Acts Specific to Individuals' Land

The private act has often been used as a means for transferring parcels of land from one county to another, often because the boundary lines would bisect an individual landowner's property, placing the landowner under the jurisdiction of two counties. This type of boundary change was often very general in its description of the land transferred, without any metes and bounds description. The following is a summary of acts which authorized boundary changes for Sevier County.

1. Acts of 1796, Chapter 24, Page 82, appointed Joseph Greer, Abraham McClery, and William Bailes as Commissioners to run the line between Knox County and Sevier County according to the description in the 1794 Act creating Sevier County. They may start at any point they choose and each would be paid $2.00 per day, plus $1.00 per day for a marker, for each actual day worked which would be paid equally by the two counties.

2. Acts of 1805, Chapter 14, Page 15, appointed Peter Bryan and Joshua Gid as Commissioners to ascertain the line between Jefferson and Sevier County, and Mordecai Lewis, of Jefferson County who would work with them, all being given compensation at the rate of $2.00 per day. All chain carriers hired would be paid $1.00 a day.

3. Acts of 1832 (Ex. Sess.), Chapter 64, Page 51, appointed John Mullendore, of Sevier County, and Robert Weir, of Blount County to run and mark the line between the two counties; according to the acts of the assembly and provided that the county courts of both counties compensate these men in an adequate fashion as their discretion directs. They shall report to their County Courts and the line they determine shall be the line between the two counties.

4. Acts of 1839, Chapter 36, Page 64, required the county surveyors of Sevier and Blount Counties to run and mark the line which was changed between the two counties commencing at a point of said line on the top of Round Top Mountain and running from thence a due south course to the North Carolina line, at such compensation as their county courts may direct. Either of the two counties may act independently of the other, and, when done, the line established from such will be the line between the two counties. This act was repealed by Chapter 98, Acts of 1845-46.

5. Acts of 1845-46, Chapter 174, Page 259, changed the boundary between Sevier and Jefferson Counties so as to include all the lands of and the house of William Thompson in Jefferson County.

6. Acts of 1845-46, Chapter 98, Page 288, Section 4, expressly repealed Chapter 36, Acts of 1839, in its entirety.

7. Acts of 1851-52, Chapter 189, Page 271, so altered the lines between Jefferson and Sevier Counties at Creswell's Creek so as to include all the lands of Thomas Stringfield in Jefferson County.

8. Acts of 1853-54, Chapter 177, Page 245, recites in the preamble that lawsuits have been filed in the Courts of Knox County to settle a boundary line dispute between that County and Sevier County, therefore to settle the same, all the lands belonging to William Moulden, and to the heirs of D. Adams are declared to be in Knox County.

9. Acts of 1881, Chapter 54, Page 68, transferred all the lands belonging to S. A. Sims from Jefferson County over to Sevier County.

10. Acts of 1883, Chapter 38, Page 44, moved all the land and improvements belonging to John Russell, William Felker and Benjamin Fanning from Jefferson County to Sevier County.

11. Acts of 1883, Chapter 54, Page 56, also transferred lands belonging to B. C. Thornburgh, James A. Caldwell, and John Caldwell from Sevier County to Jefferson County.

12. Acts of 1887, Chapter 51, Page 121, provided that the land belonging to Andrew Creswell, deceased, and now belonging to W. G. Creswell and M. G. Creswell, formerly located in Sevier County, now be included in Blount County.

13. Acts of 1887, Chapter 132, Page 231, changed the lines between Knox and Sevier counties so that all properties belonging to G. W. Underwood and George King be included in Knox County.

14. Acts of 1887, Chapter 136, Page 240, transferred the entire farms belonging to W. P. Keener, J. G. Cannon, the heirs of William Thomas, deceased, and Rufus Kelly from Knox County into Sevier County.

15. Acts of 1889, Chapter 106, Page 212, so altered the boundaries between Jefferson and Sevier Counties that the lands of S. A. Sims and Benjamin Manning was included in Sevier County.

