Heard County, Georgia Genealogy and History - Presented by Genealogy Trails History Group

Stephen Heard

Stephen Heard, was a noted and honored actor in the revolution. His descendants live in Elbert, but Mrs. Marcus Pharr, Jr., the daughter of Mr.Robert Heard of Elberton, represents Stephen Heard now in Wilkes.
She is his great grand daughter. Augusta did not long remain in the possession of the Americans. The British took Charleston and the attempt of the Americans and French to take Savannah was unsuccessful. After this, the defeat of Gen. Ash on Brier Creek, and the treachery of Gen. Andrew Williamson who went over to the enemy, caused Augusta to be occupied, in April 1780 by the British under Brown and Grierson. In 1780 the city was considered in such danger that an order was issued for the Executive Council of Georgia to go for safety to Heard's Fort in Wilkes County Georgia. They moved here in February 1780.
Stephen Heard of Wilkes County was a member of the council and when Governor Howley left Georgia to attend the session of Congress, Mr. Heard was elected President of the Council. Ibis made him, in
the absence of the Governor, the acting executive of the state. Stephen Heard was a man of fine sense and character and a de- voted patriot from beginning to end. Georgia named Heard County for him. He did and suffered much in the revolution. During the contest, his first wife was turned out of her home by Tories and caught a cold which caused the loss of her life. One of his sons afterwards represented Elbert County in the legislature for nearly twenty years. He was the grand father of Mrs. Marcus Pharr the younger. Another son who died early used to be spoken of by the older lawyers of this county as a young
lawyer of uncommon talents.
Since Heard's Fort occupied in part at least the site of what is now Gen. B. W. Heard's garden, that is the spot to which "the Executive council was removed. It is a curious fact that eighty five years afterwards President Jefferson Davis, leaving Richmond, Virginia, after the surrender of Gen. Lee, passed through Washington, and was entertained in what is now Gen. Heard's residence and that the last Cabinet Council of the Confederate Government was held in one of the rooms of this house, then occupied by Dr. J. J. Robertson, Cashier of the Bank which was then kept in the building. Thus the lot fronting Court Street, once the bank property, has been the resort of two runaway governments but with how different fate. It is another curious coincidence in the history of Wilkes County.
Source: The Story of Wilkes County, Georgia By Eliza A. Bowen, Louise Frederick Hays

Heard, Stephen, was a native of Ireland, but the date of his birth is unknown. He came with his father to America while still in his boyhood, and was a soldier in the French and Indian war. About 1774 he settled in Wilkes county, Ga., and built a fort where the city of Washington now stands. When the Revolution began he at once espoused the cause of the colonists, enlisted as a soldier and fought with Col. Elijah Clarke in the defense of western Georgia. He also distinguished himself at the battle of Kettle creek, and on Feb. 18, 1781, was elected president of the council. When Gov. Richard Howley was elected to the Continental Congress Heard became acting governor of the colony until the election of Governor Brownson. After the war he returned to his farm, where he died on Nov. 15, 1815. Heard county was named in his honor.
Source Georgia: comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and ... edited by Allen Daniel Candler, Clement Anselm Evans