USA > Georgia > The story of Georgia and the Georgia people, 1732 to 1860 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
The Methodists and Baptists came into the county at an early day and are very strong in the county. There are two famous camp-grounds belonging to the Methodists in the county where meetings have been held annually for many years. There has always been a good high school in Franklin, and good common schools are found in every neighborhood.
Franklin was very thinly settled for a considerable time after it was laid out, and in 1790 there were only in all the vast area which it covered 1,041 people, of whom 156 were slaves. When it was much reduced in size in 1810 there were 9, 156 free and 1,056 slaves; in 1830 there were 10, 107, of whom 2,370 were slaves.
There was up to 1792 great danger from Indian forays, and the scattered inhabitants lived much of the time in blockhouses. Near this period the Indians massacred a family of nine persons at one time, but after the formation of the Union in 1789 the troubles with the Cherokees were largely settled, and there was but little disturbance after that time.
The county is now much worn, and the people are gen- erally in moderate circumstances, many of them quite poor, but the population is still considerable, being in i890 over fifteen thousand of all classes. : The people are entirely de- pendent on agriculture but are very industrious and moral, and are a happy, independent people; and while there is
0/2
of
le.
rs:
an
154
THE STORY OF GEORGIA
[CHAP. IV.
little attention paid to the higher education, there is a gen- eral attention to the fundamental branches of English.
WASHINGTON.
Washington in 1784, when it was first laid out, was a county of immense area, including what is now Greene, Hancock, Washington, Johnson, Montgomery and a part of Laurens and Oglethorpe, but the account we give now refers merely to that part of the original county which bears the name. It is very near the center of the State and is a still a county of large size, of which the flourishing little city of Sandersville is the county site. It includes in its boundary a section of what is known as the rotten lime- stone country, and is famous for the fossiliferous deposits belonging to the tertiary period. This limestone exists in such quantities that good lime has been made from it for market.
On the Ogeechee, the Buffalo and Kegg's creeks and Williamson swamp, and on the oak and hickory hills north of Sandersville the land at its first opening was very fertile, but the pine woods, which included much the larger part of the country, were in the early days of the century looked upon as of no value. The early comers took the oak and hickory lands, and the pine woods were thinly settled. The county was much exposed in its early settlement to Indian forays and was settled slowly.
The State had devoted a large part of Washington and Franklin for bounty land to its soldiers, and it was granted in lots of two hundred and fifty acres free from taxation for some years, and if one preferred to pay taxes he was to have two hundred and eighty-seven and one-half acres. Much of this land was of the best quality and many people came to the land granted them and made homes, though not a few sold their warrants. The long list of grants found
155
AND THE GEORGIA PEOPLE.
1782-1789.]
in the Appendix does not show the settlers of Washington alone, but belongs to many who never came at all.
There was but little to attract to this dangerous frontier before the end of the Indian war, but although the danger was great the lands on the creeks and rivers and the oak and hickory lands north of Sandersville were so fertile that they drew many daring settlers, who had received their warrants from the State, and the population grew steadily, if not rapidly, for some years. In 1790 there were in all the country originally Washington 4,500, of whom only 649 were slaves; in 1810, 6,427 free and 3,313 slaves; in 1830, 6,000 free and 3,909 slaves; in 1890, 25,237 of all classes.
The first settlers as given by White were : Alexander Irwin, John Rutherford, Wm. Johnston, Jared Irwin, Wm. Irwin, Elisha Williams, Jacob Dennard, J. Beddingfield, P. Franklin, A. Sinquefield, Jos. Avant, John Sheppard, John Thomas, John Daniel, John Martin, B. Tennille, J. Burney, Hugh Lawson, John Shellman, Wm. Sapp, M. Murphy, John Jones, John Montgomery, John Stokes, M. Saunders, Geo. Galphin, Jacob Dennis, J. Nutt, D. Wood, W. War- then, Jacob Kelly, Wm. May.
Many of these names are of Scotch origin, and many of these first settlers came from North Carolina, where a large colony of Scotch-Irishmen had settled. There were some of the settlers from Burke, Effingham and Wilkes and a few Virginians among the first comers. There were some slaveholders who had a small number of slaves, but the bulk of the people were poor and the fortunes possessed by them in after years were of their own making.
