Chattahoochee County GaArchives History .....Chapter I - History of Chattahoochee Co., GA 1933 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 3, 2004, 5:22 pm HISTORY OF CHATTAHOOCHEE COUNTY, GEORGIA By N. K. Rogers Dedicated to KASIHITA CHAPTER U. D. C. and all worthy descendants of the County's first settlers. Copyright 1933 by N. K. ROGERS PRINTED BY COLUMBUS OFFICE SUPPLY CO. COLUMBUS, GA. Goodspeed's Book Shop, Boston - Letter of January 15th, 1935 Re correction to be made In the following; Rogers,-Norma K. - History of Chattahoochee County, Georgia Page 234, “1897" should be 1807; Page 145 line 34 “1775” should be 1755 Page 393. “David B. Wynn b Nov. 30, 1927” should be 1827 Contents Chapter I — Indian History Page 9 Chapter II — Administration of County Affairs Page 24 Chapter III — Civil War Days (Prelude to a Song and a Story) Page 41 Chapter IV — Schools and Churches Page 66 Chapter V— Sketches Page 95 Chapter VI— Fort Benning Page 231 Chapter VII — Miscellaneous Information and Records of Chattahoochee County Page 243 Chapter VIII— Genealogy Page 298 Preface This history of Chattahoochee County is a memorial to those splendid men and women who have been part of its citizenry at various times since the first settlements were made here in 1827 Sketches of the lives of many of these outstanding citizens form an important part of this book, giving some valuable historical data in a manner attractive to the general reader. To Mrs. T. B. Miller and Mrs. E. B. Spivey for their aid in the compilation of this history grateful acknowledgment is made; also to all others who have furnished information or have given assistance in any way whatsoever. This book is sent forth with the wish that those interested in the history of Chattahoochee County may not be disappointed with its content. Its background is composed of a galaxy of .men and women whose lives are a credit to the civilization of America, and who have left to America the heritage of other lives enriched by hallowed associations. CHATTAHOOCHEE By Mrs. Mary W. Miller Oh, Chattahoochee, who has loved one little field of thine, 'Twill make him pause and dream of thee when hills of glory shine, And who has known thy winding roads and thro' them loved to stray Will praise thee in a fairer scene along life's broad highway. And who has heard thy magic winds along thy woodlands roam, Across the world its song will ring and bring the wanderer home. For who has felt from they sweet lips thine earliest kisses fall Above the noise of eity streets will hear thy pleasant call. 'Twill sweep across the western plain more potent than the storm And yield no peace until:at last it clasps your loving form. O, Chattahoochee, who has loved of thine one field or tree Across the world 'twill lead him back at last to rest with thee. CHAPTER I Indian History By Peter A. Brannon, Executive Secretary Anthropological Society, Montgomery, Ala. The territory embraced in part by the present Chattahoochee County, Georgia, is one of the oldest inhabited sections of the Gulf country. The Kasihtas, a tribe of Muskogean people, were among the early settlers here. The town house of the main settlement was located at the old headquarters site in the present Fort Benning Reservation. Migration legends of the Creek Indians tell that they arrived at the Falls of the Chattahoochee and "found a people with flat heads. They were forced to fight these people to get pos-vsession of these lands. . The original natives were probably Chickasaws. They are doubtless the 'builders of the mounds one time prominent on the landscape at Kyles iBend, and the "Cussetah Old Fields," not far from Hall's Upper Landing. The Cussetas and the Cowetas, tribes of the same people, settled on opposite sides of the river. Some writers have thought that Cusseta and the Casiste of De Sota date, 1540, are coincident, but this is now disproven. Barcia, writing in 1639, calls the place Casica. Cusseta town, scientifically, "Kasihta," was visited by General James Oglethorpe in 1739, when he went to Coweta to treat with the Lower Creeks. Coweta was always the head town of the Nation, but Cusseta appears to have been, during all periods of the history of the settlement, a more populated place. William Bartram, the naturalist, as at Cusseta, which he spells "Usseta," in 1776 and 7. Milfort, the young Frenchman, brother-in-law of Alexander McGillivray, visited Cusseta in the late days of the American Revolution. Several villages of the town were located in what we at the present day know as Chattahoochee County . Upatoi, up the Creek of the name, 20 miles from the river, at the mouth of Thlucco Creek, was the largest of these branch towns. In later years, Hichiti, a branch settlement, was on the right bank of Thlucco Creek. This stream took its name from the old Chief who settled there. The whites called him "Bird tail King." Micco being a king, he was known as Micco Thlucco, This