USA > Georgia > Statistics of the state of Georgia : including an account of its natural, civil, and ecclesiastical history ; together with a particular description of each county, notices of the manners and customs of its aboriginal tribes, and a correct map of the state > Part 11
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BUTTS.
BOUNDARIES, EXTENT .- This county is bounded N. by the Ocmulgee, which separates it from Newton ; E. by the Ocmul- gee, which separates it from Jasper ; S. by Monroe ; and W. by Henry. Laid out in 1825 from Monroe and Henry. It is, on an average, 17 miles in length, 13 in width, and contains 221 square miles.
RIVERS, CREEKS .- The Ocumlgee flows along its eastern and northern boundary. The small streams are, the Tussahaw, Yellow Water, and Sandy creeks.
POPULATION, TAXES, REPRESENTATION .- The census of 1845 gave the population thus : 3,341 whites, 2,292 blacks ; total, 5,633. Amount of tax returned for 1848, is $2,017 91. Sends one representative to the Legislature.
POST OFFICES .- Jackson, Cook, Indian Springs, Lofton's Store.
TOWNS .- Jackson is the county site, situated on the waters of Yellow Water creek, 55 miles N. W. Milledgeville, 5 N. In- dian Springs, 20 W. Monticello, 28 E. Zebulon, 18 from
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McDonough, 20 from Griffin, 28 from Covington, and 8 from the Ocmulgee. Besides a court-house and jail, it contains two churches, one academy for males and one for females, one ta- vern, three stores, &c. Population about 300. Amount of goods sold per annum, about $40,000. The situation of the town is pleasant. Incorporated and made the county site in 1826.
Dublin, a small place, eight miles from Jackson.
Lofton's Store, seven miles from Jackson.
MINERAL SPRINGS .- The Indian Springs stand high among the fashionable resorts in Georgia; they are situated in the fork of Sandy creek. The waters are highly impregnated with sulphur.
Iron Spring is four miles E. of Jackson.
RELIGIOUS SECTS, EDUCATION .- The prevailing sects are Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. There are about 12 churches in the county. Much attention is paid to education. The schools in Jackson and in other portions of the county are said to be excellent.
ROADS AND BRIDGES .-- The roads are in fine condition, and the bridges kept in good repair.
MINERALS .-- Most of the minerals found in Jasper are in this county.
FACE OF THE COUNTRY, NATURE OF THE SOIL, &C .- The face of the country is level. The gray lands prevail, and are admira- bly suited for cotton. The different grains do well. The va- lue of land is from 3 to $7 per acre. Cotton averages 400 lbs. per acre; corn from two to four barrels; wheat about six bushels. About 5,000 bags of cotton are annually produced. The cotton produced in this county is said to be of a very superior description.
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, AMUSEMENTS .- The people are industrious and honest. The amusements are such as prevail in middle Georgia.
MANUFACTORIES, MILLS. - Planters' Factory, capital $50,000, owned principally by citizens of Jasper county, situated at the Seven Islands, on the Ocmulgee river. Water power unsurpassed by any in Georgia. Spindles, 3,200; looms, 52 ; yards of cloth made per day, 800; bunches of yarns, 100; 75 hands are employed, all whites. There are in the county three flour mills, seven saw-mills, and six grist-mills.
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BALDWIN COUNTY.
CLIMATE, DISEASES, LONGEVITY .- The climate is similar to that of Jasper. The diseases are few, and confined to the water-courses. Among the instances of longevity are the fol- lowing; Mrs. McMichael died at the age of 100, Mr. Butril over 80, E. Price, a revolutionary soldier, 79; Mr. Robert Grier, well known as the author of an almanac, died at the age of 80.
EARLY SETTLERS .- Mr. McCord, James Harkness, Mr. Foster, Abner Bankston, Mr. Thaxtom, A. Robinson, Mr. Giles, John McMichael, Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Lindsley.
ANTIQUITIES .- On Major Ward's plantation there are three mounds with embankments running to the river Ocmulgee. Dr. Tolefree, of Monticello, a few years ago, excavated some of these mounds, and found a variety of Indian implements.
NAME .- This county was named after Captain Samuel Butts, who lost his life in the battle of Chalibbee, on the . 27th of January, 1814. He was a native of Southampton county, Virginia, and came to Georgia when very young, and settled in Hancock county, and then removed to. Monticello, Jas- per county. Here he engaged in mercantile pursuits. When it was determined by the citizens of Jasper to raise a com- pany, to aid in punishing the Indians for their cruelties upon our frontier settlements, Mr. Butts joined it as a common sol- dier, but was elected captain before its arrival at the seat of war. For bravery no officer stood higher. He was shot while he was leading on his men. We would have been pleased to have given a more detailed account of this gentleman, but have been unable to get information upon which reliance could be placed.
