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STEGALL
Henderson County TN
From the "History of Henderson County Schools" by Louise Oakley (County Fair Project 1940)
The Stegall community was named for the Billie Stegall family, the first settlers of the community. Among others were Haza Presley, East Jordan, Ervin McAdams, Jimmie Stewart, Morgan Gilliam, Banister Priddy, William Beecham, Isaac Douglas and Mark Patterson. Most of these settlers were from North Carolina, seeking more productive soils.
The oldest building is the Pink Douglas home now occupied by his son, John Douglas. The churches have been Mt. Zion, Jacks Creek, Big Springs and Palestine. The oldest store is the Billie Stegall store, the second store was built by Elbert Stegall, son of Billie. The post office was close din 1904 when a rural route was established from Huron, the first carrier being Ernest Johnson. Our present carrier is Ernest Bailey.
At one time Stegall was the most successful business community in Henderson County.
Stegall School was named for Elbert S. Stegall who erected the building on his farm at his own expense. The school was operated as a private school for 30 years. The first and only building erected by the county was in 1886. Before this time Big Springs Church, three miles away, was used. Stegall has been a one teacher school all of the time except from 1933 to 1937. The first teacher was either James M. Austin or Alice Hendrix, now Mrs. Andy Brown of Bemis. The present teacher is Miss Irona Tucker, with average daily attendance of 34.
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