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 31
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NATURE OF THE SOIL, AVERAGE PRODUCTS, VALUE OF LAND .- The lands in the western part of the county are of an inferior quality, having a reddish, thirsty, sandy soil. The central portion is of a grayish soil, much cut up by shallow ponds, Where it is sufficiently elevated it produces corn and cotton well. The eastern part is mixed with oak and hickory, not having many tall trees. The central part is pine land. The southern portion is the most fertile, having a large pro- portion of red oak and hickory land, generally supposed to contain lime, but examinations prove that this is a popular er- ror. These lands lie mostly on Fowl Town creek. In the fork of Fowl Town and Kinchafoona creeks there is pine land, equal to any in the world. On Kinchafoona and Muckalee creeks, are many rich plantations of hammock
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land, and adjoining uplands. Average product of cotton, per acre, is 800 pounds ; corn, 20 bushels per acre; wheat, 10 bushels. To orchards little attention is paid. The average value of the best lands is $10 per acre.
ORIGINAL SETTLERS .- Among the first settlers were Wil- liam Howard, Aaron Jones, Lewis Bond, and John Bullbright.
POST OFFICES. - Starkville, Chenuba, Palmyra, Sumter- ville, Chickasawhatchie.
POPULATION, TAXES, REPRESENTATION .- In 1845 the popu- lation was 2,370 whites, 2,706 blacks ; total, 5,076. Amount of State tax for 1848, $2,066 41. One representative to the Legislature.
MINERALS .- The minerals are burr-stone and various fossils, such as pectens, asplanorbis, spantangus, &c.
CAVES, SUBTERRANEAN STREAMS .- There are a great many small caves and subterranean streams in this county.
ROADS AND BRIDGES .- These are commonly kept in good order.
RELIGIOUS SECTS, EDUCATION .- Baptists, Methodists, and a few Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Education has not engaged much of public attention. There are some good schools in the county.
RIVERS AND CREEKS .- The Flint river forms its eastern boundary. The creeks are, Kinchafoona, Muckalee, Fowl Town, Mcclendon's, Middle, Chickasawhatchie, Sugar, Moss, Chehaw, Butler's, Chokeefichickee, Muckaloochee, Hiloka, and others.
NAME .- On the 7th of June, 1776, a member of Congress, from the State of Virginia, moved " that the colonies declare themselves free and independent." That member was Richard Henry Lee, to honour whose eminent services this county was named. He was born January 20, 1732, and received his edu- cation in England. Upon his return home, he spent much of his time in the pursuits of literature. When 25 years old he was elected a member of the House of Burgesses, and in all the debates of that assembly took a leading part, evincing proof of uncommon powers of mind. To this gentleman has been attributed the credit of originating the plan of corres- ponding committees between the different colonies, a mea-
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sure which was afterwards found to be so highly useful. In 1774, he was a member of the first general Congress, where he became one among the most prominent men, employing his eloquence and pen in favour of every measure which he re- garded as beneficial to his country. His speech in the Congress of 1776, when he made his celebrated motion for Independence, produced a change in the minds of many who doubted the propriety of taking so firm a stand, and was followed by the appointment of a committee to take the subject under con- sideration, of which Mr. Lee would have been chairman, had not the indisposition of some of his family required his pre- sence at home.
The British, knowing the agency which Mr. Lee had in the declaration of his country's independence, made several efforts to secure his person. On two occasions he but barely escaped his enemies. In 1778 he was again elected to Congress. In 1780 he resigned his seat from ill health. Between this period and 1784 he served in the Legislature of Virginia ; and as the commander of the militia in his county, protected it against the enemy.
In 1784 he was chosen President of Congress, after which he served his country in various capacities. In 1792 ill health forced him to retire from the cares of public life, and in 1794, June 19, this illustrious man descended to the grave, leaving behind him a character for talents, eloquence, and patriotism, which will be commensurate with the liberties of America.
LIBERTY.