There was for twenty years after the settlement of Wash- ington little to induce wealthy people to emigrate to it, but the land was so cheap and so fertile that those who came into the woods poor soon became independent and were rich in herds and flocks. There was no market nearer than Augusta, and there was but little to be sold and but little
156
THE STORY OF GEORGIA
[CHAP. IV.
was bought. The houses were log cabins and the people were generally dependent entirely on their own labor, but the cotton machine was invented and one was brought to the county, and cotton planting began on a considerable scale after the century opened.
The tide of settlers came rushing in. They came with slaves to open new plantations. The poorer stock-raisers gave way and large plantations in the better lands became the rule, and by 1830 in the richer sections negro laborers had entirely supplanted the white yeomanry. This was, however, true only of the richer lands; there was much of the country occupied by the pine woods people, and there was among them the same condition of things that we have alluded to as belonging to the settlers in Liberty. There were a few very wealthy people in the county and a great many in moderate circumstances, and only a few who were very poor. The people as a rule lived plainly, and, while not famous for culture, were highly valued for their thrift and honesty.
The county site was not fixed until 1796, and the courts were held near what is now Warthen's. Saundersville, as it was first written, was named in honor of a Mr. Saunders who had a plantation on the place selected as the county site. It was in the center of the county near the pine belt, though in the oak woods. It was for many years an insig- nificant town, deriving its importance from its being the county site. It was incorporated and had an academy.
The academy at Sandersville was endowed by the State with the usual benefaction of one thousand acres of land, and afterward of an annual appropriation, and in addition to this it was allowed the privilege of running a lottery which was to be for the benefit of the academy. The lot- tery was in existence for a long time, as by the provisions of its charter it could continue until a certain sum was real- ized. The lottery and the endowment disappeared with
157
AND THE GEORGIA PEOPLE.
1782-1789.]
the end of the war, and now the Washington county acad- emy is merged into the graded school at Sandersville.
The Central railway passed directly through the poorer part of Washington, within three miles of Sandersville, and before the war much of the best retail trade of the county went to that city, but after the war the trade was given to the near-by villages of Tennille and Davisboro.
Sandersville began to improve rapidly and has continued to grow up to this time. It was surrounded by a wealthy country, and was for many years noted for its disregard of religion and morality. The leading citizens were avowed infidels, and the lives of many of them openly profligate. There was but one apology for a church in the village, a dilapidated, unpainted shell of a house on the outskirts of the town. There was occasional preaching in the village, and no Sunday-school, but a change for the better set in about 1858.
The epicureans, who gave tone to society, either left the county or died, and a new and better class of men took their places. A neat church was built by the Methodists, then one by the Christians, and then one each by Baptists and Roman Catholics. Now in all these churches there are regular services.
The old uncomely academy has long since been aban- doned, and one of the handsomest school buildings in the State has been erected.
The Federal army burned the court-house with its valu- able records, and its place was taken by another, which is now being replaced by a very handsome and convenient edifice.
While there was little attention paid to religion in the first settlement of Washington, there were a few log churches both among Baptists and Methodists before the beginning of the century. Bishop Asbury mentions in his Journal preaching at Harris meeting-house and on Williamson's
158
THE STORY OF GEORGIA
[CHAP. IV.
swamp. The Baptist church Bethlehem, near Warthen's, has a history going back to the early settlement of the county.
For many years after the county was settled all the wild revelry of frontier life was freely indulged in by the people. They drank almost universally, and often to excess, raced, gambled, and there was fair play given to all who chose to settle their quarrels in the ring. On court days and musters as late as 1850 there was fighting and drinking and gaming without any vigorous restraints, but now the county has the prohibition of the whisky traffic, and Sandersville and Ten- nille city governments, a law-abiding people, good schools and good churches.
Tennille, from being a mere station known as No. 13 on the road, has become quite a little city. The Central rail- road, the Wrightsville and Tennille road, the road to Augusta. and the short line to Sandersville give to the county all needful railroad facilities. Governor Jared Irwin, so famous. in the early history of this county, lived and died in it, and his monument erected by the State stands on the public square in Sandersville.
GREENE.
Greene was formed from Washington in 1785. It was. named Greene in honor of General Nathaniel Greene, and was composed of what is now Greene and Hancock and a. part of Taliaferro, Oglethorpe and of Oconee. It was a. magnificent county. The Oconee and Apalachee rivers and several large creeks ran through it, and the bottoms. were wide and fertile. The larger part of the county was- forest-covered hills of rich red land. The lower part, toward Hancock, was a fine gray land which was covered with a growth of small oaks, and at the first settling of the- county was regarded as the least desirable part of the. county, but is now the most thickly settled and prosperous. part of it.
