Tennessee AHGP
Montgomery County County

Francis Prince

Among the leaders at Prince's Station, were Francis Prince and James Ford; the former inclined more to civic duties, while the latter was a leader in the frontier militia. Prince was a man of attractive presence, and great personal magnetism. In 1783 he was elected captain of the company at Maulding's Station.

A little later in the same year, he was commissioned one of the four magistrates who organized the first County Court of Davidson County, and was himself elected Register. He refrained from voting in the election, so there were only three votes cast, two for Prince and one for Andrew Ewin. This position he held until after the establishment of Tennessee County. After his residence had fallen in the new county of Tennessee, the County Court of Davidson County gravely mooted the question, whether the accident of the Register's being cut off in another county would vacate his office, and held that it would not, provided he kept a deputy in Nashville.

This decision was subsequently reconsidered and reversed, and Prince went out of office. Upon the organization of Tennessee County, he became the first chairman of its County Court, which position he held for a number of years.

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© Tennessee American History and Genealogy Project
Created February 3, 2016 by Judy White