USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 77
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Hope Hull: The Pioneer of Method- When the first Methodist conference in Georgia was organized at the ism in Georgia. Forks, in what was then Wilkes, now Madison County, in 1788, there ap- peared upon the scene a man of singular power, who was destined to wield a far-reaching influence upon the for- tunes of Methodism-Hope Hull. We are told by the famous Dr. Lovick Pierce that he was given the some- what coarse but graphic appellation of "Broad Ax", a name which strikingly suggests the stalwart blows which he delivered for Methodism in Georgia. The first hymn book ever used by the Wesleyans in this State was com- piled by Mr. Hull, who was a fine singer as well as a great preacher. Mr. Hull came of English stock. His father, Hopewell Hull, was by occupation a shipbuilder, who,
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emigrating to America, settled in Somerset County, Md., where on March 13, 1763, his son Hope, was born. Though barely more than a youth, Hope Hull witnessed service in the Revolution, after which he studied for the ministry, supporting himself meantime by house-build- ing. It was in 1788 that he settled in Georgia where he became to the Methodists what Jesse Mercer was to the Baptists. David Meriwether gave him the land on which he afterwards started the first Methodist school in this State. It was known as Succoth Academy and was located near Coke's Chapel. He was not a classical scholar, though he possessed an indifferent acquaintance with Latin and Greek. These, he employed the Reverend John Brown, a Presbyterian minister, to teach. The lat- ter afterwards became president of the University of Georgia. Mr. Hull succeeded the Reverend John Springer as president of Washington Academy, and in 1803 re- moved to Athens.
Daniel Grant. It may be said in this connection that the first Methodist church in the entire State of Georgia was built in Wilkes by Daniel Grant. With his son, Thomas, he operated one of the earliest mer- cantile establishments in Upper Georgia. He was also the first man in the State from conscientious motives voluntarily to manumit his slaves.
Elijah Clarke: The Bedford Forrest of the Revolution. Volume II.
John Clarke: His Grave Overlooking St. Andrew's Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. Volume II.
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It was Isaiah T. Irwin, of Wilkes, who, as chairman of the committee to suggest the name of a compromise candidate for Governor, in the Democratic convention of 1857, made the report of the committee and nominated for Governor, Joseph E. Brown, of Cherokee. Fifty years later, his grandson of the same name, by a co- incidence somewhat rare in the history of politics, made an eloquent speech, seconding the nomination of the famous war Governor's son, Joseph M. Brown, to the same office, in the Democratic convention of 1908.
The Last Order of the Confederate Government.
Volume II.
The Old Heard
House: Where the Last Meeting of the Confederate Cabinet Was Held. Page 211.
The Old Chenault Home: A Land- Mark. Page 213.
Where Georgia's When Governor Charles J. Jenkins Great Seal Was was deposed from office by the military Buried. authorities, in 1865, the office of Secre- tary of State was held by the distin- guished Nathan C. Barnett. To prevent the profanation of Georgia's Great Seal by the carpet-bag government, which was then in power, this sturdy old official secretly transported the emblem of Georgia's sovereignty to his home in Washington, where he buried it at dead of night underneath his residence, in a spot revealed to no one except his wife. He took Mrs. Barnett into his confidence so that in the event of his death the Great Seal of the
·
The tek-/ ----- ENdeE . HEHE HE-1.
THE HOME OF ROBERT TOOMBS, IN WASHINGTON, GA.
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State might be restored at the proper time to the lawfully constituted authorities. The seal which Governor Jen- kins bore into exile at the time of his dramatic flight from the State, was the Executive Seal used in the ordinary transactions of the Governor's office, not the Great Seal. This was restored in 1868 by Mr. Barnett himself who, resuming the office of Secretary of State, continued to occupy this post of honor until his tall figure began to droop under the weight of more than four score years and his long thin locks of hair were whitened by the snows of winter .*
Recollections of Gen.
Toombs.
Volume TI.
