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Gwinnett
County, Georgia
History
GWINNETT
COUNTY
Gwinnett county, named for
Button Gwinnett, was laid out in 1818, and its county site was, in
honor of the brave sea captain, called Lawrenceville. Like all
these up-country counties, it was very rapidly settled. Its
population in 1830 was 13,289, and twenty years afterward, in
1850, was only 11,257. There was a considerable part of the county
cut off into other counties; but it is evident that the population
did not increase after the first few years. The people in those
days were very migratory, and the opening of better lands to the
west led to quite an emigration from the county. The history of
these foot-hill counties is much the same. The settler came, built
his cabin, opened some fields, and then, hearing of better lands
in Carroll, Campbell, Heard, or in Alabama, he sold his farm at
what he thought was a fair price, and went to this new country to
begin life again. There were but few of the hardships of the
frontier to encounter now in the country to which he was going,
and there was little difficulty in moving when all he possessed
could be put in an ox-cart; and the prospect of bettering himself
by finding a larger range and cheaper land led him to move on.
There were some very fertile lands on the river in Gwinnett,
especially on the Chattahoochee; but the main body of the land was
thin and easily worn out. With the exit from the country of the
first proprietors the land was taken up by the large landowners,
and the plantations took the place of farms. But a new era came to
the country when the railways were made, and along the line of the
Southern the flourishing villages of Norcross, Buford and Suwanee
sprang up. Cotton was cultivated largely, and the county began to
improve rapidly. A railroad was built to Lawrenceville, and when
the Seaboard Air Line railroad came through the county it passed
through Lawrenceville.
The early settlers of
Gwinnett were the Winns, Hutchinses, Baughs, Howells, Stricklands,
Simmonses, Anthonys, Baxters, Grahams, and many others. The
religious denominations in the county are Presbyterians, Baptists
and Methodists, and for many years the Methodists have had within
three miles of Lawrenceville a camp-ground, where the most
distinguished preachers of Methodism have preached.
The style of life among the
rural people of Gwinnett has always been a very simple one. There
was but little wealth, so there was but little show. The schools
were very ordinary affairs, and education out of the village was
not at a premium. Industry and close economy were the sterling
virtues of the people.
Dr. Jesse Boring, the
celebrated Methodist divine, and his brother Isaac began their
lives in this county when it was Jackson, and their father, a man
of sterling worth, was for a long time representative from it.
Samuel Anthony, another distinguished and famous Methodist
preacher, spent his boyhood in this county. James P. Simmons, a
lawyer and an author, lived in this county; and the Howell family,
who have been so prominent as connected with the Atlanta
Constitution, came from Gwinnett. The Winn family and the Hutchins
family, distinguished as lawyers and judges, lived in
Lawrenceville; but no man has cast a greater luster on Gwinnett,
the place of his birth, than the Philosopher of the Etowah,
Colonel Charles H. Smith, who, under the name of "Bill Arp,"
has won a high place among literary men as a wise and witty
writer, and who has secured the strongest grasp on the hearts of
the common people as their adviser and friend. Men everywhere have
read with eagerness his letters to the press, in which there is
such a wealth of sterling common sense and such a perfect purity
of teaching.
[The Story of
Georgia and The Georgia People, by George Gilman Smith, 1900 -
submitted by C. Anthony]
Cities
& Towns
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AUBURN
A post-town of Gwinnett county,
is on the Seaboard Air Line railway about ten miles east of
Lawrenceville, and in 1900 reported a population of 161. It
is the principal trading center and shipping point in that
part of the county, and has good educational and religious
advantages. Some skirmishing occurred here on July 18, 1864,
as the Federal cavalry, which had raided Roswell, was moving
toward Decatur. |
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BERMUDA
A post hamlet in the
southwestern part of Gwinnett county, is not far from the
DeKalb county line and four and a half miles from the town
of Stone Mountain, which is the nearest railway station. |
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BRADEN
A post-hamlet
in the western part of Gwinnett county, is a station on the
line of the Seabord Air Line railway that runs from Atlanta
to Athens. The population in 1900 was but 26. |
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BUFORD
A growing
town in the northwestern part of Gwinnett county, was
Incorporated in 1872 and is located on the Southern railway,
in the center of a prosperous region. It is in the Sugar
Hill district, which contains 3,226 inhabitants, of whom
1,352 live in the town of Buford and 211 in West Buford.
This busy little town has express and telegraph offices,
several good mercantile establishments, a money order
postoffie with rural free delivery, a bank, four tanneries,
four harness factories employing 575 hands and turning out
more than 200 dozen horse collars a day. Good schools and
churches add to the advantages. |
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CARL
A village in the eastern part
of Gwinnett county, on the Seaboard Air Line railway,
reported a population of 113, in 1900. It has a money order
postoffice, some mercantile interests, and is a shipping
point for that part of the county. |
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CRUSE
A post-hamlet
of Gwinnett county, reported a population of 44 in 1900. It
is eight miles west of Lawrenceville, and three from Duluth,
on the Southern railway, which is the nearest station. |
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DACULA
A village
of Gwinnett county, is located six miles east of
Lawrenceville on the Seaboard Air Line railway. It has a
money order postoffice, from which free delivery routes
supply the rural districts, some mercantile interests and in
1900 had a population of 120. |
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DULUTH
A
town on the Southern railway in the northwestern part of
Gwinnett county, received its name in commemoration of a
speech delivered in congress by Hon. Proctor Knott of
Kentucky, ridiculing the suggestion of making an
appropriation for the benefit of what at that time was the
insignificant town of Duluth, in Minnesota, and which caused
much merriment all over the country. The town was
incorporated by act of the legislature in 1876, has a money
order post-office, with rural free delivery, an express and
telegraph office, a branch bank of the Bank of Buford,
several successful business houses, schools and churches,
and according to the census of 1900, had a population of
336. |
[Cyclopedia of
Georgia, 1906 - submitted by C. Anthony]
Notable
Characters Associated With Gwinnett County
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