Laurens County Georgia Land Scandal File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Scott Warren warrens@charter.net Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/laurens.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm Early Pioneers of Northern Wiregrass Georgia Part one A - L Compiled by Scott B. Thompson, Sr. The Gem City Company, Dublin, GA, 1997 The lands lying between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers and generally south of Interstate Highway 16 was the focal point of the largest land title litigation in the history of Georgia. Most of the land was filled with virgin long leaf and yellow pines. The lands were granted through a lottery system in the Land Lottery of 1807. Grants were made in lots of 202.5 acres with some fractional land lots running along the rivers or land district boundaries. Many of the lots were extremely isolated from the populated areas around Dublin, Hawkinsville, and Jacksonsville. The residents, mainly farmers, put little or no value to the trees. Peter J. Williams of Milledgeville sought out and purchased many of the lots from dissatisfied owners. Many other lots to which the grants had lapsed were purchased by Williams from the State of Georgia. In the 1830s a group of New England land speculators became interested in the land. Williams sold the land, about the size of the state of Delaware, to Stephen Chase of Maine, Abram Colby of New Hampshire, and Samuel Crocker of Maine on February 28, 1834. The Georgia Lumber Company was created by an act of the Georgia Legislature on December 17, 1834. Three weeks later the three men sold the land, measuring 296,055 acres, to the Georgia Lumber Company on January 5, 1835 for the sum of $5.00. The property was sold to the State of Indiana for a quarter of a million dollars in settlement of lawsuit over the dissolution of the company. At the time of that sale in September, 1842, Elisha B. Strong was the president of the company. During the 1840s and early 1850s some of the land was sold by local sheriffs to satisfy property tax liens. These lots were purchased by local people who immediately moved onto the land and improved it. On December 1, 1849 Gov. Paris C. Duning of Indiana quitclaimed the lands to Martin Green of Indiana in settlement of a $240,000.00 note involving the state, the lumber company, and the Bank of Western New York. Green then sold a 7/16 share for 9,187 dollars to Amos Davis of New York on June 12, 1850. Green then sold another 7/16 share to Samuel Brooks of New York for the same amount two years later. Green sold the remaining share to William Chauncey of New York on the same day. Davis then divided his interest selling to William Chauncey, Charles Illins of New York City, Edmund Munroe of Boston, and Charles Peabody of New York City. Samuel Brooks divided his interest selling to Randolph Martin of New York City, Joseph M. Sanderson of New York, and Joseph Bolesier of New York. During the height of reconstruction William Pitt Eastman of New York City began buying all of the shares of the lands. Eastman sold the property to Anson G. Phelps Dodge on June 8, 1870. Dodge then transferred the lands to a new company, the Georgia Land and Lumber Company. On February 6, 1877 George E. Dodge purchased the property from the company and appointed Anson G. Phelps Dodge as his attorney in fact to manage the affairs of the business in Georgia. The Dodge family, especially the Rev. Anson Dodge, Jr., were central characters in Eugenia Prices's "Beloved Invader." By the mid 1880s much of the land lying along the Macon and Brunswick Railroad had been stripped of timber. In 1884 a federal government study revealed that there was a billion board feet of virgin pine timber still standing in southern Laurens County alone. That is enough lumber to build a 4 inch by inch plank all the way to the moon and back or to build a seven foot wall around the circumference of the Earth. George E. Dodge sold the land to Norman W. Dodge in