by Nathan Schwepler

Created on: July 01, 2008   Last Updated: July 16, 2008

The Great Fire of 2122 is a book about the past and the future. The Wild West section of this book pulls us back to Tennessee's early years. Tennessee became the 16th state in the Union on June 1, 1796. The town of Wellsville wanted to impress their new governor with their civilized city government.

Chapter Ten
The Death of a Patriarch

Wellsville's first mayor was Jethro Burnswell. He was elected at a town meeting on July 19, 1796. Before that Thaddeus and Jethro made all the decisions. As long as they agreed, the decision was final. They almost never agreed, so their two member governing council debated loudly and childishly until one of them won.

Nobody was willing to submit that governing plan to the state, so the citizens got together to form their government. It was a quiet, pleasant meeting, because Jethro and Thaddeus were unwilling to take charge. Of course they both wanted to be in charge of the town, but they both had the sense to know that they couldn't take charge of the meeting to decide who takes charge and then also take charge of the town. They had to be given their authority.
The names of the people who spoke at this meeting have been lost, but someone must have begun with an idea for the simple structure.
"We don't need much. I'd say a mayor and a few guys on a city council would do it."
"Sounds good. How many on the council?"
"Should be even, so the mayor could break a tie if there ever came to be a dead even vote."
"Even number. Good thinking. How about six?"
"Six sounds good. Who wants it to be six?"
"That looks like everybody, but you think we need to write down the votes?"
"No, not for that, but for picking the people we should."
"Well right. We need to write the votes when we elect the officials. Should we go ahead and do that tonight?"
"Looks like we still have time. That part didn't take long."
"We should probably have some names to choose from before we just vote."
"Sure some, what's that called?"
"Nominations."
"That's it. Nominations. Anybody got one for mayor?"
At this point Thaddeus spoke up and nominated Jethro Burnswell. There was a good reason for him to do that. He had a lot of respect for Jethro on a civil level. But personally, respect was not a strong enough word. He fought with him over decisions great and small, and he cared deeply for him.
After Jethro had accepted the nomination, the room was quiet for a bit. Then Harold Wellborn spoke up.
"I nominate Thaddeus Matthias Wellborn."
Thaddeus responded quickly. "Citizens of Wellsville, if the

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