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Overton County History
Overton County, Tennessee was formed in 1806 from Jackson County, Tennessee and Indian lands. The county was named
for Andrew Jackson's friend Judge John Overton, Judge of the State Supreme Court, and co-founder, with Andrew Jackson
and James Winchester, of Memphis. In 1835 the county seat was moved from Monroe to Livingston. There was an election
in 1835 to see if the people preferred Monroe or Livingston. Jesse Eldridge and ten others who favored Monroe,
started out to vote but stopped overnight in the Oakley community. Eldridge, who personally favored Livingston,
arose early in the morning and released the horses of the others who favored Monroe. He then rode to Monroe and
voted.
Overton County was originally a part of Davidson County and later Jackson County. In 1805 Moses Fisk surveyed the
first village in what is now the community of Hilham. On September 12, 1806, the area of Overton County was established
by the state legislature as a county. The Indian Territory that had been within, in which Cherokee Chief Nettle
Carrier presided over, was conceded to Tennessee for use by the white man. Overton County, at one time, included
part of the territory that eventually became Fentress, Clay, Pickett, and Putnam counties, and since many of the
early records of these counties have been partially or entirely destroyed, the extant records of Overton County
are important.
The original courthouse was burned by Captain John Francis and a band of Confederate guerillas from Kentucky in
April of 1865. This senseless act so close to the end of the Civil War might have destroyed all early County Records
had it not been for County Register of deeds James Richardson. Mr. Richardson had hidden the county deed books
in the cellar of his home. A few record books in the offices of the County Clerk, the circuit Court Clerk and the
clerk and master were also saved.
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