USA > Georgia > Jones County > History of Jones County, Georgia, for one hundred years, specifically 1807-1907 > Part 3
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
may be seen just as they were over 200 years ago. This area was claimed by the Indians until 1821 when they finally ceded it to the United States. (Taken from pamphlet at museum. )
Such were the people who lived here and of which we are a part, when the first white settlers came to build their forts, vil- lages and cabins in Jones County, Georgia in 1807.
CHAPTER II.
PRE-FORMATION OF JONES COUNTY-1790-1807
Some outstanding incidents mark the few years preceding the formation of Jones County. Gen. George Washington had vis- ited Georgia at Savannah on May 13, 1791. People from all over Georgia went to Savannah to see the "Father of His Country," and show their respect for him. He was welcomed in Augusta by Gov. Telfair to the seat of Georgia's government, where he was accorded every honor. I quote from Washington's speech at that time, "While the virtuous conduct of your citizens, whose patriotism braved all hardships of the late war, engaged my esteem, the distresses peculiar to the State of Georgia after the peace, excited my deepest regret."
On Dec. 14, 1799, George Washington died, and Henry Lee's famous words will always be remembered, "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
Washington, D. C. became the capital of the U.S.A. in 1800 and Pres. John Adams' wife, Abigail, hung her laundry in the White House East Room !
About this time a vast territory of lands in Georgia was open- ed up after Congress and Georgia had settled the Yazoo Fraud, and the Indians were being pushed back toward the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers. These lands, later of which Jones County be- came a part, were exceedingly attractive to Virginians, Mary- landers, North Carolinians, and South Carolinians. As a rule they were slave owners and sought more land to expand their agricultural pursuits. Many sold out and took the long over- land journey in wagons and carts to these new lands. It must
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
have given the women a pang of regret to leave their comfort- able homes and come many, many miles to find a new home in the wilds of Georgia, still half Indian, and having no comforts at all.
This influx of cultivated people from states that had superior advantages in wealth and culture gave Georgia an uplift that was felt in many ways, to the immense benefit of the English settlers who had come over with Gen. Oglethorpe seeking refuge from autocracy.
Georgia's boundaries until 1796 had reached from the Atlan- tic Ocean on the east to the Mississippi river on the west. After the infamous Yazoo act was rescinded there were many claims against the state from those who speculated on these 55,000,000 acres of land. All classes of people were involved from Massa- chusetts to Georgia. Eminent men, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Federal Judge and many others were in- volved in this scheme to get rich in land speculation. Let us give credit to Gen. James Jackson for resigning his seat in the Senate in Washington and coming home and being elected as Representative from Chatham County to help others fight this Yazoo Act. He was successful and the papers were burned with fire drawn from Heaven with a sun glass, to wipe out the blot.
Jackson lost his life as a result of a duel over this Act, and Georgia lost a vast and rich domain in 1802 when the Federal government was ceded these lands from which the fine states of Alabama and Mississippi were made.
It is said that this caused the first split between the Northern and Southern Democratic Party.
In 1793 the cotton gin had been invented by Eli Whitney, an event which had far-reaching importance. More settlers came in, more slaves were bought, millions of more acres of land went into cultivation and settlers from other states began to come in. This development of the gin brought great social and industrial revolutions, extending slavery, the plantation system and was the major cause of a disastrous war.
But for the extension of the cotton crop, slavery would have ceased to exist. The profitable employment of negroes on cotton plantations from 1800 to 1860 caused an immense increase in
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
slavery. Large planters became men of wealth, and they and their families constituted the aristocracy of the Southern States until the war of the sixties. The slaves were made free and life and property destroyed, and of this war, more has been written than any other.
In this period of pre-formation of Jones County we find that in 1793, Gov. George Matthews was having his troubles. The British and Tory activity among the Indians incited them to murders and tortures never before known to Georgians. Georgia had troubles with the Spanish, and as the youngest of the col- onies and in her position she was exposed to attack from both the Indians and the Spanish. At the end of the long war for independence she was so impoverished and in such a struggle to reestablish herself, as well as her currency, that it is unusual that she had the foresight and the wisdom to become the first state in America to establish a State University. (University of Georgia at Athens, 1784.)
