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McNairy County, Tennessee
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==History== [[File:Purdy TN cemetery.jpg|thumb|[[Purdy, Tennessee|Purdy]] was the county seat of McNairy County until 1890. Graves in the Purdy cemetery date back to the early 1800s. (2007)]] McNairy County was formed in 1823 from parts of [[Hardin County, Tennessee|Hardin County]], and was named for Judge [[John McNairy]].<ref name=tehc /> [[Purdy, Tennessee|Purdy]] was the county seat of McNairy County until 1890.<ref name=DeathSong>[http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmcnair/PURDYTOWN.htm The Death Song of Purdy], by Nancy Wardlow Kennedy</ref> Since then, [[Selmer, Tennessee|Selmer]] has been the county seat. During [[American Civil War|the Civil War]], McNairy County was among the most divided counties in Tennessee. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, McNairy County voted to secede by a margin of 1,318 to 586.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://votearchive.com/tn-sec-ref-1861/|publisher=Vote Archive|title=Tennessee Secession Referendum, 1861}}</ref> However, earlier on February 9, 1861, McNairy County voters had voted against holding a secession convention by a margin of 916 to 811.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://votearchive.com/tn-sec-conv-vote-1861/|title=Tennessee Vote on Secession Convention, 1861|publisher=[[The Fayetteville Observer|Fayetteville Observer]]|date=March 21, 1861}}</ref> Despite the strong overall support for secession, there was a strong [[Southern Unionist|Unionist]] minority in the northern half adjacent to solidly pro-Union [[Henderson County, Tennessee|Henderson County]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lufkin|first=Charles L.|title=Divided Loyalties: Sectionalism in Civil War McNairy County, Tennessee|journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly|date=Fall 1988|volume=47|issue=3|pages=169β177|publisher=[[Tennessee Historical Society]]}}</ref> The history of McNairy County also includes a very small, almost-unheard-of school. The Trantham School, listed on the 1940 census, operated from 1922 through 1948, with a single teacher serving grades 1 through 8. ===Sheriff Buford Pusser=== [[Buford Pusser]] served as the sheriff of McNairy County from 1964 to 1970. The courthouse and jail in Selmer were his base of operations. He gained prominence for his fight against [[moonshine|illegal distilleries]], bootleggers, gambling establishments, and corruption in the county. His story has been made famous in the ''[[Walking Tall (disambiguation)|Walking Tall]]'' series of movies starring [[Joe Don Baker]], [[Bo Svenson]], [[Brian Dennehy]], and [[Dwayne Johnson]], and in numerous documentaries and books.<ref name="Buford Pusser Biography"/><ref>Janet Rail, [http://www.sheriffbufordpusser.com/history2.htm "A Man Who 'Walked Tall' in McNairy County,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523110215/http://www.sheriffbufordpusser.com/history2.htm |date=May 23, 2010 }} SheriffBufordPusser.com. Accessed via Archive.org: October 23, 2013.</ref>
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