USA > Georgia > The story of Georgia and the Georgia people, 1732 to 1860 > Part 18
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The first settlers of Jackson, as given by White, were:
Jacob Bankston, Richard Easley, John Smith, Jordan Clark, Abednego Moon, Thomas Hill, Paul Williams, Ed- ward Callahan, Parks Chandler, Andrew Miller, Bedford. Brown, Z. Collins, S. Lively, Jonah Strong, Miles Gath- right, D. W. Easley.
One of the most remarkable and distinguished citizens of Jackson was John Jacobus Flournoy, a deaf mute. He be- longed to a distinguished and wealthy family, was wealthy and intelligent, and often appeared in the press as a writer of force. It was through his agency that the deaf and dumb received State care. At first they were sent to Hart-
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ford, Conn., and then to an asylum built for their special instruction at Cave Spring.
The celebrated John W. Glenn, a Methodist preacher of high character in early Georgia, long had his home here.
Jackson has sent out a great many people to other sec- tions, and has been repeatedly cut down to make other counties.
In 1810 the population of Jackson was 8,753 whites and 1,816 slaves; in 1830 there were 6,221 whites and 2,78.3 slaves; in 1850 there were 6,287 whites and 2,941 slaves; in 1890, 19,176 in all.
The Northeastern railway, from Athens to Lula, passes directly through Jackson, and there is a railway from Gainesville and from Social ,Circle to Jefferson; the Sea- board Air Line railroad skirts the lower part of the county; so few counties have better railway facilities than this old county, which was for so many years without any.
Where there was the little hamlet of Jug Tavern, there is now the charming little town of Winder, with its fine schools and attractive churches.
MONTGOMERY.
There was a wide sweep of pine woods in the lower part of Washington, which, at the time the county was made, was almost entirely uninhabited. It was considered a bar- ren land, except along the river, which swept along its bor - der and through it. A few people, however, had settled in it as early as 1793, and it was decided to lay out a new county to be called Montgomery, in honor of the brave general of that name.
It was almost an unbroken pine forest, but began to at- tract settlers because of its value as a pastoral county. In the pine woods of North Carolina there was a settlement of Scotch Highlanders, many of whom had been banished from Scotland because of their adherence to the House of
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Stuart. During the Revolution these Scotch people were divided in sentiment, a large number holding with the crown, and an equal body holding with the patriots. After the war was over the colonists divided, and many came to Georgia and settled in Montgomery and what was after- ward Telfair and Tattnall .. They were a race of brave and sturdy old covenanters. They were the McRaes, McDon- alds, McQueens, McDuffies, McCrimmons, McWillamses, and McCramers.
These and many others built their cabins and opened their cattle ranches on the pine-clad hills. They were a thrifty people and were independent from the start. They had their kirk and their schools, and had services in their native Gaelic. They occupied the pine woods, and a few people of English descent opened large plantations on the rivers. Many of these were planters of large wealth.
There was no part of Georgia where there were so many Highlanders, and there was nowhere a more contented and well-to-do people than those who dwelt in these pine for- ests. A finer type of the people than the Scotch who set- tled so largely Telfair, Tattnall and Montgomery counties was not to be found in America. They were honest, in- dustrious, religious and successful.
These newcomers were in the main Presbyterians, and they brought their minister with them and had their kirk in this wilderness. Many of their descendants, how. ever, became Methodists and Baptists, and all these denomi. nations are represented in the county now. Nowhere were there better country churches or country schools, and the Methodists established a high school at Spring Hill which was finally merged into the South Georgia College at Mc Rae. The anti-Missionary Baptists have had a strong fol lowing in this county.
The county is now being rapidly peopled, and the grea ranches of the old Scotchmen, with their herds of cattl
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and flocks of sheep, are now being turned into turpentine farms and lumber-making villages.
The county has become famous because of its connection with one of the most gigantic land frauds which was ever perpetrated in the United States and of which we have already spoken.
In 1810 there were in the county of Montgomery, which then included a half-dozen of the present counties, 2,207 whites and 747 slaves; but in 1830, when the county had been cut down to its present dimensions, there were only 924 whites and 335 negroes. In 1850 there were 1,541 whites and 613 negroes, and in 1890 there were 9,248. Pop- ulation is now (1899) largely increased.
