On rainy winter days, sometimes I just put on some cozy clothing and spend the day playing on the computer. We have had plenty of those days recently and I decided that Newspapers.com needed my attention.
I did a search for “State of Dade” because, well, because that what I do when I have time. Even though Ken Pennington and I have nailed down the real reason that Dade became known as the “State of Dade,” I still continue to look for verification in all sources. On this particular day, I found a lot of articles in newspapers around the Southeast.
There were advertisements for coal sold by the Dade Coal Company in The Atlanta Constitution (see the clip included) and a tale of yet another Dade sheriff and his deputies being arrested by the federal government for taking a train from Chattanooga hostage. The state of Georgia was in full agreement with the taking, but because there was mail on said train, it became a federal matter. More about this as I research more.
There was one article that made me laugh out loud. It was printed in The Nashville Union and American and dated Friday, 22 May, 1874. Under the heading “STATE OF DADE” and the subtitle “A Humorous Lawsuit and an Important Decision”, it will hereafter be reprinted in its entirety.
What turns out to have been a very ludicrous claim was hotly contested, for two or three years, in the Superior Court of Dade County, Ga., a county which lies adjacent to Chattanooga and is commonly known as the “State of Dade.” It was the recovery of his father’s land by one Wm. Janney, who claimed that his father had bequeathed it to him, some years before, by a nuncupative will. The following were the allegations of the claimant, reduced to plain English by the defense, and read in court at the last session, to the uncontrollable merriment of the bar and spectators:
That Fleming Janney willed his property, during his natural lifetime, to his son William.
That in making said will, said Fleming Janney contracted to die.
That the said Fleming Janney has failed to die according to contract, and on that account has committed a fraud.
That it was his duty to have died many years since, at the time he made the will.
That from these facts this court is asked to consider him dead.
That if the court considers the said Fleming Janney dead, then it will also consider his estate satisfactorily administered upon.
That if the court considers that the said Fleming Janney has not committed a fraud in his failure to die, according to contract, and does not declare him dead, but that he still lives, and has a legal right not only to live but to marry a wife, then it is feared that it would be an insult to this court and this jury to ask them to steal the land from the said Fleming Janney, and give it to his son, William Janney.
The suit was decided against the claimant, Wm. Janney, whose expressed purpose now is to carry it up to the Supreme Court.
This is possibly the goofiest court case that any court in Dade County has ever heard. Upon checking out Messrs. William and Fleming Janney in Ancestry online, they appear to have come to Dade in 1860 and lived in the north end of the county. In 1867 they each signed the oath of allegiance to the United States which all Southern men were required to sign. William was about 19 years old.
By 1870, William and wife Julia Case Janney were living in Trenton and he was a farm worker. Dade property tax records for 1884-1887 show that he owned land in Rising Fawn. More research is needed to determine the final dispensation of this court case, but a good guess is that after he was laughed out of the Dade Superior Court his counsel stopped him from attempting to take the case further.
This researcher cannot find evidence of his burial in Dade County.
NOTE from the Historical Society: Our best hope is that the weather will moderate and that we will be able to go on our long-planned hike into the Cole City coke ovens on Saturday, March 23. Check out our Facebook page for updates on the hike and for old maps which we are currently posting. BTW, Cole City had a post office for the town from 02-09-1874 until 02-28-1911.
--Donna Street
donnam.street@gmail.com
