Future-president James K. Polk got a lot of letters.
As his extant correspondence shows, he regularly heard from a number of citizens about a number of issues throughout the course of his public life. As a lawyer, he no doubt became used to the role of negotiator. And as a representative in Tennessee's General Assembly, he cut his teeth on the art of politics.
As his extant correspondence shows, he regularly heard from a number of citizens about a number of issues throughout the course of his public life. As a lawyer, he no doubt became used to the role of negotiator. And as a representative in Tennessee's General Assembly, he cut his teeth on the art of politics.
But as a member of Congress in 1828, Polk must have been surprised, indeed, when one concerned citizen asked him to become a debt collector and shake down a fellow congressman for an overdue debt.
On February 20, 1828, William Henry of Lawrence County, Tennessee mailed Polk a long-overdue promissory note from none other than the King of the Wild Frontier, himself, David Crockett. The letter that Henry sent with the note said the following:
Lawrenceburg Tennessee Feby 20th 1828
Sir I take the liberty of encloseing a note of hand on Colo
Crocket that I want you to colect for me as you are the Only
member that I am acquainted with. You will please Direct your
letter to Lawrenceburg Tennessee.
To which Polk added the following endorsement:
"The note above alluded to is for $12.75 dated l0th Oct. 1822, due one day after date,
payable to Moses Pennington. This day enclosed the said note to Wm. Henry,
Lawrence County Tennessee. March l0th 1828. J.K.P."
There is a lot to unpack here, so let's dive right in.
Moses Pennington was my 5x-great-uncle, a brother of my 5x-great-grandfather Isaac Pennington. We know a considerable amount about the Pennington family of Lawrence County, thanks to their early arrival in the area, their numerous children, their massive landholdings, their civic engagement, and the great sheaves of documentation generated by the disposal of their large estates.
According to Goodspeed's History of Tennessee--and supported by relevant documentation--the Penningtons were among Lawrence County's first white settlers shortly after the U.S. government paid the Chickasaw Indians around two cents an acre for the region in 1816. The four Pennington brothers, along with their father Jacob, owned thousands of acres of territory along the Buffalo River near the modern community of Henryville. Moses built the county's first watermill and distillery.
Lawrence County's court records also indicate that Moses was no stranger to trouble with the law. In 1818, Isaac and Moses plead guilty to the charge of selling liquor without a license (the Dukes of Henryville?). No doubt these spirits were made at Moses's distillery. Moses was brought to court on another charge of bootlegging a year later, but contested it, and was found not guilty.
The Penningtons were mostly literate, comparatively wealthy, and industrious, their harsh frontier environment notwithstanding.
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| The record of Isaac and Moses Pennington's indictment for bootlegging. Lawrence County, Tennessee Archives |
The Penningtons were mostly literate, comparatively wealthy, and industrious, their harsh frontier environment notwithstanding.
When Isaac died many years later, his estate included promissory notes from dozens of local people. These notes were a normal part of everyday life for the period. With no banks in close proximity, notes supplied an easy way to keep track of indebtedness. Unfortunately, we have no such inventory for Moses Pennington's estate, but it would not have been out of character for a man of his means to hold several such notes. And so it is not surprising that, in the autumn of 1822, Moses loaned $12.75 to Lawrence County's most famous founding father, the one and only David Crockett.
It's also not surprising that Crockett was in need of funds at the time. In that season of his life, Crockett was habitually short on cash. A disastrous flood of Shoal Creek in September 1821 had destroyed Crockett's mill and distillery, and Crockett's operation had been built almost completely with borrowed money. With his industry destroyed and his prospects for commercial success dashed, Crockett's creditors had no choice but to take him to court to demand payment.
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| David Crockett |
Facing dissolution, Crockett liquidated his landholdings in Lawrence County and moved west. And apparently--if Henry's letter to Polk is to be believed--he borrowed $12.75 from my 5x-great-uncle, Moses Pennington not long after.
Moses, himself, was dead by 1826. His estate was sold and the assets distributed by the fall of that year. If the debt was legitimate, the most likely scenario of how William Henry came to own Crockett's debt to Moses was that he bought it from Moses's estate. Apparently knowing no other way to exact payment for the debt, Henry sent the long-overdue note to Crockett's fellow-Congressman from Tennessee, James K. Polk.
The date of the note raises several questions.
Indeed, the date of the note is the only detail that casts its authenticity in a dubious light.
Was Crockett in Lawrence County in late October 1822, or perhaps was Moses for some reason in Carroll County? We know from extant court records that Crockett was physically present in his new Carroll County home by September 9, and that he was again physically present in Carroll County in early December of that year. Crockett was prone to go on long-range hunting trips in the fall, after his corn had been harvested, but it is doubtful that he would go back to Lawrence County for such a trip, when by his own admission, "game was plenty of almost every kind" in his new West Tennessee home.
While the circumstances surrounding the date of the note do somewhat muddy the waters of this fascinating story, there is little doubt that Crockett and Pennington knew each other—court records indicate that Crockett was present as a Justice of the Peace during some of Moses’s court appearances—and there is little doubt that Moses could have loaned money during a period when Crockett desperately needed it.
It is interesting to note that Crockett’s autobiography names a "young man named Abram Henry" as one of his companions on his initial scouting trip to his new West Tennessee home. Local lore also says that Henryville, the community where the Pennington family initially settled, was so-named because the first postmaster of the village was a man named Henry. No doubt there is something to all of these connections that adds a further thread of legitimacy to the 1828 letter.
Indeed, the date of the note is the only detail that casts its authenticity in a dubious light.
Was Crockett in Lawrence County in late October 1822, or perhaps was Moses for some reason in Carroll County? We know from extant court records that Crockett was physically present in his new Carroll County home by September 9, and that he was again physically present in Carroll County in early December of that year. Crockett was prone to go on long-range hunting trips in the fall, after his corn had been harvested, but it is doubtful that he would go back to Lawrence County for such a trip, when by his own admission, "game was plenty of almost every kind" in his new West Tennessee home.
While the circumstances surrounding the date of the note do somewhat muddy the waters of this fascinating story, there is little doubt that Crockett and Pennington knew each other—court records indicate that Crockett was present as a Justice of the Peace during some of Moses’s court appearances—and there is little doubt that Moses could have loaned money during a period when Crockett desperately needed it.
It is interesting to note that Crockett’s autobiography names a "young man named Abram Henry" as one of his companions on his initial scouting trip to his new West Tennessee home. Local lore also says that Henryville, the community where the Pennington family initially settled, was so-named because the first postmaster of the village was a man named Henry. No doubt there is something to all of these connections that adds a further thread of legitimacy to the 1828 letter.
Whether Polk exacted payment from Crockett or not is a mystery. But if you are a descendant of Crockett and would like to settle up (with 200 years of interest, of course), I accept PayPal.