159
AND THE GEORGIA PEOPLE.
1782-1789.]
The first settlers, as Mr. White gives them, were: Thos. Haines, D. Gresham, W. Fitzpatrick, H. Graybill, Oliver Porter, John Bailey, Chas. Cessna, T. Baldwin, M. Rabun, Jno. George, Alex. Reed, M. Rogers, D. Dickson, W. Harris, Peyton Smith, E. E. Parks, Peter Cartright, G. W. Foster, Jno. Armour, Dr. Poullain, Jesse Perkins, Joel Newsome, James Armstrong, Major Beasly. To these might be added the Abercrombies, the Dales, Fouches, and Brewers.
These names are nearly all Virginia and North Carolina names. Greene was largely settled by people from these States and had in it a very few people from any other sec- tion. The list which is given by White includes many who were afterward in Oglethorpe and Hancock.
The first settlers lived on the creeks and near the river, and for their own protection in close proximity to each other. A blockhouse was generally built at a convenient distance, and the families upon the approach of the Indians fled to it for protection. The men left their families in the blockhouse and went into the fields to cultivate the corn patches from which they hoped to make their bread. Until the cessation of the Oconee war there was constant peril and the immigration of people of means was small; but by 1790 there were five thousand four hundred and five people in the several counties then known as Greene, of whom one thousand three hundred and seventy- seven were negroes. There was constant apprehension of Indian forays and troops of soldiers were kept under arms.
In 1794 there was a troop of dragoons commanded by Captain Jonas Fouche, of which we have a roster in White's collections. These dragoons were:
Captain Fouche, Peyton Smith, Geo. Phillips, William Browning, Chas. Harris, John Young, S. B. Harris, Wm. Heard, S. M. Devereaux, John Harrison, Abner Farmer, Isaac Stocks, Samuel Dale, Josiah McDonald, Douglas.
-
160
THE STORY OF GEORGIA
[CHAP. IV.
Watson, Jesse Standifer, Wm. Scott, Arthur Foster, Wm. George, John Capps, R. Patrick, J. Jenkins, Chas. Watts, T. Byron, Jos. White, R. Finks, Geo. Owing, Wm. Coursey, Jos. Shaw, Jno. Pinkard, L. B. Jenkins, P. Watts, T. Scott, R. Walron, H. Potts, D. Lynch, S. Standifer, Jos. Heard, Jas. Moor, H. Gibson, R. Grimatt, George Reed, M. Wall, Jas. McGuire.
The militia districts mentioned were: Armour's, Brown- ing's, Taylor's, Beard's, Melton's.
Although the county was organized in 1786, the first court does not seem to have met until · 1790. The first estate is appraised in 1786. It consisted of:
Fifty bushels corn, I bay mare, I cow and calf, I heifer, some hogs, an ax, a hoe, a linen wheel, a brass kettle, a tea- kettle, a wash-tub, churn, candlesticks, bottles, slaye, tea- pots, bole, mugg; 200 acres land, £75.
The first will is that of Jos. Smith, a surveyor, made in 1786. His estate was, 17 cows, surveying instruments, 4 horses, 3 Bibles, 3 Testaments, 3 sermon books, 412 yards gray cloth.
The first grand jury was: Thos. Harris, David Love, Walton Harris, David Gresham, Jno. A. Miller, Wm. Fitz- patrick, Wm. Heard, Moses Shelby, James Jenkins, Joseph White, Robert Baldwin, Wm. Shelby, Jesse Connell, Joseph Spradling, Wm. Daniel.
The grand jury presents as a "greate greavance " that these were more land-warrants than there was land.
The judge prescribes as a rule for lawyers that: "For the sake of a decent conformity with an ancient custom, and of a necessary distinction in the profession, that attorneys shall be heard in a black robe, but this rule was not to be enforced till the next session."
The cases in the early courts were largely for assault and battery, and when parties were convicted the fines were generally from three to ten dollars. One who had been
1
161
AND THE GEORGIA PEOPLE.
1782-1789.]
convicted of manslaughter was sentenced to be branded on the left thumb with the letter M, and four convicted of forgery were to be hung.