This takes us up to the establishing of our mother county, Baldwin, which was established by act of the legislature on May 11, 1803, after the Creek Indians had ceded a large tract of land in 1802. The County site of Baldwin was Hillsboro (now Jasper County). The records show that this little village of a few log huts and a dram shop was used to have Baldwin's first election in Joshua Hill's house. Adam Carson was elected Sheriff but not to hold office for long for in 1807 when Randolph (Jasper) and Jones were cut out, then Adam Carson lived in Jones County. He was a Revolutionary soldier and his grave is now marked near Wayside. The same year in which Jones County was formed, Milledgeville, named for John Milledge became the county site of Baldwin and also the Capital of Georgia.
In a decade Jones had outgrown Baldwin and Clinton had outgrown Milledgeville. A few houses at the crossroads of the place called Albany was named the first county site of Jones County. In 1809 the name was changed to Clinton.
A new plan was made to distribute these new lands by the "Land Lottery System." Before this, the head-right system had
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
been used which gave the head of each family 200 acres or more according to the number of each family and the number of slaves owned. Under this new system the lands were surveyed at public expense into 202 1/2 acre lots and these lots were num- bered and the number placed on a ticket in boxes or on a wheel which also had blank tickets. Under the law those entitled to draw were, "all the free white males twenty-one years of age or older ; every married man with children, under age; widows with children, and all families or orphan minors." Some drew blanks while others were more fortunate, this was done under the direc- tion of five managers and the Governor. Plats and grants were given to the lucky ones with the Governor's signature and the great seal of the State attached.
The Land Lotteries of Jones County may be found in the Appendix of this book, years include 1820-21-26-27-32.
CHAPTER III. FORMATION OF JONES COUNTY-1807
Jones County has been immortalized by the musical pen of Sidney Lanier.
"That's More in the Man Than Thar Is in the Land"
"I knowed a man, which he lived in Jones, Which Jones is a county of red hills and stones,
And he lived pretty much by gittin' of loans,
And his mules was nuthin' but skin and bones, And his hogs was flat as his corn-bread pones, And he had 'bout a thousand acres of land."
(Now to make a long poem short, a man named Jones went to Texas, but Brown stayed in Jones. In five years Jones came back and he was so fat he wouldn't weigh. )
But Brown moved out to the old Jones farm,
And he rolled up his breeches and he bared his arm,
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
And he picked all the rocks from off'n the ground,
And he rooted it up and plowed it down,
Then he sowed his corn and his wheat in the land.
(Jones stood in the door and Brown asked him in-five years later )
But Brown asked him in, and he sot
Him down to his vittles smokin' hot,
And when he had filled hisself and the floor
Brown looked at him sharp and riz and swore That, whether men's land was rich or poor
Thar was more in the man, than thar was in the land."
(Excerpts from the poem written by Sidney Lanier in 1869.)
In the year 1807, Jared Irwin was the Governor of Georgia in the new Capitol at Milledgeville, Baldwin County. The rec- ords of the State and the Treasury had just been transferred from the old Capitol at Louisville in a caravan of wagons es- corted by a troop of Calvary from Washington, D. C. and one from Milledgeville to the new building in Milledgeville. The Capital was named for that famous Revolutionary soldier, John Milledge, and it remained the Capital of Georgia until 1868.
In 1807 Robert Fulton's Steamboat, "The Clermont" had its first run up the Hudson River. The President of the United States was Thomas Jefferson and the Vice-President, George Clinton. The Louisiana Purchase had just been consummated and Lewis and Clark had been sent by the President to explore the terri- tory west of the Rockies or the Oregon Country. Robert E. Lee was born January the 19th of that memorable year. Grier's Almanac was first published then. Into this state and national setting the county of Jones was established by act of the legis- lature of December 10, 1807.
Jones was formed from Baldwin County, which had been formed on May 11, 1803. It was during the days of President Thomas Jefferson when James Madison was Secretary of State that treaties with the Creek Indians pushed Georgia's western outposts from the Oconee to the Ocmulgee river. There were two specific treaties signed which ceded to the white men all of
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
the lands between the Oconee and the Ocmulgee and on south of the Altamaha. The first of these treaties set forth in the Acts of 1800-1810, article 80, section 1, p. 101, and was signed at Fort Wilkinson on Nov. 14, 1805. This territory was called Wayne County south of the Altamaha and later was divided into other counties. The territory between the Oconee and the Ocmulgee was first divided into Baldwin and Wilkinson counties and later others. The land was divided into lots of 202 1/2 acres unless water courses should render this impractical.
