Joe Payne's Claiborne County Page

Claiborne County
Tennessee

The Seal of Claiborne County
1801

What it symbolizes

Lost pieces of the history of the little town of Tazewell, Tennessee

Seeking information on the house once known as the Josephine Farmer Reece and Hiram Reece, Jr. house. Supposedly located off of Big Sycamore in Tazewell TN.

Near Horton's Ford in Hancock County across the Clinch River is an 850-acre tract purchased recently by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency from The Nature Conservancy. The property features a seven-bedroom farmhouse that has been carefully restored and opened on Earth Day, April 22, 2008.

The Two Hundredth Year Celebration of Formation of State of Tennessee - 1996 Up On the Clinch

Hiram D. Payne - Postmaster Allen's Station, Hancock County, Tennessee March 24, 1849 letter to his family near Thompkinsville, Monroe County, Kentucky.

RSS Feed Widget

The Man for whom the County was named (use back browser to return)
JOHN HUNT , Considered the founder of Claiborne County, and it's County Seat of Tazewell. Also the founder of Huntsville, Alabama.
Full text of "Tennessee county history series : Claiborne County, by Edgar A. Holt; Joy Bailey Dunn, editor, Charles W. Crawford, associate editor"
Claiborne County Chamber of Commerce (New Link!!!)

GOODSPEED'S HISTORY OF CLAIBORNE COUNTY

Another list of Early Court Officials of Claiborne County

Claiborne County Historical & Genealogical Society

Topography and the formation of Boundaries for Claiborne County

Claiborne County locations on the National Register of Historic Places

Claiborne County Churches

My Church very early in 20th Century.

Cumberland Gap Baptist Association with link to the new Heritage Baptist Academy.

More information needed on the Tazewell Methodist Episcopal Church South.

The church that was located on Haynes Street behind the Tazewell Presbyterian Church referred to in most deeds as the Negro Church.

The Old Tazewell Presbyterian Church and my brother and myself's efforts thwarted at restoring a piece of it.

Surname Studies that I and others have added of early Claiborne County Families

Famous Tennessee Pioneers

Maps of interest to East Tennessee Researchers

Links of interest to Claiborne County Researchers

A few other GED2HTML Family Links

Researchers that have information regarding specific surnames (Some with homepages)

Links to the Political Graveyard Site for Claiborne County

USGENWEB Claiborne County Archives (includes census, cemetery listings, tax records, etc.)

Claiborne County Resource Page

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection - Tennessee - Maps at the Tennessee State Library and Archives

The State of Tennessee Real Estate Assessment Data gives you the tax maps of any Tennessee county.

Local and State Newspapers and Classified Websites

The Tennessean.com
The Courier News - Clinton, Tennessee
Claiborne County Progress
The Oakridger
LafollettePress.com
Grainger County Today
Middlesboro Daily News
Morristown Citizens Tribune
Onieda Independent Herald
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Timeline: Cocke County Confidential

FountainCityFocus.com
Union News Leader on Facebook

Lost pieces of the history of the little town of Tazewell, Tennessee

Please scroll through over 500 TENNESSEE COLLECTIBLE TREASURES includes signed books, magazines and equipment. Includes signed Peyton Manning, Hendon Hooker, Pat Summitt and many more. Authors like Wilma Dykeman, Jesse Stuart, Gus Manning, Johnny Majors and so many more. HAPPY SHOPPING!!

Community Articles and Pictures

The Tennessee Century Farms Program was created in 1975 by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture as part of our nation�s bicentennial celebration. Click Here to visit the Century Farms in Claiborne County.

Back in 1946 and again in 1966 there were effort to combine the two Tazewell's. Could that have been a feasible solution to a lot of controversy between the Tazewell's?

I suggest anyone that has ever had an interest in preserving the history of Tazewell read this letter written to the Claiborne County Progress on February 7, 1934 by James M. Freeman. This opinion should have been one that survived rather than one that was apparently never heeded.

Now that the new stretch of U.S.Hwy 25E is complete towards Morristown wouldn't it be fantastic if the Big Sycamore Creek Development Project would become a Hydro Dam Project, producing electricity for the Upper East Tennessee counties>

One hundred years before Mr. Freeman wrote the article above a famous New York magazine writer by the name of Charles Fenno Hoffman passed through the Cumberland Gap and into Tazewell, Tennessee. On April 21, 1834 Mr. Hoffman sent his article back to Harper & Brothers entitled A Tennessee Hill Town about Tazewell, Tennessee.

Bloody Battle at the Big Springs Union Church - Tazewell, Tenn., Oct. 16. - John Morgan, James Estep and Robert Brooks were arrested and arraigned for trial on the charge of killing Alwaine and Tipton Chadwell in the Chadwell-Morgan feud Sunday of last week.