village was high up from the river in the hills in the pine forests. Cusseta, in 1799, was a central market place for traders' produce, and the prices current are interesting. Pork by the cwt., was 3 cts. per pound. Bacon was 10 cts. by the pound, but beef was 3 cts. Corn and potatoes sold at 50 cts. per bushel; peanuts, the same. Field peas were $1.00 per bushel. Pumpkins sold at 18 cts., when measured by the bushel. Fowls sold at four for 25 cts., but a pair of capons sold for "two bits." Eggs were 12 1/4 cts. a dozen. Butter, in the winter time, was 25 cts per pound, but in the summer, sold for 17 cts. Hickory nut oil, a delicacy much enjoyed by the European settlers at Charleston and Pensacola, sold at 75 cts a bottle. These bottles are yet found in Indian graves. They were originally traded to the Indians filled with whiskey. Most of them are "short" quarts, of heavy green glass, showing a high depression in the center bottom. Cusseta town played a prominent part in American Revolu tionary affairs. In 1780, John Tate, a Colonel in the regular British service, concentrated at this point, a large force of Indians from what is now Alabama, and was joined by a number of Creeks from the Chattahoochee Valley, to go to the relief of Augusta. The British held Augusta but were beseiged by the American forces. At the headwaters of the Upatoi Creek, Colonel Tate was stricken with a serious malady. He was brought back to Cusseta and died there. He was buried near what was later the residence of General John Wool-folk. This spot is now in Fort Benning Reservation. It is immediately left of the front of what was, until the establishment of Fort Benning, the residence of Mr. Arthur Bussey. This place is the headquarters of the Commandant. Colonel Tate married Sehoy McGillivray, a sister of Alexander McGillivray, and the grand-daughter of Captain Marchand, the French officer on the Coosa, who was murdered by his mutinous Swiss soldiers, about 1723. Many of the letters and documents of Colonel Benjamin Hawkins long time Agent among the Creeks, are dated at Cusseta. Richard Thomas, Clerk in the Indian Department, and sub-agent to Colonel Hawkins, resided for more than 20 years at Cusseta. Among the earliest of Colonel Hawkins' letters dated there, is one written November 25, 1797, when he says that he "has been for more than a month much engaged in my duties at this place." Timothy Barnard was an assistant, and the interpreter at this place. Barnard formerly resided on the Flint river. He was the father of Tirnpoochee Barnard, who about 1816, succeeded his father in the capacity of an assistant in the Indian Department. Timpoochee Barnard was a half-breed Uchee (Yuchi) Indian, and both he and his father were highly respected. An interesting settler in Cusseta, was Milly, who came with her husband to that town a short time before the British troops sailed home from American shores, in 1783. Her husband was a deserter, and died of small pox a short time after his arrival at Cusseta. Milly lived for many years in the Creek Nation, about ten miles east of the present Montgomery, Ala. She maintained a toll-gate across a small stream which today bears her name. In after years, she married a free negro from Georgia, and they conducted a tavern on the Federal Road. Even so, "Old Milly," as she is known in Alabama history, rendered the early settlers in the Indian country many good deeds, and on one occasion, purchased from her kidnapers, Tempey Ellis, a little Georgia girl, paying for her 10 ponies and some cattle. The Indians from the present Chattahoochee County, participated, to some extent, in the War of 1812 with the Upper Creeks. On that occasion, they served with McIntosh of Coweta, on the side of General John Floyd's Georgia Militia. Some disturbances occured in 1836 in the Chattahoochee Valley settlements. The people of these towns, went west in the winter of that year, when Captain John Page, U. S. Removal Agent, who rendezvoused them at Coweta, carried them across the Mississippi River. The Indian Treaty of 1832, is sometimes referred to as the Treaty of Cusseta, though it was signed at Washington City. Colonel John Crowell, U. S. Indian Agent, may probably have held his preliminary conferences at the town, though his head' quarters were at Fort Mitchell, in the Nation, two miles west. Cusseta was the "white town" of the Lower Creeks, and that might have influenced in calling this Land Cession by that name. A village in Chambers County, Alabama, at the present time, takes its name from the Indian town of Cusseta. A district in the Creek Nation, now Oklahoma, was once called by this name. The name is etymologically significant of the tradition of its people that they came from the Sun. It means "bright splendor of the Sun." Being the largest town in the Nation, most of the early writers used descriptive references thereto. A number of early travelers passed through the place as they