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Jefferson County, Georgia History
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
JEFFERSON.
Jefferson county was organized in 1796 and named for Thomas Jefferson. There was no part of Georgia which had been
peopled longer by white people, as we have seen, than a part of Jefferson. Here the Indian trader had his station
before Oglethorpe came, and drew around him Scotch-Irishmen, and all along the banks of Briar creek, Rocky creek,
Lambert’s creek and the Ogeechee river many thrifty people had their homes before the Revolution.
According to Mr. White the early settlers were: Wm. Hardwick, Jno. Fulton, the Clemmons, Pattersons, Roger and
Hugh Lawson, Wm. Gamble, Captain Haden, Captain Connelly, Andrew Berryhill, the Shellmans, John Berrien, the Hamptons,
and the Whiteheads. Mr. White has nat urally concluded because some of these came from the north of Ireland that
all did. It is certain that William Hardwick and John Whitehead were Virginians in their ancestry, and I find a
large number of persons receiving land grants before 1800 who evidently came from Virginia, but not a few from
north Ireland.
They were:
Hugh Alexander, James Harvey, Z. Albritton, Charles Harvey, Thomas Atkinson, Garland Hardwick, Dave Alex ander,
Jos. Hampton, Henry G. Caldwell, Esq., D. Hancock, Isaac Coleman, Wm. Hannah, Isaac DuBose, W. P. Hardwick, Marth
Dorton, G. W. Hardwick, David Douglas, John Ingram, John Evers, George Ingram, John Evans, Wm. Kennedy, R. Fleming,
John Land, R. Flournoy, Wm. Lowry, John Finley, Samuel Little, John Green, James Meriwether, R. Gray, John Martin,
John Gamble, John Mock, Sherrod Hartley, B. McCutlers, John Maynard, Wm. Peel, Jesse Paulett, Love Sanford, Robert
Prior, Henry Tucker, Jesse Purvis, Andrew Thompson, John Reese, Benjamin Warren, Jesse Slatter, John Warnocke,
M. Shelman.
All these received grants of land in the county, and there were many whose names are to be found in the Appendix
who received grants before the county was formed from St. George’s parish or Burke county.
Along the banks of the Ogeechee and on the numerous creeks in the county were large areas of the best oak and hickory
land, and away from them were wide areas of pine forests.
Like all the first settlements in Georgia, the first industry of the people was stock-raising, and there was but
little else raised for some years. Then some tobacco was planted for market, and there was a tobacco warehouse
where the product might be inspected, located on the Ogeechee, in the early part of the century, but after cotton-gins
were set up in the county every energy was turned in the direction of cotton-planting. Men made large fortunes
raising cotton, and with the usual result—the small farms gave way to the large plantations.
The best lands were very hilly and friable, and as in Wilkes and Greene, the hills soon washed badly and be came
very much impoverished. In the pine woods, as in Burke, the story was different.
Queensboro was established during the time of Galphin, and Louisville, which was named in honor of Louis XVI.,
was selected in accordance with the statute of 1786 by Hugh Lawson, Wm. Few and N. Brownson, commis sioners, and
laid out in the first of 1796 near Queens boro. An academy was one of the first buildings erected, and it was endowed
by the State with £1,000 of confiscated property and the proceeds of the sales of the town lots. The town
commissioners of the new city were Rev. David Bothwell, John Shelman, James Meriwether and John Cobbs. Forty acres
of land were laid out into lots and they were sold at auction.
Perhaps the most stirring event in its early history was the burning of the Yazoo act spoken of elsewhere. The
capitol was removed from Louisville after it had been there for only seven years, and the modest building which
served for a State-house was sold to the county for county purposes, and many of the people of Louisville followed
the capitol to Milledgeville.
A State university had been projected, which was to be located in Louisville, but it was never established. The
spot chosen by the commissioners at the capital city proved to be unhealthy. The hope that Louisville would be
an important city was given up, and it declined, until in 1850 there were only two hundred and fifty people in
the deserted village. The Central railway was ten miles off. The health of the village was not good. There was
no trade, and there was but little hope of any change for the better.
The population of the county in 1810 was 3,775 free and 2,336 slaves; in 1830, 3,062 free and 3,647 slaves, and
in 1850, 3,717 free and 5,637 slaves.
The owners of these large plantations in many cases lived in Augusta, Savannah and Macon, and only visited their
estates occasionally.
Churches were few and congregations small, but with changes which came with the war a new order of things came
in. Sprightly towns sprang up on the railway, and a branch road was made from the Central railway to Louis ville.
The pine-barrens were filled with a thrifty and well-to-do people. Louisville began to improve and took its place
with the progressive towns. Handsome churches were built, a graded school of high order was established, and now
there are few villages anywhere more attractive than Louisville, and the county is more prosperous than it has
been in fifty years.
The boring of artesian wells in various parts of the county has provided a bountiful supply of the purest water,
and the health of the county is remarkably good.
Few counties have sent forth a larger number of good citizens than this old county. Their descendants are found
in all the lower and western counties of the State and in all the southwestern States.
The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians had congregations in the county before the Revolution, but churches were not erected.
The Rev. Mr. Ronaldson was the pastor, but he was a Royalist and was taken captive, and being released he left
Georgia and never returned. After the war ended the Presbyterians sent to Ireland and secured a pastor, the Rev.
David Bothwell, and the churches were revived. The Methodists came after the Revolution, as did the Baptists. The
first church in Louisville was built by the father of Roger L. Gamble, and was on the lot where the public school
now stands. It was afterward surrendered to the Methodists, but on their securing a lot of their own the old church,
much dilapidated, was torn away.
There are now excellent churches in every part of the county and good schools have been established.
At the junction of the railway from Louisville a very sprightly town known as Wadley has sprung up. It has handsome
churches, an elegant school building and school, neat residences, and good, solid store buildings, and does a large
trade. Bartow, a considerable village, is only a few miles away.
On the railway from Augusta to Tennille there are several villages of some size.
Jefferson has been more famous for its large planters than for its public men, but it has produced not a few men
of distinction. Hugh Lawson, whose father came into Georgia from North Carolina before the Revolution, was a captain
in the Revolution, one of the commissioners for the sale of confiscated property and for selecting the place for
a State-house, and one of the trustees of the university. He was brought up in this county.
Judge Roger Lawson Gamble, who was a member of Congress, long lived in Louisville.
Chesley Bostwick and Littleberry Bostwick, both officers in the Revolution, lived in this county.
The Cobbs, Lamars, Rootes and Flournoys lived here, and at one time no county had so many distinguished people.
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