Michael Harmon

Because of Indian unrest, only one settler is indicated as coming to Randolph County in 1811. This man was Michael Harmon who established a settlement near Palestine. Though he died within a short time, five sons carried on. This settlement later attracted numerous...

William Gordon

The tanning of leather continued for many years to be a local industry. William Gordon who came to the Sparta region in 1820, worked at the tanner’s trade. Robert Pollack also had a tannery nearby. Two fair-sized tanneries in one locality would seem to indicate a...

William Going

William Going was a blacksmith and bell maker who settled in the community known successively as Washington, Horse Prairie Town, and Lafayette; neither of which succeeded in growing into a village. William was a good blacksmith and bell maker but doubtless would long...

Robert Gant

Most of my information is on the Gant and Crisler line and this came from J.B. Dodge, aged historian of Fort Gage, who wrote a series of articles for the News Plaindealer: He wrote the following: The Gant’s of the New Palestine and Diamond Cross communities descended...

Robert Foster

Robert Foster, was born in Abbeville (Old 96 District), South Carolina in 1785. Robert came to Randolph County in 1808. He arrived on horseback with John Anderson. Their most probable route was via the Old South Carolina State Road to the North into the Cumberland...

Dr. Fisher

Though Brewerville has never prospered as a village, it provides a point by which some earlier interests may be located. The lowlands between Brewerville and the Mississippi River once contained some of the finest kind of pecan trees. There were great groves of them,...

Edmund Faherty

In 1825, Edmund Faherty, built a “horse band mill” two miles north of the mill established by William Nelson in 1812. From the large number of such mills, one would conclude that their capacity to produce was rather small or that there were more settlers...

Rev. James C. Elliott Biography

The history of Perry and Randolph Counties would be incomplete without a sketch of the Elliott family.  They are the descendants of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry.  Members of the family came to America prior to the Revolutionary War.  William Preston Elliott, the...