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Boundaries - Historical Notes

Tennessee Code Annotated
Tennessee Attorney General Opinions

The following is a summary of acts which authorized boundary changes for Smith County.

  1. Acts of 1801, Chapter 37, changed the boundary lines of Smith, Wilson, Davidson, Williamson, and Robertson Counties to extend their east and west boundaries to the southern border of the State.
  2. Acts of 1803, Chapter 74, stated that nothing in the act, which reduced Wilson County to its constitutional limits of six hundred twenty-five square miles, would be so construed as to prevent the Sheriffs of Davidson and Smith Counties from collecting taxes and arrearages as fully as if the act had not been passed. Section 3 appointed William Minor Quesenbury as Commissioner to run the lines between Wilson, Davidson, Rutherford, and Smith Counties at Wilson County's expense.
  3. Acts of 1843-44, Chapter 61, established and declared the boundary line between Smith County and Macon County, as described in the act creating Macon County in 1842, to be the permanent line between those two counties.
  4. Acts of 1849-50, Chapter 80, altered the line between Smith and Jackson Counties so that it ran from the point where said line crossed Hurricane Creek, the same running with said creek to the Cumberland River, thence with said River northwardly to where the county line crossed said River and from thence north as the line then currently ran.
  5. Acts of 1849-50, Chapter 139, transferred the farms and residences belonging to Nicholas Smith, Andrew Vantreece, John Robinson, and John F. Goodner from Smith County to DeKalb County.
  6. Acts of 1851-52, Chapter 262, changed the line between Smith and DeKalb Counties to include wholly within DeKalb County the lands of H. H. Sullivan, John Corley, and William H. Christian. The Smith County Surveyor would run and mark the line as changed and the County would pay the Surveyor.
  7. Public Acts of 1857-58, Chapter 83, contained a general description of the land involved when the entire farms belonging to J. F. Goodner, James Goodner, Louisia D. Dowell, William Floyd, Lucy Preston, Jacob Measles, William Grindstaff, and Martin Foutche, were moved out of Smith County into the first Civil District of DeKalb County.
  8. Private Acts of 1859-60, Chapter 100, transferred the lands of James Holmes out of Smith County into Wilson County.
  9. Private Acts of 1859-60, Chapter 135, was a duplicate of the act transferring the land of James Holmes from Smith County to Wilson County.
  10. Public Acts of 1867-68, Chapter 23, transferred the residence, farm, and citizenship of Mitchell M. Crowell from Putnam County to Smith County.
  11. Public Acts of 1867-68, Chapter 82, changed the boundaries between Smith and Putnam Counties to run as follows: "Beginning at a point in the line of Smith and Putnam Counties, where it crosses the ridge near M. M. Crowell's; thence, running along said ridge, so as to include the lands of M. M. Crowell, Mary Brown, Susan F. Cardwell, J. C. Apple; and with G. W. Apple's line to Young's Fork of Indian Creek; and thence down Young's Fork of Indian Creek; and with said creek to the Smith County line, near Dr. Wm. Robinson's, including all North and West of said line, in Smith County." All persons whose property was transferred by the act would pay their 1868, 1869, and 1870 taxes to Putnam County. Section 2 of the act moved the lands of R. G. Davis from DeKalb County into Smith County.
  12. Public Acts of 1868-69, Chapter 20, changed the lines between Smith and Putnam County to include wholly within Smith County the residence and farm of F. M. Goolsby. Taxes on the property would be paid to Putnam County for the next three years.
  13. Public Acts of 1868-69, Chapter 43, transferred the lands of J. C. Fletcher, O. P. Apple, H. B. Clark, and F. M. Goolsby from Putnam County to Smith County. 1869 and 1870 taxes on the properties were to be paid to Putnam County. Section 3 of the act transferred the properties of H. B. Clark from Jackson County to Smith County.
  14. Public Acts of 1869-70, Chapter 48, detached the lands belonging to Thomas Watts from Putnam County and attached them to Smith County.
  15. Public Acts of 1870-71, Chapter 84, changed the line between Putnam and Smith Counties as follows: the line would "run with the Road and Young's Fork of Indian Creek, instead of running altogether with Young's Fork, including all the road in Putnam County, and that the road and Young's Fork be the boundary line between the counties".
  16. Public Acts of 1871, Chapter 12, transferred the properties belonging to John Jones from Smith County to the First Civil District of DeKalb County.
  17. Public Acts of 1873, Chapter 66, detached the part of the tract of land on which Samuel Fitz Patrick lived that was in Putnam County from Putnam County and attached it to Smith County. Nothing in the act was to be construed to reduce Putnam County below its constitutional limits or bring the county line nearer than eleven miles to the Courthouse.
  18. Public Acts of 1877, Chapter 115, changed the boundary lines between Putnam and Smith Counties to include in Smith County that portion of lands belonging to Thomas L. Watts and lying in Putnam County, making the county line follow the boundary between the lands of G. B. Thompson and Thomas L. Watts.
  19. Public Acts of 1881, Chapter 142, transferred, the farms of G. B. Thompson, A. J. Clark, L. D. Apple, and the balance of the lands of S. B. Lee from Putnam County to Smith County.
  20. Public Acts of 1881, Chapter 164, transferred the lands belonging to John Rollins and Thomas Oakley from Smith County to DeKalb County.
