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Washington 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
WASHINGTON.
Washington in 1784, when it was first laid out, was a county of immense area, including what is now Greene, Hancock,
Washington, Johnson, Montgomery and a part of Laurens and Oglethorpe, but the account we give now refers merely
to that part of the original county which bears the name. It is very near the center of the State and is a still
a county of large size, of which the flourishing little city of Sandersville is the county site. It includes in
its boundary a section of what is known as the rotten lime stone country, and is famous for the fossiliferous deposits
belonging to the tertiary period. This limestone exists in such quantities that good lime has been made from it
for market.
On the Ogeechee, the Buffalo and Kegg’s creeks and Williamson swamp, and on the oak and hickory hills north of
Sandersville the land at its first opening was very fertile, but the pine woods, which included much the larger
part of the country, were in the early days of the century looked upon as of no value. The early comers took the
oak and hickory lands, and the pine woods were thinly settled. The county was much exposed in its early settlement
to Indian forays and was settled slowly.
The State had devoted a large part of Washington and Franklin for bounty land to its soldiers, and it was granted
in lots of two hundred and fifty acres free from taxation for some years, and if one preferred to pay taxes he
was to have two hundred and eighty-seven and one-half acres. Much of this land was of the best quality and many
people came to the land granted them and made homes, though not a few sold their warrants. The long list of grants
found in the Appendix does not show the settlers of Washington alone, but belongs to many who never came at all.
There was but little to attract to this dangerous frontier before the end of the Indian war, but although the danger
was great the lands on the creeks and rivers and the oak and hickory lands north of Sandersville were so fertile
that they drew many daring settlers, who had received their warrants from the State, and the population grew steadily,
if not rapidly, for some years.
In 1790 there were in all the country originally Washington 4,500, of whom only 649 were slaves; in 1810 6,427
free and 3,313 slaves; in 1830, 6,000 free and 3,909 slaves; in 1890, 25,237 of all classes.
The first settlers as given by White were:
Alexander Irwin, John Rutherford, Wm. Johnston, Jared Irwin, Wm. Irwin, Elisha Williams, Jacob Dennard, J. Beddingfield,
P. Franklin, A. Sinquefield, Jos. Avant, John Sheppard, John Thomas, John Daniel, John Martin, B. Tennille, J.
Burney, Hugh Lawson, John Shellman, Wm. Sapp, M. Murphy, John Jones, John Montgomery, John Stokes, M. Saunders,
Geo. Galphin, Jacob Dennis, J. Nutt, D. Wood, W. War-then, Jacob Kelly, Wm. May.
Many of these names are of Scotch origin, and many of these first settlers came from North Carolina, where a large
colony of Scotch-Irishmen had settled. There were some of the settlers from Burke, Efflngham and Wilkes and a few
Virginians among the first comers. There were some slaveholders who had a small number of slaves, but the bulk
of the people were poor and the fortunes possessed by them in after years were of their own making.
There was for twenty years after the settlement of Washington little to induce wealthy people to emigrate to it,
but the land was so cheap and so fertile that those who came into the woods poor soon became independent and were
rich in herds and flocks. There was no market nearer than Augusta, and there was but little to be sold and but
little was bought. The houses were log cabins and the people were generally dependent entirely on their own labor,
but the cotton machine was invented and one was brought to the county, and cotton planting began on a considerable
scale after the century opened.
The tide of settlers came rushing in. They came with slaves to open new plantations. The poorer stock-raisers gave
way and large plantations in the better lands became the rule, and by 1830 in the richer sections negro laborers
had entirely supplanted the white yeomanry. This was, however, true only of the richer lands; there was much of
the country occupied by the pine woods people, and there was among them the same condition of things that we have
alluded to as belonging to the settlers in Liberty. There were a few very wealthy people in the county and a great
many in moderate circumstances, and only a few who were very poor. The people as a rule lived plainly, and, while
not famous for culture, were highly valued for their thrift and honesty.
The county site was not fixed until 1796, and the courts were held near what is now Warthen’s. Saundersville, as
it was first written, was named in honor of a Mr. Saunders who had a plantation on the place selected as the county
site. It was in the center of the county near the pine belt, though in the oak woods. It was for many years an
insignificant town, deriving its importance from its being the county site. It was incorporated and had an academy.
The academy at Sandersville was endowed by the State with the usual benefaction of one thousand acres of land,
and afterward of an annual appropriation, and in addition to this it was allowed the privilege of running a lottery
which was to be for the benefit of the academy. The lottery was in existence for a long time, as by the provisions
of its charter it could continue until a certain sum was realized. The lottery and the endowment disappeared with
the end of the war, and now the Washington county academy is merged into the graded school at Sandersville.
The Central railway passed directly through the poorer part of Washington, within three miles of Sandersville,
and before the war much of the best retail trade of the county went to that city, but after the war the trade was
given to the near-by villages of Tennille and Davisboro.
Sandersville began to improve rapidly and has continued to grow up to this time. It was surrounded by a wealthy
country, and was for many years noted for its disregard of religion and morality. Some of the citizens were avowed
infidels, and the lives of many of them openly profligate. There was but one apology for a church in the village,
a dilapidated, unpainted shell of a house on the outskirts of the town. There was occasional preaching in the village,
and no Sunday-school, but a change for the better set in about 1858.
The epicureans, who gave tone to society, either left the county or died, and a new and better class of men took
their places. A neat church was built by the Methodists, then one by the Christians, and then one each by Baptists
and Roman Catholics. Now in all these churches there are regular services.
The old uncomely academy has long since been abandoned, and one of the handsomest school buildings in the State
has been erected.
The Federal army burned the court-house with its valuable records, and its place was taken by another, which is
now being replaced by a very handsome and convenient edifice.
While there was little attention paid to religion in the first settlement of Washington, there were a few log churches
both among Baptists and Methodists before the beginning of the century. Bishop Asbury mentions in his Journal Preaching
at Harris meeting-house and on Williamson’s swamp. The Baptist church Bethlehem, near Warthen’s, has a history
going back to the early settlement of the county.
For many years after the county was settled all the wild revelry of frontier life was freely indulged in by the
people. They drank almost universally, and often to excess, raced, gambled, and there was fair play given to all
who chose to settle their quarrels in the ring. On court days and musters as late as 1850 there was fighting and
drinking and gaming without any vigorous restraints, but now the county has the prohibition of the whisky traffic,
and Sandersville and Tennille city governments, a law-abiding people, good schools and good churches.
Tennille, from being a mere station known as No. 13 on the road, has become quite a little city. The Central railroad,
the Wrightsville and Tennille road, the road to Augusta and the short line to Sandersville give to the county all
needful railroad facilities. Governor Jared Irwin, so famous in the early history of this county, lived and died
in it, and his monument erected by the State stands on the public square in Sandersville.
©2007 Genealogy Trails
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