Giles County, Tennessee

Prior to the early 1790s the western border of North Carolina extended all the way to the Mississippi River, but there were few white pioneers on the western fringes of the state. Tennessee was carved out of the western portion of North Carolina, and become a state January 11, 1796, but a large portion of it was initially designated Indian Lands. There were settlements in what would be Eastern Tennessee along the Watauga River as early as 1769, but it was not until 1779 that General James Robertson and others pushed westward and established Nashboro on the Cumberland River in what would be Middle Tennessee. The first surveyors came in 1783 to seek out and mark the 35 degrees north latitude, which was North Carolina’s southern boundary. Even though Tennessee became a state in 1796 it was not until about 1811 that treaties with the Cherokees and Chickasaws opened up the central part of the state to settlement.

At the end of the Revolutionary War, North Carolina was bankrupt and decided to pay her soldiers in western lands. Land offices were set up in Hillsborough and Nashboro as the veterans – many with their families – crossed the mountains to stake out their lands, much of which they had purchased for as little as six cents an acre. Many of these pioneers, however, found that the land they had purchased lay within an area designated Indian Lands. They could not take possession until the Indian treaties were finalized in 1805, 1806, 1811 and 1816. Settlers who drifted into the protected Indian Territory prior to 1812 were systematically driven out by soldiers from Fort Hampton in Alabama.

In 1783, while still part of North Carolina, the Cumberland settlements were organized into Davidson County, embracing in its territory all of Middle Tennessee north of the Duck River. As the population increased, new counties were established: Williamson, including all territory south to the 35 degrees north parallel in 1799, and Maury from Williamson in 1807.

Giles County was created in 1810 by an act of the General Assembly dated November 14, 1809. It was formed out of Maury County and is bounded on the north by the counties of Maury and Marshall, east by the counties of Marshall and Lincoln, south by the State of Alabama and west by Lawrence County and has an area of 600 square miles. The new county, “Giles,” was named for Governor William Branch Giles of Virginia, who, as a Congressman, had manipulated Tennessee’s admission into the union in 1796.

Pioneers entered Giles County by two routes. Some came by water by coming down the Tennessee River and up the Elk River to Richland Creek, while others came by land through the Cumberland Gap and Kentucky. The settlements of Elkton and Prospect both claim the distinction of being settled first. Lynn Creek, Campbellsville, Pulaski, Bodenham, Cross Water, Aspen Hill, and Blooming Grove were settled soon afterwards.

It is believed that Lewis Kirk, Alexander Black and his brother Robert Black, were the first people to settle in Pulaski, and they came early in the fall of 1807. Lewis Kirk was the first tavern keeper in 1810, Richard Scott is believed to be the first merchant, opening a small store near Kirk’s house in 1809. He sold this store to John G. Talbott, and William Ball opened a grocery store in the same vicinity. Records show these were the only houses in the town at that time. Lots were sold in 1811 and businesses moved into the Town Square. The city of Pulaski was designated the county seat, and was named for Count Casimir Pulaski.

No Revolutionary War battles were fought in the area of Tennessee, but on June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain over seizures of American ships, impressments of American sailors, and arming and inciting their Indian allies to wage terrible warfare on American western outposts. General Andrew Jackson called the Tennessee militia into active service. After a Creek massacre of whites near Mobile in August 1813, many Tennessee volunteers were added to Jackson’s forces, along with some troops from Georgia and Mississippi. On March 27, 1814, Jackson engaged the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River in Alabama, defeated them decisively, and thereby broke the power of this Indian nation. He then marched into Florida where in November he routed a British force at Pensacola. Following this, Jackson moved to New Orleans where on January 8, 1815, his forces crushed a large British contingent, driving them back to their ships. Only later was it discovered that a peace treaty between the Unites States and Britain had been signed on December 24, 1814. Even so, Jackson became a national hero, and twenty-three million acres of Indian land were ceded to the Federal Government.

Joseph Erwin was born February 4, 1769 in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, and married Catherine Nancy Cowan there on May 17, 1792. She was born October 14, 1774, also in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, and was the eldest child of Captain Thomas Cowan and Mary Barkley.

It is probable that around 1812 Joseph Erwin – the last-born son of Joseph and Agnes Erwin, and my ancestor – moved his wife and children to the south-central frontier of the new state of Tennessee. They may have stayed for a time in Maury County before moving on down into Giles County. The 1820 Giles County census shows Joseph Erwin, Sr., living in Giles County, Tennessee with his wife and ten children. Joseph Erwin, Jr. is shown living next door with his wife and two small children. Since the census, at that time, listed the names of head-of-households only we cannot identify which of the family members were still in the household, but presumably the four eldest had left the nest.

From other sources, however, we know that Joseph and Catherine had a total of fourteen children. The first eleven children were probably born in or near Salisbury in Rowan County, North Carolina. Margaret, Abel Alexander and Michael Lincoln Erwin were, most likely, born in or near Giles County, Tennessee.

At some point, between the 1820 and the 1830 census, probably about 1827, Joseph moved his family again, this time to Henry County, Tennessee. The Joseph Erwin, Sr. family, as well as the Joseph Erwin, Jr. family, are listed on the 1830 Henry County, Tennessee census.

Caroline Nancy Cowan Erwin died July 6, 1839 in Henry County, Tennessee. She is buried in the Palestine Church Cemetery just outside of Paris in Henry County, Tennessee. After Catherine died Joseph must have left Henry County almost immediately, because although sons Joseph Erwin, Jr. and John Johnston Erwin are listed on the 1840 Henry County census, he is not. It seems likely that Joseph Erwin, Sr., with Abel and Michael, his two youngest children, moved to West Point, Troup County, Georgia. Michael Lincoln Erwin, the youngest child of Joseph and Catherine, died there February 8, 1840. Abel Alexander Erwin, the next youngest married Elizabeth F. Ashford in Troup County in 1850, and died there in 1898.

Old letters indicate that in the middle 1840s Joseph Erwin, Sr. was living with, or near, sons James Polk Erwin and Squire Cowan Erwin in the vicinity of Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. Family tradition has it that Joseph Erwin died about 1848 in Mayhew, Lowndes County, Mississippi, the county just to the east, and adjoining, Oktibbeha County. Over the years, relatives in Calloway County, Kentucky have tried, but have not been able to locate his gravesite.