Jackson County, Georgia - Chapter 1 (1 of 4 so headed), 1914

In 1784, when Northeast Georgia was a wilderness, inhabited by wild animals and wilder men, with here and there a few white settlements from two to three days' journey apart, Franklin* County, was laid out in order, as the Act to form it declared, "to strengthen the State, and for the convenience of the inhabitants." Its area was extensive, "beginning," continues the Act, "at Savannah river, where the west lines of Wilkes county strikes the same; thence along the said line to the Cherokee corner; from thence on the same direction to the south branch of the Oconee river ; thence up the said river to the head or source of the most southern stream thereof; thence along the temporary line, separating the Indian hunting ground to the northern branch of

Note: We quote, here, from "First Settlers of Upper Georgia," Pages 333 to 335, by Gov. George R. Gilmer, extracts from a letter, written to the President of the United States, concerning the Indian troubles, a few years prior to their removal to the West. In this letter, written by a gentleman who had resided in or near the "Broad River Settlement," now Oglethorpe County, all his life, we find many facts as to the location of the Creek and Cherokee Indians in this part of Georgia.

"Independent of any knowledge derived from individuals, it is probable that we could have accounted for the change of possessions of the disputed territory from the Creeks to the Cherokees, from the alteration of the habits of life which has been for a long time taking place in both tribes. Within the last thirty or forty years, the Creeks and Cherokees gradually became less and less capable of subsisting by hunting. Very many of the halfbreeds of each tribe exchanged hunting for herding. But even these were but little accustomed to provide, by cultivating the earth, food for the support of their cattle during the winter, but rather trusted to the cane and other natural productions. Both tribes therefore inclined to progress to the south, where the lands on the streams were richer, and the cane more capable of sustaining their cattle. That portion of the Cherokee tribe in particular, who inhabited the high mountains, cold and sterile country about the head waters of the Savannah and the Chattahoochee, were disposed to leave it to one further to the south, and more suitable to the change that was taking place in their habits. The truth of this opinion is t Previously to the formation of this large county, the state had no organized means of protecting its citizens, who had emigrated thither from Virginia, North Carolina and the "Broad River Settlement," in Wilkes. They had suffered much, not only from the merciless native Indians, but also from heartless Tories, who, under Champ Moore, the notorious Tory leader, often passed through the country. Though this state of affairs existed for some years after the organization of Franklin County, the population so greatly increased during the next twelve years, that the people, living in the southern part, [it might be more nearly correct to say southwestern], made application for another new county.

Accordingly, in 1796, when Jared Irwin was governor and Capt. James Terrill represented Franklin County in the legislature. Jackson County, the twenty-second formed in the State, was cut from Franklin. The Act establishing its boundaries bears date of t Geo. G. Smith says, "There was up to 1792 great danger from Indian forays, and the scattered inhabitants lived much of the time in blockhouses." P. 153. - Ed.

verified by the talk delivered by the Cherokees in 1808, to the President of the United States, in which they represent the scarcity of game in that part of their country, and the intention to leave it. In addition to the superior advantages of a more southern country for the support of their cattle was added the inducement of approaching nearer their markets, rendered important by the increased value of their beef and hides.

"It is probably known to the President, from personal observation that the country in dispute was formerly occupied by the Creeks entirely, and that they gradually relinquished their possession, until, at the close of the late war, there were very few of the tribe remaining in it; and that, at the same time, and in the same manner, the Cherokees by degrees obtained almost entire possession. The fact that all the streams and remarkable places have Creek names prove certainly that it was but lately occupied by the Creeks, and that there has been no general and simultaneous transfer of its possessions from one tribe to the other, and that the Cherokees must therefore have intermingled with the original inhabitants, so as to have adopted their proper names. The Cherokees' talk, the testimony of the Indians, and the information of the original white settlers on the frontier, prove that this occupation of the country by the Cherokees was permissible on the part of the Creeks, and so considered by the Cherokees until 1820, when General Mcintosh procured the consent of the Creeks to make it a

February 11th, 1796, and says: ''The line dividing the County of Jackson from the County of Franklin shall begin on the south of Broad river at the place where it intersects the Counties of Oglethorpe and Elbert; from thence it shall run up to the head or source of the middle fork, it being the main stream ; from thence south forty-five degrees to the main ridge which divides the waters of Broad river from the waters of the Oconee; thence along the said river to the temporary or western line of Franklin County; and all that part of Franklin lying and being southwardly of the aforesaid line, shall be included and comprehended in the County of Jackson."

Thus it seems that the new county was four times larger than at the present time, and included several places which have since become prominent in other counties. Josiah Meigs,* first President of Franklin College, now the State University, called his first class to order in Jackson County.

