USA > Georgia > The story of Georgia and the Georgia people, 1732 to 1860 > Part 34
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Franklin, the county site, is a small village on the river. The advantages possessed by the railroad towns have pre- vented its becoming a place of importance. Corinth and Houston are two small villages in other parts of the county.
STEWART.
In 1830 the county of Stewart was formed from Ran- dolph, and was named Stewart in honor of General Daniel Stewart.
Its topographical features are very much like those of the county from which it was taken and which have been de- scribed. In one part of it the pine woods give way to lofty oak-clad hills of rich red soil, but land easily washed away. Along the river there are fine cotton lands on which at one time there were large plantations.
The county was rapidly peopled, and was a populous
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county soon after its settlement, but was for a long time dependent upon the boats and the wagon-trains alone for communication with the outside world.
It was in Stewart, at a village called Roanoke, that the Creek Indians made their last serious attack on a white settlement in Georgia. The little village was on the Chat- tahoochee river, and the attack was made in 1836 by, as was supposed, three hundred Indians. There were few people then in the fort; but of the number twenty were killed and wounded. There was another more serious battle with this same body of Indians at Dr. Shephard's plantation a short time after this in which the Indians were defeated and twelve white men killed and as many wounded.
Lumpkin, the county site, has long been famous for its refinement and morality.
Two railroads have been built through Stewart in the last few years, and the county has taken on new life and promising little towns have sprung up along the lines.
Stewart had in it bodies of fertile land suitable for large cotton plantations, and these sections were appropriated by the wealthy slaveholders, and were owned in many cases by absentee landlords, who only occasionally visited their plantations. But much of the land was admirably suited for homes, and many of the neighborhoods were the abode of farmers who lived on their plantations and built up a good community.
SUMTER.
Sumter county was laid out in 1831 from Lee, and was named in honor of General Thomas Sumter, "the Game Cock of Carolina," as he was called. Its county site was called Americus. The physical features belonging to all this section of Georgia, and of which we have written, were those of Sumter. The rich cotton lands which were found
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in the hummocks along the creeks and rivers early drew the attention of the planters of Bibb, Jones, Jasper and Monroe, and large plantations were opened by them. There was a large section of the country which was a pine forest and was for a long time a cattle-range, but which is now an excellent planting section.
The county has been almost latticed with railways, and Americus has become quite a railroad center.
The county has been noted for the high character of the people, who were mainly immigrants from the older coun- ties. There were some large plantations owned by up- country people, but the larger number of the planters lived on their plantations or in the city of Americus.
Americus, the chief town in Sumter, is a beautiful little city, in which there has been much enterprise and public spirit. It built the Americus Female College before the war, and was noted for its handsome churches and intelli- gent congregations at that period. It was, before the war, the center of much wealth, and after it was over it took on a new life. Aiming to get into closer connection with Sa- vannah, it enterprized and, largely by its own capital and almost entirely by its own energy, built the S. A. M. road, first to Savannah on the east and then to Montgomery, Ala., on the west. It has established factories for the manufac- ture of fertilizers and ice, sash, blinds, etc., and has an ele- gant hotel, a fine system of public schools, sprightly news- papers, and is otherwise a stirring, prosperous city.
It was in this county, on a high pine hill, that the old prison camp of Andersonville was located, and there is at Ander- sonville a national cemetery under care of the United States government.
The Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Episcopa- lians have all churches in Americus and through Sumter county, and there are good schools and good churches in every neighborhood.
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COBB.
The county of Cobb, which was named in honor of Judge 'homas W. Cobb, was laid out from the Cherokee purchase 1 1832. It was the most southerly of the counties of the urchase. As gold had been found in the county the lots ranted comprised only forty acres, and as they were quite heap in price, Cobb was soon thickly settled by a very ex- ellent though, in the main, a poor people. There were ut few slaves, and they were almost entirely confined to he plantations along the river and larger creeks, or were ousehold servants in Marietta. The immigrants to the ural districts came from the older counties of northeast Georgia and from upper South Carolina. They were an dustrious and hardy race of small farmers. The town of Iarietta derived importance from being the terminus for a ong time of the newly projected Western and. Atlantic ailroad, and its charming climate soon drew to it quite a umber of settlers of refinement and wealth from the low- ountry.
