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EFFINGHAM COUNTY HISTORY
from the "The Story of Georgia and The Georgia People" 1732 to 1860
by George Gillman Smith
©1901
Transcribed by K. Torp ©2007
As we have seen elsewhere this county, which took the place of St. Matthew
s parish, was settled mainly by Germans, and in the account of the German settlement we have already had a picture
of the natural features of the county and of the people. In common with all the parts of the tide-water country
this county suffered greatly during the Revolution. The bulk of the people, speaking only the German tongue and
concerned only about their small farms and domestic interests, knew little and cared less about the issue between
the colonists and England. Most of them desired to hold a neutral place. Some of them, however, were loyal to the
king, and some of them were sympathizers with the colonies, and one of them, John Adam Treutlen, was a Georgia
governor, and pronounced a rebel by Governor Wright. They were thus sadly divided and suffered on all sides. Their
villages were occupied at different times by both armies, and their church was desecrated and defaced, for though
their pastor took the side of the British and invited the English troops to Ebenezer, the rude soldiers turned
their revered church into a stable. The whole country was desolated by the repeated raids of the soldiers on both
sides, but the people were industrious and thrifty, and after peace came the herds of cattle on which they largely
relied were soon replenished. The church was at once repaired, their schools were reopened, and the fields of the
farmer put once more into cultivation, and though for the two years after the close of the war they had no pastor,
they then secured a pious man from Germany to take the place. In 1790 there were 2,420 people in the county, of
which only seven hundred and fifty were slaves, and in 1830, forty years afterward, there were only five hundred
more inhabitants. The proximity of the county to Savannah, and its want of any commercial advantages, prevented
its having towns of any considerable size, and yet gave it a fine position as a place for gardens and dairies.
Its climate was excellent, and when the Central railroad traversed it some residence villages sprang up, and Guyton
and Marlow have become favorite places for the country homes of Savannah merchants. Springfield is the county site,
and while it is a small village, it has been famous in days gone by for its excellent schools and the high character
of its people. Ebenezer, of which we have so often spoken, which was at one time a thrifty village, has long since
ceased to be a place of any importance, and is now unpeopled. The old Lutheran church, famous as the first church
in Georgia, still stands and has a congregation and a pastor. The county, being originally peopled by Germans,
has many of their descendants still in it. They are good people, honest, thrifty and religious. There are Lutherans
and Baptists and Methodists in the county, and good churches and good schools are found in all parts of it. There
are few sections in Georgia where there is a better type of plain, good, contented, pious people than in Effingham,
and their descendants are found in all sections of the low-country of Georgia, and wherever found are recognized
as among the worthiest of the people.
©2007 Genealogy Trails
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