The building of the railway from Americus to Savannah has opened up the country, the resources of which were unknown to the outside world, and the county has rapidly advanced.
LINCOLN.
When Oglethorpe was cut off from Elbert on the north and Wilkes on the west, a narrow strip was taken from it on the east, and in honor of General Lincoln, of the Revo- lutionary army, the county was called Lincoln. It was not a large county, but was in the main a county of most ex- cellent land. The Broad river was on the north, the Sa- vannah river on the east, and the Little river on the south. Much of the land was rich red land, much of it fertile river and creek bottoms. It was very thickly peopled be- fore the Revolutionary war. Mr. White gives as the first settlers:
John Lamar, Peter Lamar, John Dooly, Thomas Dooly, Thomas Murray, John Lockhart, B. Lockhart, Thomas Mitchell, Sterne Simmons, J. Stovall, Stephen Handspiker. M. Henly, Robert Flemming.
Those who are familiar with the names of Scotch-Irish 15
-
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people will see how many of these first families of Lincoln were of that stock, who came to Wilkes immediately from North Carolina, but more remotely from Pennsylvania and Ireland.
There was a part of this county which was very sterile, but the lands along the rivers and creeks were soon taken up by large plantations.
Lincoln was admirably suited to tobacco culture, and the wealthy slaveholders from Virginia came into it at an early day, and in 1810 there were 2,443 whites and 2,212 negroes in the county. In 1830 there were 2,869 whites and 3,276 negroes; in 1850, 2,218 whites and 3,780 slaves. In 1890 the population was only 6, 146.
Much of what is written of Wilkes refers to that part of Lincoln which was in Wilkes up to 1796, and many of the celebrated Kiokee settlers had their homes in Lincoln.
The county was abandoned by many of its best people as soon as the lands in the western counties were opened. The fields grew up in forests, and owing to the distance of the county from markets it has rallied slowly.
Lincolnton was never a large town and is but little changed now from what it was sixty years ago. Goshen was once a place of some importance, but has long since ceased to exist.
The county was the hotbed of Whiggism during the Revolution. Jno. Dooly, the father of Judge Dooly, was a Whig colonel. He was the terror of the Tories and was cruelly murdered by them. His son, Judge Dooly, was famous as a brilliant lawyer and an honored judge, but, alas! as famous for the gross irregularities of his life. The- worn-out stories of his coarse wit have been a staple with all writers on early Georgia.
The nearness of the Kiokee church to Lincoln and the influence of Daniel Marshall in this county has made Lin- coln largely a Baptist county, and there are some very
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solid and prosperous churches of that denomination in it now. The Methodists, the only other denomination in the county, have a good following, and it is perhaps somewhat remarkable that the oldest Sunday-school which has had a continuous life in Georgia is in a country church in Lin- coln, where for over eighty years a Sunday-school has been held every Sunday.
Judge Longstreet located the scene of the celebrated occurrence when the man was seeing how he "could a fout" in the Dark Corner of Lincoln; but I have been unable to find any part of Lincoln which would consent to . acknowledge that it was the part alluded to.
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CHAPTER VI.
1800 TO 1812.
The New Century and the New Era-Political Bitterness-Duel between Van Allen and Wm. H. Crawford-Duel between John Clark and Wm. H. Craw- ford-Jackson Elected Senator-Josiah Tattnall Governor-David Emanuel- John Milledge-Jared Irwin-David B. Mitchell-Sale of the Yazoo Lands to the United States-New Counties Opened-Baldwin, Wilkinson and Wayne Formed-New Settlements Made-The Cotton Gin-Rapid Growth of Cot- ton planting-Virginia Immigrants-North Carolina Immigration-Removal of the Capital-Flush Times in Georgia-The University Opened-Great Religious Revival-Christ Church, Savannah-The Independent Church, Savannah-The Roman Catholics-The Baptists-Dr. Holcombe-Judge Clay-Jesse Mercer-Mt. Enon Academy-The Methodists-Stith Mead -Camp-meetings-Lorenzo Dow-Jesse Lee-The Embargo-The Allevi- ating Acts-Establishment of the First State Bank-First Cotton and Wool Factory-First Stage Coach Line-River Communication.