went over what was, in later years known as the Federal Road, the official highway between Milledgeville, in Georgia, and the Tombigee settlements of the Mississippi Territory, later Alabama. There are numerous descriptions of the Square and the Town House, and all references say they were whitewashed, thus carrying out the tradition of a "white town." Perhaps the earliest noted visitor was LaFayette in 1825. The Georgia delegation which escorted him through that State, turned him over, at the landing below the town, to the Indians under Chilly McIntosh, who, on arrival on the west bank of the river, organized 50 naked warriors to pull his sulkey from the ferry boat landing to the Fort site, three-quarters of a mile away. The Alabama delegation welcomed him at the Fort. In addition to Upatoi, Sidsha' Lidsha (which means under blackjack trees,) and Tusilgis tcho'ko, (which means clapboard), were branch towns of Cusseta. Hitchiti, in later years, —that is after 1790—had two branch settlements. Some of its people had moved over on the Flint River, just below the junction of Kitchofuni Creek, and called their village Hitchi-tudshi (which means Little Hitchiti). Other of its people were settled on Tutalosi Creek, which was 20 miles west of Little Hitchiti. In 1833, these Tutalosi people were settled west of the River, at a point now known as the Frank Pitts' plantation in Russell County, Alabama, on a stream called Tattalosa. Scientifically, there is some confusion in the matter of the branch towns of the Great Cusseta, as the Hitchiti people of later days, at least, were not Creek. The word Hichiti is of that language. Therefore, a foreign people may have settled among these Creeks and called their settlement by a term in the Creek language, meaning "to look up" (the stream), there fore, "Ahitchita." The people of these branch villages, were known by the Indians on the Alabama River, as mean people. which in their language is "pasha schli'ha." From that word we get our Padshilika. This is used both in Georgia and Alabama as a stream name. Hitchiti town being up the stream from Cusseta, like the mother town, carries out well the meaning of the term. From HYMN OF THE PINES By Mary Wilkinson Miller O Pines so tall and stately grown, An Indian, too, you seem; With waving crest; your brown limbs rest Beside the forest stream. Do you spring from the graves of the fallen braves? Like a warrior chained and defiant, And your challenge shout to a heedless old world? Still a brave, though a harmless old giant. When Chattahoochee County became a separate political entity, the Indians had long since removed to their new homes in the western reservations, and the only echoes of their occupancy of these lands came from the chant of the pines and stories told by the oldest people living here during the two decades subsequent to 1854 together with relics of their handicraft. Among these older people was Mr. John McNaughton who related in the presence of a small school girl the following story, which she later transposed into her own composition. "I came to this country in 1827," said Mr. McNaughton. "Our first crop was made in '28. The Indians were as thick here then as the negroes are now, and they are much better folks to live by, for they won't steal—if they like you. I was only a child then, and I used to play with them. We had great frolics together, but they could always beat me running. "I saw fifty ponies packed with venison and deer skins at Bryant's Kerry. We crossed the river in canoes, but the Indians plunged into the water, seized their ponies by their bridles, and swam across. "On our arrival here, we found the Indians friendly and good. The women often brought wild honey and muscadines to my mother to exchange for cloth. The men sometimes hired as laborers on the farm. As far as they knew how, they worked well. "The Indian girls were pretty, and had hair that reached to their heels. The men were ugly. "There were three distinct tribes of Indians scattered around here. They were Seminoles, Creeks and Cherokees. The Cherokees were large and yellow, and presented a fine, manly appearance. The Seminoles were small, sleek, and very dark. The Creeks were darker than the Cherokees, but brighter than the Seminoles. "I never saw a fat Indian. They wouldn't eat hog meat. They said it was unhealthy. They lived chiefly upon beef and venison. "The way they obtained fire was by rubbing two sticks together. "Their greatest festival was called the Green Corn Dance, which was something like an old-fashioned dance, or trot-around. They were fond of playing ball, but even their sports seemed mixed with cruelty. At the regular gatherings, their favorite amusement was climbing a green pinepole to obtain a prize. They would select a pine about thirty feet long, strip off the bark, or 'skin it,' and having fastened a piece of cloth to the end, set up the pole in some open space. Then the fun