A family video of Main Street Tazewell Tennessee in 1916-1918 range. This video was filmed by my grandfather Joseph Phillips. (Windows Media Film)

Law Books from H.Y. Hughes Law Library signed May 11, 1906

February 1, 1915 Receipt for Wire, Poles and Transformers from Guaranty Electric, Inc., Knoxville, Tennessse to run Electricity from Tazewell Electric Light and Power between the Tazewells - And a 1968 Decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Tazewell's battle for cheaper power.

Possibly one of the early cedar chest's from a local furniture manufacturer. This chest came from Yoakum and Runions Cedar Factory It was saved from my Grandmother Mattie Payne's House in Lone Mountain, Tennessee that was burned in 1980. Elizabeth "Libby" Bunch Smiddy of LaFollete has added comments and quieries regarding the Runions Cedar Shop in Youngstown.

Claiborne County Genealogical and Historical Society has secured the deed to the OLD JAIL, located Tazewell.

The Scott County, Tennessee OLD JAIL with 21 acres. Owned by the Scott County Historical Society

Vardy Community Historical Society, Inc.

Demolition of George Cosby and Son Store in New Tazewell prompts recollections and picture from decendent Emily Moore of Atlanta.

Has anyone seen the New Tazewell Jail? - Well neither had I!! But there really was one!! Here's the proof.

In 1964 a bus left New Tazewell bound for the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. There were several adventures along the way.

Think of how it must have been for our parents and grandparents during World War II - Here is a 1942 War Ration Book Issued to George Edward Payne.

I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree

CO2= 1 part carbon and 2 parts oxygen. If you take the letters only, "co", just think about how many words begin with those two letters. There is coward, cough, corruption, corrosion, complacent, coercion and communist . Also community, correlation, company, comprehension, cohesion, companion, consensus, coherent and correction. Some good and some bad. You will see if you focus on the good spellings that your going to make the world a whole lot better place to live.

Located on the beautiful campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum houses one of the most diverse Lincoln and Civil War collections in the country. As a student there during 1976 thru 1978 I was able to assist as a student worker in the moving in and restoration of many of the pieces now housed in this museum.

1936 Master Freemason Certificate issued to Al George Payne Eastern Star Lodge No. 180

A 1944 Knoxville News-Sentinel article "Will The Crooks Be Prosecuted?". This involved vote tampering by the head of the State Republican Party, a Claiborne County Lawyer and involved "dog voting" and "ballot box stuffing".

Pictures of the 1934 TVA Land Acqusition Department. Located beside Tazewell Courthouse.

THE UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY NEEDS OUR HELP for an upcoming book on Confederate monuments throughout Tennessee. Claiborne County has not contributed as of yet to this book. The deadline for submission is October 2009.

Read accounts from the Kentucky 14th Infantry of the Battle of Tazewell August 1862.

My assessment of the first reenactment of Battle of Tazewell held first weekend of September 2006 and a totally different opinion of the reenactment held on Lincoln Memorial University September 2007.

The Truth about the TOWER on Lincoln Memorial University campus.

Remember the Claiborne County Christmas Pageants of the 1970's?

From Wikipedia read the account of Battle at Cumberland Gap April 11, 1862.

My assessment of the reenactments of 2007 and 2008 held at LMU

The old Rose Gulf Station located on Main Street, Old Tazewell.

THE CROCKETT IRON WORKS - For which Forge Ridge, TN was named.

Help Deborah Crockett Scott identify pictures of Crockett family from Rose Hill, Va ca 1967

Meteorite found 10 miles from Tazewell, 1853

Dixie Plaza Motel burns - A Tazewell landmark since the early 1960's.

The Coffey Apartments and the Centre Brick Warehouse, New Tazewell, Tennessee

The "Frank Ausmus" home, located about 1 mile southeast of HWY 63 in Powell Valley.

Claiborne men that rode with "Tiger Company" during the Civil War. Formed to protect the families of East Tennessee.

Pictures made soon after the Highway 33 Veterans Bridge was built, probably 1934-1935. Taken by my father Al Payne.

Remember the The Powell River Bridge

The Claiborne-Grainger Clinch River Bridge, Soon to be no more.

The Highway 33 Clinch River Bridge.

The Walker's Ford Bridge was built between Union and Claiborne counties in the late teen's or early twenty's of the 20th century but torn down when Norris Lake was formed.

Just past the Claiborne-Grainger Clinch River Bridge you can find the Imperial Black Marble Company Quarry, Thorn Hill, Tennessee

Article "A Brief Recital of the Magnificence of Lone Mountain" by Will Allen, The Tennessean, November 21, 1886.

