Georgia   Biographies	 John Dooly

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by 
Barbara Winge barbarawinge@yahoo.com

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


  JOHN DOOLY

Colonel John Dooly was born in Wilkes County, North
Carolina, of Irish parentage, about 1740.  About the
commencement of the Revolution he removed to the
Edgefield District, South Carolina, and soon became a
distinguished partisan officer.   After this he settled
in Lincoln County, Georgia, 40 miles above Augusta, on
the Savannah, at a plantation now called Egypt.  Here he
was a terror to the Tories.  He distinguished himself in
several skirmishes, and especially at the battle of
Kettle Creek, in Wilkes, in 1779, where he commanded a
regiment.

From his vigilance and activity against the enemies of
liberty, he early became the object of their hatred, and
they determined to wreak upon him their vengeance.  While
in his house one night, in the bosom of his family, a
party of Tories, headed by on McCorkle, from South
Carolina, entered, and in a most savage manner murdered
him.  His brother, George Dooly, soon after pursued and
put an end to McCorkle and his associates.  Colonel Dooly
was about 45 years of age at the time of his death.  He
left a widow and several sons, the youngest of whom, John
M., was for a number of years, the able Judge of the
Northern Circuit.  He died in 1827, of a pleurisy.

Ref:  Sherwood, Adiel, A GAZETTEER OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, 1837, Printed by P. Force, Washington City, pp. 271-272.

HEARD’S FORT. - 

In February Heard’s Fort became the temporary capital of
Georgia.  Governor Howley left the State to take his seat
in the Continental Congress, and George Wells, the
president of the Council, acted as Governor during his
absence.  Upon the death of President Wells, Stephen
Heard of Wilkes County was elected president of the
Council and acted as governor for some time.

Charleston was taken by the British in May 1780, and
Augusta was at once occupied by a British force under
Colonels Brown and Grierson, two Tory officers. 

Brown sent agents into the country around Augusta to
exact oaths of allegiance to the king, or to destroy the
houses of those who refused. A party thus commissioned
broke into the home of Colonel John Dooly, in Lincoln
County, at dead of night, and in the most barbarous
manner murdered him in the presence of his wife and
children.  These agents spared neither age nor sex.
Their footsteps were marked with ruin, and their presence
was the signal for distruction.

Ref:  Evans, Lawton B., FIRST LESSONS IN GEORGIA HISTORY,
1913, American Book Company, New York, pp. 167-168.

DOOLY COUNTY, GEORGIA


Boundaries described in the Lottery Act of 1821.  Part
added to Pulaski, 1826; part to Lee, 1827.  Named after
Colonel John Dooly, who was murdered by the Tories in
1780.

The chief stream is the Flint River.

VIENNA is the county town, situated on the waters of
Pennahatchee Creek, distant from Milledgeville ninety-
five miles.

The cases of longevity with which we are acquainted are
the following:  Mr. Wadsworth died at 103; Mrs. Napier,
aged 100; Mrs. Wadsworth, aged over 100; and Mrs.
Bradshaw, aged over 80, were all alive a few years since.

Ref:  White, Rev. Georgia, M. A., HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS
OF GEORGIA, 1854, Pudney & Russell, Publishers, New York,
p. 424.  (Reprinted 1968, Heritage Papers, Danielsville,
GA)

(Contributed by Barbara Walker Winge,
barbarawinge@yahoo.com)




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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