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Boundaries - Historical Notes

Tennessee Code Annotated
Tennessee Attorney General Opinions

The private act has often been used as a means for transferring parcels of land from one county to another, often because the boundary lines would bisect an individual landowner's property, placing the landowner under the jurisdiction of two counties. This type of boundary change was often very general in its description of the land transferred, without any metes and bounds description. The following is a summary of acts which authorized boundary changes for Anderson County.

  1. Acts of 1806, Chapter 51, appointed Jesse Roysden and Jacob Jones to run the boundary line between the counties of Anderson and Roane.
  2. Acts of 1807, Chapter 90, fixed the line which was run by Jesse Roysdon, a commissioner appointed for that purpose, and marked by John McKamy, as the true and official boundary between the counties of Roane and Anderson. The cost of running the line and marking it would be paid equally by both counties, and the receipt of Roysdon and McKamy would constitute a sufficient voucher.
  3. Acts of 1811, Chapter 56, changed the lines between the counties of Campbell and Anderson, so as to include the farms of Michael Laws and Benjamin Potters wholly within Campbell county. William Hoggshead was named to run and to mark the line between the two counties so as to accomplish the above. This act was repealed by the one following.
  4. Acts of 1813, Chapter 101, repealed Acts of 1811, Chapter 56, above, which transferred a part of Anderson County over to Campbell County. The militia and the land were both returned to Anderson County.
  5. Acts of 1817, Chapter 38, created Morgan County out sections of Anderson and Roane counties.
  6. Acts of 1837-38, Chapter 90, authorized the counties of Anderson and Campbell, acting through their quarterly courts, to employ surveyors to run and mark the line between the counties in such manner as they may deem adequate. The surveyors would report the same to their respective county courts and, when the report was accepted by the court, their line would constitute the official boundary between the two. Such allowances could be made to the surveyors as the courts might consider to be fair and practical.
  7. Acts of 1847-48, Chapter 99, Section 3, amended Acts of 1837-38, Chapter 90, so as to make it the duty of the county courts to carry into effect the provisions of the act.
  8. Acts of 1855-56, Chapter 161, Section 7, changed the lines dividing the counties of Anderson and Roane and Morgan, so that the farms of Moses C. Winters and L. Rutor would be contained wholly within Roane County, all conflicts herewith being repealed.
  9. Public Acts of 1857-58, Chapter 47, Section 10, rearranged the boundaries between Anderson and Roane counties so as to move the farms of D. L. Bradley, John R. Galbreath, Samuel Tunnell, William Rite, W. C. Griffith, and J. C. Roberts out of Anderson County and into Roane County.
  10. Public Acts of 1857-58, Chapter 83, Section 3, expressly repealed Acts of 1857-58, Chapter 47, Section 10, above.
  11. Private Acts of 1865, Chapter 29, moved the residence and the farm of Silas L. Arthur out of Campbell County and placed the same wholly within Anderson County.
  12. Public Acts of 1867-68, Chapter 60, Section 8, detached the lands of William Webb from Anderson County and attached them to Campbell County so that they were included altogether in that county.
  13. Public Acts of 1868-69, Chapter 36, altered the lines dividing Anderson County and Campbell County so that the lands of Martin Kennady were included wholly within  Campbell County, and, further, that all citizens living north of that line would be citizens of Campbell County. If this act should change the citizenship of any person who moved from Anderson to Campbell County, that person was relieved from paying the railroad tax of Anderson County.
  14. Public Acts of 1870, Chapter 88, expressly repealed Acts of 1855-56, Chapter 161, which changed the boundary lines between Anderson, Roane, and Morgan counties, thus restoring all the lines as they appeared before the passage of that act, and all the rights of citizenship were renewed for those residents involved as they possessed prior to the repealed act.
  15. Public Acts of 1873, Chapter 75, moved the homes and the farms of Jordan Massingal, Huston Carroll, Greeberry West, William Carroll, and Alexander Low out of Anderson County and placed them in Scott County, provided such move did not reduce Anderson County below its constitutional limits.
  16. Public Acts of 1883, Chapter 51, stated that the lines between Scott, Anderson, and Campbell counties were changed so that the lands of Richmond Kennedy were placed wholly within Campbell County.
  17. Public Acts of 1887, Chapter 35, realigned the boundaries between Anderson County and Campbell County so as to include the residences and farms of Calaway Byrge and Loranzy Kennedy wholly within Anderson County.
  18. Public Acts of 1889, Chapter 124, changed the boundary lines between Anderson County and Knox County so as to include within Anderson County what is known as "Holt's Island" located in the Clinch River, now the property of W. C. Kincaid.
  19. Public Acts of 1893, Chapter 60, expressly repealed Acts of 1887, Chapter 35, above, and restored the county lines to the same status they had prior to the enactment of that law.
  20. Public Acts of 1899, Chapter 317, moved the lands of William M. Freels out of Anderson County and into Roane County.
  21. Acts of 1903, Chapter 504, was identical to Private Acts of 1903, Chapter 304, which is published herein.
  22. Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 95, rearranged the lines between Anderson County and Campbell County running from a point in the said line on top of the Cumberland Mountain above Briceville, situated due east from the two white oaks, the beginning corner of the A. R. Wiley grant, thence due west to said corner; thence with the J.M. Heck line North 89 West about 123 poles to the center of the Stoney Fork of Beech Fork; thence down and with the center of the said Creek to Beech Fork; thence a southwest course to the point where said county line now crosses New River near the point of the Red Oak spur of Cumberland Mountain. This act was repealed by Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 612.
  23. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 398, transferred the lands belonging to Barbra M. Sharp from the fifth civil district of Anderson County into the third civil district of Campbell County.
  24. Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 612, expressly and entirely repealed Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 95, above, and reinstated the boundary lines between Anderson and Campbell counties as they existed in that area prior to the act.