View the Lone Mountain Community in 1898 by Clicking Here.

Read just a few of John Kivett's Down on the Creek and Now and Then articles from the Claiborne County Progress.

Pictures of people Lone Mountain and Ball Creek prior to 1920.

Help needed with history of old barn on Lone Mountain Road

Will the Lone Mountain Post Office be closed? See what it's all about.

Forty (40) articles written by Nell Quesenbery though the late 1970's and early 1980's to the Claiborne County Progress. The articles are in a directory and are all PDF files. All you need is Adobe Acrobat Reader to open any of these files. They will be listed in alphabetical order and the full file name may not be visible. They are safe to open so just CLICK HERE to access the Nell Quesenbery Directory.

Another old house still standing near Lone Mountain is the Thomas Henderson House.

Pictures from the Caney Valley and Raven Ridge Community

Postcard advertisement for Norris Homes, Inc., New Tazewell, TN

List of people who lived on my Knoxville News-Sentinel Paper Route in 1962-1963, Tazewell, Tennessee

The Farmers Central Warehouse, New Tazewell, TN

Frank James visits Benjamin Schultz at Tazewell in 1875

The Isham G. Leabow Family of Lone Mountain, Tennessee.

The Tolliver Dotson Campbell Family of Bear Creek, Tennessee. Campbell/DeBusk Connection.

A picture of Hotel Duncan/Cawood,New Tazewell, destroyed by fire somewhere around 1945.

Historical Places in Tazewell, Tennessee

Cumberland Gap Caves Being Restored

Civil War Monument will be repaired (Randall Bailey passes away, January 5, 2004)

Old Methodist cemetery improvements finished

A few pictures of the Irish Memorial Cemetery, Tazewell, TN

Pictures of the renovated "Breastworks Cemetery" and Capt. David Chadwell's Grave

The Love and Brown families cemtery is located on the Tazewell side of the Breastworks Hill.

The Big Barren Creek Flood Election Morning, Aug. 3, 1916

The Typhoid Epidemic of 1946 and why the county was forced to take property to construct the Ball Creek Intake!!

Cultural and Ethnic Diversity on the Western Frontier: CUMBERLAND GAP TENNESSEE, 1750-1915

Cumberland Gap, Tennessee and the Powell's River Valley

Article "Cumberland Gap: Where 3 States Meet History" by Don Schaub

The City of Harrogate, Tennessee Homepage

Bell County Kentucky Historical Society

Looking for information regarding Providence Baptist Church located in Powell Valley. (Gentleman has church bell blown away by tornado of March 14,1933.)

I am going to include the e-mails from Gary Keck of Monroe, Michigan on a page I will call TAZEWELL NORTH. E-mail me your stories and lineages regarding your relocation and a way to get in touch so that long lost friends or maybe new friends can get in touch with you. Many of our locals really want to make you feel welcome - maybe this will help.

Family Articles and Pictures

Pictures from Ed Buis of growing up in the same Tazewell neighborhood of my family in the 1940's. Ed is the son of Edward Henley Buis who is a direct descendant of Joseph William Buis and Nancy Kesterson.
Pictures of the Joseph H. Chumley family and house as well as my brothers and picture of a 1950 Wedding at Tazewell Methodist Church
After receiving the above group pictures of a 1947 or 1948 MYF Camp from Glynn Ailey Millett I found several others that were made a couple years before the one she sent or at least I think so. My brother's, Phil and Eddie Payne, appear to be several years younger in the pictures I have than the one she sent. Here are both sets of pictures together.
Information from Jim Ferguson regarding the family of Stephen Christian Cawood and his ancestor John Anderson Ferguson, the Cawood-Ferguson family information.
Pictures from Lincoln Memorial University 1974-1978 and LMU's 1975-1976 NAIA Tournament Team.
Den No. 54 Tazewell, Tennessee Cub Scouts in 1958 Tobacco Festival Parade, Tazewell, Tennessee.
Family pictures of Joseph Mack Henry Lickliter, Tazewell, Tennessee. Joe's hobby was making walking canes with a round ball in a cage as a handle. Additionally Arthur Milum Livesay pictures from Tammy Higgins Logston in Ocala,Florida.
Edward "Ned" Walker House picture's and a Walker Family Historical Document . Phillip A. Walker, a descendant of the Walker's from Walker's Ford area of Union and Claiborne area has posted an informative website with much UPDATED information. He has mentioned Vannah (Carr) Greever, wife of Jimmy Greever who many Claiborne County residents will recognize.
Here are a group of 1850's letters from Claiborne County families who took the phrase "There's GOLD in them there hills" seriously. The Fielding Lewis Family and the California Gold Rush!
The Payne family in this 1849 letter from Hiram D. Payne in Hancock County to his brother John Parker Payne in Kentucky also speaks of the California Gold Rush!
I need help identifying THIS PICTURE said to be of either Kenneth, Frank or Lawrence Ault.
The Tin Type picture made somewhere around 1865 of William Shipley, husband of Margaret Buis has been identified. Susan Shipley of Knoxville, TN now has her ancestor's picture.
From my grandfather Phillip's scrapbook a 1949 Knoxville News-Senitnel clipping regarding a ruckus between two old friends, brother-in-laws, from what it says. The names mentioned are Greer, Standifer and Cloud.
If you can please help Dee Anne Lamb and her endeavor to find Benjamin and Susannah Cloud who lived in Claiborne County in the early 1800's. They were the cousins of Benjamin Cloud and wife Mary Chadwell Middleton Cloud who was prominent in Tazewell at the sametime. If you can help visit The Two Benjamin Clouds of Claiborne County