The court-house in 1798 was a very inferior building, and the jail was a mere hut. As late as 1798 the United States soldiers were still quartered in the country to protect the settlers from Indian raids, for, though the Indians were nominally peaceable, they were likely at any time to give trouble. Despite the dangers from Indians and the hard- ships of the frontier immigrants poured in from North Carolina and from Virginia. Many of the North Caro- linians came from Rowan and Mecklenburg and settled on Shoulderbone creek in Hancock. The Virginians came from Franklin, Brunswick, Prince George, Dinwiddie and Prince Edward and settled on the Apalachee and Oconee. The first comers to Greene were, as they were in Wilkes, generally men of small means. They were industrious and thrifty and prosperous. The tide of settlers was very con- stant and very full. At first nothing was produced but food crops, principally corn and cattle and hogs, but there was a large quantity of these. The range was wide and cattle and hogs fattened in the woods. A little tobacco was raised for market, but there was but little to sell and few purchasers for anything. The people lived within them- selves. They made everything needful for comfort, and up to the war of 1812 Greene and Wilkes and Hancock were filled with plenty. The county produced everything needed for man or beast. There was corn, barley, rye, wheat, hogs, cattle, horses. There were few people of large wealth in the county up to 1812, and none who were squalidly poor. There were a few people like old Joel Early, who kept up the style of an old English baron, but the larger part of the people lived in solid comfort and made no pretenses. Living was exceedingly cheap, and board was
11
162
THE STORY OF GEORGIA
[CHAP. IV.
two to four dollars per month. Unfortunately the drink- ing habits of the people were universal, and brandy and. whisky were freely used, and they were distilled in quan- tities. Life in all this middle Georgia belt was so much the same that the story of one of these counties is the. story of all.
The people of all these counties came from the same sec- tion and had the same features. They were, as far as- education was concerned, beyond their children, who grew' to manhood on the frontier, and who twenty years after- ward settled in Jasper, Morgan or Jones. Most of those who. signed deeds in Greene could write their names, but it was not so twenty years afterward. Those who grew to man- hood during and just after the Revolution had scant oppor- tunities for learning even elementary branches.
After the bringing in of the cotton-gin in the first years of the century, and as the country on the west of the Oconee was opened, the men who had small farms and raised pro- vision crops entirely began to seek other homes and the: farms were absorbed by the plantations.
After the war of 1812 wealth very rapidly increased in Greene and cotton planting was vigorously pressed. As was the case in Wilkes and Columbia negroes began to. take the place of white people, the plantations of farms, and cotton of grain.
The effort of the planter from 1815 to 1850 was to raise all the cotton possible. Grass is the deadly foe of this textile plant, and now the Bermuda grass was brought into Greene. Mr. John Cunningham, a merchant of Greensboro in the early twenties, told the author that he brought the first small tuft of this grass to Greensboro and planted it in his garden. The garden was soon covered, the farm was next to follow, and the pestiferous grass, as it was regarded, spread so rapidly that in some cases the fields were simply surrendered to it and the planter counted his plantation as
.
163
AND THE GEORGIA PEOPLE.
1782-1789.]
ruined. With the new lands opening, the Bermuda grass spreading, the fields once so fertile becoming washed and worn, the planters of Greene began to seek fresher lands in the west, and as in Wilkes the farms were absorbed by the plantations. The after history told of Wilkes and Burke is true of Greene.
It is now no longer a county of planters, but is a county of villages. The owners of the land reside in the small towns and the negro tenants work the fields. But while this is the fact now, it has been a fact to some extent for over forty years. Save that the freedman has taken the place of the slave, it is as it was when the overseer con- trolled the plantation before the war. This is true of the red lands, but not true of poorer lands in other parts of the county. Here there is improvement in every line.
The Presbyterians and the Baptists came into Greene with the first settlements and organized churches before they had meeting-houses. The Baptists had churches at Scull Shoals and Bairdstown shortly after the county was settled, and occupied jointly with the Presbyterians the building called Siloam meeting-house, then on the hill overlooking Greensboro. Here Mr. Ray had an academy, and for its support an appropriation was made by the Leg- islature.
The Methodists entered the county as soon as they came into Georgia, and soon had a number of preaching places. Bishop Asbury preached at Little Brittain, and at Bush's, now known as Liberty, and the South Carolina Conference was held at this church in 1808. Asbury and McKendree were both present. Lovick Pierce was ordained an elder and Bishop Wm. Capers was admitted into the connection as a preacher on trial. There was a famous camp-ground at Hastings, where the people of Greene used to assemble annually for religious meetings. One of the most remark- able revivals of religion ever known in Georgia reached
164
THE STORY OF GEORGIA
[CHAP. IV.
