CASE OF JOHN BRAHAN VS. YOUNG A. GRAY. Court Document, March 19, 1831. Interrogatory of a Witness.
[Fayetteville, Tennessee: 1831]. 31 cm. 4 pp., approx. 1000 words. Manuscript document, torn at fold no loss, browned. The case concerned a dispute over the worth of property as advertised in a land sale. The circuit court for the County of Lawrence, Alabama directed a commission to the Court house at Fayetteville, in the County of Lincoln, in the state of Tennessee, to depose the witness. Robert Dixon, "aged about 44 years, witness in a certain matter of controversy" was questioned by the defendant's agent: "Were you present at the sale of lots in the town of Cotton Port near Tennessee River in the state of Alabama in March 1818? If yea, state what was said by the Commissioners or Trustees of said town as to its commercial advantages and what public improvements ... promised or made...?" Apparently John Brahan was unhappy with his land purchase and felt that the worth of the land had been misrepresented, especially in regards to a promised bridge and warehouse. Item #67597
A few facts are known about Brahan: "John Brahan, (8 Jun 1774 Fauquier Co VA - 8 Jun 1834 Lauderdale Co AL) served under his good friend, General Andrew Jackson, as a Major in the War of 1812. Later becoming a Major General in the Alabama Militia, John Brahan built a mill at the mouth of Town Creek in Lawrence County, later known as Foster's Mill." (The controversial land is near the border of TN and AL.) Not much is known about Young A. Gray except that he owned the land in Tennessee. The following notice in the Nashville Clarion and Tennessee State Gazette of February 17, 1818, advertised the land sale by the trustees of Cotton Port, Alabama. It illustrates the accelerated pace of development in the Tennessee River valley during the period: "Trade cannot stagnate here. Industrious and ingenious mechanics must see that the inhabitants of such a country will want houses, furniture, farming utensils, leather, saddles, boots, shoes, etc. and will be able to pay good prices for them. The upper country on the Tennessee and Holston rivers and their branches will afford, at a very trifling expense for water carriage down river, abundant supplies of provisions, iron, lumber and other raw materials." Brahan, at some point, sold part of his property to Thomas Bibb (1784-1838), who is also mentioned. Bibb was Alabama's second governor and built his Belle Mina plantation in 1826 in a community just north of Mooresville. The house still stands. The town of Cotton Port no longer exists, being subsumed by Mooresville.
Price: $225.00