HISTORY OF THE SETTLEMENT, ORIGIN OF ITS NAME .- While Georgia was a colony under the trustees, the excellent charac- ter of its lands attracted the attention of a company of persons who had emigrated from Dorchester, New England, and settled on the northeast bank of Ashley river, about 18 miles from Charleston. In 1752 they proposed a settlement in Georgia, and sent three persons to view the lands. On the 16th of May
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they arrived at Midway, so called from its supposed equal dis- tance from the rivers Ogeechee and Alatamaha. Having exa- mined the country, they returned and made their report. About this period the Council of Georgia granted them 3? "50 acres of land. In the beginning of August, 1752, six persons set off by land, and seven more by water, to survey the lands and make settlements, but both parties returned without accom- plishing their objects. "On the 6th of December, 1752, Mr. Benjamin Baker and family, Mr. Samuel Bacon and family, arrived at Midway, and proceeded to form a settlement. Soon after, Messrs. Parmenus Way, William Baker, John Elliott, John Winn, Edward Sumner, and John Quarterman, arrived and began to settle. Finding a general disposition in the peo- ple to remove, the Rev. Mr. Osgood went into the new settle- ment in March, 1754, and the whole church and society gra- dually collected and settled there."* This settlement formed a considerable part of what, in the early division of Georgia into parishes, was called St. John's parish. In 1777, the pa- rishes of St. James, St. Andrew, and St. John, by an act of the Legislature, were formed into Liberty county ; the spirited determination of her inhabitants at the breaking out of the Revolution to send delegates to Congress before the rest of the province had acquiesced in that measure, having induced the Legislature to change the name of St. John's parish to that of Liberty county.
SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, EXTENT .- Liberty county extends from the Atlantic Ocean on the east, where it takes in the island of St. Catherine's, sixty or seventy miles into the inte- rior, where it is connected with Tattnall county on the west. At this latter point it has a breadth of between thirty and forty miles, but at its eastern extremity it is narrowed to a distance of ten or fifteen miles. It is bounded on the N. by the Medway river, and partly by the Cannouchee; and on the S. by the South Newport river, McIntosh county, and the Alatamaha.
NATURE OF THE SOIL, PRODUCTS, MARKET .- The eastern part is intersected by many large and dense swamps. The surface is level, and the soil is composed mostly of sand and
* A short account of the Congregational Church at Midway, Georgia, by John B. Mallard, A. M.
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clay. In the vicinity of the swamps the clay is very pure and tenacious. The western portion has generally a sandy and barren soil. In many parts the surface is covered over with a very coarse white sand and gravel. The products are cotton, fice, corn, oats ; wheat is cultivated in small quan- tities in the upper part of the county. Many of the planters make their own sugar and syrup, and a small quantity is ex- ported. Cotton may be said to average 100 pounds per acre, corn 15 bushels ; two thousand five hundred bags of cotton are made in a year, and about four or five thousand bushels of rice are annually exported. Savannah is the market. Fifty thousand bushels of rice were exported in 1848.
VALUE OF LAND, WASTE LANDS .- The average price of land is $2 50 per acre. In this county there was at one time a quantity of land lying waste, but of late the quantity has been diminished.
TIMBER TREES, FRUIT TREES .- Several varieties of the oak, pine, palmetto, ash, gum, cypress, magnolia, poplar, maple, and hickory. The orange tree thrives. Apples, peaches, and grapes succeed in the northern part of the county.
The late Dr. John M. B. Harden, M. D., in an able article on the soil, climate, and diseases of Liberty county, in the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal for October, 1845, gives a catalogue of the different plants found in Liberty county, and observes, " that the Sylva and Flora of this county are unsur- passed by any in the world."
POST OFFICES .- Hinesville, Riceborough, Walthourville.
COUNTY TOWN, VILLAGES .- Hinesville is the county town, situated in the northwest part of the county, 180 miles southeast of Milledgeville, and 40 miles north of Savannah ; it has a neat court-house, jail, one Methodist church, one aca- demy, and three or four stores. Population about 200. This town was named after C. Hines, Esq., who for several years represented the county in the State Legislature. It is remark- ably healthy.
Walthourville is situated in the northwest part of the county, about six or seven miles from Taylor's creek. Popu- lation, 500. It has two flourishing academies, male and female, two churches, and two stores. Distance from Riceborough 10 miles, from Savannah 40 miles.
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Dorchester is a village lately settled, about five miles from Sunbury, and contains 12 families and an academy. It is a pleasant and healthy place.
Riceborough is situated on North Newport river, 312 miles S. S. W. of Savannah, and 284 N. of Darien. The stationary population does not exceed 25 whites and as many blacks. It contains three or four stores, and is the principal shipping port of the county.
