[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 112 (Friday, July 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CELEBRATING FRANKLIN COUNTY, TENNESSEE'S BICENTENNIAL

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                           HON. LINCOLN DAVIS

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 12, 2007

  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, it was over 200 years 
ago that Major William Russell and Jesse Bean reportedly traveled in 
search of a ripe landscape to settle the Franklin County we know today. 
The county was named for one of our Founding Fathers, Ben Franklin, and 
finally took its place amongst Tennessee's other counties when 
recognized officially by the Tennessee Assembly in 1807. Since then, 
statesmen and sportsmen, farmers and craftsmen, war heroes and great 
scholars alike have represented the culture of Franklin County to the 
State and the country. I am proud today to recognize the successes and 
history of Franklin County, and to wish upon its people a future as 
blessed as the inception of the county they call home.
  Named for a soldier of the American Revolution and the first Speaker 
of the Tennessee Assembly, the town of Winchester was designated as the 
Franklin County seat in 1809. Winchester today offers visitors a host 
of curiosities, festivals and other Tennessee fun. From the Dogwood 
Festival to the yearly Jamboree, Winchester gives plenty of reason to 
visit and more than enough for Franklin County residents to stay and 
make their home.
  High atop the Cumberland Plateau and not far from Winchester, 
Franklin County offers another great treasure in the town of Sewanee, 
and the University of the South. Since it's founding in 1860, Sewanee 
has produced writers and theologians, and 25 Rhodes scholars to make 
Tennessee and Franklin County proud. The school has undergone a series 
of name changes, too, finally settling on ``Sewanee: The University of 
the South.'' Plenty of us in Tennessee and Franklin County just call it 
``The Mountain,'' but whatever the name, it's a fine piece of the 
Tennessee tradition.
  Construction of the University came to a halt when the cornerstone 
was destroyed by Union soldiers in the Civil War. In the midst of its 
200 year history, like so many Tennessee counties, Franklin County 
endured the hardships of that difficult time in our Nation's history, 
and today still commemorates those lost to the Civil War so many years 
ago.
  From its first settlers to the friends and neighbors who live their 
today, Franklin County has honored its namesake and our forefather, Ben 
Franklin, with its history and the traditions they will maintain for 
years to come. As Franklin himself advised, ``wish not so much to live 
long as to live well.'' This month, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
recognizing the continuing story of Franklin County, a 200 year history 
lived long and well in Tennessee.

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