Below are books offered for sale by the Perry County Historical Society and its members:

[ Source: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1886] 

It can not be said who was the first settler of Perry County. The settlements were made in the valleys along the water-courses, and have ever-since been confined to those localities. There is no account of settlements prior to 1818, but it is evident that a number of individuals settled in the territory of the county before that date. Robert Patterson, whose son William was born on Tom Creek in 1818; Ferney Stanley, who taught the first school in the county, on the same creek, in 1820; Rev. Wm. Hodge, Rev. Samuel Atkins, John Stanley, Wm. O. Britt, Enoch Hooper and John Young, all settled on Tom Creek about the year 1818. 'William Patterson, now deceased, if not the first, was among the first born in the county.

Mousetail Landing - a history of life along the river

The Native Americans

The Chickasaw tribes and their ancestors who lived in the areas near the Tennessee River left a rich cultural legacy.

Native peoples began to settle on river terraces during the archaic period. Between 3,000 and 900B.C. natives developed a rudimentary agriculture and their populations expanded to form villages.

The next stage of Tennessee pre-history, lasting almost 2,000 years is known as the Woodland period. This era saw the introduction of pottery, settled farming communities, the construction of burial mounds and well organized tribal agricultural societies.

The peak of prehistoric development occurred during the Mississippian period (900-1,600 A.D.). The erection of ceremonial temples, public structures, elaborate pottery styles and a wide variety of personal artifacts including jewelry were earmarks of these complex societies.

The clash of cultures between the Chickasaw and Europeans creating an emerging nation hastened the demise of this important part of Native American Culture.

The Early Settlers

The white man began to move into this area in the early 18th century. Following the Revolutionary war, there was an open push to move the frontier westward and establish new territory. The influx of settlers increased after January 7, 1806 when the Cherokee nation ceded to the United States their land between the Duck River and the Tennessee River South. Part of this land had also been purchased from the Chicashaw in 1805. Hunting, trapping, fishing and raising crops and livestock were essential to survival in this new territory.

There is a very little to be said about the first settlers, as authenticated records are scarce. It is to be assumed they were of Scotch-Irish heritage. Early settlements were established in valleys along watercourses, the first known ones being located on Tom’s Creek. There is no account of settlements prior to 1818, but it is evident that a number of individuals were in the area before that date.

The settlers of Hickman and Humphreys Counties petitioned the sate government for the creation of a new county and Perry County, named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a Naval Officer and hero in the War of 1812, was created by the Tennessee General Assembly on November 14, 1819. This land area included nearly all of Decatur County.