According to Merton's "History of Georgia," "a million years ago only the northern part of Georgia was above the ocean. Then through natural forces, as the land rose the water re- ceded." Where the ocean waves once beat across Jones County, there are marks which geologists readily recognize. On the banks of the streams in southern Jones county are lime and shell for- mations. This is most readily seen on the fall line where the Piedmont Highlands waters take their last swift descent to join other streams and go on to the ocean.
Jones County is situated at about the geographical center of the state. On the north this county is bounded by Jasper and Putnam counties, on the east by Baldwin county, on the south by Wilkinson and Twiggs and on the west by Bibb and the Oc- mulgee river which separates Jones from Monroe county.
Jones County was laid out in 1807 ; part added from Putnam in 1810: a five mile slice given to Bibb County in 1822, and since then her boundaries have remained stationary.
From north to south the county is about twenty-one miles.
From east to west it is about eighteen miles and the area is 378 square miles. The topography varies from smooth and level to where the streams divide the hilly areas. The Oconee and Oc- mulgee rivers and their tributaries drain Jones County. The Athens branch of the Central of Georgia railroad follows the line of division between the two drainage systems. The north- western part of Jones county has Caney Creek, Falling and Rock creeks. The southern part has Walnut, Sand and Bonner creeks, and the waters of the northeastern section are carried to the Oconee by Big Cedar and Little Cedar creeks and their tribu- taries. The southeastern part has Commissioner, Slash and Sandy
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
creeks. Jones County is on the fall line of Georgia, while the northern part is in the Piedmont Plateau, consequently the soil is varied from flat areas of sandy loam to Cecil clay on the slopes and Davidson clay loam. In the lower part of the county is a strip of land known as the "piney woods" section and north of this the "oaky woods." The strong red mulatto lands from Clin- ton upward and out to the Ocmulgee river were soon settled by early comers through land lotteries. The Piedmont Plateau had such conifers as the loblolly, short leaf and pitch pines.
The mean annual rainfall is forty-seven inches, with an alti- tude in the center of the county of 605 feet. The growing period is about eight months between the last killing frost in spring to the first killing frost in autumn. The two coldest months, Jan- uary and February have an average temperature of 46 degrees. The hottest month, which is July, has an average of 82 degrees, and the yearly average temperature is 64°.
The same act that established the county of Jones, authorized that the courts and public business be held and transacted in the house of William Jones, which is northwest of Gray in Finney's District G.M.D. 299. There is a picture of this house and more information in another chapter. In 1808 Albany was designated as the county site and the records show that in September 1808 the Inferior court passed orders to lay out a road from Albany in Jones to the Garrison Reserve : Albany to the Hurricane ; and on to Walnut creek where the road crosses. In the same year on November the 7th the Inferior court passed this order. "That the Commissioners of Albany in the court of Jones deposit in the Clerk's office of this court within thirty days all bonds and obligations arising from the sale of lots in Albany, for the use of the county."
In the minutes of late 1809 the county site is spoken of as Clinton instead of Albany and the second courthouse of wood was constructed on the place of Ross at Clinton. This must have been a temporary structure as in October, 1809 the Grand Jury recommended, "That the courthouse is inadequate and that the Inferior Court come to an understanding with the undertaker, (contractor) and have one built on a suitable plan which will be more convenient and lasting." (Minutes of the Sup. Court,
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
1808, no page.) The records show that James Thompson was the "undertaker," or builder and that he was paid $1,797.00. The lot of land on which Clinton was built was bought from Thomas Johnston for the sum of $2,000.00. (Book of Deeds E. pp. 163-164) Sept. 12, 1808, in the 33rd year of American In- dependence. Signed by Rich Brown, Harris Allen and David White, J.P.
In 1818 the third courthouse of Jones County was finished.
Old Clinton Courthouse built in 1816. The third courthouse for Jones County. (Courtesy of Mrs. Valentine B. Blair.)
It was two stories, made of brick with a basement which was used for a city barracks and jail until. the new jail was finished. This was a large, attractive building and stood until long after the new courthouse at Gray was built in 1905. The two-story jail made out of native granite stood just where Reubin Stew- art's barn now is and was well made by Jacob Hutchings, a slave and a stone mason, and Representative in Reconstruction Days.
The first Judges to guide the fledgling county on its destiny were: Hugh Moss Comer, William Jones, James Jackson, Wil- liam Binion and John McKenzie, called Chief Justices on May
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
Old jail in Clinton, built by Jacob Hutchings now the stones are in the retaining wall and foundation of the courthouse at Gray. (Courtesy of Mrs. Merrill Sims.)