began. The one that succeeded in climbing to the top of the pole won the piece of cloth fastened there. "They always kept good order at these entertainments. Music was furnished by terrapin shells, and they could out-rattle anything. "It was customary for the Indians all to sit together in their councils with the whites and only one to do the talking. The war came on in 1836, and we moved off. When we returned, all that remained of thee Indians were their queer little one-roomed houses, an occasional arrow head, and the fine bead pockets which our mothers kept as relics." Mr. McNaughton could make anything. If he had lived in this age he would have been considered a mechanical genius. There is an old chair in Chattahoochee County 100 years old, that he bottomed with hickory bark. He said that it would last indefinitely. Mrs. Sandal Webb Simms who lived in Chattahoochee County and is still remembered by many people, was a woman of lively disposition, and at different times told the following stories. "When I was a child, my father kept an Inn. The stage driver would blow a horn to let us know how many were coming for supper. If I liked the crowd, 1 would help wait on the table. Once a crowd of men spent the night on their way to Indian Springs to make a treaty with the Indians. There was one man among them very tall and well dressed. I carried in his coffee, and was very attentive when he arose from the table he left a silver quarter beside his plate and said it was for the little girl that waited on him so well. "I saw an Indian they called Red Cloud going to the same meeting. He wore a red shirt with fringe on the bottom, and above the hem it was appliqued in white cut-work. "Tuckee Bachee settled the Woolfolk Place. Some men used to lie around among the Indians, eating parched corn, and drinking whiskey with them and trying to cheat them out of their land. They left before they died and were not worth twenty-five cents. "A man named Hardman Owens stayed in the Nation. He was a large, strong man and grew insolent and hateful to the Indians, who complained of him when the Regulars came along. They ordered him off, but he begged for several days to arrange his affairs, which was granted. When they came again, to see him about it, he received them well and invited them in his store to take a drink. But while they were occupied, he slipped out a keg of powder, placed it under the end of the house and applied a match. Only a few boards were blown off the store. The soldiers pursued him trying to escape behind the house through the corn-patch, and just as he was climbing over the fence they sent a bullet through his brain. "When I was a little girl I had a trunk woven of reeds. I used to keep my clothes in it and was very proud and vain. When I was a young lady I still loved to primp and look well. One time before going to church I took special pains with my toilet and said that day I expected to catch a beau. We had a new preacher that day, and when they opened the door of the church, I went up without even knowing how I got there and joined the church. I found a Beau that never deserted me through all my life. "I saw the Indians when they left the state. It was in tire spring of 1827. The Indians had renounced all claims to Georgia soil and, according to treaty, retired across the boundary line of the Chattahoochee into Alabama. The few whites who lived here watched with joy the departure of the Creeks and Muscogees. The exodus was made with dignity and in silence. Only the eyes of the braves as they rode by flashed fire-upon the whites who gathered at the cabin doors to witness their departure. At the head rode the chief with all the dignity of a soldier on dress parade. Near him was his immediae family. His daughter, a pretty young princess, attracted much attention by her rich attire, showy ornaments and the tinkling bells on her pony. "Scarcely had their footsteps died away and the last straggler disappeared before the arrival of the emigrant wagons. The timid settlers, who, at the approach of war, had fled to civilization, now returned to their abandoned homes. There was no danger now from lurking savages. The housewife sat spinning in her open doorway, her children played hide and seek behind the pines in the open forest, while beyond the clearing, in a shanty at the cross-roads, the husband and father sold rum, ginger-cakes and calico to the fast arriving emigrants who were to bring a new civilization. "But did the Indians leave with no regrets? Did they carry into their new homes no memories of the old?