population in the country districts is 52 per square mile. Gibson County 

 is, therefore, thickly settled. Table V gives the population of the 

 towTis in Gibson County with more than 200 inhabitants. 



TABLE v.— POPULATION OF TOWNS 



1910 1911 



Humboldt 3,446 2,866 



Trenton 2,402 2,328 



Milan 1,605 1,682 



Dyer 1,166 1,204 



Kenton 815 * 



Rutherford 766 677 



Bradford *400 * 



Medina .' 320 * 



Yorkville *300 * 



Brazil. *250 * 



Gibson 233 * 



Total 11,703 10,918 



* Not reported separately in census. 



The original settlers came chiefly from North Carolina and Virginia, 

 and are largely of English and Scotch-Irish descent, with an admixture 

 of Germans and Irish. During the past fifteen years there has been no 

 important new tide of immigration. An analysis of the sample plot 

 figures shows out of 517 country families only 19 or 3.6 per cent., that 

 have moved in from outside of West Tennessee. Of these 7 came from 

 Middle Tennessee, 3 from Alabama, 2 each from Missouri, Indiana and 

 Illinois and 1 each from North Carolina, Arkansas and East Tennessee. 

 It will be seen, then, that practically the entire population of the country 

 districts are native Southerners. What is true of the country districts is 

 substantially true of the towns. The white population of Gibson County 

 is, therefore, of unmixed American blood of the best quality. The 

 absence of immigration has, however, this effect: It shuts in the people 

 of the county from contact with people of different training and modes 

 of thought. This tends to make the people less progressive. 



Locally there has been some shifting of population. Of these same 517 

 families 194 were newcomers in their immediate neighborhoods, having 

 moved in within the last fifteen years. 



The Drift from the Farm 



There does not seem to be any widespread tendency to leave the farm 

 in this county. In 19 neighborhoods, with 517 families in all, only 47 

 farm owners (9.1 per cent, of the total number) had left within the last 

 ten years; 26 of these had gone to town, and 21 had taken farms in 

 other places. Of those who went to town, 10 had retired on account of 



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