The Town of Courtland / Early Settlers

The Town of Courtland, also, Early Settlers. Side A , Federal lands in this area were first sold in 1818 and quickly purchased by settlers and speculators. A group of investors calling themselves the “Courtland Land Company” and consisting of William H. Whitaker, James M. Camp, William F. Broadnax, John M. Tifford, Benjamin Thomas and Bernard McKiernan acquired the future town site and had it laid off in a gridiron street pattern containing 300 lots. These were immediately put up for sale. In hopes that Courtland would become the county seat, the present square was set aside for a courthouse. Alabama’s territorial legislature incorporated Courtland on December 13, 1819., Side B , Major Lewis Dillahunty and his wife, Lucinda, reputedly settled at Courtland in 1816. Dillahunty, a surveyor, had fought with Andrew Jackson at New Orleans. Soon afterward came wealthy planters, with their families and slaves, from Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia. They were joined by merchants artisans, lawyers, doctors, preachers and innkeepers as Courtland became the trade center for the surrounding farms and plantations. A newspaper, The Courtland Herald, was established in the 1820s. For most of its history, Courtland’s population has numbered between 400 and 700 people.