First Settlements of Wilson County

The first settlement of Wilson County was made in the year 1797 at Drake's Lick, near the mouth of Spencer Lick Creek on Cumberland River, which was afterward the northeast corner of Davidson County, by William McClain and John Foster.

Two years later John Foster, William Donnell and Alexander Barkley made a settlement on Spring Creek, seven miles southeast of the present town of Lebanon.

During the same year settlements were made on Hickory Ridge, five miles west of Lebanon, by John K. Wynn and Charles Kavanaugh, both of whom came from North Carolina, and on the waters of Round Lick Creek, by William Harris and William McSpadden, of North Carolina, and James Wrather and Samuel King, of Virginia, and also on the waters of Spring Creek, about eight miles south of Lebanon, by John Doak, John Foster, David Magathey, Alexander Braden, the Donnells, and probably others. At the time of these settlements the land was covered with vast forests and thick canebrakes, and game of every specie from the bear, panther and deer down to the squirrel and rabbit existed in abundance. Several years before, however, the Indians as a tribe had been driven back, and only friendly ones as a class were met with by the settlers.

From 1799 the settlement of the county was rapid. The lands lying on the waters of the various creeks being the richer and easier of cultivation were naturally the first settled, and hence in giving the following list of names of the early settlers, they have been grouped into creek neighborhoods.

Barton Creek

Spring Creek

Cedar Creek

Spencer Creek

Cedar Lick Creek

Cumberland River

Stoner Lick Creek

Suggs Creek

Pond Lick Creek

Sinking Creek

Hurricane Creek

Fall Creek

Smith Fork

Round Lick Creek, including Jennings Fork

 Wilson County | AHGP Tennessee

Source: History of Tennessee, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1886