Early County Georgia - News - 1904 History by Rev. G. G. Smith ****************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joan Herndon ****************************************************************************** EARLY COUNTY NEWS--1904 Rev. G.G.Smith of Macon, Ga. wrote this article concerning the early history of Ga. Counties. Concerning the first settlers of Early County, Ga.---In that on the rivers, were rich bottom lands, This county presented this feature and occupies a very large area of the SW corner of the state.Unlike the other counties, it had within its borders a few Indian towns, where some small bodies of "Creeks" had their homes. The land in Early County was largely pine forests, but on the Flint and the Chattahoochee there were some very fine bodies of bottom land. Some of the finest cotton land lay in its borders. The first settlers in Thomas, Decatur, Clay, Mitchell, Baker and Dougherty were originally in Early, but Baker, Thomas and Decatur were cut off before the present county was organized and they demanded a separate section. The first settlers of Early County were Isham Sheffield, West Sheffield, Arthur Sheffield, Jas.Bush, John Hays, Joseph Grimsley, Richard Spain, Frederick Porter, Joseph Boles, John Roe, Abner Jones, Sol Wilson, John Dill, Alex Watson, James Carr, John Tilley, Wm. Hendricks, John Floyd, D. Roberts, Andrew Burch, B. Collier, I. Fowler, Martin Wood, George Mercer, Wm.Dickson, A. Hays, James Brantley and E. Hayes. The lands in Early were in some sections, exceedingly fertile, and soon drew wealthy slave owners from the East, who opened large plantations on the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers. Here they had easy access to the markets through Apalachicola.They had an unlimited range for their cattle. The climate suited their negroes and their own families were healthy when living in the pine woods, and thus there sprang up in Early and Decatur a society which was equal to any in Georgia. Isham Saffold of Morgan, Ga. had a plantation here and Major Joel Crawford, once in Congress, noted as a lawyer and a man of culture, bought a plantation in Early, built a comfortable double log house in the pine woods, supplied himself with the best of books and spent his last days in seclusion of these forests. In this county lived the South Carolina planter who moved from Abbeville, James Shackelford. He was a man of large wealth and lived in baronical elegance. He had several daughters famous for their accomplishments and beauty, and on the edge of these wild, almost unbroken forest, there was to be found in his home and in several beside--- a society as elegant as that which was to be found in the best circles of a crowded city. This line of river settlements extended up the Chattahoochee and down to Florida. Among the more elegant places on the river was the home of the father of Colonel Charles J. Munnerlyn, once a member of the Confederate Congress. Here he had a magnificent plantation and a commodious home. There were the Coachmans, Donaldsons, Rawsons and other families of the same class, who made a group of people of rare culture and refinement.... The END of this Article Abstracted and submitted by Joan Herndon May 2002