Greensboro in 1827, when Judge Longstreet and many of the most prominent men in the county were converted. Greene is now well supplied with churches and school- houses, and while the country neighborhoods have de- clined, the villages of Greensboro, Union Point, White Plains, Penfield, Woodville and Veazy have grown up, and the people of the county have religious and educational advantages beyond those at any previous time; and while much of what was once the most fertile land in Greene is not now productive, the average of production per acre is perhaps greater now than at any time since 1820.
Greensboro was selected as the county site as soon as the county was laid off, and an academy was provided for. The trustees were granted one thousand acres of land for its endowment. Commissioners were appointed to lay off the town and build the academy and repair Siloam meet- ing-house. The Rev. Jas. Ray was appointed rector.
-
Greensboro drew to it from its first settlement a fine class of citizens and soon became famous for its culture and refinement. It was the county site of a wealthy county, and while in the early days the planters mainly lived on their plantations, the lawyers and doctors, preachers and teachers, as well as the court officers, nearly all lived in the town. Here Dr. Lovick Pierce practised. medicine during the time he was a local preacher, and here Dr. Adiel Sherwood, the great Baptist preacher, lived, and while living here in 1829 he published the first book " Gazetteer of Georgia," which attempted to tell of the resources of the State. Here Judge Longstreet began the practise of law and became famous as a wit and jurist Here he married and as has been seen became a Christiar and Methodist preacher. Here Wm. C. Dawson, long time senator and one of the most popular of Georgians, had his home and practiced his profession. Thomas Foster
165
AND THE GEORGIA PEOPLE.
782-1789.]
he genial and gifted young Congressman, practised law in his village.
John Bethune and Vincent Sandford, each clerks of the court and men of position and influence, lived here. Near here the great Georgia bishop, Geo. Foster Pierce, was born, and here he spent his childhood, and from Greens- oro he went to college at Athens. Here he decided to nter the Methodist itinerancy, and laid down his law books nd entered the ministry.
The eccentric but sterling Governor Peter Early lived in his county, and is buried on what was his manor. His ather, Joel Early, came from Virginia, and purchased a ery large body of land on the Oconee river, where he lo- ated what he called Early's Manor. His will is on record nd is a striking document. It gives direction not only as o the distribution of his property, but as to the methods of bruning his apple orchards and resting his fields. He be- queathed his land to trustees to be given to his favored ons when they were thirty-six years old. Two of his sons e disinherited, one for extravagance, the other for disre- pect. The descendants of the Greene county people are ound in all sections of the Southern country, and they have been among the most useful and distinguished of the people.
166
THE STORY OF GEORGIA
[CHAP. V
CHAPTER V.
1789 TO 1800. .
George Walton Governor-Convention 1789-Some of its Provisions-First General Thanksgiving Day Observed-Governor Telfair-General Wash- ington's Visit to Georgia-Governor Mathews-New Counties-Educational Advancement-The Old Field School-Shooting Matches-Gander-pulling -Dancing-Fighting in the Ring-Horse-swapping-Drinking Habits- General Character of the People-The Yazoo Troubles-General Jackson's Course-Rescinding of the Act-Convention of 1795-Convention of 1798 General Jackson Governor - Pine-barren Frauds - History of Elbert, Columbia, Screven, Oglethorpe, Hancock, Bulloch, Bryan, McIntosh, Jack- son, Montgomery, Lincoln-Georgia in the Federal Union.
Authorities : Stevens, Vol. II., White's Statistics, White's Historical Collec. tions, Sherwood, Chappel's Pamphlet on the Yazoo and Pine-barren Frauds, Jackson's Letters of Sicillius, State Papers Quoted by Chappel, Watkins's Digest, Marbury & Crawford's Digest, Clayton's Compilation, Campbell's Georgia Baptists, Smith's History of Methodism, Wilson's Pres- byterian Necrology, Georgia Scenes, Georgia Gazette, Georgia Chronicle, Cranch's Reports U. S. Supreme Court, Vol. VI.
Georgia ratified the Constitution early in 1788, but it was late in the year before the needful nine States had acted and the Union formed. George Walton, of whom we have spoken elsewhere, was governor when the Constitution was ratified. He had been of the four who called the first meeting of the Whigs in Savannah. He had signed the Declaration of Independence, had been a member of the Continental Congress, a member of the Council of Safety, and officer in the army, and one of the first of the Georgia judges. His published charges are not the best specimens of clear expression and of faultless English, but they are vigorous and sensible. Walton has not received his just meed from Georgia historians. He did not get on well with General McIntosh or Edward Telfair, who were Scotch
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.