Original Settlers. As gathered from various sources, in- cluding the records of the Court of Ordinary, Gilmer's Georgians, White's Historical Col- lections, family Bibles, etc., the pioneer settlers of Wilkes prior to 1788 were as follows: Stephen Heard, Barnard Heard, Jesse Heard, John Heard, Benjamin Wilkinson, John Talbot, with his son, Matthew Talbot, who after- wards became Governor; George Mathews, a soldier under Washington, who afterwards succeeded to the helm of affairs in Georgia; General Elijah Clarke, with his son, John Clarke, the latter of whom, in addition to achieving military honors, became Governor ; Colonel Micajah Williamson, Colonel John Dooly, Colonel Thomas Dooly, Colonel Benjamin Taliaferro, Francis Meriwether, Thomas Meriwether, David Meri- wether, William Barnett, Joel Crawford, John Gil- mer, Thomas Meriwether Gilmer, John Marks, John Callaway, Nathaniel Edge, Wiley Hill, John Myrick, Colonel John Freeman, Colonel Holman Freeman, John Marks, Dr. W. W. Bibb, General Samuel Blackburn, Nathaniel Barnett, Micajah McGehee, Daniel Harvie, Reuben Jordan, who is said to have been a descendant
* Authority: Hon. Philip Cook, of Atlanta, Georgia's present Secretary of State.
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
of Pocahontas, John Davenport, John Bradley, James Bradley, George Lumpkin, John Rutherford, John Hill, Thomas Ansley, Nathaniel Howell, Thomas Wootten, Burwell Pope, John Lindsey, Frederick Sims, William Pollard, Benjamin Jackson, Walter Jackson, William Morgan, Thomas Branham, John Wingfield, John Nall, Nathaniel Christmas, Job Callaway, Jacob Early, Henry Mounger, William Glenn, Walker Richardson, Benjamin Joyner, Reuben Saffold, James Findley, Curtace Well- born, Samuel Creswell, James Anthony, William Terrell, Joel Terrell, Daniel Grant, Thomas Grant, William Bowen, John Armstrong, Sanders Walker, Colonel Nich- olas Long, Thomas Wellborn, Thomas Carter, Spencer Crane, Mr. Pharr, James, Jack, Garland Wingfield, Mr. Cuthbert, Thomas Napier, William Moss, Captain Lip- ham, Horatio Marbury, John Barksdale, Henry Pope, Charles Tate, Henry Gibson, John Pope, David Lowry, Thomas Wingfield, William Stokes, William Gilbert, Daniel Mills, Edward Butler, David Hillhouse, Micajah Anthony, John Chandler, John Cain, Elijah Darden, Gabriel Toombs, William Toombs, John Stephens, Wil- liamson Bird, George Willis, Humphrey Burdett, Joel Hurt, Pressly Rucker, William Sanson, James Sanson, William Head, Alexander Cummins, John Collier, Joseph Wilson, Sampson Harris, Anthony Poullain, John Colley, Phillip Combs, Jacob Shorter, William Ogletree, Joseph Callaway, William Rabun, Henry Colquitt, James Shep- ard, Colonel John Graves, Captain Abram Simons, Rev. Silas Mercer, Rev. T. J. Beck, Henry Jossey, and Mat- thew Sikes.
Distinguished Resi- During the Revolution this section of dents of Wilkes. the State was known to the Tories as the "Hornet's Nest". It furnished the historic battle field of Kettle Creek; and to the muster- rolls of the Revolution it contributed a host of names some of which, after more than a century's flight, are still radiant. First on the list come the Clarkes-father
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and son. Elijah Clarke, an unlettered frontiersman, was the Bedford Forrest of the Revolution. It was due largely to his skill in seizing a strategic opportunity that Toryism in Upper Georgia was over-thrown at Kettle Creek; and beyond any question he was the most conspicuous figure contributed by Georgia to the struggle for American Independence. John Clarke, who, a lad of thirteen, fought by his father's side at Kettle Creek, became Governor of the State. Both in peace and in war, he was a fighter to whom the word "compromise" was unknown. He ex- changed shots in a duel with Wm. H. Crawford, his great political antagonist; and between these two powerful leaders there waged for years one of the bitterest feudal warfares known to Georgia politics.
But, going back to the Revolutionary days, we here find the Doolys, two gallant brothers, both of whou were murdered in cold blood. Col. Thomas Dooly was the first to fall ; and it was due largely to the vigilance of his brother, Col. John Dooly, in seeking to avenge the former's murder that he, too, came to his death. The Doolys lived in a part of Wilkes afterwards erected into Lincoln. The celebrated Judge John M. Dooly, of the Georgia Bench, was a son of Col. John Dooly, of the Revolution.
Micajah Williamson, a gallant officer who attained the rank of Colonel, was a resident of Wilkes. He reared a family of girls, all of whom became famous belles. Without an exception they married men of note. Included among the descendants of Micajah Williamson are two members of the Supreme Court of the United States : Jolın A. Campbell and L. Q. C. Lamar.
Stephen Heard, a soldier of the Revolution under Washington, afterwards a Chief-Executive of the State, lived here. He was the founder of the town of Washing- ton. Later he established his home on a plantation today included in the county of Elbert. Here also lived the
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Freemans. Col. John Graves, a soldier of the Revolution under Gen. Greene, also lived herc.