June of 1888. As more and more railroads were cut through the area, more and more timber was cut. The choice heart pine timber was shipped all over the world. Timbers from the area were used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. For the most part the timber lands had been kept intact by the owners for nearly a half century. Norman W. Dodge immediately began selling off tracts on which the timber had been cut. As the area became more attractive to settlers many squatters and bona fide settlers claimed land belonging to Dodge. The area was subjected to a small war in which nearly three dozen people were assassinated. After nearly all of the good timber was gone Norman W. Dodge filed a suit in the Federal court to quiet title to the lands. The suit was tried in a Georgia Federal Court and a decision was rendered giving Dodge title to some of lands outright and to others upon the payment of money. Other lots were decreed to be the property of the defendants outright or upon the payment of money to Dodge. Norman Dodge died shortly after Judge Emory Speer rendered his opinion on December 2, 1902. Eventually all of Dodge's lands were sold by his heirs ending one of the most bitter and most fascinating times in the history of northern Wiregrass Georgia. The lands covered in this lawsuit lie in current day Laurens, Dodge, Wheeler, Telfair, Pulaski, and Bleckley Counties. View Land District Lots The following is a list of the defendants in the Case of Norman W. Dodge vs. L.L. Williams, et al filed on June 25, 1894 in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western Division of the Southern District of Georgia. The courts final decree is filed in Deed Book 22, pages 214, et seq., Laurens County Records. * Defendants who died during the pendency of the litigation. Abbott, Jordan Anderson, Robert H. Baggett, John R. Barber, J.F. Barron, J.W. Bass, Joe Bedingfield, John W. * Berryhill, J.T.L. Bowen, A.J. or A.M., adm. Branch, Dave Braswell, K. Brown, Jesse Browning, Sarah Burch, B.T. Burch, Ben Burch, D.W. Burch, Rebecca E. Burney, Calvin Busby, Oliver Bussey, W.K. Cameron, John by W.T. Yawn, Adm. Carter, William Clark, Elizabeth Ann Clark, Harlow Clark, J.A. Clark, J.M. Clark, Jerry Clark, R.N. Clark, Tom Clements, J.C. Cobb, Mary L. Coleman, A.T. Coleman, Sam Coleman, W.R. Collins, W.C. Conley, Green Conley, William Couey, Eliza now Saturday Couey, William Cravey, John A. Cravey, W.H. Curry, J.T. Curry, Rebecca, now Ryals Daniels, B. Daniels, M. Darsey, Mrs. M. Dent, J.D. Dowdy, Carrie Dowdy, John J. Dowdy, Tom F. Dowdy, W.H., agt for wife Early, Harriet Evans, Doc Evans, J.R. Evans, Lat Evans, N. Fielder, J.F. Floyd, Archie O. Floyd, Mary E. Fordham, J.M. Fountain, W.C. Fussell, Jacob agt for wife Garrison, W.M. Gay, Clem Gay, J.B. Gay, Joseph V. Gay, N.F. * Gilder, Freeman Gilder, W.M. and his wife Gillis, Hugh, Sr. Gillis, John N. Graham, A.A. Graham, Nancy A. Green, Frank Guest, B.J. Hall, Mary J. Hall, W. Hamilton, Joe (colored) Hardeman, N.H. or Hardin Harrell, Charles Harrelson, Elizabeth Harrelson, R.R. Harrelson, W.O. Hart, John Hobbs, Jordan Hobbs, T.J. Holliday, W.F. Horton, James N. Hughlett, A.J. Hulett, F.E. agt for wife Hulett, Lou Johns, Mrs. M.J. Johnson, Ed Joiner, Warren Jones, Robert Kelly, James A. Kinchen, J.T. Kinchen, Mrs. E.E. Knight, W.T. Knowles, Reuben Lancaster, George Law, A.J. Livingston, B.C. Lock, J.R. * Lowery, B.L. Lowery, Isiah Lowery, Mrs. Mathias Lowery, W.A.J.Adams, Charles D. Andrews, W.H. Ballew, A. Barber, Jane F. * Bass, James Bedingfield, B.J. Bedingfield, W.A. Boney, A.J. Bowen, M.E. Branch, Thomas Brewer, H.D. Brown, W. Bryant, Allen Burch, B.W. Burch, C.O. * Burch, R.F. Burch, W.G. Burney, Green Bussey, P.W. Byron, John Carpenter, Jane Cates, J.H. Clark, H.M. Clark, Henry S. Clark, J.C. Clark, J.T. Clark, Newton Clark, T.A. Clark, W.A., Agent Clements, Wesley T. Coffee, John B. Coleman, Amy B. Coleman, W.A. Coleman, William Comer, Henry Conley, James R. Corder, Newton * Couey, P.D. Cravey, D.C., agt. for wife Cravey, L.M. Curry, D.M. Curry, John F. Daniel, A.B. Daniels, J.W. Darsey, Ann Davis, Tom Donaldson, Cynthia A. Dowdy, Elizabeth Dowdy, T.I. Dowdy, W. Henry Dumas, Mrs. W.T. Edge, William Evans, Elisha Evans, Joseph Evans, N. Fausett, R.N. Floyd, Dempsey Floyd, Martha Floyd, Mary E. Fordham, S.W. Frizzells, B.M. Garrison, E.C. Gay, A.M., admr. N.F. Gay Gay, Frank Gay, Joe Gay, Maggie L., wid/o R.A. Rountree Giddings, Bunk, or William B. Gilder, John Gillis, Hugh G. Gillis, John * Gillis, N. Graham, D.B. Green, D.I. or D.J. Grimes, Jackson Hall, Joe & agt. for wife Hall, Morgan Hall, W.T. Hand, H.A. Hardin, N.H. or Hardeman Harrell, W.A. Harrelson, H.H. Harrelson, Sam Harrison, D.R. & agt. for wife Hill, Roland Hobbs, Lem Holliday, Fred Horne, Lee Hughlett, A.D. Hughlett, D.J. Hulett, J.J. Hulett, Mary Johnson, E. Joiner, J.W. Jones, J.G. Kelly, D.O. Kinchen, J.E. Kinchen, James Knight, R.G.B. Knowles, David Lamb, Doctor Lancaster, Miles A. Lewis, Sam Livingston, W.W. Lott, Henry Lowery, Cullen Lowery, J.H. Lowery, S.L. Maloy, E.G. McCranie, D.J. McCranie, John McCranie, Mary E. now Pope McCranie, R.G. McDaniel, J.D. McDonald, John McDuffie, W.P. McEachin, Alexander McLaughlin, Jesse McLean, Martha McLendon, Lewis Merchant, J.I. Miller, S.L. Morgan, Doctor Morrison, D. Frank * Mullis, J.N. Pace, Jim Parkerson, James Patten, H.W. Peacock, L.M., adm. N. Rawlins Perry, J.E. Pettis, George W. or Pitts Phillips, Gabe Phillips, William Pitts, George W. or Pettis Pitts, William D. Pope, George W. Pope, W.W. Purvis, H.M. Ranew, Margaret J. Rawlings, A.M. Rawlins, D.M. Register, Charlotte Register, Elijah Register, J.J. Rivers, J.F. Rogers, Ellen Rogers, John Rogers, Mrs. William Rogers, William B. Rose, Robert Rountree, R.A. * Rowe, Wallace Ryals, M.C. Ryals, Rebecca fka Curry Saturday, Eliza fka Couey Sears, Harrison Shaw, E.D. Sheffield, B.F. or B.S. Smith, J.D. Smith, T.J. Studstill, G.J. Studstill, George T. Studstill, J.W. and Nancy Taylor, Martha Taylor, William Thomas, Wash Thornburg, H.M. Tripp, Boothe Tripp, Henry Turner, J.B. Vaughn, J.C. Walker, William Warren, Joel W. * Warren, Mrs. Joel Warren, Mrs. William Warren, William J. * Weeks, Thomas West, James T. Wheeler, W.W. White, Bryant White, Thomas J. Whitehead, John B. Williams, D.J. Williams, J.M. Williams, L.L. Williams, T.J. Williams, W.M. Winstead, B.T. Woodard, J.L. Wynn, Willis Yancey, G.W. Yawn, J.W. Yerty, Crawford Yerty, Mary A. Yerty, W.F. Mallen, H. Martin, James McCranie, Dan McCranie, John, Sr. or John L. McCranie, Neal McDaniel, A.J. McDaniel, W.R. McDuffie, J.E. McDuffie, W.S. McGray, Jasper McLean, John McLendon, Dennis or J.D. Melton, Laura J. Miller, Lamar * Moore, Tobe Morgan, W.A. Mullis, Charles F. & Mary Mullis, W.H. Parker, J.C. Parkerson, John Patterson, A.G. Perry, E. Perry, L.C. Phillips, Axom Phillips, J.W. Phillips, Willis Pitts, J.C. Pope and Ansley Pope, Mary E. fka McCranie Purvis, D.G. Quinn, Mrs. F.A. Rawling, N. (Estate) Rawlings, Callie Rawlins, Isaac Register, E.R. and E.P. Register, Elizabeth Register, John Roberson, John, agt for wife Rogers, J.E. Rogers, Mrs. W.B. Rogers, Sallie S. Rose, Carrie Rountree, G.W. Rowe, Thomas H. Ryals, John C. Ryals, M.J.E. or C. Saturday, Bryant Savannah Naval Stores Co. Selph, Oliver Sheffield, B. Shepard, J.R. Smith, Noah Studstill, Annie E. Studstill, G.T. Studstill, J.J. Swinney, W.E. Taylor, Nancy J. wid/o W.J. Bedingfield Thomas, D.W. Thompson, John S. * Thornburg, Jennie Tripp, G.J. Tripp, Jack Ussery, Jerry Vaughn, J.H. Wallace, Ray or Rowe Warren, Mrs. J.W. Warren, Mrs. Joel W. Warren, W.E. Webb, P.F.A. Wells, Newton R. Westbrook, W.H. White, Berrien W. White, Ellen Whitehead, J.W. Wilcox, George R. Williams, D.S. Williams, John D. Williams, Lucius * Williams, W.H. Williams, William Womble, W.T. Wynn, James F. Yancey, Elvin Yancey, John Yawn, W.T., adm. John Cameron Yerty, Marion * ======================== 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. ==============