11, 1808. John R. Gregory was the first clerk Sup. court. This Inferior court which had great powers existed from the creation of the county until 1868.
White's Collections of Georgia lists the first settlers of Jones County as follows: Captain Jonathan Parrish, Peter Clower, Henry Low, William Williams, Wilkins Jackson, Jeremiah Dumas, Thomas White, Jeremiah Pearson, Major Humphries, James Anderson and Hugh Moss Comer, Roger McCarthy, Allen Greene, Benjamin Tarver, Bailey Stewart, James An- thony, George Harper, John Chapell, Jesse M. Pope, Henry Pope, John Bayne, Stephen Kirk, William Carbunus, James Gray, William Butler, Robert Hutchings, P. A. Lewis, James Jones, Samuel Dale, Robert Cunningham. To the following list may be added: Thomas Blount, J. C. Freeman, Robert Mc- Gough, George, John and Henry Cabiness, Ephriam Sanders, Elisha Tarver, Robert Ousley, Isaac Moreland, James White, Isaac Winship and W. D. Bunkley, John Matthews, Denton Daniel, Harrison Cabiness, Richard Ratcliff, H. Carson, Drury
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
Reese, John Bond, Willis Simmons, Nathan Peeples, Hardy Bullock, David Boyd, John Hogg, Milton Amos, Amiel Hug- gins, Ephriam Sox, Elijah Bailey, Frederick Daniel, Sion Thrower, Cuthbert Reese, Isham Reese.
Others who came in the next few years whose names are found on old records, were : Henry Cabarries, John H. Fannin, Wm. Osborne, Isaac Harvey, Jas. S. Frietson, Wm. Scarbor- ough, Hardy Herbert, Richmond Bledson, Thos. Baldwin, John WV. Gordon, John Humphries, E. Bowen, Saml. Feagin, Jas. Norrell, Abner Flewellen, Horatio Bowen, David White, Saml. Griswold, Hartwell Tarver, Jas. Gray, Harrison Smith, Green Whatley, Henry Wyche, Wm. H. Talbot, Jas. Webb, Jas. Ca- denhead, A. D. Jackson, Jas. Blount, Jno. M. Minter, S. H. Cumming, Jno. Lachrey, Josh. Cowen, Wm. A. Cowen, Jas. Lockett, L. N. Fields, Thos. C. McDowell, Henry Lignon, Orray Ticknor, Benj. A. Young, Chas. Phillips, Isaac Welch, Joel Bond.
At the court of March 21, 1808 Justices of Peace and Con- stables were appointed. Roger McCarthy was made Ordinary. A road was to be made from High Shoals on Falling Creek to Clinton and the Commissioners appointed to mark out a road from Clinton to Milledgeville (22 miles). The Commissioners were : Thomas Pickard, Uriel Atwater, and Levi Mobley. The Clerk was authorized to get the digest of laws of Georgia from the General Assembly in Milledgeville.
Settlements were made rapidly as soon as the county was laid out. There were already many families in Jones County by 1803 as well as Indians (while it was still Baldwin). Land lots were given away by lottery to induce settlers here, especially the Rev- olutionery soldiers of whom one hundred and six drew bounties. There were eighty-five Rev. Sol. widows. The population in- creased rapidly, roads were laid out and bridges spanned the streams in order to give access to the adjacent county sites and the Capitol at Milledgeville and to Fort Hawkins. The Federal or Garrison road connecting Milledgeville with Fort Hawkins and passing through southern Jones County was perhaps the earliest and most important road in this part of the state. Rec- ords state that in 1808, Sept. 19th Benjamin Howard and Charles Parting were appointed overseers of the road, as it was
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
used for transporting the U. S. Government supplies and equip- ment. (See Chapter on this road.)