Sunbury is on the S. side of Medway river, on a bold bluff, eight miles E. S. E. of Riceborough. It was built in 1758. Immediately after the Revolution it was quite a flourishing seaport, having about 40 families residing in it, and 12 or 15 square-rigged vessels have been seen in its harbour at one time. Tradition says that the first masonic lodge ever organ- ized in Georgia, held its first meeting under an old oak tree in Sunbury ; and also, that the St. George's Society, now the Union Society of Savannah, held a meeting under the same tree. A piece of this tree is still preserved in the family of the Sheftalls, in Savannah. Sunbury was taken by the British in the war of the Revolution. The remains of the old fort, from which Colonel McIntosh sent to the British commander the gallant reply, " Come and take it," are still to be seen. The venerable Dr. Mc Whir* resided in Sunbury whilst it was in the height of its prosperity, and kept a school to which pupils resorted from almost every part of Georgia. Sunbury is now a deserted village, inhabited by not more than six or eight families
ROADS AND BRIDGES .- In no part of Georgia do the citizens pay so much attention to their roads, as in Liberty county. On account of the numerous swamps, there has been an immense amount of labour expended in the construction of bridges and causeways ; the bridges are generally small. The longest bridge is at Riceborough, at the head of the tide navi- gation of North Newport river. Riceborough was formerly known by the name of " The Bridge."
POPULATION, TAXES, &c .- The census of 1845 gives to this county 1,854 whites, 5,517 blacks; total, 7,371. State tax for 1848, $3,629 41 cts. One representative.
* See under head of Eminent Men.
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CLIMATE, DISEASES, LONGEVITY .- Liberty county for many years after its first settlement was very sickly, but for ten or fifteen years past it has proved to be as healthy as any other county with the same population in our State. Dr. Harden, in an article on the climate of Liberty county, remarks : " Many causes have contributed to bring about this state of things. For many years after its first settlement the culture of rice was the chief business of the inhabitants. At present the dry culture system is every where adopted, and nothing but cotton and corn is raised as articles of export. Some of the people early introduced the custom of removing from their plantations during the summer and fall seasons ; but it was not generally adopted until of late. It is now very rare for families to reside on their plantations during the sickly seasons, and in- deed many have entirely abandoned them for healthier loca- tions in the pine lands. But probably a more important cause for the improved health of the county may be found in the change of the habits of the people. The black population is better fed and clothed now than formerly, and the habitations of both white and black are greatly im- proved. The use of intoxicating drinks has been almost en- tirely given up, and less drastic and poisonous medicines are now employed." The most common diseases are fevers, rheumatism, and bowel affections ; two or three cases of goïtre have occurred. Many instances of longevity are found among the blacks.
RELIGIOUS SECTS, NUMBER OF CHURCHES .- The religious sects are the Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists. There are about twelve churches in this county.
EDUCATION .- The people of Liberty, from their earliest settlement, have paid much attention to the subject of educa- tion. Excellent schools are found in different portions of the county ; and it is believed that a greater number of young men from Liberty county graduate at our colleges, than from any section of Georgia. Indeed, it has become proverbial for furnishing able ministers and instructers. Number of poor children, 111. Educational fund, $96 26.
SOCIETIES .- The Medway and Newport Library Society was formed in 1752, and has about 700 volumes, kept, we regret
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to learn, in a very bad state of preservation. The other So- cieties are the " Auxiliary Bible Society," the " Female Edu- cation Society," the "Ladies' Missionary Society," and the " Association for the Religious Instruction of Negroes." An Agricultural Society was organized in 1844, and holds an annual fair on the 1st day of January.
IMPROVEMENT OF LANDS .- The planters have until lately paid little or no attention to the preservation of their lands ; the practice heretofore being to wear out the virgin soils, and clear new lands. They are beginning, however, to find the advantages of a system of manuring, and other recently intro- duced improvements. On account of the low prices of the Sea Island cotton, some of the planters are reclaiming the old rice fields and swamps.
VALUE OF TOWN LOTS .- The value of town lots is $2,838. Stock in trade, $3,850. Money at interest, $56,573.
EMINENT MEN .- This county claims some eminent men, among whom the following may be named :
Dr. Lyman Hall, who was one of the signers of the Declara- tion of American Independence, resided for many years in this county.
