ESSARY, Benjamin

  Noted events in his life were:

• Notes about life. Benjamin Essary received a land grant in 1841 signed by
President Martin Van Buren for property along the Hatchie
River four miles from Pocahontas in the southern part of
Hardeman County, Tenn. Another land grant in 1844 signed by
President John Tyler provided him with an additional nearby
parcel of land.

Essary, who also owned land in Mississippi, settled
in this area and named it Essary Springs, because of the
springs of sparkling mineral water on the property. Benjamin gave
the land where the largest spring was located for a small
public park. Eventually a hotel was erected and the
village took on the air of a budding summer resort as people
came to drink the spring waters, which were thought to
have health-giving qualities. Years later, Essary Springs was
further enhanced by the organization of a college--Southern
Tennessee Normal College--with educator A. G. Freed as
its president. The college drew business and teacher-training
students from throughout West Tennessee and North
Mississippi.

Benjamin Essary's descendants have noted that while
Essary Springs showed early promise of becoming a thriving
town, three major setbacks hastened its decline. They note
that when the railroad was built, it by-passed Essary Springs.
Then A. G. Freed moved his school to Henderson, where it
eventually evolved into Freed-Hardeman University. Finally,
the hotel burned and was not rebuilt. Today, little remains to
remind one of the once-promising education center and summer
resort of the late 1800s.

Notes by Marvin Howell:
Note: When I was in college, I once had to do a
term paper about a community for a sociology course called
"Community Organization." I chose Essary Springs, and
my research and paper detailing the rise and fall of this
village earned me an A+.

While I own the John Tyler land grant, it is not
in the best of condition. I have only a Xerox copy of the
Martin Van Buren document, which is owned by a distant
cousin in Mississippi whose name and address I have
misplaced. So I am not submitting these items. Nor do we
have any pictures of Benjamin and his wives, although
another cousin, Jo Cranford Hueter of Warm Springs, Ark.,
does own her great grandfather's family Bible--and his
wedding trousers of 1878! Now what about that!

Benjamin married Elizabeth Graves SMITH in 1838. (Elizabeth Graves SMITH was born on 18 Jul 1816 in North Carolina, died on 3 May 1878 and was buried in Essary farm not far from the spring, Essary Springs, TN.)

Benjamin also married Mary "Polly" LANCASTER on 10 Dec 1878.