BALDWIN.
BOUNDARIES, EXTENT .- Bounded by Putnam and Han- cock ; E. by Hancock and a part of Washington; S. by Wil- kinson; and W. by Jones. Laid out by the Lottery Act of 1803. Medium length 16 miles; breadth 154; 244 square miles.
RIVERS, CREEKS .- The Oconee runs through the middle of the county, into which Fishing, Black, Camp, and Tobler's creeks discharge their waters.
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BALDWIN COUNTY.
POST OFFICE .- Milledgeville.
POPULATION, TAXES, REPRESENTATION .-- The popula- tion in 1845, was 7450; of these, 2579 were whites, and 4871 blacks. Amount of State tax returned for 1848, $3959 90 cents. Sends one representative to the Legislature.
TOWNS .- Milledgeville is the seat of justice for the county, and the capital of the State of Georgia; situated on the west side of the Oconee river, in lat. 33º 4/ 10/. West Lon. from Washington, 6º 19'. It is distant 659 miles S. W. of Wash- ington City ; 158 N. W. of Savannah ; 89 W. S. W. of Au- gusta ; 193 N. of Darien ; 32 E. of Macon, and 125 E. N. E. of Columbus. The town was named after Governor Milledge, a soldier of the Revolution, and a gentleman who rendered im- portant services to Georgia.
The court-house is constructed of brick, and the jail of stone, found in the vicinity of the town. There are four churches, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist. The other public buildings are a market-house, academy, and Masonic Hall. There are numerous stores and shops, five or six hotels, and several societies, such as the Masonic Lodge, Divi- sion of the Sons of Temperance, &c. Milledgeville is considered healthy. In 1848 the population was 2000. Many of the pri- vate residences are beautiful. Amount of business is over $200,000 per annum. It was made a city in 1836. The Le- gislature held its first session here in 1807.
Midway, one mile and a half from Milledgeville, is the seat of Oglethorpe University. Population between 2 and 300. The schools have a high reputation.
Scottsborough, named after General John Scott, four miles south of Milledgeville. It is a pleasant summer residence, and the schools are said to be very superior.
MINERAL SPRINGS .- On land belonging to Col. Carter, just below Scottsborough, is a spring supposed to be possessed of the properties of sulphur. Jarratt's springs in Milledgeville, furnish excellent water.
FACE OF THE COUNTRY, NATURE OF THE SOIL .-- The northern part is hilly. The lands generally are much worn, but susceptible of improvement. Some lands on the Oconee river are fertile. The southern part is sandy. The produc-
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tions are cotton, corn, wheat, sugar cane, &c. Cotton aver- ages about 400 pounds per acre ; corn from 8 to 12 bushels per acre. Between 5 and 6000 bags of cotton are annually produced.
ROADS AND BRIDGES .- Sufficient attention is not given to the roads and bridges.
RELIGIOUS SECTS, EDUCATION .- Episcopalians, Metho- dists, Baptists, Presbyterians. The schools of this county were formerly considered equal to any in Georgia. Those in Mil- ledgeville, Midway, and Scottsborough, are now under the su- pervision of able teachers ; and public report speaks highly of the improvement of the pupils.
MANUFACTURES, MILLS .- Milledgeville Manufacturing Co., situated in Milledgeville. Capital, $83,000. Main building four stories high, built of brick. Engine 45 horse power ; cost $4000; made at Novelty Works, New-York.
3136 spindles. 53 looms.
1000 yards of cloth made per day (osnaburghs).
1000 do. No. 14 sheetings, per day.
135 bundles of yarns, do.
110 operatives (whites).
4 bales of cotton used per day.
500 mattresses made per year.
Wages of operatives from $3 to $26 per month.
Great efforts made to secure the good conduct of the ope- ratives. Their condition greatly improved.
Goods sent to New-York, New-Orleans, Charleston, and Savannah. Demand greater than ability to respond. This factory took three honours at the fair at the Stone Mountain.
There are also three or four saw-mills, four or five grist- mills, and one flour-mill on the Oconee.
EARLY SETTLERS .-- Among the early settlers were S. Holt, A. Greene, R. White, Thomas Napier, David Fluker, and others.