The people had small farms which were not very fertile, nd they were forced to live very economically. For years hey raised only family supplies, spun and wove their own lothing, and handled but little money. Toward Powder springs, on the Chattahoochee river and Sweetwater creek, here were some cotton plantations, but the number of ne- roes in the county was not one fifth of the population.
Mr. Roswell King from Darien, when cotton manufactur- ng began on a large scale in Georgia, established the Ros- vell cotton-mills, and founded a charming village around hem, which is now known as Roswell. This factory was well managed from its foundation, and has been one of the nost profitable mills in the State. It is still in active op- ration. For years it was remote from the railroad, but on he building of the Southern a branch road was built to it.
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The Western and Atlantic railroad goes through t center of Cobb, one branch of the Southern through western side and another through its eastern, and the Nor Georgia Railroad goes from Marietta northward to Kno . ville, Tenn., and thus all parts of the county have railw. advantages.
Marietta, charmingly located at the base of the Kenn saw mountain, has an unrivaled climate and a consider ble population of the best people. It commands a go trade from the county and from those which adjoin.
From the mountains of Cherokee and the hills of Paul ing, through the great enterprise of General William Ph lips, a citizen of Marietta, a railroad was projected ai finally completed from Marietta first to Murphy, N. C., ar then to Knoxville, Tennessee. It passed directly throug the great marble region of upper Georgia. The rich qua ries were opened and polishing mills were erected ne: Marietta, and the marble prepared for ornamental, mon mental and building purposes. These mills have been ver successful and prosperous. A paper-mill is also in th county, and a woolen-mill, and there are quite a number other enterprises.
The convenience of Marietta to Atlanta, and its grea attractiveness as a place of residence, has made it a pla for the homes of some who do business in Atlanta.
Acworth is quite a sprightly town above Marietta, an Smyrna a place of some attractiveness south of Marietta Powder Springs on the Southern road is a very sprightl town.
During the war Marietta, which was near the Kennesa' mountain, was a focal point, and on all sides of it the wa raged. On the Kennesaw General Polk was killed, and i Marietta the great burial ground of the thousands of Fed erals who fell between Chattanooga and Atlanta is located
It was in Marietta that the Rev. George White, an Epis
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copal minister, to whom Georgia is so much indebted for preserving her records and for giving an account of her resources and sketches of her people, lived for many years; and "White's Statistics" and "White's Historical Collec- tions" were prepared here. Mr. White was a Georgian by birth. He was at one time a Methodist preacher, but while a young man joined the Episcopal ministry. He was a man of fine parts and was very industrious. He was enthusi -. astically devoted to Georgia history, and, having resided for many years in Savannah, had excellent facilities for its study. He published "White's Statistics" in 1850, and five years afterward a much more expensive and extensive work, known as "Historical Collections." His work has been of inestimable value to me in preparing this history. After publishing the " Historical Collections," which was probably not a remunerative work, he reentered the minis- try and while in charge of a church in Memphis died.
To Adiel Sherwood, the Baptist preacher, to Wm. Bacon Stevens, the Episcopal bishop, to Mr. White, the village parson, and to Colonel C. C. Jones, Georgia is largely in- debted for a knowledge of her resources and her history.
Governor McDonald lived for many years in Marietta, and died there. He was governor of Georgia in the trying times of the great depression which began in 1837 and continued during all the days of his administration. He was an upright man and a wise counselor.
Judge David Irwin, who lived here, was a famous jurist and one of the first codifiers of Georgia laws. He began life as a shoemaker, but by dint of real talents and great energy became one of the leading lawyers in upper Georgia and a judge.
