Overton County was named in honor of Nashville judge John Overton when the state of Tennessee formed it out of land that previously belonged to Jackson County on September 12, 1806 with the passage of the Private Acts of 1806, Chapter 27. [1] “With an area of 434 square miles, the newly created county encompassed all of what is now Fentress County, as well as portions of Clay, Putnam, Cumberland and Scott Counties.” [2] However, this is not where the county’s story begins.