Pulaski County GaArchives History .....Hartford 1935
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 28, 2004, 8:57 pm

p. 82

OLD HARTFORD

   In the east side of the Ocmulgee River, in Pulaski County, just opposite
Hawkinsville, is a small village or hamlet located at the approach of the World
War Memorial bridge. To the traveler passing through, the sight of two wooden
stores and a few modest homes means nothing. Another view shows groups of
enormous water oaks, clusters of immense cedars, probably more than a century
old, and trees of blooming crape myrtle.

   This little hamlet is not a deserted suburb of Hawkinsville, as one might
think, but it is all that is left of a once thriving city where men lived and
prospered. It is known as "Old Hartford," one of Georgia's forgotten cities, yet
a city with a history.

   Many events in history are connected with this old city. Distance was often
measured by the number of miles from Hartford.

   One of the chief distinctions claimed by Hartford is the fact that when the
State capital was moved from Louisville to Milledgeville, Hartford came within
one vote of being the capital of Georgia. Hartford was in pioneer days a factor
in the history and politics of Georgia. Many years ago it was one of Georgia's
frontier towns situated at the head of navigation on the Ocmulgee River and an
important point for political and military operations.

   By an act approved December 13, 1809, the site of the public buildings for
the County of Pulaski was established on lot of land Number 394 in the 21st
District. The county had already been surveyed and laid out by John Thomas.

   Two years later, the legislature empowered the Justice of the Inferior Court
of the county to sell a sufficient number of lots in the town of Hartford to
defray the expense of building a courthouse and jail in said town of Hartford.

   In 1811, the town of Hartford was incorporated with Thomas A. Hill, Solomon
A. Hopkins, Elijah Wallace, Malbourn Lyon and Henry Simmons to be commissioners
of said town, to continue in office until the first Monday in January, 1813, at
which time the citizens should assemble at the courthouse and by ballot elect
their successors.

   In 1821, the Pulaski County Academy at Hartford was incorporated. Hardy
Vickers, James Bracewell, Elijah Farnall, Furney F. Gatlin, and George C. Gaines
were the commissioners.

   In the same year James A. Everett and John Rawls were empowered by the
legislature to erect a ferry across the river at Hartford, the land on the east
side of the ferry site being owned by them and the other side owned at that time
by the State.

   In 1831, the Baptist Church at Hartford was incorporated. which indicates
that there was probably a Baptist Church there before that

p. 83

date. The trustees at that time were: Furney F. Gatlin. Stephen Mitchell, Wright
Lancaster, Michael K. Singletary. and John Wallace.

   In 1836, when Hawkinsville was incorporated, with Robert N. Taylor, David B.
Holstead, Bryan W. Collins, James 0. Jelks, and James M. Bracewell as the first
city fathers, the courthouse was moved to Hawkinsville, and Hartford began to
decline.

   It was a town, however, and even before it was incorporated, it was, on
account of its location, a most important trading point for the Indians who
lived to the westward. It did a large business. It was the home of lawyers,
doctors, merchants, and planters.

   Andrew Jackson, on his way to fight the Seminoles in Florida, made his
rendezvous at Hartford, where he and his little army camped for many weeks.

   An early inhabitant of Hartford was Colonel Allen Tooke, who was in command
of the Pulaski County Militia in 1813-14, at the time of the threatened massacre
of Hartford by the Indians.

   The old minute book of the commissioners of the Town of Hartford, as their
corporate authorities were called, is now in the vault of the Ordinary of
Pulaski County, and contains many items of interest.

   Before it was incorporated, it was an important trading point for the Indians
who lived across the river. It was the home of doctors, lawyers, and merchants,
who did a large business, and it became a flourishing town.

   The town was named for Nancy Hart, the Revolutionary heroine, and as Hart
County was the first county in Georgia to be named for a woman, this was in all
probability the first city in Georgia to be named for a woman, both being named
for the same person. A group of cedar trees still standing mark the spot where
Pulaski County's first courthouse stood, and large water oaks mark the site of
the homes, public buildings, and the old hotel.

   When the lands on the west side of the Ocmulgee were acquired from the
Indians, it was recognized that the bluff on this side would make a better and
healthier location for a town, and many of the stores and dwellings in Hartford
were torn down and moved across the river. The old depot of the H. & F. S.
Railway, near the bridge, was once a Hartford storehouse.

   Far back from the street, almost hidden by trees centuries old, stands
another relic of the past glories of Old Hartford. When it was brought across
the river to Hawkinsville, no one knows; who built it, is forgotten; but this
stately old house must have been a mansion in its pristine days. Under its roof
many families have found shelter, and called it "home."



Additional Comments:
Extracted from 


"HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY GEORGIA"

OFFICIAL HISTORY

COMPILED BY THE HAWKINSVILLE CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
PRESS OF WALTER W. BROWN PUBLISHING COMPANY
ATLANTA, GEORGIA

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