General Hansell, a descendant of the distinguished Harris family, a lawyer of note and a man of affairs, resided here and was for many years president of the Roswell cotton factory.
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But no man ever cast a brighter luster on the county his birth than W. D. Anderson, D.D. He was a gifte young man, the son of a distinguished father who had bee a judge of the superior court in which the son practiced but who had died when his son was an infant. Youn Anderson had the best of stepfathers and had every advar tage of education. He graduated with honor in Athens went from his college class to the army and won his laurel there; returned to Marietta, studied law and rose to a hig place; entered politics, was in the convention which frame the constitution of 1868, and was elected speaker pro tem of the House of Representatives; but laid all his honor down for the Methodist ministry. Few men were eve more beloved or more useful or more gifted. The degre of D.D. was conferred on him by Emory College, and th, highest honors of the church awaited him, when he wa suddenly called away, dying in the brightest bloom of life
George N. Lester, a lawyer of great ability, attorney general of the State, a warm-hearted, impetuous, fearles soldier.and an orator of no mean parts, who began life i the hills of Forsyth and ended it in the vicinity of Marietta long lived here.
While Cobb was long regarded as one of the poor coun ties of Georgia, such has been the character of her people and their industry and enterprise, that for successive year she bore off the prize of one thousand dollars which th State Agricultural Society offered for the county furnishing the greatest variety of products.
Cobb has always been a religious county. The rura people, while not cultured, have been noted for honest and simplicity of life. The Methodists are perhaps th leading denomination, but the Baptists are very numerou and influential. The Presbyterians and Episcopalians have quite a large membership in the city of Marietta.
The city of Marietta was for a number of years the sea
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of the only military institute Georgia then had, the Georgia Military Institute, which was burned during the war and has never been rebuilt.
The city has now a good system of public schools, and the county is well supplied with schools supported by the common school fund.
There are some very handsome churches in Marietta, and its proximity to the marble quarries has enabled the church builders to use this costly material very lavishly.
The city of Marietta is famous for the beauty of its homes, and it has been a favorite place of residence for distinguished men. Senator Clay has his residence here, and has been a prominent lawyer here for years. The city is quite a favorite resort for those who want a dry climate in winter and a bracing one in summer.
CHEROKEE.
When the Cherokee country was laid out a county called Cherokee, of great size, which has since been much cut down, but is still a very large county, was formed. The county site was called Canton. As in Cobb, the lots were only forty acres each, and as land was cheap the county was rapidly settled by white people who had very few slaves. In 1850 there was one slave to every ten white in- habitants.
There were some rich lands on the Etowah, and some good gold mines near to it, and there were some few people of considerable means who fixed their homes in the county, but Cherokee was, like Cobb and Forsyth, settled mainly by those who had little besides their cheap homes and their strong arms.
When Cherokee was first settled it was very remote from any market town. The railroad did not reach the interior for ten years after it was thickly settled. There was but little produced for sale and the people lived within them --
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selves. They had but few schools and they were inferior and their churches were small log houses. The people lived plainly and cheaply, but were free from want. Many of them were Scotch-Irish and many belonged to the bes English stock. They had few slaves, lived hard and closely and developed a sturdy manhood. That these peo. ple were mainly provincial could but be expected. Their wants were few and their aspirations not high; but they were a strong, self-reliant people, in no respect differing from those of Cobb and Forsyth. There were a few wealthy people on the Etowah and Little river, and in the villages, but as a general rule they were those worthy yeomanry we have so often described.
The county was a score of miles from the nearest rail- road until the North Georgia railroad traversed it. It is now in close communication with the northern part of Georgia and with Tennessee and Atlanta.
It was in this county that young Joseph E. Brown began the practice of law. Here he married his excellent wife, the daughter of a prominent and wealthy Baptist preacher; here he was living when he was elected judge, and was reaping wheat in his fields when he received the news that he was nominated for governor.
