Clay County was established by the Tennessee General Assembly on June 16, 1870. The county was formed from the isolated portions of northern Jackson County and Overton County. Citizens believed that with this new county they would have more opportunities to participate in self-government rather than continuing to be part of a larger county with which they were connected by only a few trails and no roads. The first session of the county court met in Mary Robert's store in the community of Butler's Landing where the town of Celina was chosen as the county seat by a narrow margin.1 The name Clay County came from a man U.S. State Representative, member of the United States Senate, and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Henry Clay.2 Mississippian Indians are believed to be among the earliest residents of Clay County. Other tribes, including the Cherokee, Iroquois, Chickasaw, and Shawnee, have also resided in the county. The first white man in the region was the Frenchman Martin Chartier. He came as part of a Shawnee hunting party around 1691 and is believed to have remained the...