CLIMATE, DISEASES, LONGEVITY .- The climate is decided- ly healthy. Dr. Fort, an eminent physician of Milledgeville, considers the county more healthy at this time than at any former period. At one time, the deaths by bilious fever were as high as five per cent. ; but the doctor says, the terrors of bi- lious fever have been much diminished. The instances of
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longevity are the following : Mrs. Huson, a lady now nearly 80, and presides at the table of one of the best hotels in Geor- gia, with great dignity. Mrs. Tompkins and Mrs. Robinson, both living, over 80. Mr. Abner Hammond died at an ad- vanced age. Mr. John Dismukes was 93 years old at his death.
MINERALS .- Granite, felspar, &c. In the vicinity of Mil- ledgeville the geologist may find much to interest him. Sir Charles Lyell, President of the London Geological Society, visited Geor- gia in 1846, and in a volume containing a history of his travels, recently published, thus speaks of the country around Milledge- ville :
" It is striking, around Milledgeville, to see so many large detached and rounded boulders of granite lying on the surface of the soil, and all strictly confined within the limits of the granitic region. One of these, on the slope of a hill, three miles from the town, resting on gneiss, measured twelve feet in its longest diameter, and was four feet high. I presume that these boulders are nearly in situ; they may have constituted " tors" of granite, like those in Cornwall, fragments of masses, once more extensive, left by denudation at a period when the country was rising out of the sea, and fragments may have been occasionally thrown down by the waves, and swept to a small distance from their original sites.
" Another most singular phenomenon in the environs of Mil- ledgeville is the depth to which the gneiss and mica schist have decomposed in situ. Some very instructive sections of the disintegrated rocks have been laid open in the precipices of recently formed ravines. Were it not that the original intersecting veins of white quartz remain unaltered, to show that the layers of sand, clay, and loam are mere lamina of gneiss and mica schist, resolved into their elements, a geologist would suppose that they were ordinary alternations of sandy and clayey beds with occasional cross stratification, the whole just in the state in which they were first deposited. Now and then, as if to confirm the deception, a large crystal of felspar, eight or ten inches long, is seen to retain its angles, although converted into kaolin. Similar crystals, almost as perfect, may be seen washed into the tertiary strata south of the granitic region, where white porcelain clays, quartzose gra-
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vel, sand, and micaceous loam are found, evidently derived from the waste of decomposed crystalline rocks. I am not surprised, therefore, that some geologists should have con- founded the ancient gneiss of this district, thus decomposed in situ, with the tertiary deposits. Their close resemblance confirms me in the opinion, that the arrangement of the gneiss and mica schist in beds with subordinate layers, both hori- zontal and oblique, was originally determined, in most cases at least, by aqueous deposition, although often modified by subsequent crystalline action.
" The surprising depth of some of the modern ravines, in the neighbourhood of Milledgeville, suggests matter of curious speculation. At the distance of three miles and a half west of the town, on the direct road to Macon, on the farm of Pomona, is a ravine. Twenty years ago it had no existence; but when the trees of the forest were cut down, cracks three feet deep were caused by the sun's heat in the clay ; and, during the rains, a sudden rush of water through these cracks, caused them to deepen at their lower extremities, from whence the excavating power worked backward, till, in the course of twenty years, a chasm, measuring no less than 55 feet in depth, 300 yards in length, and varying in width from 20 to 180 feet was the result. The high road has been several times turned to avoid this cavity, the enlargement of which is still proceeding, and the old line of road may be seen to have held its course directly over what is now the widest part of the ravine. In the perpendicular walls of this great chasm appear beds of clay and sand, red, white, yellow, and green, produced by the de- composition in situ of hornblendic gneiss, with layers and veins of quartz, as before-mentioned, and of a rock consisting of quartz and felspar, which remain entire to prove that the whole mass was once crystalline."
MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS .- The first court was held in Baldwin, July 21, 1806, Judge Tait presiding.
NAME .- The Hon. Abraham Baldwin was born in the State of Connecticut, in 1754. He graduated at Yale, in 1772, with the reputation of one of the best classical and mathematical scholars of his time. During the Revolutionary war, he was several years a professor of that institution, and,
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for a part of the war, a chaplain in the Continental army. At its close, he studied law. Georgia, then a frontier State, offered inducements to emigrants. Mr. Baldwin arrived at Savannah, in 1784 ; was immediately admitted a counsellor at the Georgia bar, and fixed his residence in Columbia county. In three months he had gained so greatly the confidence of the people of that county, that they elected him a member of the Legislature. It is believed, generally, that he originated the plan of the University of Georgia, drew up its charter, and persuaded the Legislature to adopt it. We do not find that the merit of this work has been assigned to any other. Mr. Baldwin was a man of decided literary and scientific mind, and it is very certain that he was one of the most ac- tive supporters of the University. Let him be deemed, then, its father.