During the early days of the county a family of German origin, the Reinhardts, settled in Cherokee, and a scion of this family is now living in Atlanta. In 1885 Colonel A. M. Reinhardt established a school which bears his name and which has since been raised to a country college and is doing most excellent work in training teachers and edu- cating young people. It is under the patronage of the M. E. Church, South.
The town of Canton, located on the banks of the Eto- wah, is now a sprightly mountain town, with its churches and schools, and is becoming a desirable up-country resort for low-country people.
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One of the most productive gold mines in Georgia is in Cherokee, the Franklin mine, from which an immense quantity of gold has been taken during the last sixty years.
There were discovered some traces of copper which were sufficiently promising to lead to the opening of a large mine, and an effort was made to smelt the ore, but it was not successful. The only rich return was to those who sold their holdings to sanguine prospectors.
FORSYTH.
Forsyth lies abreast of Cherokee, with Cobb on the east; and it is impossible to describe Cherokee and Cobb without describing Forsyth. It has the same physical features and was peopled by the same class of inhabitants, but had a few more slaves in proportion to the white population. In Cherokee and Cobb there was about one in ten, in Forsyth one in eight.
Many of the people of Forsyth bear the same names as those of Franklin, and the first settlers came from the foot- hill counties in the eastern part of the State. There were a few northern people among these early settlers, who came to this county as merchants. There was not much first- class land in the county, but not a great deal that was not arable. Land was cheap and easy to be secured, and, as we have seen in Cobb and Cherokee, there were many sep- arate landholders and a large number of small farms. The Southern railway now skirts Forsyth but does not pass through it, and the Forsyth people are still out of the busy whirl of life.
Cumming, the county site, was named for Wm. Cumming, who was a townsman of John Forsyth, and, like him, a staunch Jackson Democrat. It is a quiet country village, with a good school and good churches.
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There is little to distinguish this county in any way. It was populated with a sturdy, thrifty, religious people, very simple in their ways and thoroughly independent. There was but little mining interest in the county, and the wild popu- lation which belonged to Lumpkin found no abode in For- syth, and society from the first was good.
GILMER. .
Gilmer county, named in honor of Governor Gilmer, is one of the mountain counties, and at the time it was laid out was a county of very great size, including what is now a very large part of Pickens and Fannin and portions of other counties now contiguous. With the exception of a few small and beautiful valleys it is a county of mountain ranges. The mountains are covered with timber and are not arable. The grass, which grows luxuriantly on some of them, gives good range for cattle for a short part of the year, but the moun- tains are too steep for good pastures. The streams are many, and on their borders are narrow strips of moderately good land. The timber resources of the county are very fine, but the white pine, hemlock, oak and poplar are too far from any market to make lumbering profitable. The valleys of the Coosawattee, the Ellijay and the Cartecay are very beautiful and fertile, but limited in area.
The lands were granted in lots of 160 acres, and many of these lots fell to men living in the lower counties of the State, and were counted as of so little value that they were never claimed, and some of them were taken by squatters. from Georgia and other State. There were some very profitable gold mines in the county when it was first settled, and the White Path mine was said, when first opened, to be fabulously rich. Many of the people who settled in Gilmer were very poor and illiterate, but there were quite a num- ber of excellent families who occupied the valleys. The ruling element, however, was a wild one; and, with few
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schools and churches and with whisky distilleries in all portions of the county, advance for many years was impos- sible. Many of the Gilmer people sympathized with the United States in the war between the States, and after the war were pronounced Republicans. Many of them con- nected themselves with the M. E. Church (known as North- ern Methodists), and the church established a high school among them. Then the sale of whisky by retail was for- bidden, the railroad came, the common school was put into efficient operation, new churches were built and new high schools opened by the Southern Methodists at Cartecay and Blue Ridge, and the general interests of the county are improving everywhere.
LUMPKIN.
