Georgia   Biographies  William Yates Atkinson

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Barbara Winge barbarawinge@yahoo.com

http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm Georgia Table of Contents:

WILLIAM YATES ATKINSON

     William Yates Atkinson was born November 11, 1854, in Meriwether County, Georgia.  He was the third of five children born to John Pepper Atkinson and Theodora Phelps, a farming family.

     William completed his education at the University of Georgia in 1877 and moved to Newnan to begin his law practice.  In 1879, he was appointed as a solicitor of the Coweta County court.  By 1886 he had been elected to the General Assemby.  He was re-elected three times and became Speaker of the House in 1892.  

     In 1894, at the age of forty, Atkinson ran for the nomination for Governor against the popular Confederate General and Methodist Minister, Clement A. Evans.  When Evans withdrew from the campaign, Atkinson then defeated Judge James K. Hines. 
 
     Atkinson was the first Governor to employ a woman at the State Capitol when he make Ellen Dortch Assistant State Librarian.

     When Atkinson left the job of Governor, he returned to his law practice in Newnam, Coweta County, Georgia.  He made a business trip to Florida and contacted dysentery and died of the complications on August 08, 1899.  He was only forty-four years old.  He is buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Newnam.

     Atkinson County was organized November 05, 1918, from Coffee and Clinch Counties.  It received its name to honor Governor Atkinson.

     PEARSON is the county seat.



Note:
Adiel Sherwood, A GAZETTEER OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, Washington City,
Printed by P. Force, 1837,  pp. 255-256.
APPENDIX:  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
   "The author conceived that a short biographical sketch of the
individuals after whom the several counties were named, would furnish an
instructive and pleasing appendage to his topographical work...
   Acquainted with the intimate friends of some of the 'venerable dead,'
he has been furnished with sufficient materials to enlarge on their
character...
   There are in the State ninety counties (book printed in 1837, presently
in 2001, there are 159 counties)..."


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