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Tipton County Courthouse, Covington, Tennessee Tipton County was formed from Shelby County in 1823 and named for Captain Jacob Tipton who was killed while leading his men against Indians near Fort Wayne in 1791. Tipton County is located in southwest Tennessee and is bordered on the north by Lauderdale County (and the Big Hatchie River); on the east by Haywood County; on the southeast by Fayette County; on the south by Shelby County; on the west by the Mississippi River (and the state of Arkansas). ( Here's a little-known tidbit: Did you know that parts of Tipton County, TN are located on the WEST bank of the Mississippi River and are inaccessible -- by land -- from the rest of the county? ) The county seat, Covington, was named for Leonard Wales Covington, a native of Maryland who was killed in the battle of Chrysler's Field in 1813. Topography and Migration Patterns of Tipton County: TOPOGRAPHY: from Goodspeed's History of Tennessee (1887), page 808 "Tipton County lies mainly on the plateau slope of West Tennessee, with about seventy square miles of Mississippi River bottom lands. Immediately around Covington the surface is level, and the same is found in all directions from that point except west, in which direction, after a few miles, the breaks of the second Chickasaw Bluff are met with, and the surface becomes broken and hilly, continuing so to the river. The prevailing color of the soil is dark, and that of the subsoil yellowish. In the northeastern and western districts, however, both are of a different color and character, the former being of a reddish or brown tinge and the latter of red clay, very rich. Along the water course east of the bluff the dark soil predominates, while west of that point in the bottoms it is nearly black. In all, the soil is a silicious element. Beds of lignite appear in the bluff, and at the lowest points outside the bottoms, as at the bluff, the strata of tertiary Lagrange sand crops out. Above the Lagrange group, out-cropping upon the face of the bluff, and at the surface in the eastern part of the county, are the gravel sands and clays of the grange sand drift. Resting upon the latter, and making the surface formation for a large part of the county is the loam or loess. Near the mouth of the Hatchie River is Mill-Stone Mountain, a solid mass of concrete rock, from which excellent mill-stones have been made". "The streams of the county are: Indian, Town, Beaver Hurricane, Sugar and Bear Creeks, while the Mississippi River forms the western and the Hatchie River the northern boundaries of the county. All the grasses, cotton, tobacco, potatoes, wheat, corn, oats, and the different fruits grow well in the county, and in the forests are found the best of poplar, hickory, oak, maple, cypress, chestnut and ash timber." MIGRATION PATTERNS "While Tipton County was settled principally by Middle and East Tennesseans, with a sprinkling from Virginia, the Carolinas and Kentucky, the bulk of her land was owned by citizens of North Carolina , to whom it had been granted in large bodies by that State." |
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