- With the return of spring came a homesick longing for the well-known hunting grounds and fishing pools beyond the Chattahoochee. What were governments and treaties? The blooming of the dog-wood and red bud in alien marshes awoke an instinct that was stronger than law. They re-crossed the Chattahoochee. "Everywhere they saw Eestah-hadkee, the white man, and in the fields, Eestah-ludkee, the negro, while the Indian, Eestah-chaddee, tramped along the highway and looked over the in-closures like a homesick beggar. Through the doorway thev saw the women spinning cotton, tota-silka; but nowhere did the startled winna-pi, the deer spring up and flee before them. Their hunting grounds were ruined. Dejected they sought the well-known fishing pools. They found a roaring dam that turned a noisy mill, or bridges built by "Sharp-knife," General Jackson. For awhile they camped within the swamps, setting out fishing lines along the streams, and in the woodlands traps for small game. "But the whites who had taken away so much had brought one thing that delighted the Red Man,—rum. After one visit the Indians came again and again, and every time they seemed more abject and degraded. One day the busy housewife sat in her doorway spinning as usual. She had just finished the noonday meal, and sent away her husband and children, one to work, the others to play. The dogs in the back yard, fat and sleek, were lapping up the abundant milk that their mistress had poured out for them into wooden troughs. Suddenly a shadow fell across the doorway, "Is-s-stah!' she heard a peculiar clucking sound which meant in the Indian tongue, 'Begone!' The dogs slunkaway and several hungry Indians immediately drank up the sour milk, then stepping to the door begged for sofkee. How abject they were now! What a contrast to the noble red man who had once ruled there proudly and defiantly. Their blankets were ragged and soiled, their moccasins worn. In pity the woman gave them the bread they begged. "Emboldened by their success, they approached the little store and demanded rum. As they could not pay, it was refused, and they departed in sullen silence. They wended their way to the traps—they were empty; to the set lines, but they held no fish. Disappointed, the. Indians were turning away from the stream when they were startled by a peculiar hissing sound,—the warning of a rattler about to strike. The leaves and grasses seemed alive with the noise that it is almost impossible to locate. With a bound the Indians leaped beyond into an open space—all except one. His keen eye had detected the intruder, and with marvelous skill and dexterity he prepared to capture it. In an incredibly short time the rattlesnake was lassoed and dragged forth, its head being securely fastened in a kind of muzzle made of white oak strips. "Late that afternoon the store keeper and his companions saw an Indian approach with something slung from his shoulder. They thought, at first, that it was a large eel and went to examine it, but it proved to be a rattlesnake. The Indian was tall, but it touched the ground. The crowd counted the rattles which denote its age, and complimented the Indian on his success in capturing it. Finally the men drew their pistols and offered to kill it, but the Indian refused. "What are you going to do with it?" they asked in surprise. "The Indian bared one arm and holding the snake by the neck with the other hand said, " 'Give me rum and I let him bite me." The crowd scoffed. It would be instant death, they told him. "'Give me this much rum,' he said measuring it, 'and I let him bite me." " 'Let him have it,' some one said recklessly, 'if the fellow wants to commit suicide I will pay for the funeral.' The rum was poured out and handed over with some misgivings. The Indian drank it with evident relish, then with braggart air, he unmuzzled the snake and applied it to his arm. The rattler bit savagely and viciously. The crowd looked on in silence expecting the Indian to fall dead, but instead he disappeared at a brisk run into the brushwood. In a few minutes he returned, seized the snake and disappeared. No sign of swelling had been seen on his arm. The rattlesnake and his master became a regular feature at the country store. Crowds came to witness the performance., At first they were incredulous, thinking it was some trick of the storekeeper to draw a crowd and make money. " 'It is impossible, they said 'or else the fangs have been removed.' The Indian exhibited his snake and proved the contrary. One Saturday a larger crowd than usual had gathered to witness the performance. According to custom they stood drinking rum and denying the possibility of the feat when the Indian arrived, followed by others of his own tribe. "Es-to-pa," he said, "rum for all and I let him bite me." He had now changed his tactics and treated his friends. ' The glasses were filled and distributed without a murmur. The Indian gave the usual exhibition, disappeared for a few moments and then returned unharmed. " 'Another glass," he said, 'and I let him bite me again.' The storekeeper hesitated. "Oh, give it to him," some one said, 'the fellow is a wizard, it won't hurt him.' " 'He knows some herb,' the thoughtful observed, 'and uses it to counteract the effect of the poison.' The glass was filled and the