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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 Lawrence County.

  1. Acts of 1817, Chapter 174, established Wayne County and mentioned Lawrence County several times in the boundary description of Wayne County but did not appear to take any area away from Lawrence County. In Section 6 was a provision that the Clerks of the Counties from which Lawrence, Morgan, Marion, and Wayne were formed would furnish those counties with copies of the laws in force in those areas.
  2. Acts of 1819, Chapter 127, established Lawrenceburg as the county seat of Lawrence County. This Act is published in full herein.
  3. Acts of 1819, Chapter 149, added all that part of the country directly north of Lawrence County and south of Hickman County to Lawrence County.
  4. Acts of 1847-48, Chapter 80, Section 6, realigned the boundaries between Wayne County and Lawrence County so that all the lands of William Hollis would be placed in Lawrence County and the boundary line so changed.
  5. Acts of 1851-52, Chapter 55, changed the boundaries between Wayne County and Lawrence County moving the line as follows: starting at the State line dividing Tennessee and Alabama in the middle of the channel of Shoal Creek, and run up said creek with the middle of the channel thereof to the mouth of Holly Creek; thence up Holly Creek with its meanders to the original county line dividing Wayne County and Lawrence County; thence north with the said line as before.
  6. Acts of 1851-52, Chapter 367, redescribed portions of the boundary lines of Lewis County from which it is difficult to tell whether or not Lawrence County was affected.
  7. Acts of 1853-54, Chapter 130, moved the residence and lands belonging to Felix Carroll which were registered in his name and on which he now lives out of Giles County and into Lawrence County.
  8. Acts of 1857-58, Chapter 136, Section 4, changed the lines between Lawrence County and Lewis County so as to make the Lewis County line begin on the south boundary of Lewis, at the northwest corner of Lawrence County, running thence southwestwardly with the west boundary of the same far enough to include old man Brewer's premises, on the head of the west prong of Brush Creek; thence in a northeasterly direction, running east and north so as to include all of the Brush Creek settlers in the county of Lewis, to a point where the old Natchez Trace road crosses Little Buffalo, just above William Pollock's; thence with the said Natchez Trace road to the south boundary of Lewis County.
  9. Acts of 1859-60, Chapter 135, Section 9, transferred the home and lands owned by James C. Hollins out of Wayne County and into Lawrence County.
  10. Acts of 1865-66, Chapter 76, Section 4, detached the portions of lands located in Lawrence County which belonged to William Hollis and Jasper Hollis from Lawrence County and attached them to Wayne County.
  11. Acts of 1867-68, Chapter 13, changed the lines between Lawrence County and Wayne County so that the lands owned by John D. Wade, G. R. Reynolds, Jesse Bradley, Henry Mourton, James Wade, R. Hamm, Isaac Mourton, John W. Mourton, Alex G. Mourton, W. B. Richardson, William Johnson, Matthew Johnson, Robert Johnson, W. B. Smith, Edmund Smith, W. C. McDougal, and James Liles, would all be wholly within Lawrence County.
  12. Acts of 1868-69, Chapter 31, returned all the territory taken from the counties of Maury, Hickman, Lawrence, Wayne, and Perry to form Lewis County to those respective counties. This Act was repealed by Acts of 1869-70, Chapter 30, thereby reestablishing Lewis County.
  13. Acts of 1868-69, Chapter 39, rearranged the boundary lines between Giles County and Lawrence County so that all the lands and the residences of W. H. Hagan, James W. Hagan, William H. Hagan, and Sinia Garner, would be located wholly within Lawrence County.
  14. Acts of 1868-69, Chapter 43, changed the county line between Giles County and Lawrence counties so as to include the lands of James Hogan, W. H. Hogan and Sirend Garner in the county of Lawrence.
  15. Acts of 1870-71, Chapter 18, Section 5, altered the line between Giles County and Lawrence County to include the 90 acres of land belonging to Emery Hughes within Lawrence County, the same being contiguous to the county line.
  16. Acts of 1877, Chapter 62, provided that the residence of N. F. Morrow and all the farm on which he now resided would be included wholly within Lawrence County and not in Wayne County, but Wayne County was not to be reduced below its constitutional limits nor the line, as revised, be nearer than eleven miles to the Court House of Wayne County.
  17. Acts of 1877, Chapter 155, realigned the boundaries between Giles County and Lawrence County so as to include within the Fourth Civil District of Lawrence County the lands in the 18th Civil District of Giles County which belonged to James Harwell, Thomas M. Kelly, Catherine Hughes, Elvira Scott, and John M. Berry, plus a 100 acre tract owned by A. J. Hannah, provided all of the above did not bring the boundary line nearer than eleven miles to the Court House of Giles County.
  18. Acts of 1877, Chapter 157, changed the county line between Wayne County and Lawrence County as follows: beginning at a point where the Lawrenceburg, Wayland Springs, and Florence road crosses the line between the said counties of Wayne and Lawrence, thence in a southwesterly direction with the center of the said road to the north boundary line of the State of Alabama, so as to include within the limits of the said County of Lawrence all the territory south and east of the said road lying in the State of Tennessee.
  19. Acts of 1879, Chapter 137, Section 15, moved all the lands belonging to Berry Brashears out of Giles County and into the 9th Civil District of Lawrence County.
  20. Acts of 1885, Chapter 127, transferred all the lands of William C. Napier, known as the Napier Furnace lands, out of Lawrence County and placed them in Lewis County.
  21. Acts of 1887, Chapter 204, took all the lands owned by John Bromley and James V. Gallaher out of Lawrence County and put them into the limits of Wayne County.
  22. Acts of 1889, Chapter 217, rearranged the boundary lines between Lawrence County and Lewis County so that all the properties belonging to the Laurel Hill Manufacturing Company and the Napier Iron and Mining Company would be wholly situated within Lewis County.
  23. Acts of 1901, Chapter 257, detached the lands of J. L. Ball from Lawrence County and attached the same to Giles County, as the involved area was more particularly described in the Act.
  24. Acts of 1903, Chapter 320, took the properties belonging to E. W. Faremen out of Lawrence County and placed them into Maury County. This Act was repealed by Acts of 1907, Chapter 484.
  25. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 763, amended the description of the boundary lines running between Lawrence County and Lewis County, as established by Acts of 1885, Chapter 127, and Acts of 1889, Chapter 217, by definitely locating the boundary lines relative to the W. C. Napier lands.
  26. Private Acts of 1923, Chapter 632, transferred all the lands belonging to J. Monroe Carson out of Wayne County and into Lawrence County.
  27. Private Acts of 1929, Chapter 262, changed the boundary lines between Wayne County and Lawrence County so that the lands of Cager McGee would no longer be in Wayne County but would be situated wholly within Lawrence County.