Benjamin Taliaferro and David Meriwether-two of Georgia's most distinguished sons-became residents of Wilkes at the close of the Revolution.
George Mathews, a soldier of the Revolution, after- wards Governor of the State, established, in 1784 a famous colony of Virginians on Broad River, in what was then the county of Wilkes. Some who came with him were the Meriwethers, the Gilmers, the Freemans, the Taliaferros, and the Barnetts. Governor Mathews has been greatly misjudged because of his part in the famous Yazoo transaction. Though he signed the bill, he was guilty of no malfeasance in office, and there is noth- ing to show that he expected to reap any profit therefrom.
Capt. Alexander H. Stephens, a veteran of the French and Indian Wars, who fought under Braddock, after- wards a soldier of independence, settled in Wilkes; but when the county of Taliaferro was organized his planta- tion was included in the latter. He was the father of the Confederate Vice-President.
Here lived Matthew Talbot, a distinguished Governor of the State. His father, John Talbot, was the largest land owner in Upper Georgia. Brigadier-General Robert M. Echols, who fell in the Mexican War, was a native of Wilkes. Here also at one time lived Dr. William Terrell. When Wilson Lumpkin came to Georgia he settled in a part of Wilkes, afterwards erected into Oglethorpe.
Governor Towns first saw the light of day in Wilkes. When a young man he removed to Alabama, after which he settled at Talbotton for the practice of law. Nicholas Ware, a distinguished United States Senator from Geor- gia, was taught in the academy of Dr. Springer, near Washington. Here, too, the illustrious John Forsyth was a pupil. *
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Governor Early was born in Wilkes. Afterwards the family homestead was established at Scull Shoals, on the Oconee, in Greene, at a place called "Early's Manor." The Rabuns settled in a part of Wilkes, afterwards formed into Hancock. Consequently, the name of Gov- ernor Rabun belongs in this list.
Col. Nicholas Long, a Virginia patriot, settled in Wilkes at the close of the Revolution. Here he made his future home. Gen. Samuel H. Blackburn was also a resident of Wilkes for a number of years, but he subse- quently removed to the North.
Samuel Davis, the father of Jefferson Davis, was a native of Wilkes, in which county he grew to manhood. He afterwards migrated to Kentucky where the future President of the Confederate States of America was born. The grandfather of Mr. Davis sleeps in an unmarked grave somewhere near the present town of Washington.
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Seventeen counties of Georgia have been named for men of note who at one time resided in Wilkes, viz., Heard, Clarke, Dooly, Taliaferro, Talbot, Rabun, Campbell, Early, Bibb, Echols, Meriwether, Forsyth, Ware, Towns, Lumpkin, Terrell and Toombs.
The list of eminent men includes also ten Governors : Heard, Mathews, Clarke, Talbot, Early, Lumpkin, Rabun, Towns, Ware, and Forsyth; besides four pioneer ministers of the gospel who attained to eminence : Jesse Mercer, John Springer, Hope Hull, and James Osgood Andrew. The last was a Bishop of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, whose ownership of slave-property caused the great disruption of 1844.
Judge Garnett Andrews, who presided for years over the courts of the Northern Circuit, and who published a work of rare value entitled : "Reminiscences of An Old- Time Georgia Lawyer", lived here.
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
His daughter, Miss Eliza F. Andrews, has attained note both as an educator and an author.
Dr. Joel Abbott, an early member of Congress, lived in Washington, and Dr. W. W. Bibb, a native of Elbert, afterwards a United States Senator, resided for a while in Wilkes.
Francis Willis, a national law-maker, was at one time a resident of Wilkes, but finally removed to the State of Tennessee.
Judge John A. Campbell, who became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and who attended the famous conference at Hampton Roads as a commissioner of the Confederate government, was born in Wilkes, though he afterwards removed to Alabama.
It was Duncan G. Campbell, his father, for whom Campbell County was named.
Mark A. Cooper, one of the State's industrial pioneers, a member of Congress, and a far-sighted man of affairs, was born in Wilkes.
Dr. William Barnett, a member of Congress, lived in Washington, but afterwards removed to Alabama.
Nathan Barnett, long Georgia's Secretary of State, was another resident of this historic town.
Robert Toombs, the great Mirabeau of Secession, in the opinion of many Georgians, the foremost intellect of his day, lived and died in Wilkes.
General Dudley M. DuBose, his son-in-law, a Briga- dier-General in the Confederate army and a member of Congress, also lived here; and here was born General L. J. Gartrell, a gallant soldier, a member of Congress and one of Georgia's greatest criminal lawyers.
