Thomas Brown, Sr. dies, owning 546 acres of land including the Old Town homeplace. Before he died, Mr. Brown divided his property into tracts which were written on pieces of paper and drawn from a hat by his surviving four children (Jennie, Bethenia, John Thomas, and Maggie). His son John Thomas drew the homeplace, but because his work was in Nashville, he swapped tracts with his sister Bethenia Brown Miller.