Major Moses Jones, aid to General Lachlan McIntosh, was cut in two by a cannon ball, whilst planting the standard of his country on the ramparts at Savannah.
Doctors Dunwoody and Axon, were distinguished prac- titioners of medicine.
Benjamin Baker, at the age of 23, attended Gen. Oglethorpe in his expedition against St. Augustine. During the Re- volution he suffered many hardships. In 1776, "he was engaged for almost a week in studying and writing for the public, comparing several constitutions of government, and en- deavouring from these to compile one suitable for the province of Georgia." For more than twenty-seven years he was clerk of the Medway church. At his death he left several volumes of manuscripts. Colonels William and John Baker, his sons, were active soldiers in the revolutionary war.
General Stewart resided in this county.
Dr. Mc Whir claims Liberty county as his residence. This venerable man was born in Ireland, 1759, and came to Ame-
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rica in 1783. For ten years he conducted a school in Alex- andria, of which Gen. Washington was a trustee. In 1793 he came to Georgia and established himself in Sunbury, where he conducted a school for several years. He then devoted him- self to the improvement of the moral condition of the people of Liberty, Bryan and McIntosh counties. Although now nearly 90 years of age, his interest in his Master's cause seems undiminished, and his only regret is, that on account of the infirmities of age, he is not able to do more. Dr. Mc Whir was the founder of the first Presbyterian church or- ganized in Florida.
Mr. Audley Maxwell was a member of the first General Assembly in Georgia, which met in Savannah, on the 15th day of January, 1751.
Dr. J. M. B. Harden, who died about two years since, was a resident of this county. He was born on the 19th day of January, 1810, in Bryan county. He early discovered a love of, and an aptness for learning ; and after the usual prepara- tion at home, he was sent to a public school in the village of Sunbury. He did not, however, remain here long. When only eleven years of age, he was deprived by death of his father's guardian care. By this providence, the physical, moral, and intellectual care of six orphan children devolved upon his mother, and under whose watchful eye her son completed his scholastic studies. In the autumn of 1826, he was transferred from his maternal home to the office of Dr. William C. Daniell, of Savannah, there to pursue the study of medicine, a profession of his own choice. Dr. Daniell soon estimated his abilities, and gave him proper direc- tions in his course of study. His esteem for his preceptor ripened into friendship, which he cherished all his life. Hav- ing pursued his medical studies with ardour and delight, till the fall of 1828, his preceptor thought him qualified, and recom- mended him to attend a course of medical lectures. For this purpose he visited Charleston, and remained until the close of the lectures in the spring of 1829. After his return home he continued his studies with unabated zeal; and in the fall of that year Dr. Daniell recommended to him the propriety of ap- plying at once to the Medical Board of Georgia for a license
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to practice. Being then only nineteen years of age, he hesitated, lest his age should prove a barrier to a success- ful application. After mature reflection, he yielded to the suggestions of his friends, and carried with him from Dr. Daniell letters to several members of the Board, highly com- mendatory of his qualifications; and after a thorough and sat- isfactory examination, he received a license. On his re- turn, he commenced his professional career in the midst of his relatives and friends, among whom he had grown to manhood. His skill and devotion to his profession soon gained for him the esteem and confidence of the neighbourhood, and his pros- pects were every way flattering. He continued the practice at home but a short time, when he received an invitation from Dr. Raymond Harris, then of Liberty county, an experienced physician, to associate with him in the practice of the profes- sion. Dr. Harden accepted this overture, and in the fall of 1830 removed to Liberty county, and soon entered a wide field of usefulness. Here he remained until December, 1832, when he contracted a marriage with Miss Le Conte, which event fully determined him to fix his permanent abode in that county.
In the winter of 1835 and '36, he returned to the Medical College of Charleston, where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, and the award from the Faculty of a silver cup, with suitable inscriptions, for his Thesis, written in Latin. He then returned home and resumed his practice with renewed vigour and success. His exposures to the inclemency of the weather in attending on the sick, and his laborious application to his books, sowed the seeds of disease in his constitution, which gradually wasted his physical strength, so that a few years before his death he had abandoned his practice, except under special and peculiar circumstances. He died on the morning of the 16th of February, 1848, under the roof, and in the embrace of his only sister, near Tallahassee, in Florida.
