Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from December 7, 1872

• The stockholders of the Fulton County Agricultural and Mechanical Association held a meeting at the Hickman City Hall on November 23^rd for the purpose of electing officers. The following were elected board members, W. L. Alexander, Sr., A. H. Scarce, John R. McGehee, George W. Puckett, Charles Baltzer, J. H. Davis, H. A. Tyler, G. S. Miles, M. D. Johnson, J. H. Dodds, and J. W. Mayes. The next meeting was set for December 21^st.
• Pile driving recommenced on the Hickman wharf and the railroad authorities plan to have it completed before the spring floods.
• A new bridge over Dooms Branch, near “Dodd’s old sawmill site” in Fulton County, was to be constructed immediately and completed by January 1^st. Kuy Noonan was to be the contractor of the project. The levy connecting the bridge over Mud Creek was widened and floor of the bridge repaired.
• An Episcopal service was scheduled for December 15^th at the Methodist Church in Hickman. Efforts were being made to rebuild the Episcopal Church in Hickman that was destroyed during the war.
• The editor of the Charleston Courier of Charleston, Missouri published an editorial in the Hickman Courier suggesting the creation of the Charleston, Hickman & South Eastern Railroad which would serve all Southeast Missouri. He estimated the construction of the project would be a total of $61,000 and would recover and utilize over 100,000 acres of prime land for agricultural development.
• The home of Sophia Henry, near Lodgeton, was destroyed by fire the week prior. Mrs. Henry was a widow with several children
• David DeHaven, well known steamboat captain, was seeking to establish a line of steamers between Belmont, Missouri and New Orleans.
• The Mayfield Democrat reported high expectations of a narrow-gauge railroad from Paris, Tennessee, via Mayfield and Blandville, to Cairo.
• Many citizens of Ballard County opposed granting the right of way to the Mississippi Central Railroad though their county.
• Paducah newspapers reported numerous complaints of dogs barking in the city limits and whether the “city is going to the dogs or not.”
• A two-year old child “was burned to a crisp” after the child’s clothing caught fire.
• Seventy-one miles of rail line of the Paducah & Memphis Railroad was completed from Paducah, and it was estimated that the tracks would reach the first train station near Newburn, Tennessee by January 1^st.
• Paducah banks were receiving twelve to fourteen percent on their money transactions.
• The friends of the Hickman & Tiptonville Railroad and Levee Company met at Tiptonville, Tennessee on December 2^nd and $20,000 in stock was raised. Robert I. Chester subscribed 2,000 acres of land estimated at $5 per acre. It was decided to formally organize a company under the Kentucky charter law. An election was to be held in Hickman for seven directors to manage and conduct the business of the proposed company on December 30^th. A petition was filed in the Dyer County Chancery Court for a similar company charter in Tennessee.
• On November 28^th, seventy-eight wagons loaded with cotton departed Troy, Tennessee for Hickman and sixty-eight left the day prior. The Troy Times reported about 180 wagons had passed through the city in the past week with 540 bales of cotton headed toward Hickman.
• The President and Chief Engineer of the Brownville Railroad spoke at Troy, Tennessee to promote the construction of the railroad from Friendship, through Troy and Union City to Cairo, Illinois. An extension to Tiptonville, Tennessee and Hickman was also discussed at the meeting. It was expected the project would begin at Union City in January of next year.
• William Kennedy and Lucy E. Sellars were married at Fulton Station on November 26^th. Sarah Francis Tyler, wife of R. T. Tyler, died in Hickman County on November 19^th.