Authorities : Marbury & Crawford's Digest, Sherwood's Gazetteer, White's Statistics, White's Historical Collections, Clayton's Compilation of Georgia Laws, Old Pamphlets, Campbell's Baptists, Smith's History of Methodism in Georgia, Life of Jesse Mercer, Andrews's Reminiscences, Gilmer'S Georgians, Bench and Bar of Georgia, Newspapers.
David Emanuel, a Marylander who came to Georgia with John Twiggs, and was a brave soldier in the Revolutionary war, was a member of the Senate from Burke and was president of that body, and became by virtue of his office governor in the interim before a new election took place. He was a man of fine character, who was fully trusted by his fellow citizens.
Josiah Tattnall, Jr., was elected at the regular term as governor. He was the son of the sturdy Loyalist, Josiah Tattnall, Sr., who had stood so firmly for the king and who was now in exile. The old Royalist had sent his bright boy to the Bermudas that he might be kept from doing as the young Habershams and Milledge and James Jackson
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had done, taking up arms against his king; but young Josiah's heart was with the Whigs, and he made his way back to Georgia as soon as possible and entered the army just as the war closed. He came too late to do more than show his willingness to serve the State. He entered polit- ical life and was with Jackson and the Republicans.
The times were times of intense bitterness and Federalist and Republican were at dagger's point. Personalities were common, and the duel was the frequent outcome of the political disputes. Van Allen, of New York, who had set- tled in Georgia as a lawyer, was killed in a duel with W. H. Crawford. John Clark had a duel with Crawford and shot him through the wrist. James Jackson had a duel with Colonel Watkins and was wounded in the arm, and Judge Tait challenged Judge Dooly and a duel was averted by Dooly's wit. Between the animosities resulting from the Yazoo affair and the political troubles, there was little peace in Georgia in the beginning of the century.
The young governor entered upon his duties, but his health was so broken that he was compelled to resign. He went to the West Indies in a vain pursuit of health and died soon after his return to Georgia and not long after his retirement. He was succeeded by John Milledge, the second of the name. John Milledge's grandfather, Rich- ard Milledge, came with Oglethorpe to the colony, bring- ing his sons John and Richard with him. The father and mother died soon after they reached Savannah, and upon the son John, whom Mr. Oglethorpe called a worthy and industrious boy, fell the maintenance of the family. He was a fine young fellow and had the friendship of Ogle- thorpe, and during the Spanish war was appointed quar- termaster. He acquired a handsome property, and gave his son John the best advantages for education the colony afforded.
When the Revolutionary troubles began the elder Mil-
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ledge seems to have been dead. He was a leading man in Savannah but seems to have had no part in the Revo- lutionary movement, but his son John was an ardent Whig and was connected with those who broke into the magazine. He joined the army, fought through the siege at Savannah, and then with James Jackson made . his escape to South Carolina, where he went to Sumter's army, as we have seen, and narrowly escaped being hung for a spy. He was chosen as attorney-general while he was a refugee. When the war was over he married the daugh- ter of George Galphins, and having a considerable estate of his own, and marrying a woman of large property, he became one of the rich men of Georgia. He was very popular and was sent to Congress, first to the House, then to the Senate ; was elected governor to succeed Governor Irwin, and then to the Senate again. He retired to private life in 1807.
Mr. Milledge bought with his own funds the seven hun- dred acres upon which the University and a part of the city of Athens is located, and gave it as a free gift to the trus- tees of the projected University as a site for the institution, and when the new county of Baldwin was laid out in 1803 the county site was named Milledgeville in his honor.
After his term closed Jared Irwin was chosen governor a second time. He was governor from 1807 to 1809, when he was succeeded by David B. Mitchell. This gentleman was born and brought up in Scotland. He was the nephew of Dr. David Brydie, a physician in Savannah, who was a surgeon in the American army. When Savannah was cap- tured Dr. Brydie fell into the hands of the British and died on a prison ship, having made his nephew and namesake his heir. Young Mitchell came to Savannah, studied law, was admitted to practise, married a Savannah lady, and was rapidly promoted to a place in the councils of the State. He was very popular and was three times elected governor.
