Jones COUNTY GA Towns GRISWOLDVILLE File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Copied with permission from "History of Jones Co., GA," by Carolyn White Williams Typed by Barbara Shore GRISWOLDVILLE Griswoldville located in southern Roberts District, 304 Militia District on the Central of GA RR near Twiggs County line was named for Samuel Griswold. He came from Burlington, Conn. About 1818. He first lived in Clinton where he had an iron foundry and manufactured cotton gins, but the business grew to such proportions that he decided to move his factory on a railroad. The Central RR had just been completed to Savannah, so he bought 4,000 acres of land in lower Jones County through which the RR ran. Here he built a mammoth gin factory, sawmill, a gristmill, a planing mill and a large brick foundry. He erected a 3-story residence of twenty rooms, with outhouses, servants quarters, laundry, stables and barns. Across the RR was the Post Office and fifty or sixty cottages with five or six rooms each for his white help and slaves. He also built a nice Church and a large store. He built his son a handsome dwelling nearby. Gins were shipped from here to Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. In 1863 Griswold's gin factory was leased to the Confederate Government for the manufacture of army pistols. This factory which had turned out 900 gins in 1859 now was converted to making of pistols. These weapons were calibre with rifled barrels and shaped like Colt's revolvers. The frames were brass which they could cast and work more easily. The cylinders were made of iron twisted to make it stronger. This metal was collected from all over Jones Co. as the blockade had shut off imports. Most of the families in the county gave their metal from the homes and farms to be melted down for the use of the confederacy. In 1864, Sherman'' forces destroyed Griswoldville so thoroughly that only the tall smoke blackened chimneys remained for the next 50 years, to show where this once thriving business was. The soap and candle factory here was also destroyed. The Van Burens lived here at one time right where the gin factory was burned. A nice home was built, later by a daughter, Mrs. Wallace HARDEMAN lived here, the STRIPLINS, JOHNSON and WELLS lived here. The story is told that the JOHNSON boys sold out about 1865 and went to Arkansas for they heard the tales about the rich lands out there. They wrote back glowing accounts of what they were doing, so several families sold out, among them the STRIPLINGS and Rufe KELLY from Gordon (the famous protector of Gordon against Sherman's thousands of Cavalrymen). When the migrants reached Little Rock, the Mississippi River was covering the earth and many were almost on starvation including the JOHNSON boys. Within a week or two, all of the crowd and the JOHNSON boys were on their way back to Griswoldville, Jones County, GA. ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.