This extensive territory was called after Gen. James Jackson, of revolutionary fame, and not for Gen. Andrew Jackson as has sometimes been said. Though an Englishman by birth, no other

-"White's Historical Collections," says "President Meigs commenced the exercises of the University when no college buildings had been erected. Eecitations were often heard and lectures delivered under the shade of the forest oak, etc." P. 397. - Ed.

matter of right. The country was said to have been loaned by the Creeks to the Cherokees. The first claim of the right to possess it at all, on the part of the latter tribe, was derived by success at a ball-game, at which the stake was the disputed country, and at which play the Cherokees were successful. This ball-game took place some time between the years 1816 and 1820.

"I understand that the President is of the opinion that the United States Government is bound, by its contract of 1802 with Georgia, as well as upon general principles, to permit no transfer of territory after that time from the Creeks to the Cherokees, or rather to disregard any contracts which may have been made between the two tribes. The Creeks having been the occupants of the country in 1802, and having parted with possession, it now belongs to Georgia, as the rightful owner of the soil.

"Georgia considers herself entitled to immediate possession of the country claimed, but is willing to have the right postponed for the attainment of a more important object. If that object is not affected by the means adopted during the present session of Congress, the State expects that the President will, so far as his own power extends, do her justice, by having man was ever a more faithful and efficient servant of Georgia than James Jackson. No "railing accusation" was ever brought against him except that he was accused of causing Franklin College to be located in Jackson County because it was named after him. Mild indeed; but even that was afterwards shown to be utterly false.

For a period of nearly five years the original lines of Jackson remained undisturbed. However, the steady increase of population, and the location of the State School where Athens now flourishes, called for still another new county. Accordingly by an Act approved on 5th of December, 1801, Clarke County, then including Oconee, was cut, largely from Jackson, by a line beginning "on the Appalachee river at the mouth of Marbury's creek; thence on a direct line to Richard Easley's mill (Talasee Shoals) on the middle fork of the Oconee river; from thence on a direct line to where the Oglethorpe line crosses the north fork of Brush creek; thence down the Oglethorpe line to the Appalachee river; thence up said river to the beginning."

Ten years passed away before Jackson was again called on for a division of her patrimony, by its citizens living east of Big Sandy creek. By taking a large part from Jackson, and smaller portions from Oglethorpe, Clarke, Franklin and Elbert Counties, Madison County was formed by an Act approved December 5th, 1811, and by "beginning on the Clarke County line on the ridge between Bushy and Beaverdam creek ; thence a direct line to where the Jackson County line crosses Little Sandy creek ; thence on a direct line to the fork of Big Sandy creek above Espy's Mill; thence up the eastern fork of the same to Knight's old store; thence to the head of Black's creek in such manner as to leave all the waters of Big Sandy creek in Jackson County."

The western boundary of Madison as above given ; being somewhat indefinite, the matter was not settled till a few years ago. The loss to Jackson by the formation of Madison County was not as great in territory as it was in citizenship. People in any part of the country with first-class citizens, and churches and schools, farms and shops, and all pursuits known to civilization, will prosper and be perpetuated upon an ascending scale from generation to generation.

Still, mother Jackson had an immense territory as compared with her present limits, embracing a large part of what is now Walton, Gwinnett, Hall and Banks Counties. Besides, the year after Madison was formed, the usual rule was reversed by making Jackson larger.

In 1785, Col. Hawkins, the United States agent for Indian affairs, was ordered to run the Franklin line from the Currahee to the head of the Appalachee river, which is to this day known as the Hawkins line. However, the Georgia legislature of 1812 decided that Col. Hawkins did not run the line "agreeably to the true spirit and interest of the treaty held at Augusta on the 31st of May, 1783, and confirmed by the treaty at Shoulderbone, in 1786; but left on the Indian side certain lands, which, by the 3rd Section of the 4th Article of the Federal constitution, belonged to the State of Georgia."

In pursuance of this decision Gov. Rabun, on the 7th of December, 1812, signed a bill adding to Jackson County, "all the land lying west and northwest of the Hawkins line, and on the waters of the Oconee, up the ridge dividing the waters of said Oconee from the waters of Chattahoochee river, commencing at a point on the line run by Hugh Montgomery, where the same crosses the dividing ridge, between Oconee and Broad rivers ; thence along said ridge a southwest direction to the intersection of the Hawkins line."

This act, which is hard to understand, while greatly increasing the territory and Indian population of Jackson, added but few whites, most of whom belonged to the celebrated "Wofford Set- tlement," now in Hall. This colony of pioneers had been added to Jackson two years before ; but it seems that the State government did not reach them, and was repealed before the Act of 1812.