  21. Public Acts of 1883, Chapter 99, transferred approximately twenty acres of land belonging to J. M. Ballard from Putnam County to Smith County. The land adjoined that of T. D. Sexton, J. C. Fletcher, and C. F. Burton. The lands of Purlina Evans were transferred from Smith County into Putnam County, so that the county line would be between her land and that of Stephen Petty and Mary Ballard.
  22. Public Acts of 1887, Chapter 53, changed the lines between Smith and DeKalb Counties to include wholly within DeKalb County all the properties belonging to John Rollins.
  23. Public Acts of 1893, Chapter 20, transferred the lands belonging to H. S. Gill, which were bounded on the north by Robinson and Warford, on the south by the DeKalb County line, on the east by the Caney Fork River, and on the west by John Williams, from Smith County to DeKalb County.
  24. Public Acts of 1893, Chapter 73, changed the line between Smith and DeKalb Counties to run from the northwest corner of the T. J. Fisher tract on Smith Fork Creek, south with the west boundary of the said tract and the east boundary of P. L. Reynolds along the fence between said parties to the southwest corner of the Fisher tract, then east with the line between Fisher and Reynolds to the county line.
  25. Public Acts of 1895, Chapter 82, transferred all the lands of W. R. and D. E. Seay and E. C. Harris out of Smith County and into Wilson County.
  26. Public Acts of 1895, Chapter 98, transferred the property belonging to A. H. King from Putnam County to Smith County.
  27. Private Acts of 1897, Chapter 148, detached the lands of I. W. Evans from Putnam County and attached them to Smith County.
  28. Private Acts of 1897, Chapter 263, transferred the lands of C. A. Malone from DeKalb County to Smith County.
  29. Public Acts of 1899, Chapter 143, transferred all the lands of J. M. Bates, as described, from DeKalb County to Smith County.
  30. Public Acts of 1899, Chapter 179, moved six acres of land belonging to William Oakley from Smith County to DeKalb County.
  31. Acts of 1903, Chapter 221, detached the farm and residence of Lycurgus Kelley from Smith County and attached them to DeKalb County.
  32. Acts of 1905, Chapter 47, changed the boundary lines between Wilson and Smith Counties to include wholly within Wilson County the lands of E. C. Maxey, bounded on the east by Levi Beard, on the north by Thomas Conatser's heirs, on the west by D. J. Shipp, and on the south by Jacob Faley's heirs.
  33. Acts of 1905, Chapter 86, moved the property belonging to G. W. Evitts from the Fourth Civil District of Smith County to the second Civil District of Trousdale County.
  34. Acts of 1905, Chapter 88, transferred all the lands of J. B. Williams from the 17th Civil District of DeKalb County to the Seventh Civil District of Smith County.
  35. Acts of 1905, Chapter 95, transferred the properties belonging to Daniel Driver from Smith County to DeKalb County.
  36. Acts of 1905, Chapter 370, transferred the lands of I. W. Evans from Putnam County to Smith County.
  37. Acts of 1905, Chapter 505, altered the boundaries between Smith and Jackson Counties by moving the property of Elisha Canter from Jackson County into Smith County.
  38. Private Acts of 1913, Chapter 276, transferred approximately eighty acres of the farm belonging to D. E. Seay, as described in the act, from Smith County to Wilson County. The act also transferred the land belonging to Mrs. T. H. Henson and that owned by W. S. Bridgewater from Wilson County to Smith County.
  39. Private Acts of 1915, Chapter 237, transferred the land belonging to Arch Parker, Brit Floyd, Lillard Oakley, and C. R. Barry from the 19th Civil District of Smith County and placed them in the 12th Civil District of Wilson County.
  40. Private Acts of 1915, Chapter 562, moved approximately three acres of land, as described in the act, belonging to J. R. Talley, from Smith County to Wilson County.
  41. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 718, transferred the jointly owned lands of I. B. Thomas and W. E. Taylor from the 7th Civil District of Macon County to the 6th Civil District of Smith County.
  42. Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 673, stated that Dave Litchford and Rice Moss owned farms which were located in both Smith and Wilson Counties. The act rearranged the boundary line so that approximately forty acres of Litchford's land and eighteen acres of Moss' land were included in Smith County.
  43. Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 770, moved all the property belonging to C. H. Baird from Smith County to Wilson County so that his children could attend school in Wilson County which was much nearer to their home.
  44. Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 771, stated that Roe Purnell owned a farm that was in Smith County except for approximately twenty acres which were in Wilson County. The act moved the Purnell farm into Smith County.
  45. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 218, transferred a certain seventeen acre tract which was a part of the farm owned by Lillard E. Oakley from the 19th Civil District of Smith County to the 12th Civil District of Wilson County.
  46. Private Acts of 1939, Chapter 369,detached approximately forty acres of a farm owned by D. E. Seay, Sr., from the 18th Civil District of Smith County and attached it to the 8th Civil District of Wilson County, the property being known as the old Hinson or Seay Place.
  47. Private Acts of 1955, Chapter 55, stated that Henry Sloan desired to transfer five acres located in Macon County to Smith County and to transfer approximately twenty-nine acres in Smith County to Macon County; that Carnie Gammons desired to detach eleven acres in Smith County and attach them to Macon County; that the changes appeared to be in the best interest of the parties and the Counties. The act transferred the lands according to the desires of the parties.