There is perhaps less arable land in this county than in any other county in the State, and it derives its prominence from the extent of its gold fields. Dahlonega, which was selected as its county site, was called by the Indians "Yel- low Money." In all parts of the county were found placers in which some gold was to be found, and when the gold fields were opened an immense horde came rushing in.
There were very few slaves in this section, and in 1850, when the county embraced what is now three or four coun- ties, there were only 200.
The large yield of gold led the United States government to establish a mint in the growing town of Dahlonega, where for a number of years gold was coined. The placers were exhausted to a great measure after a few years, and the gold fields of California began to attract the miners. For some time after they were discovered mining in Lumpkin seemed to be at an end. Then was introduced the sluicing system, and the hills were washed down, the veins exposed, and the quartz, which had a small quantity of gold, was powdered in the mills and the gold collected by quicksil-
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ver. Much northern capital was employed, and there has been as much gold gathered as in the early days of large nuggets.
The intelligence necessary to successful mining has always brought into Lumpkin people of broad views and culture, and working in mud and slush has called for cheap labor of the poorest class, and so the extremes of people have been found in this county.
Through the influence of Colonel Price, a member of Congress, who lives in Dahlonega, the United States gov- ernment granted the use of the mint, which had been aban- doned as a mint, for a college; and the State, which had appropriated the large amount given by the United States government for an Agricultural and Mechanical College to the University and its annexes, made an appropriation to this North Georgia and Agricultural College, and it has been quite prosperous and has done great good.
In a county so mountainous and so sterile as Lumpkin, whose chief resources are its minerals, the advantages of common schools and the blessing of good churches were at first sadly lacking. There was, however, on the part of the stirring Baptists and the ubiquitous Methodists an effort made from its first settlement to do religious work in every section. There were three camp-grounds in the county, and in every part of it there was a homely log house in which the gospel was preached.
The changes in this section are many and for the better. Prohibition obtains throughout this section, and while there are still drunkenness and other immoralities, there is a vast advance. Some day a railroad will open up the wondrous beauty of this mountain country, and it will be filled with delighted tourists.
On the summit of the mountains there was discovered some years ago a fine spring of mineral water, and Colonel H. P. Farrow built a handsome hotel on the spot and opened
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it for guests. It has become a noted summer resort which is very popular with those who are seeking a restful place for the heated term. It is located over thirty miles from the railroad, but is a charming retreat from the dust and heat of the low-country.
UNION.
At the time Union county was formed there was a fierce political strife between the nullifiers and the Union men, and the new county was called Union because of the devo- tion of its people to the union of States and the sympathy of a Union Legislature with their views.
The account we have given of Gilmer is suited to Union, for there is but little difference between the two counties. Mountains, only broken into by small and narrow valleys, cover the county.
The people were mainly emigrants from North Carolina and generally poor, and the farms are generally sterile. Along the river there are some beautiful valleys and some bodies of excellent land.
Blairsville, the county site, is quite a small village peo- pled by some very good people.
There are a few gold mines in the county which have now and then produced a good yield of gold, but the mining resources of the county are limited.
There were only a few slaves in the county when the emancipation proclamation was issued.
The settlers in Union are of the same class as those who inhabit the other counties written of. They have the best Virginia and North Carolina names. There are no people in Georgia of better blood than these mountaineers, and from the families of this hill country have gone men of brawn and brain to all sections of the southern country.
Union has been long difficult to reach. Lying in the lap of the Blue Ridge, with mountains on all sides, it has been
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out of the lines of travel. There was little for its first inhabitants to do save to make a plain livelihood by farm- ing, and they have been content with small returns from their labors. They made but little for market. Some cab- bages, some apples, a few cattle and a little bacon were about all they had to sell. They lived among themselves and by the aid of their own resources. There has been a steady improvement among them for some years, and when a railway opens a market for the fine timber, and when fruit is grown for market and the charming scenery of the country draws the tourist, Union will be appreciated as it deserves to be.
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