Two years had not transpired before Mr. Baldwin was elected to Congress. In 1786, he took his seat. From that year, until his death in 1807, he was a member at every ses- sion, either of the House or of the Senate. In the Federal Convention that framed the Constitution, he was a delegate from Georgia, taking an active part in the deliberations of that illustrious body. With his previous legislative experience and his knowledge of the Constitution, from being one of its au- thors, the people of the middle district of Georgia considered his services necessary to setting the government in motion. We accordingly find Mr. Baldwin a representative under the new Constitution in 1789. He was one of the wisest and one of the most respected debaters in the new Congress. Upon many important topics, the journals of debates show Mr. Baldwin to have taken a prominent part. The venerable Na- thaniel Macon assured the late Col. Tattnall, in 1826, review- ing in conversation the members who had served from Geor- gia, that the eloquence of Mr. Baldwin was of the highest order, and his reasoning powers equal to those of any other statesman in Congress. In 1802, Mr. Baldwin was one of the Commissioners of Georgia, who negotiated and signed the treaty of cession of our western territory to the United States. He was president pro tempore of the Senate of the United States, from April to December, 1802. Preferring the floor
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BALDWIN COUNTY.
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to the presiding officer's chair, he declined a re-election in the winter of 1803.
During the violent agitation of parties, he was always moderate but firm-decided in his republican principles, but not denunciatory of those who differed from him. His gentle manners, his pure morals, his well-balanced mind, his argu- mentative powers, his persuasive eloquence, his classical education, brought him nearer perhaps to the standard of his compatriot, James Madison, with whom he served in the old Congress, in the Convention, and in the new Congress, than was any other statesman of the age in which they acted. He was most faithful in his attendance on his duties, having for twenty-two years of public service, up to the first moment of his last illness, been absent from his seat but one day.
In his private life, we are told that he was distinguished for beneficent and charitable deeds. "Having never been married, he had no family of his own. His constant habits of economy and temperance left him the means of assisting many young men in their education and their establishment in business ; besides which, his father's family presented an ample field for his benevolence. Six orphans, his half-brothers and sisters, were left to his care by his father's death, in the year 1787. The estate that was to support them proved in- solvent. He paid the debts of the estate, quit-claimed his proportion to these children, and educated them all, in a great measure, at his own expense."
He died very suddenly at Washington City, in March, 1807, in the service of his adopted State. And it may be truly declared, that Georgia lost in him one of her greatest statesmen, and the Federal Union a public man whose capacity and past service indicated great future prominence in the an- nals of the republic.
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CAMDEN COUNTY.
CAMDEN.
BOUNDARIES, EXTENT .- This county has Glynn and a por- tion of Wayne on the north, the Atlantic on the east, Florida and Atlantic on the south, and Ware on the west. The county was formed in 1777 from the parishes of St. Thomas and St. Mary's, and in 1808 a part was added to Wayne. It is forty-five miles long, and twenty-five miles wide, containing 1125 square miles.
RIVERS AND CREEKS .- The streams of most importance are the St. Illa, St. Mary's; and Little St. Illa. The creeks are the Hog Pen Branch, Spanish, Bullhead, Buffalo, White Oak, Todd's, Dover, and Big White Cap.
POPULATION, TAXES, REPRESENTATION .- The census of 1845 gave this county a population of 5,482. Of these, 1,721 were whites, and 3,761 blacks. Amount of tax returned for 1848 is $4,464 97. Entitled to one representative.
POST OFFICES .- Jefferson, St. Mary's, Langsbury, Cen- tre Village.
ISLANDS .- Several Islands are included in this county. Among them Cumberland and Jekyl are the most important. The Indian name of Cumberland Island was Missoe. The name was changed when Oglethorpe visited it at the request of an Indian chief who had received some kindness from the Duke of Cumberland, to that of Cumberland. It is eighteen miles long, and from half a mile to three miles wide. The soil is of a light sandy character, adapted to the culture of cotton, corn, potatoes, &c. Lemons, figs, pomegranates, olives, oranges and melons grow finely. The frost of 1835 destroyed the fine forests of orange trees. Three thousand oranges have been gathered from one tree on Mrs. Shaw's plantation, formerly General Greene's. Cotton averages two hundred pounds per acre, corn twelve bushels per acre, sweet potatoes seventy bushels per acre. Live oak, cedars, and a few pines, are the forest trees. A portion of the timber with which the frigate Constitution was built was furnished by this island. Deer, raccoons and opossums are abundant, and fish of every variety. More than half of the island is worthless as
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far as cultivation is concerned ; the other half is worth eight dol- lars per acre. The climate is temperate and healthy. Many of the negroes live to a great age. On the north end of the island, or rather on Little Cumberland, is a lighthouse sixty feet high, with a revolving light, and can be seen at sea twenty miles. Dungeness, formerly Gen. Greene's property, is on this island. There was formerly a fine house on the estate, but it is now going to ruin. Population, 24th of October, 1846, thirteen white men, eight white boys, seven girls, eight women, negroes four hundred. In the war of 1812 the island was taken by Admiral Cockburne, and although motives were offered to the slaves to desert their masters, but one accepted the offer. There is no church, the inhabitants attending service in St. Mary's. On the southwest side of the island are the remains of fort St. Andrews, built by Gen. Oglethorpe.