The Augusta treaty which finally gave the Wofford Settlement to Jackson, was signed, with a cross, by fourteen Indians; and as four of them lived within the present limits of the county, their names are here given as a matter of curiosity :

Tala.see King, for whom the Talasee Shoals are named. He lived on the road leading from the shoals to Athens, and about midway between Prospect Church and the large blackgum tree which marks the line between Jackson and Clarke Counties.

Okolegee, a prominent friend of the white settlers. His wigwam stood on top of Tiptoe, now known as Price's Mountain, several miles above the present Price bridge, and where a battle was fought between Confederate and Federal troops in 1864.

Inomatuhata, whose home was on Pea Ridge, north of Winder. He lived in a picturesque house made of the branches of hickory trees, carefully intertwined and neatly plastered both inside and out, with a light, brick-colored mortar, the mixture of which, the writer believes, is now unknown. The roof was of moss, evidently taken from the swamps a few miles to the south, and growing, soon became impervious to water.

Inomatawtunsigna, who affixed to his name the characteristic title of "Head Warrior," lived near Arnold's old mill on Bear creek. His wigwam was of the common form, but unusually substantial. Though not an avowed friend to the whites, he was conservative, brave and intellectual.

I-no-ma-tu-ha-ta and I-no-ma-taw tun-sig-na were brothers, and claimed to be descendants of Mispenthe, an illustrious warrior of a former age, and his Queen, Lutro, the "Moon Spirit." It is not known that either of the brothers left a namesake to try the jaw-breaking power of their pale-faced successors.

The era upon which Jackson County entered in 1812, was an eventful one. Though rich in the integrity of her men, proud of the ennobling and elevating character of her women ; and boasting of a surplus in her treasury, amounting to $57.06^, fear and forebodings of an evil day began to dawn upon the people. Still a border county, and our Atlantic coasts blockaded by English fleets; the flames of burning houses by night and the gleam of the Indian tomahawk by day, announced indiscriminate slaughter all along her borders and sometimes within her limits. The morals of the people, hitherto almost pure, became corrupt; drunkenness, almost unknown before, became common; and crimes of which the older citizens had never dreamed, were committed, sometimes in open defiance of law. It is strange that demoralization follows exciting times; but the old maxim that, "Hanging day is the worst in the year" is generally true. It is not certain that Jackson County has yet recovered from the blow then given.

Under the trying circumstances few men could leave their threatened homes to enter the second contest with the British lion and his whelps, the Creeks and Cherokees. Still out of a population of 227 taxpayers, the county furnished 23 volunteers who enlisted under Gen. Jackson, and all but three or four, who had died of disease, were with him at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Besides the volunteers, a Company of 40 men, styled the "Jackson Guards," under the command of the gallant Capt. William Jones, patrolled the county, and were of inestimable service. What a crying pity that the history of the "Jackson Guards" has never been written.

*This treaty covered practically all of the old County of Franklin. The Acts of the General Assembly of Georgia, 1783, approving this treaty, states in Article III, that the Savanah river was considered the eastern line and "Beginning at a stream known as the Keowee and running in a westerly direction to the Currahee mountain; thence southwest to the head Waters of the mout southern branch of the Oconee river (Appalachee), including all the waters of the same; thence down the river to the old line."

After enlarging Jackson by the Act of 1812, it was six years before the pruning knife was again applied to her boundaries. As the tread of the Anglo-Saxon had taken its way to the west ; as George Walton, Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall, good men and true, were without namesakes on the map of Georgia; and as Jackson could furnish good material to build their monuments, three deep cuts were made at one blow, creating, to a large extent, our three charming daughters, Walton, Gwinnett and Hall Counties.*

The Act making these three new counties became a law on the 19th day of December, 1818, and says: "That all that part of Jackson County which lies southeast and southwest of a line to commence on the Appalachee river, where the dividing line between the counties of Walton and Gwinnett strikes the same, and continuing the course of said line until the same strikes the Hog Mountain road ; thence down the same to the southern line of said county; thence along the same to the Appalachee river, shall be added to, and made a part of Waltonf County ; and all that part of said county which lies above the described line; and thence along the road which passes Thompson's mill, to the Mulberry fork of the Oconee river; thence a direct line to the corner of Gwinnett County on the top of the Chattahoochee ridge, shall be added to and become a part of Gwinnett County; and all that part of Jackson County which lies northwest of a line to begin at the house of William Clements and running parallel with a line commonly called Hawkins line, to the present line of Franklin County be added to and become a part of Hall." As this Act did not clearly define some of the northern boundaries of the new counties, the legislature of 1819 undertook to remedy the matter by enacting "that the line dividing the counties of Jackson and Gwinnett shall extend from Thompson's mill on the

*See G. G. Smith's "The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People" and Charles H. Smith's, (Bill Arp) History of Georgia, pages 53 and 54. If the reader will make these references he will see that the northern and western boundaries of Jackson County were not well defined. - Ed.