Washington was also the home of the distinguished educator and historian, Miss Eliza Bowen, from whose "History of Wilkes County" much of the material con- tained in this chapter has been derived.
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WILKINSON
WILKINSON
Created by Legislative Act, May 11, 1803. Named for Major-General James Wilkinson, a distinguished soldier of the Revolution and a native of Maryland. Implicated in certain affairs of intrigue which injured his reputation, he resigned his commission and removed to Kentucky, where he engaged for some time in mercantile pursuits. Re-entering the army, he was given an important command on the border and for a number of years rendered efficient service to the government, especially during the War of 1812, when he was stationed at New Orleans. He acquired an extensive influence over the frontier. But the charge of connivance with the Spaniards in Louisiana to bring about the absorption of the western part of the United States by Spain was brought against him; while at the same time it was alleged that he was engaged in a scheme with Aaron Burr for the conquest of Mexico. He was exonerated by a court-marital, and subsequently given a Major-General's commission. He died in Mexico in 1828. The last years of his life were spent in a fruitless effort to collect from the Mexican government a sum due him for munitions of war. To vindicate his good name he published a small pamphlet entitled: "The Aaron Burr Conspiracy Exposed," which was followed by his "Memoirs of My Own Times", an elaborate work in three volumes. He was doubtless a much misunderstood man. By the treaty of Fort Wilkinson, in 1802, at which time General Wilkinson was one of the commissioners for the Federal government, Georgia acquired large bodies of land from the Creek Indians. There was apportioned into three counties: Baldwin, Wayne, and Wilkinson, the last of which was named for General Wilkinson. Irwinton, the county- seat, was named for Governor David Irwin, an early Chief-Executive of Georgia. When organized in 1803, Wilkinson embraced Dodge and Telfair, and parts of four other counties: Laurens, Montgomery, Pulaski, and Twiggs.
The first session of the Superior Court was held in 1808, near Irwinton, Judge Peter Early presiding.
Original Settlers. Among the first comers into Wilkinson, according to White, were: Samuel Beall, Charles C. Beall, Solomon B. Murphy, John Hoover, John Meredith, Abner Hicks, Alexander Pass- more, John Freeman, Joel Rivers, Samuel Bragg, John Lavender, Isaac Hall, Green B. Burney, Wiley Shepherd, Joseph Hill, William Lord, Jesse Pittman, M. Carswell, Anson Ball, William Lindsey, Ellis Harvill, and others.
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Thomas Gray and William Bivins, both soldiers of the Revolution, lived in Wilkinson. The former was 81, the latter &3.
To the list of settlers given by White, may be added : Nathaniel Cannon, James Cannon, Thomas Dickson, Wil- liam Dickson, Isaac Hall, William Hall, Robert Ridley, Everett Ridley, David Delk, the first Clerk of the Superior Court ; Robert Hatcher, James P. H. Campbell, and John S. Barry. The last mentioned pioneer was a teacher. He studied law at Irwinton, after which he removed to the north-west and became Chief-Executive of the State of Michigan. Governor Barry held office as a Democrat, from 1842 to 1864.
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WORTH
Created by Legislative Act, December 20, 1852, from Irwin and Dooly Counties. Named for Major-General William J. Worth, a distinguished soldier of the Mexican War and a son-in-law of General Zachary Taylor. The overtures of surrender from the authorities of the City of Mexico were made to General Worth, on September 13, 1848. At the time of his death, he was in command of the Department of Texas. There stands at the inter- section of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, in the city of New York, a superb monument to this illustrious soldier. Sylvester, the county-seat. Originally, Worth included a part of Turner.
Pindartown, an old Indian village of some note in the early days, at which one of the earliest treaties was made between the Creek Indians and the State of Georgia, whereby additional lands were acquired by the whites, has been located within the present boundaries of Worth and will be marked at an early date by the members of Thronateeska chapter of the D. A. R. The land on which the town formerly stood is today the property of Mr. A. J. Lippett, of Albany.
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Original Settlers. See Dooly and Irwin, from which coun- ties Worth was formed.
To the list may be added: Samuel S. Story, Daniel Henderson, Manasseh Henderson, David Redley, Dr. James N. Redley, C. G. Tipton, T. M. Coram, W. A. Harris, Dr. T. W. Tyson, Dr. Wm. L. Sikes, Milton Westberry, Josiah S. Westberry, John S. Westberry, Columbus A. Alford, W. H. McPhaul, and Daniel H. Davis.
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