Thomas Emmerson (June 23, 1773 – July 22, 1837) was an American judge and newspaper editor, active in the early 19th century.
[1] In 1818, Emmerson and Judge John Overton published a two-volume collection of state supreme court decisions entitled, Tennessee Reports.
[1] Following his retirement from the court, Emmerson moved to Jonesborough, Tennessee, where he practiced law and purchased a farm just outside the city on Cherokee Creek.
[6] He quickly developed a fascination with experimental farming practices, and helped introduce the first cast iron plow to the region in 1825.
[6] Emmerson renamed the paper, The Washington Republican and Farmer's Journal, which he initially published in partnership with Seth W.J.
With the motto, "Truth our guide, the public good our aim," the paper supported railroad construction and internal improvements,[6] and was politically anti-Jackson.
[9] Governor William G. "Parson" Brownlow (1805–1877) began his journalism career by publishing several anonymous articles in Emmerson's Washington Republican.
In the 1840s, Brownlow frequently clashed with Landon Carter Haynes, editor of the Tennessee Sentinel, the paper that had been founded by Emmerson's associate, Lawson Gifford.