Provenance of Lacy Property in Jackson County, Tennessee (10th Civil District)

(updated 27 Apr 2021)

The following summary of land grants and transfers is provided to show the provenance of property belonging to William Lacy, Sr.; William Lacy, Jr.; William Woolsey Lacy; and Martha Jane Lacy.

1. Land grants in Tennessee
2. Land grants from the State of Tennessee to Reuben Lee (1828-1839)
3. Fate of Reuben Lee's property (1839-1850)
4. Kinnard & Bransford to William Lacy, Jr. (1850)
5. John A. Matheny to William Lacy, Sr. (1852)
6. William Lacy, Sr. to William Lacy, Jr. (1856)
7. William Lacy, Jr. to William Woolsey Lacy (1883)
8. William Whitson to William Woolsey Lacy (1883)
9. Z. M. Young to William Woolsey Lacy (1898)
10. Nancy Jane (Clinton, McDuffee) Lacy to Martha Jane (McDuffee) Lacy (1905)
11. William Woolsey Lacy to Watson & Lou Whitson (after 1916)

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1. Land grants in Tennessee

On 9 Jan 1830, the legislature of Tennessee passed a law intended to encourage the development of  unused land in relatively unpopulated areas. While some land grants (bounty warrants) were made under previous laws to reward soldiers and officers for service in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the 1830 law was an economic stimulus.

Notes:
(a) https://genealogy.stackexchange.com/questions/3173/state-of-tennessee-land-act-of-january-9-1830, accessed 8 Mar 2021.

2. Land grants from Tennessee to Reuben Lee (1828-1839)

Four land grants were made to Reuben Lee between 1828 and 1839, each of which was in the "Mountain District."

• #825. 1828, 50 acres, book B, page 257. [Jackson County]
• #1516. 1829, 50 acres, book C, page 344.
• #2652. 1832, 87.5 acres, book D, page 569.
• #7833. 1839, 81 acres, book P, pages 292-293; book O-P-R, page 374. [Jackson County]

Notes:
(a) Brown, Carole. Bound by Blood: The Lees of Tennessee from 1790 through 1860. Privately published, 2000; page 117.

(b) For more on the "Mountain District," see Moore, Wayne C. Tennessee Land Grants System, extracted by Audrey Lambert and found at http://www.ajlambert.com/jared/stry_lgs.pdf,  accessed 8 Mar 2021.

(c) The original land grant document for #7833 is in the possession of Larry Flatt, Madison, Mississippi.

3. Fate of Reuben Lee's property (1839-1850)

Reuben Lee likely passed away sometime between 1839 and 1848. As of 9 Dec 1848, Reuben's parents, John and Elizabeth Lee, were living on the land that had been granted to Reuben by land grant #825. John and Elizabeth, by way of trustee Alexander Montgomery, transferred the property to their son-in-law, Charles Johnson, in exchange for Charles and his wife taking care of the Lees in their old age. [NOTE: It does not appear that this property became the property of the Lacys at any time, but the Lacy family does have the deed. Note also that land grant #825 was for 50 acres, but this deed, which references #825, says the deed is for 45 acres.]

Reuben's land grant #7833 was purchased by Kinnard (Russel M.) & Bransford (Thomas L., Sr., Kinnard's father-in-law) ("merchants"), probably after Reuben's death.

Notes:
(a) Deed, Alexander Montgomery as Trustee for John and Elizabeth Lee, to Charles Johnson (Mark E. Lacy papers)

4. Kinnard & Bransford to William Lacy, Jr. (1850)

On 24 Jan 1850, William Lacy, Jr. purchased from Kinnard & Bransford the 81 acres formerly granted to Reuben Lee as #7833.

Notes:

(a) Deed, Kinnard & Bransford to William Lacy, Jr. (Mark E. Lacy papers).

5. John A. Matheny to William Lacy, Sr. (1852)

On 16 Mar 1852, William Lacy, Sr. purchased 100 acres on Blackburns Fork from John A. Matheny. The deed was not registered until 14 Jun 1856, after the death of William Lacy, Sr.

Notes:

(a) Deed, John A. Matheny to William Lacy, Sr. (Mark E. Lacy papers).

6. William Lacy, Sr. to William Lacy, Jr. (1856)

On 18 Jan 1856, William Lacy, Sr. transferred his property (100 acres on Blackburns Fork) to his son, William Lacy, Jr., in exchange for William Jr. taking care of his parents in their old age. The deed was not registered until 14 Jun 1856, after the death of William Lacy, Sr.

Notes:

(a) Deed, William Lacy, Sr. to William Lacy, Jr. (Mark E. Lacy papers).

7. William Lacy, Jr. to William Woolsey Lacy (1883)

William Lacy, Jr. had no surviving heirs once his son Lofton died while trying to clear a logjam in the Cumberland River in 1869. In Jan 1883, he deeded a portion of his land to his grandson William Woolsey Lacy (son of William Jr.'s son Andrew Jackson Lacy). The portion that was deeded was the 81 acres William Lacy, Jr. originally purchased in 1850 from Kinnard & Bransford.

The one hundred acre portion, transferred to William Lacy, Jr. from his father in 1856, may have been deeded to another of William Lacy, Jr.'s grandsons, William Worth Lacy (son of Lofton Grimsley Lacy), but we have no documentation to attest to that.

Notes:

(a) Deed, William Lacy, Jr. to William Woolsey Lacy (Mark E. Lacy papers).

8. William Whitson to William Woolsey Lacy (1883)

In April 1883, William Whitson sold to William Woolsey Lacy his land that adjoined that of William Lacy, Jr. The deed did not document the size of this property.

Notes:

(a) Deed, William Whitson to William Woolsey Lacy (Mark E. Lacy papers).

9. Z. M. Young to William Woolsey Lacy (1898)

Z. M. Young was a physician in Jackson County. In February of 1898 he set up three payments of $50 each, to be paid by William Woolsey Lacy, for a 50-acre tract of land bordered "on the east by Lacy, on the west by Anderson, on the north by Anderson, and on the south by Whitson," the deed to be given to William on completion of the payments. We have no record of William's payments or the deed.

Notes:

(a) Agreement and promissory notes, property from Z. M. Young to William Woolsey Lacy (Mark E. Lacy papers).

10. Nancy Jane (Clinton, McDuffee) Lacy to Martha Jane (McDuffee) Lacy (1905)

Nancy Jane McDuffee (nee Clinton) had married William Lacy, Jr. shortly after William's first wife, Keziah, died in 1874. Her daughter, Martha Jane McDuffee, had married William Woolsey Lacy in 1879. The property description in this deed matches the description for the 81 acre parcel deeded to William Woolsey Lacy from his grandfather in 1883. We have no explanation for this. Perhaps Nancy Jane Lacy, as William Lacy, Jr.'s widow, felt she had claim to this property as well. As it stands, there was no property transferred by this deed because William Woolsey Lacy and his wife Martha Jane already were living there.

Notes:

(a) Deed, Nancy Jane Lacy to Martha Jane Lacy (Mark E. Lacy papers).

11. William Woolsey Lacy to Watson & Lou Whitson (after 1916)

Recollections of Thurman Whitson, about 1995: 

"The Lacys and the Whitsons had adjoining farms and when Mom and Dad were married, Grandpa [William Woolsey Lacy] gave a portion of the Old Lacy Place to them near a spring."

Notes:

(a) The Lacy-Whitson-Dyer Families of Jackson and Putnam Counties, Tennessee, 1085-1995. page 137.