This Act of 1819 was still so unsatisfactory that in December, 1820, an explanatory Act was passed with following preamble : "Whereas some of the lines dividing Jackson, Walton, Gwinnett and Hall Counties were designated by old roads, not very much in use; and whereas persons living near such roads are in the habit of turning such dividing roads at pleasure round their houses, so as to throw them in which county they may see proper, so as to evade civil process, militia duty, payment of tax, and effect many irregularities contrary to the true intent and meaning of the aforesaid law. Be it enacted," etc. The Act then goes on to re-establish nearly the same original lines, and in the same indefinite manner. In some places their exact location is unknown to this day.

About the time Walton, Gwinnett and Hall Counties were surveyed, the Georgia legislature proposed to turn the Chattahoochee river into the North Oconee by digging a canal from the former to the head water of the latter. This novel measure, which was claimed to be practical, was, after a long debate, finally defeated, mainly by the wild and fiery eloquence of John Stebbins, a member who lived somewhere on the lower waters of the Oconee. "What, Mr. Speaker," he exclaimed, "will become of me and my family, when the Chattahoochee, three miles wide, a thousand feet deep, and ten miles higher than the sea, is turned loose at the rate of forty miles a minute, on lower Georgia. Why, sir, it will wash every one of us away, and if we don't get drowned we will wake up some morning and find ourselves a-straddle of logs floating about in the Atlantic ocean. Yes, sir, the mountains of North Georgia will come tumbling down here and knock our State House into a cocked hat, and people will look out of their top windows to see if old father Noah is again sailing around in his big ship. Besides all this, Mr. Speaker, if we turn the vast volume of water that is in the Chattahoochee from the channel where God made it to run, the Gulf of Mexico would go dry, and the fish, whales, alligators and snakes in it

Of course neither the speaker nor any one who heard hira believed what he said; but the speech from which the above is an extract, was the climax of ridicule, and had the desired effect. The measure failed, though it was not finally abandoned till some years after.

In the meantime some of the citizens who lived around Hurricane Shoals, believing that the Chattahoochee would soon come washing by them, applied for a new county to be called Unieoy, after the pretty daughter of the Indian chief, Alapaha, who had once lived near the Shoals. The bill to create a new county went down with the bill to create a new river. They died together; but it was not known that John Stebbins had anything to do with the county matter.

In pursuance of a law passed 24th of December, 1821, Jackson was again made larger by enacting that "the line dividing Franklin and Jackson shall commence where the Grove Level road strikes the Hall County line; thence along the said road to Malone's old store; thence a direct line to where the present Jackson County line strikes the Madison County line, and all that part of Franklin lying south and southwest of the aforesaid line, shall be added and become a part of Jackson County."

Sixteen years passed without any further change. In 1837 an additional part of Franklin was added to Jackson; and in 1850 a few hundred acres of Jackson were cut off to Clarke. In 1852 the line of Jackson was so changed as to include the residence of William Sanders in Madison. In 1856 the residence of Jesse Lord was transferred from Jackson to Banks, and the lands of David Smith in Gwinnett were added to Jackson. The plantation of George W. Hudson was taken from Jackson and added to Clarke in 1868; and the line between Jackson and Madison so changed as to add a part of the former to the latter, and a part of the latter to the former.

In 1870 the line of Walton was so altered as to include all the lands of D. R. R. Perkins in Jackson ; and the line between Jackson and Banks was materially changed as to begin *'at the resi- dence of James H. Holland, on the Hurricane Shoals road ; thence to General Thomas Anderson's; thence to Atkin's brick store; thence up the Clarkesville road to the line of Banks County, including all the lands in the above metes and bounds in Banks County."

This last Act was exceedingly successful in giving its "metes and bounds" so that they could not be understood; but all of the difficulties growing out of it have recently been adjusted to the satisfaction of all parties concerned.

In 1905 the people living southward of the Mulberry river, applied for a new county which they proposed to name Stephens, with Winder for its capital. A large part of Jackson was involved and the new county party was strong and influential, but was unsuccessful.

Note : Again in 1913 an effort was made to cut a part of Jackson off and combine with a portion from each of Gwinnett and Walton Counties thereby forming a new county to be named Barrow County in honor of Chancellor Barrow of the University of Georgia. This failed, also. - Editor.