performance repeated. This time the Indian did not leave but stood still and re-iterated his demand. " 'More rum, and he bite again." "The whites grew excited, and applauded the deed, The other Indians stood by stolid and indifferent. "More rum and he bite again/ he continued. The whites grew wild. Their shouts were intoxicating to the Indan, who stood with the snake wrapped around his arm. The other Indians watched with glittering eyes as their per-companion, now grown reckless and desperate, repeated the performance again and again. But not for long,—the fifth time he fell back dead. The shouts ceased. An awed silence fell. Too late they realized the situation. The Indian having become intoxicated, had lost all judgment, and failing to obtain the herb on which he relied as an antidote, had received too much poison in his veins. "In the lull the rattlesnake now became master of the situation. He raised aloft his monstrous head, gave another stab at his fallen foe and glided away. But the Indians had awakened from stolid indifference. With a yell they sprang after the retreating rattler. For the first time the whites thrilled in responsive appreciation of the Indian war whoop. The rattler being demolished the Indians returned in silence and bore away the victim. It was said the Indian used the juice of an herb as an antidote. It has been discovered and its efficiency said to have been tested. The plant is like a lily and bears blue flowers. It is called "The Rattlesnake's Master." The agency of the Creek Nation was a desirable political appointment and subsequent to the agents mentioned earlier Gov. David Bradie Mitchell, for whom Fort Mitchell, Ala., is named, resigned the governorship of Georgia to accept this appointment. Some interesting letters relating to Indian affairs are found in his "Exposition of the case of the Africans" now in possession of D. B. Mitchell of Columbus, Ga., a lineal descendant of the governor. An Indian runner who carried a letter from Gen. Wm. McIntosh to Gov. Mitchell was paid $6.00. These letters were written for the purpose of arranging meetings previous to the treaties, which made it possible for white settlers to come a few years later. Many of the brave men and women who were among the pioneers here have descendants living upon the terrtain they found unbroken forest. After the conquest of the wilderness the fresh lands pro-Sliced bountiful crops year after year, so when the history of Chattahoochee County really begins, during the decade preceding the War Between the States, there was sufficient wealth to furnish the dignified, leisure requisite for the development of the social graces and for cultural advancement. Many families of fine lineage had been added to the original settlers, and Col. J. E. D. Shipp, a distinguished son of one of the county's foremost citizens, says that Chattahoochee came into existence an aristocrat among the counties of the state. The real explanation for the formation of this county lies in the fact that methods and means of transportation have always affected man's activities. Trails for. pack horses, after trading stations were opened with the Indians, in addition to those used before the advent of the white man here, by the aborigines gradually widened into roads for wagoners. During the time of the winter rins, travelling over the clay roads would become practically impossible. All the older, large counties had been subdivided several time. Since the only means of transportation in, this, as in many other counties, were horse drawn vehicle, all pubic affairs could be carried on mort expeditiously with the county site located nearer the center of population. There are deeds recorded at this court house which were drawn many years before the date of its erection. But the owners had trusted to their preservation in their homes rather than undertake the arduous trip to Columbus for the purpose only of having them recorded. Jury duty and all necessary business transactions in Columbus made an all day journey for those living 25 or 30 miles from that county seat. Many factors eventually caused public sentiment to crys-talize upon the advisability of having a center of civic activities nearer the homes of a1 majority of the citizens. So when the legislative session convened in the winter of 1853-54, the following act was passed. AN ACT TO LAY OUT AND FORM A NEW COUNTY OUT OF THE COUNTIES OF MUSCOGEE AND MARION AND TO ORGANIZE THE SAME SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represenatives of the State of Georgia, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that from and immediately after the passage of this Act, a new county shall be laid out from the counties of Muscogee and Marion, to be included within the following bounds, to-wit: To commence in the center of the mouth of the Upatoi Creek to the original line of Talbot County, thence south embracing two ranges of lots in Marion