Private Acts of 1821 Chapter 201

SECTION 1. That Sterling Brewer, James Fentress and Abram Murry, Esquires, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners, who or a majority of them shall on or before the first Monday in May next, proceed to fix on a place, as near the center of the respective counties as an eligible site can be procured, at least within three miles of the center of each of said counties, at which site the commissioners shall procure by purchase or otherwise, at least fifty acres of land, for which they shall cause a deed or deeds to be made to themselves and their successors in office, by a general warranty, and the said commissioners shall report and return all their proceedings relative to and concerning the county of Henry to the county court thereof, and all their proceedings relative to and concerning the county of Carroll, to the county court thereof, and all their proceedings relative to and concerning the county of Henderson to the county court thereof, and all their proceedings relative to and concerning the county of Madison, to the county court thereof, and it shall be the duty of the clerk of each of the several counties to record the same.

SECTION 2. That it shall be the duty of the respective county courts aforesaid to appoint five commissioners, to whom the commissioners appointed by this act, shall convey the lands acquired for county purposes, on which it shall be the duty of the commissioners appointed by the county court to cause a town to be laid off in their respective counties with their necessary streets, at least ninety feet wide, reserving at least four acres for a public square, on which shall be built a court house and stocks, also reserving a public lot sufficient to contain a jail.

SECTION 3. That the commissioners of each of the respective counties shall sell the lots of the town of their county at public sale, on a credit of twelve months, giving due notice thereof, in one or more of the public newspapers printed in Nashville, and shall take bond with sufficient securities from the purchasers of said lots, payable to themselves and successors in office, and shall make titles in fee simple as commissioners to the respective purchasers of said lots.

SECTION 4. That the proceeds of the sales of the lots aforesaid, shall be a fund in the hands of the respective commissioners, for defraying the expenses incurred in the purchase of the tract of land in their county, on which the town is directed to be laid off, also for defraying the expenses of building thereon a court house, prison and stocks.

SECTION 5. That the said commissioners shall superintend the building of the court house, prison and stocks, in their respective counties and shall let all of the said public buildings to the lowest bidder, advertising the same sixty days in one or more of the newspapers printed in Nashville, setting forth their dimensions and the materials of which they are to be built, and shall take bond with sufficient securities from the person or persons to whom the court house, prison or stocks, is let, payable to themselves and successors in office, in the sum of at least ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of his or their contract or contracts, and if the proceeds of the sale of said lots is not sufficient for the purposes above mentioned, it shall be the duty of the county court of the county or counties where such deficiencies may happen, to lay a tax, not exceeding the amount of the state tax levied in the said county, to be applied to the objects aforesaid and to be continued until all arrearages are paid off.

SECTION 6. That the commissioners appointed by the county courts, before they enter on the duties of their appointments shall give bonds and approved securities, in the sum of five thousand dollars each, payable to the chairman of the county court of their county, and his successors in office, for the use of the county, conditioned for the faithful performance of the trust reposed in them, and the said bond shall be filed in the clerk's office of the county, and shall not be so construed as to make any one of the commissioners securities for another.

SECTION 7. That a majority of the commissioners shall in all cases be competent to perform the duties by this act assigned them, and if any one of the commissioners appointed by the county court neglects or refuses to act, a majority of the justices of the county, where such vacancies may happen, shall appoint another in his place, and when the said commissioners shall have performed the duties above enjoined upon them, they shall lay before their respective county courts a full statement of all their proceedings, and the county court shall make them a reasonable compensation for their services.

SECTION 8. That the first mentioned three commissioners shall be entitled to and receive as compensation for their services --- dollars for each day they may be absent from home, and necessarily employed in performing the duties required of them by this act, to be paid by the counties aforesaid, in such proportion as the said commissioners may deem just and equitable.

SECTION 9. That when either of the towns above mentioned is laid off, the courts of the county shall be adjourned to, and held therein, any law to the contrary notwithstanding; and that this act shall not be so construed as to make either of the aforesaid counties liable for any part of the expenses which the other may incur or take from either of the counties any of the monies which may accrue to it from the sale of town lots or otherwise.

And whereas a manifest mistake appears in the second call or line establishing Carroll county, by an act of the present General Assembly, for remedy whereof,

SECTION 10. That the lines of said county shall run as follows, to wit: Beginning at the south east corner of Henry county, running thence west with the south boundary to the south west corner thereof, thence south two miles and a half to the fourth sectional line in the 12th district, thence west on said sectional line to a point four miles west of the first range line in said district, thence south parallel with said range line to a point two miles and a half south of the line separating the 9th and 12 districts, thence east as mentioned in the above recited act.

November 16, 1821.