and sixty one Citizens of Bradley County. For compensation for grain impressed by Tenn. Volunteer troops. Referred to the committee on Federal Relations with instructions to report b y bill or otherwise". It is signed by McDonough J. Bunch, Clerk House Representatives.]

To the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee

The Petition of Samuel Samples a citizen of the County of Bradley and State aforesaid

Humbly represents and shows to your honerable body that in the year of 1836 he was settled and living in the County of McMinn and State aforesaid near the Town of Athens and a place which in that year became to be known by the name of Camp Wool -- It b eing the place at which the volunteers which was called out by the Governor of the State of Tennessee Redezvoused, and further represents and shews that he was then and there possessed of a large quantity of oats wheat Wry & corn to the amount several Hundred Dozzen and of the value of Two hundred & twenty five dollars, that said volunteers used the same for forrage and took used & consumed the same. Said volunteers then used and consumed the Grain and forrage of your petitioner was over and a bove the number required by the Government of the United States, and was not received into the service of the United States. Your petitioner further represents that the United States has refused and still doth refuse to pay our petitioner for his grain &a mp; forrage aforesaid. Your petitioner has been Injured by the requisition of the Governor of the State of Tennessee for amount aforesaid, and is without remedy Except your honerable body should make an appropriation out of the Treasury of the State of Te nnesseee.

Your petitioner therefore humbly prays the General Assembly to pass such a law either General or special as will give to your petitioner a just compensation for the grain & forrage made use by said volunteers.

And your petitioner as in duty bound will forever pray

Samuel Samples

State of Tennessee ))

Bradley County ))

This day personally appeared before the undersigned, an acting Justice of the peace for the County aforesaid Samuel Samples the foregoing petitioner & made oath that the facts stated in the foregoing petition are true as therein set forth.

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Sworn to & subscribed this 25 day of October 1845.

Samuel Samples

R. M. Swan, J.P., B.C.

We the undersigned do humbly represent that we are well acquainted with Samuel Samples and recommend him to the General Assembly as a man of truth & veracity and that his grievances are [---]tly to be taken in consideration and on his behalf pray t he General Assembly to grant him the relief prayed in his foregoing petition.

To continuation of this petition

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