"As the development of the county went forward, good homes, churches and schools were established. The rolling hills were covered with virgin forests where the red men still lurked within their protecting shelter, and followed the well-worn trails which their ancestors had used so long. These trails the white men put to their own uses. "Horse-Path" ran from the Flint River to Ocmulgee Old Fields (now Macon) through what was later the Garrison road to a spot on the Oconee near Milledgeville known as Rock Landing. Another trail known as "Old Indian Path" ran from the Flint river, crossing the Ocmulgee at what was later Juliette and went on across Jones County to Milledge- ville. In between these two going north and south, were "Chee- haw Trail," and "Tom's Trail." As time went on the red men were pushed farther westward, giving way to the white man's ambitions, expansion and growth. The white man with his keen business acumen and ingenuity made the quiet peaceful country come alive with his activity and prosperity. The Indians no doubt longed for the days before the white people came to disturb their hunting and fishing grounds. On the western boundary of Jones County where the waters of the clay-colored Ocmulgee wind through gently sloping Piedmont hills there stood deeply fertile lands of pine and oak forests. There were numerous natural springs, branches, creeks and streams which flowed cool and clear. Among the oaks and pines there grew chestnut, beech, maple and the short leaf pines. Underneath these pines of more than three feet in diameter and one hundred and twenty feet high also grew wild azaleas, sweet shrubs, dogwood, chinquapin, red bud, huckleberry and jasmine." ( Mrs. W. J. Morton)
Wild flowers were abundant. The hardy Cherokee rose grew all along the roadsides. There were fluted cerise flowers of the crepe myrtle, yellow January jasmine, goldenrod, asters, sumac, morning glories, trumpet vine, redbud, dogwood and trillium. The red clay banks were covered with fragrant honeysuckle and partridge peas blossomed in the grass. The southern smilax, a glossy-leafed evergreen, grew in every wooded area, festooning the trees.
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
The county abounded in squirrels, rabbit, deer, quail, rac- coons, wild turkeys, doves and the wily red and grey foxes. The streams had plenty of fish and the forests consisted of pines, oaks, sweetgum, chestnuts, and poplars. The muscadine and fox grape were plentiful as were hickory nuts and black walnuts.
Products found in the old papers of the early 1800's lists these products as being abundant in Jones County : Cotton, corn, wheat, flax, indigo, millet, barley, oats, and sugar cane. There were many flocks of sheep, cattle, horses, mules and hogs, and most of the farms had flocks of geese, turkeys, and many guin- eas and peafowls.
Jones County was named for Hon. James Jones, who was born in 1769 in Maryland, but came to Georgia as a boy in care of his uncle, Col. Marbury. He was educated at an academy in Augusta and at the age of 18 he studied law in Savannah and later represented Chatham County very brilliantly in the state legislature in Augusta, the capital; and was later elected to Con- gress. In that body he acquitted himself admirably. In January 1795 he was at Augusta where the Legislature was in session and tried his best to defeat the celebrated Yazoo Act, but his efforts were unsuccessful. In 1796 he with other patriotic men passed the law rescinding the Yazoo sales. In May 1798 he was a member of the State Convention which framed the Constitu- tion of Georgia which asserted her rights to her western terri- tory (now Alabama and Mississippi). As he went to Congress in Oct. 1798 by almost a unanimous vote, he was considered a distinguished member and an eloquent speaker. He was opposed to John Adams and contributed much in casting Georgia's vote for Jefferson. He died at his post in Washington, D. C. on Jan. 19, 1801, 32 years old. He was buried in Arlington by the side of another outstanding Georgian and a friend of his, Gen. James Jackson. His descendants are found in the family of Hon. Wil- liam Law, of Savannah who married his daughter.
James Jones married the widow of John Millen, Sally Ep- pinger Millen, in 1792. James Jones' will is recorded in Book A, Chatham County Courthouse. The will mentions a daughter, Alethia Jones; a sister Alethia A. Stark; cousins Nancy and Elizabeth Marbury, daughters of Leonard Marbury; two step-
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
daughters not named. His wife was one of the executors of the will. The papers of this estate are in File 18 in the Courthouse. To distinguish him from other men with the same name, from Chatham County he was called "Chatham Jimmy."
The Act 270 in 1807 provided for the Ocmulgee Court Cir- cuit and Jones was one of the original counties in this circuit and is still in the circuit. (at the end of 150 years. ) Peter Early was the first Judge.
Early towns mentioned in old records were: Blountsville, Fortville, Grab-all, Griswoldville, Ethridge, Larksville, Tran- quilla, Clinton.
The first jail stood near the present home of the Earl Hamil- ton's and in close proximity to the Clinton cemetery. The second jail was made of the rock as mentioned before and finished in 1842 on the site now covered by Reuben Stewart's barn. Near this barn still stands a small house used for a post office at one time. Then it cost 17 cents to mail a letter to Savannah, 10 cents to Milledgeville and 5 cents to Macon. (1835.)
It cost $3.00 then to ride the stagecoach from Clinton to Milledgeville. It cost $10.00 to ride from Milledgeville to Co- lumbus via Macon and took 22 hours. These coaches ran daily, while most of them at that time ran twice weekly.
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