Clinch-Powell Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D), Hancock County

Very Early Claiborne County Pictures from the Baumgardner and Farmer Family Album that need to be identified. One large group was taken in Claiborne County and may have been about the time of the Anninius Honeycutt Hanging. Could it be?

Another picture identifying project of very old tin types and pictures from the Raven Ridge-Lower Caney Valley Communities comes from Tina Lephew Cooke. Surnames include Harrell, Hayes, Hurst, West and others.

Visit An Old Trunk Just Full of Pictures

A Biography of Patrick Willis 1822-1889 Elizabeth Ann "Betsy Ann" Pittman 1827-1889 by Don Rivara, (donrivara@aol.com)

GreatGrandfather George Livesay was Editor of the Cumberland Gap Progress for years but decided to leave and start his own newspaper in New Tazewell The New Tazewell Times

Capt. Joe Phillips' Recommendation from B. Carroll Reece, Member of Congress and an Original Receipt for the materials to run Wire Between the Tazewells "Feb. 1,1915" Capt. Joe Phillips (my grandfather)

Help me identify pictures from Baumgardner-Stone-Farmer Scrapbook

Series One - Series Two - Series Three

The Early Hunter/Ausmus/Bollinger Connection in Claiborne County, Tennessee by William J. Hunter

Some news from Jim Hunter of Utah
The 2004 Hunter Reunion in Springfield, MO.

Early Hunter/Ausmus/Bollinger Marriages - Claiborne, Union, Grainger, Campbell Counties

Here are two files from Carolyn Kiser.

Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (Free Safe Download from Adobe Site!!!)

The first concerns a daughter of David Chadwell, Barthenia Chadwell Cottrell and Jeremiah Skelton (her second husband). She was a widow of Moses Cottrell who was killed in an accident.
The second is her notes regarding David being the son of George Chadwell and Gemimah,. John would be a brother to David rather that his father. What do you think?

Some information regarding the possibility that Capt. David Chadwell was a member of a religion known as Dunkard, a post-reformation Anabaptists.

School Annuals - Class Pictures - School Invitations

Howard's Quarter School 1959-1960
Springdale Faculty 1978-1979
click on picture to help identify.

Rare Picture of the First School in Tazewell - built about 1843 - Tazewell Academy. Location was where Giles No.2 Subdivision is located above Cedar Fork Road.

1938-1939 Soldiers Memorial Grade School King and Queen Coronation . Several of the participants are identified but still need help with others.

1954-1955 Soldiers Memorial Grade School and Junior High School from John Kivitt's Memories

Etta Downing would like help in identifying the Claiborne County High School Class of 1955 Senior Trip to Washington, D.C. faculty and students.

1961 BETA CLUB - 1963 STUDENT COUNCIL Help me identify the 1961 Beta Club at Claiborne County High School. These people are all freshmen and were seniors when I was a freshman in 1963. Also a picture of the STUDENT COUNCIL 1963.

Class Pictures from Early Claiborne County Schools

Class Pictures from late 1950's early 1960's Soldiers Memorial Middle School

Tina Cooke's Sycamore Hall and Lakeview Pictures

The 1959 fire that destroyed the Tazewell Junior High School

Graduation Invitations and Souvenirs from Claiborne County Schools

The 1930-1931 "Pioneer" combined annual of the Claiborne County and Powell Valley High Schools.

Claiborne County Schools

This article appeared in the October 2007 issue of KnoxFocus.com and was concerning the new Grainger County High School, the end of the Rutledge Pioneers and the continuation of Washburn High School.

Have a look at my scrapbook "The First Three Years of Claiborne County Football".

An article from my brother, George Payne, in the Dec. 1966 Progress regarding Football in Claiborne County

Follow your favorite High School Tennessee Team. Visit Coach T's Website

Joe Payne's School Class Pictures

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