|
Emanuel County, Georgia History
from: The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People 1732 to 1860
by George Gillman Smith, D.D.
Originally published c. 1901
Submitted by K. Torp, ©2007
EMANUEL.
It was made in 1812, and named in honor of that staunch Maryland Whig, David Emanuel. It comprised a large body
of almost exclusively pine woods. There were a number of streams running through it: the Ohoopee, the Canoochee
and Ogeechee rivers and a number of large creeks. Though there were large swamps, the lands bordering the rivers
were not arable, and there was no attention paid to agriculture. The one industry of the country when it was first
settled was stock-raising. On account of its large size it was called the State of Emanuel. The first settlers
were generally poor, but were able to make a good living, and were independent. They were of that class of piny
woods people which occupied nearly all this section of the State, and whom we have so often described.
The first settlers were, according to White: James Moon, Wm. Stephens, Henry Darden, George Roundtree, Richard
Edinfield, M. Thigpen, A. Gardner, N. Rowland, E. Swain, James Tapley, John Small, James Hicks, Wm. Phillips, I.
Sutton, E. Lane, B. Johnson, John Wiggins, P. Newton, Wm. Rowland, Wm. Norris, I. Norris, Wm. Douglas, S. Powell,
John Rhiner, M. Curl, S. Kennedy, E. Coleman, D. E. Rich, E. Wilkes, S. Williamson, B. Keys, J. C. Sumner.
There was much about Emanuel and all these pine-barren counties to attract men of small property who loved a free
and independent life. The first settlers were mainly cattle-rangers. In the latter days they were timber-rangers,
sending their fine timber to the Savannah market. They spent the summer in hewing logs for their rafts, and in
the winter floated them to the Ogeechee canal and to Savannah. They had few wants, and the money they received
for their timber was, much of it, laid aside for future use. Next to timber the main resource was cattle- and sheep-raising.
There were a little corn and sugar-cane and some oats raised; but the agricultural value of the lands was overlooked
until the war ended and the commercial fertilizers were found suited to the land and cotton was cultivated to profit.
The rail roads penetrated the county in search of timber for the mills, and the turpentine farmer leased the land
and bled the trees and set up his still. Emanuel then began to improve in every way, and has gone steadily forward
until there are several flourishing towns in the county.
For many years the only denominations of Christians were the Methodists and Primitive Baptists.
Swainsboro and Stillmore and Adrian are thriving towns with good churches and good schools.
©2007 Genealogy Trails
|