Jekyl Island received its name from Gen. Oglethorpe in honour of Sir Joseph Jekyl, his particular friend.
TOWNS .- Jefferson, the seat of justice, situated on the south side of St. Illa river, has a court house, jail, three stores, &c. It is considered unhealthy, being surrounded by rice planta- tions. It is twenty-five miles from St. Mary's, twenty-eight from Brunswick, and fifty from Darien. Small sloops come up to the town.
St. Mary's is beautifully situated on the north side of the St. Mary's river, nine miles from, and in sight of the ocean. It has a fine harbour, being accessible to the largest vessels. Population, 359 whites, and 268 blacks; total 627. There are five churches, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and African; court-house, market-house, and a spacious brick academy. There are nine dry goods and gro- cery stores, one drug store, three schools, three ministers, three lawyers, three physicians, and a due proportion of mechanics. The town is very healthy. The streets are broad and adorned with shade-trees. For persons afflicted with pulmonary com- plaints, the climate is said to be peculiarly favourable. The inhabitants have a high reputation for morals and intelligence. Amount of business done is about $30,000 per annum. Orange groves until recently adorned nearly every garden, and flourish- ed with great luxuriance. An insect and the frost for a year or
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two past have greatly marred their beauty, and in some in- stances nearly destroyed them; yet they still form an interest- ing feature in the place. Lat. 30° 50', Lon. 4º 51'.
Centreville, six miles from Coleraine, and three from St. Ma- ry's river. Hides, &c., are brought here in large quantities from the contiguous counties.
Coleraine, forty-five miles above St. Mary's. It was once in a flourishing condition, but is now almost deserted.
Burnt Fort, on the St. Illa, forty-eight miles from its mouth.
CLIMATE, DISEASES, LONGEVITY .- The climate is warm. The diseases are such as prevail in the lower sections of the State. Lewis Welford died at the age of 95 or 100.
NATURE OF THE SOIL, PRODUCTIONS .- The lands upon the St. Illa are celebrated for their fertility. Productions are rice and cotton.
NAME .- Of the illustrious members of the British Parlia- ment, there were many who zealously advocated the cause of the injured colonies, but none with the activity and perseve- rance of the Earl of Camden, after whom this county was named. In every debate upon America he spoke at great length, and many of his speeches are still preserved. In his place in the House of Lords, opposing a bill respecting the Brit- ish forces in America, this fearless champion of American Lib- erty said : " I was against this unnatural war from the begin- ning. I contend that America has been driven by cruel neces- sity to defend her rights from the united attacks of violence, oppression, and injustice." By the friends of the ministry this language was denounced as violent, and in reply he said: " I do assure your lordships that I am heartily tired of the ineffectual struggle in which I am engaged. I would thank any of your lordships that would procure a vote for silencing me; but until that vote has received your lordships' sanction, I must still think, and as often as occasion may require continue to assert, that Great Britain was the aggressor; that our acts with respect to America were oppressive, and that if I were an American I should resist to the last, such manifest exertions of tyranny, violence, and injustice." On another occasion he said : " My position is this ; I repeat it, I will maintain it to my
10
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last hour, taxation and representation are inseparable. The position is founded on the laws of nature. For whatever is a man's own, it is absolutely his own. No man has a right to take it away from him without his consent. Whoever attempts to do it, attempts an injury. Whoever does it commits a rob- bery." Sentiments like these delivered by a legislator of Great Britain, were calculated to inspire the struggling colonies with confidence ; and the Earl of Camden was regarded by the friends of liberty as their most able champion. The colony of Massachusetts sent to him an address, acknowledging in grate- ful terms their profound sense of his patriotic and intrepid de- fence of the rights of His Majesty's subjects. America rung with his praises. Counties, towns, and villages were named after him. Georgia, to perpetuate the remembrance of his ser- vices, attached his name to one of her divisions. We will give a short memoir of this distinguished friend of American liberty.
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