Abram Maury (1766-1825)
portrait by Ralph Earl
On March 14, 1786, Captain Anthony Sharpe had received a land grant from the state of North Carolina containing 3,840 acres. Sharpe was a soldier of the Continental Line. Soon after this, Abram Maury purchased from Sharpe a tract of land containing 640 acres. One corner of this he set aside for a town, and being a surveyor, he laid out the Town of Franklin itself.
Maury called his farm Tree Lawn, and he wished to name the new town Marthasville, for his wife, but she very modestly would have none of this. A plan of the town of Franklin was put on record in the County Clerk's office on April 15, 1800, and the first court met in Thomas McKay's house. The following men appeared as magistrates: John Johnson, Sr., James Buford, James Scurlock, Chapman White, and Dan Perkins. All except Buford and Scurlock had migrated from Louisa County, Virginia.
The first house in Franklin was said to have been built by Ewen Cameron in 1797, and Thomas McKay owned a home here before 1800.
Cook, Helen Sawyer, Williamson County Historical Journal, Number 4, 1973-74, p. 3,4
Note: The Town of Franklin is named in honor of Benjamin Franklin.
An Act To Establish a Town in Williamson County By the Name of Franklin
Whereas Abraham Maury has laid off a town on his own land on Harpeth, and has prayed that a law may be passed for the establishment thereof:
Section I.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That said town shall be known and distinguished by the name of Franklin, and is hereby established agreeably to the present plan, a copy of which said Maury is hereby required to file in the clerk's office of the county of Williamson, within six months after the passing of this act.
Section II.
Be it enacted, That Abraham Maury, John Walthral, Joseph Porter, William Boyd, and David McEwing are hereby constituted and appointed commissioners for the regulation of the said town of Franklin, vested with full power and authority for that purpose. Provided they govern themselves by the original plan of said town.
- William Dickson, Speaker of the House of Representatives
- Alexander Outlaw, Speaker of the Senate
October 26, 1799