16. Acts of 1895, Chapter 95, Page 160, detached about 50 acres belonging to D. A. Ferguson from Sevier County and attached them to Knox County, thus placing all his land in Knox County and making the road running east and west on the boundary of his property the county line.

17. Acts of 1899, Chapter 117, Page 194, moved the farm and the residence of T. F. Adams from Sevier County into Knox County.

18. Acts of 1899, Chapter 256, Page 584, changed the lines between Sevier and Knox Counties so as to include in Knox County all the land lying in the 14th District of Sevier County belonging to H. C. Blair, J. G. Cannon, E. W. Housely, J. N. McMillin, Rufus Kelly, Lula J. Walker, S. G. Randles, and J. W. Creswell, thereby making the county line run with the French Broad River.

19. Private Acts of 1901, Chapter 208, Page 448, moved all the lands belonging to Sam L. Pickens from Sevier into Blount County making the new county line run the south corner of S. H. Cunningham's and run with his line and Pickett's to the Knoxville and Sevier Pike, then with the Pike to Shook's Gap.

20. Private Acts of 1901, Chapter 260, Page 572, detached the farms belonging to James Langston, and M. A. Langston from Sevier County and attached them to Jefferson.

21. Private Acts of 1901, Chapter 283, Page 649, moved all the lands from Sevier County into Jefferson County which belonged to W. G. Cate, J. W. Douglas, J. P. Moore, W. G. Bull, and E. Bull.

22. Private Acts of 1903, Chapter 55, Page 96, transferred the property belonging to Hugh Garner from Sevier County into Blount County.

23. Private Acts of 1903, Chapter 478, Page 1323, changed the line between Sevier and Blount County so as to begin on the extreme top of Roundtop Mountain at the southwest corner of Wear's valley and running due south to the state line of North Carolina and Tennessee, all conflicts being repealed.

24. Private Acts of 1903, Chapter 514, Page 1382, transferred all the properties of Hugh Gamble and Park P. Delozier from Sevier County into Blount County.

25. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 186, Page 2549, transferred about 50 acres belonging to the James Gamble farm from the Tenth Civil District of Sevier County to Blount County described as being bounded on the south by the county line, on the west by the lands of Andrew Davis, on the north by the lands of A. J. Davis, and on the east by the lands of Thomas Meddling and Mrs. Erven Rogers.

26. Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 355, Page 842, moved from Sevier County into Knox all the lands of George Creswell, J. B. Kelly, C. M. McAfee, Lula Walker, George Maples, Paul Styles, Mollie Lafollette, Henry Lafollette, and Veda M. Freels which lie on the north side of the French Broad River.

27. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 672, Page 1802, has a metes and bounds description of the property in the act but simply moves the land of George Petty, then located in Jefferson County, into Sevier County.

28. Private Acts of 1939, Chapter 303, Page 880, detached a 50 acre tract of land belonging to J. Ed Ogle from the 13th Civil District of Blount County and attached the same to the 9th Civil District of Sevier County. The second part of the act transferred from Sevier to Blount County a 12 acre tract belonging to Matlie E. Carr, a 7 acre tract belonging to Walter E. Ogle, and a 31 acre tract belonging to E. H. Carr.

29. Private Acts of 1941, Chapter 458, Page 1594, changed the lines between Sevier and Blount Counties so as to take out of the 16th Civil District of Sevier and place in the 18th Civil District of Blount that part of land owned by Tipton Brothers and the 75 acre tract belonging to J. T. Trotter.

30. Private Acts of 1945, Chapter 610, Page 1861, transferred about 8 acres belonging to O. L. Boyd and John H. Kerr from the 13th Civil District of Blount County to the 9th Civil District of Sevier County. The metes and bounds description contained in the act is not repeated herein because of the small area involved.

31. Public Acts of 1975, Chapter 134, would have transferred the property belonging to Fred M. Pierce from Blount County to Sevier County but, according to our information, was not approved by the Sevier County Quarterly Court and therefore never became a law.