In manners, Dr. Harden was kind and conciliating, pos- sessing social feelings, and delighting in the society of his family and friends. He was conscientious and honourable in all his dealings with mankind, and his friendships were sincere and confiding.
He was an excellent mathematician, and well versed in
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ancient and modern history. He was particularly skilled in the sciences allied to his profession, as chemistry and botany, and had made great progress in astronomy, geology, con- chology, zoology, &c. &c.
Liberty county claims several other eminent men, but the plan of this work will not allow an extension of the list.
ORIGINAL SETTLERS .- Benjamin Baker, Samuel Bacon, Parmenus Way, John Stevens, Richard Spencer, Richard Ba- ker, Josiah Osgood, Samuel Way, John Elliott, John Quarter- man, Rev. John Osgood, Sarah Mitchell, John Mitchell, Sam- uel Burnley, Edward Way, Edward Sumner, William Baker, and others.
Dr. Stevens, in his History of Georgia, says : " The acces- sion of such a people was an honour to Georgia, and has ever proved one of its richest blessings. The sons of that colony have shown themselves worthy of its sires ; their sires were the moral and intellectual nobility of the Province."
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE .- The character of the people generally is upright and virtuous, and they are unsurpassed for the great attention paid to the duties of religion.
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS .- It may be gratifying to many of our readers to be made acquainted with the history of the Midway church, in this county, and we take pleasure in giving the following abridged account, for which we are indebted to John B. Mallard, Esq.
The first house for public worship was erected on Midway Neck, near the plantation of Mr. Thomas Mallard. About 1754 measures were taken to build a new meeting-house. Mr. James Maxwell was employed to saw the lumber, and the Rev. Mr. Osgood, Samuel Burnley, Richard Baker, Edward Sum- ner, and Benjamin Baker, to determine its size and form. It was erected at the Cross Paths, on the north side of the north branch of Newport swamp, 44 feet by 36, with a gallery 18 feet in its story, and pitched roof, hipped at one end, and a small steeple at the other. The steeple was placed west, and the pulpit north. This house was destroyed by fire in 1778, by a body of armed men, under the command of Col. Provost. At the close of the Revolution a coarse building was put up near the place where the old meeting-house stood, 40 feet by 30, with
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· posts in the ground, and the sides filled up with poles. The present meeting-house was built in 1792. The body of the house measures 60 feet by 40. Its gallery is large and com- modious. Near the foot of the pulpit stands a marble font presented to the church by the Rev. Dr. Mc Whir. There is a large cemetery connected with this church.
List of the pastors of the Midway church, from its organ- ization to the present time :
Rev. John Osgood, Rev. Moses Allen,* Rev. Abiel Holmes, D. D., Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve, Rev. Murdock Murphey, Rev. Robert Quarterman, Rev. J. S. R. Axon.
MOUNDS, MINERALS, &c .- In many places in the county are to be found mounds, and in, and around them, various instruments for domestic and warlike purposes, such as ar- rows, spear-heads, pottery, &c. In various places, a few feet below the surface, oyster shells may be found.
Marl occurs in many localities, and sometimes it is very rich in carbonate of lime. Beautiful crystals of the sulphate of lime have been found in Bulltown swamp. Petrified wood is dug up at various depths, and on the North Newport and Medway rivers, the stumps and trunks of cypress trees and arrow-heads are found at the depth of four feet.
REMARKABLE SEASONS .- On the 15th of August, 1752, oc- curred one of the severest hurricanes ever experienced in the United States, and this county had its share of the calami- ties resulting from it. On the 8th day of September, 1804, another great hurricane occurred. The last great hurricane took place on Wednesday night, the 14th of September, 1844. Dr. Harden says : " It commenced to blow from N. E. about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and gradually increased until pro- bably 1 o'clock at night, when its violence was greatest. The .
* This gentleman was born in Northampton, Mass., Sept. 14, 1748. About 1777 he was established at Midway. At the reduction of Savannah by the British troops, Mr. Allen was taken prisoner. The Continental officers were sent to Sunbury on parole, but Mr. Allen, who was Chaplain to the Georgia Brigade, was denied this privilege. He was sent on board a prison-ship, and in attempting to recover his liberty by swimming to land, he was drowned. His body was washed on an island, and was found by some of his friends. They requested of the Captain of a British vessel boards to make a coffin, but were refused.
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