County, thence along the line dividing Muscogee and Stewart Counties to the Chattahoochee River, thence up the Chattahoochee River to the point of beginning. SECTION II: Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid that the persons included within the said new county entitled to vote for Representatives in the General Assembly shall on the first Monday in March proceed to elect five Justices of the Inferior Court, a clerk of the Inferior Court, a Sheriff, a Coroner, and Ordinary, a Tax Collector and Receiver of Tax Returns, a County Surveyor for said county, the election for said officers shall be held at Sand Town and shall be conducted in manner as is now prescribed by law; and the Governor on the same being certified to him, shall commission such persons as returned to him as elected at such elections, to hold their respective offices for and during the terms prescribed by law; and that the Jutices of the Inferior Court, after they shall receive their commissions, shall proceed to lay out and divide said new county into Militia Districts, and advertse for the election of the requisite number of Justices of Peace; and the Governor on being duly certified of the election of such Justices of the Peace, shall commission them according to law. SECTION III: And be it further enacted that James R. Love, William Bagley, David McGlaun, William Wooldridge and Joshua McCook, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners, a majority of whom shall have full power and authority to locate a site for the public buildings in said county and the said Justices or a majority of them are hereby authorised to purchase a tract or lot of land for the location of the county site, to lay off the same into lots, to sell the same at public sale for the benefit of said county, or make such other arrangements or contracts in relation to the location of the site and public building's, as they may deem most advantageous to the public good. SECTION IV: And be it further enacted by the authority: aforesaid, that the elections of the county generally, and the precincts.fon all the elections shall.be esablished at the places of holding Justices' Courts, in the several districts in said county and votes received at them accordingly. SECTION V: And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all Justices of the Peace and Bailiffs within the limits of said new county shall hold commissions, and exercise the duties of their several offices within the said limits of the aforesaid county, until their successors shall have been elected and commissioned. SECTION VI: And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all mesne process, executions and other final process in the hands of the Sheriffs, Coroners, and Constables of the County of which the new county may be formed, and which properly belongs to said new county, and which may have been levied or, in part, executed and such proceedings therein not finally disposed of at the time of the passing of this Act, shall be delivered over to the corresponding officers of said new county, and such officers are hereby authorized and required to proceed with the same, and in the same manner as if such process had been originally in their hands: Provided, that in all cases, publication of the time and places and proceeding's of like character in the new county shall be made for the time now prescribed by law and all such processes whch properly belongs to tile county out of which said new county maybe formed which may be in the hands of the officers of said new county shall in like manner be delivered to the officers of said county to be executed by them in the manner herein prescribed. SECTION VII: And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the Superior Courts, for said county shall be held on the first Monday in June and December, and. the Inferior Courts on the second Monday in April and October. SECTION VIII: And be it further enacted, that the said new county shall be added to the Chattahoochee Circuit and the Division and Brigade to which Muscogee County is now attached, and also added to the second Congressional District, and shall be known and called by the name of Chattahoochee. SECTION IX And be it furhter enacted, that all laws and parts of laws militating against the Act be, and the same are hereby repealed. APPROVED, February 13, 1854. (Herschel V. Johnson, Governor) Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF CHATTAHOOCHEE COUNTY, GEORGIA By N. K. Rogers Dedicated to KASIHITA CHAPTER U. D. C. and all worthy descendants of the County's first settlers. Copyright 1933 by N. K. ROGERS PRINTED BY COLUMBUS OFFICE SUPPLY CO. COLUMBUS, GA. Transcriber's note: The original book contains many typographical errors. All spellings are as in the original book. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chattahoochee/history/other/gms443chapteri.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 35.6 Kb