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He removed from Savannah to an estate near Milledgeville, where he died at a comparatively early age .*
The troubles between the United States and England came to a crisis while Governor Mitchell was in his last year of office. In common with most of the Georgians he was an enthusiastic war man, and cooperated with the gen- eral government very heartily. During the financial de- pression which followed the embargo a bill for the relief of debtors had been passed and approved by Governor Mitch- ell. Judge Early succeeded him, and while he was gov- ernor the Legislature extended the act and he vetoed it. It was passed over his veto, and when the governor offered for reelection. he was opposed by ex-Governor Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell was elected governor the third time.
The Legislature in the first years of the century made a sale of the Yazoo territory to the general government, and Governor Jackson, Mr. Milledge and Mr. Baldwin were the parties selected as commissioners by the State of Georgia. After a rather stormy time an agreement between the two sovereignties, as the treaty denominates them, was made and the sale was a fact accomplished.
The United States government agreed to extinguish the Indian title to all lands east of the Chattahoochee, and to pay Georgia $1,500,000 and take the title, with all its shadows, and so Georgia was free from all further care of its western territory.
The United States government went at once to work to negotiate with the Creeks for the extension of the western line of Georgia. Treaties were made in 1802, 1804 and 1805, by which all the lands east of the " Ocmulgee river were ceded by the Indians to Georgia. This land was dis- tributed by lottery to the citizens of Georgia, and is now included in the counties of Morgan, Jasper, Putnam, Jones, Wilkinson, Twiggs, Pulaski, Telfair, Laurens, Wayne.
* White.
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The first purchase was made in 1802 and divided into three counties-Baldwin, Wilkinson and Wayne. The first drawing was made in 1803, and the country was rapidly peopled by those who drew the lots, or by those to whom they were sold. The people from the eastern counties came in droves into this new country. The upper part of the country was a section of great beauty and attracted a great many settlers from the older counties, and many Vir- ginians now came into this new country.
In the counties along the tide-water in Virginia, where there were many slaves, tobacco culture was now almost abandoned and all farming was unprofitable. The land was worn and poor and the negroes numerous, and the prospect of making fortunes in Georgia raising cotton was alluring, so a great many Virginians and North Carolinians had emigrated and settled plantations in Wilkes, Hancock and Greene twenty years before, and now on the opening of the new purchase they came in numbers to the new lands of Putnam, Jones, Morgan and Jasper, or Randolph, as it was then called. Many of these were men of property who had a number of slaves.
To move from Virginia in the early days of the century was a difficult matter, and often the Virginian came out to Georgia and bought from a dealer in wild lands some fresh, rich land, and prepared for his removal. He brought with him at his first coming a few negroes, cleared some land, and built his houses.
As was the case in first settlements everywhere at that time, these houses were single-roomed log houses, or at best a double log house, with puncheon floor, and stick- and-dirt chimneys. After his houses were built he returned to Virginia for his family. He had a sale and sold out and gave away the larger part of his belongings, and storing the rest in his large four-horse wagon he prepared for his removal.
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The women and children of the family were provided with a Jersey or Dearborn wagon. The negroes were mainly on foot driving the cattle before them, and with some of his neighbors who were moving with him he began his journey from Hanover, New Kent, Brunswick, Dinwiddie or Albe- marle to "Georgay," as he generally pronounced the name of his new home. He and his sons rode on horseback, and a two-horse wagon was provided for the negro women and the children.
The cavalcade dragged its slow length along until after fifty days of weary travel, camping out at night and cook- ing by the camp-fire, the families reached the new home. There were years of struggling before the comforts they left behind in the old commonwealth were once more pro- vided, but the lands were productive, negroes increased rapidly, cotton was high, property rapidly increased, and while the loyal Virginian did not forget his old State, and would never admit any land equal to it, he admitted that he found a Virginia almost as good in Georgia.
There was no part of Georgia old, and to all parts immi- grants were caming. The poor man with no slaves sought the cheap hills of Jackson and Franklin, or if he was from the pine woods of North Carolina, from Robinson and Onslow and Cumberland, he came generally to the pine forests of lower Washington and Montgomery.
The older counties of middle Georgia had been settled by the same class of people from North Carolina and Vir- ginia, who now came to the new counties, and they had now become quite populous, sending out a number of emi- grants, who left the old for the new counties.
The towns in middle Georgia, Warrenton, Washington, Petersburg and Sparta, were towns of large trade, and the streets of Augusta were thronged with wagons from western South Carolina, western North Carolina and upper Georgia. Merchants came to buy goods and farmers to sell produce
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and buy supplies. Savannah was a busy seaport and fleets of small vessels came in with loads of West Indies produce, and went out laden with rice, tobacco, cotton and lumber. The slave-ships owned in Boston and in England emptied their cargoes on the wharves of Savannah with fearful fre- quency. These new negroes, as they were called, were generally bought by the rice-planters on the coast, and but few found their way into the interior. This foreign slave- trade was to cease in 1808, and so crowds were hurried to the market before it became a piracy to bring them in.
There was now a demand for the removal of the capital of Georgia further westward. Louisville was too near Augusta, and perhaps not a little unhealthy, lying between the Ogeechee river and Rocky Comfort creek. The capitol had not cost much, and was very unsatisfactory, and so in 1804 it was decided to remove the seat of government from the banks of the Ogeechee to the banks of the Oconee, and to the spot selected as the county site of the new county of Baldwin, which, in recognition of the genuine benevolence of John Milledge, was called Milledgeville. A double log cabin, overlooking Fishing creek just below where is now the railroad bridge on the dummy line, was provided as a mansion for Governor Irwin, and as soon as it could be finished the plain two-story house still standing, and long occupied by Peter Fair, was made the governor's residence. Fifteen thousand dollars was put in the hands of the commissioners to provide public buildings.
The incoming of so many people of means, the fertility of the newly-opened lands, the general healthfulness of the county, the high price of cotton, and the abundance of pro- visions made these early days of the century flush times. Fortunes were rapidly made, speculation ran wild, cities and villages sprang up like magic, but all at once the em- bargo came. Then there was stagnation, and reverses be-
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gan. There was constant agitation and alarm, and then the war of 1812 followed.
The University was located by the commission selected, as we have seen elsewhere, in Jackson county, on the land purchased by Mr. Milledge. The Legislature made a new county named Clarke, and granted an endowment in lands which were afterward sold for $100,000.
Josiah Miegs was chosen as president, and the college had its first commencement, under an arbor, in 1804. In the chapter on education in Georgia I have given a fuller account of this important incident in Georgia history. It was designed to make the institution a university, but it was at this time in its feeblest infancy.
It was during the period under survey that there was one of the most remarkable religious movements ever known in the history of Georgia. It is needless to deny the fact that the morals and religion of Georgia before this time were in a deplorable condition. Crawford, Clarke, Jackson, Tait, Gibbons and Mitchell were duelists, and had each been on the field, some of them more than once. Two of these had killed his antagonist. There was a great deal of deep drinking and gaming among the leading men. John Clarke, the favorite of the common people, was notorious for his excesses. W. H. Crawford was by no means tem- perate. John M. Dooly was a drunkard and a gambler, although he was a judge. Among the common people the standard of morals was very low. There was a fearful amount of profanity and drunkenness. At their assem- blages the people drank freely, and there was never a gath- ering without a fight in the ring. They raced horses, gam- bled with cards and dice, and were many of them rude and lawless.
They had many virtues, for they were generous, hospita- ble, courageous, truthful. There was comparatively little impurity. The marriages were early, and the marriage
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vows strictly regarded. There were many of the leading men, however, decided in their religious character, and while the lawmaker was somewhat loose in his morals, the laws on the statute book were almost severe in their de- mands for rectitude of conduct.
The great revival of which I have spoken, which began in 1800, came and swept over the State. Of this I have given a fuller account in my chapter on "Religion in Geor- gia," to which the reader is referred.
The flush times in the early years of the century were followed by years of financial distress. The wars in Europe had put an end to all foreign commerce. The people com- ing to Georgia, and the people already here, had been almost crazed by the wild spirit of speculation. Great debts had been made for negroes and land, cotton was be- coming the staple, and large plantations were opened. Then the demand ceased, and there was no sale for cotton, rice or tobacco. The United States bank and its branches were the only banks, and they called in their loans. Uni- versal bankruptcy hung over the State. The embargo was threatened, and in 1808 an alleviating act for the relief of debtors was passed. One-third of the debt was to be paid when due, and time was to be allowed for the payment of the rest of the debt.
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