HENRY.
Henry county, which was laid off in 1821, was rapidly populated. It was
named in honor of Patrick Henry and its county town after the gallant
McDonough. In 1830, not ten years after it was made a county, there
were over 10,000 inhabitants in its borders. It was a healthy county;
land was cheap, and settlers from South Carolina and the older counties
in Georgia crowded into it. They were very plain, good
people—industrious, economical and religious. Much of the land was
hilly, and much of it very thin; but it produced those things that were
needed for the sup port of its inhabitants, and there was no want among
them.
The first superior court, according to White, was held in 1822, at the
house of Wm. Ruff, and the names of the first grand jurors were: Wm.
Jackson, Wm. Malone, James Sellers, James Pate, Thomas Abercrombie, C.
Cochran, G. Gay, Wm. Wood, Willie Terrell, Jether Barnes, Robert Shaw,
Jas. Colwell, John Brooks, F. Pearson, Wm. McKnight, Jacob Hinton,
Jackson Smith, S. Strickland. The first settlers, according to the same
authority, were: Wm. Hardin, Jesse Johnson, James Sellers, H. J.
Williams, Wm. Pate, D. Johnson, W. H. Turner, M. Brooks, S. Weems, W.
Herbert, Roland Brown, R. M. Sims, Wm. Crawford, E. Mosely, John
Brooks, Reuben Deming, Jacob Hinton, E. Brooks, John Calloway, R.
Jenks, Colonel S. Strickland, Parker Eason, Jos. Kirk, Wm. Griffin,
John Griffin, Daniel Smith, Wm. Tuggle, John Lovejoy.
Henry was drawn upon very largely by Griffin on one side and Atlanta on
the other; but its population, which was over 10,000 in 1830, was
14,726 in 1850. Of these there were nearly 5,000 slaves.
When the Southern railway from Macon to Atlanta and the Midland from
McDonough to Columbus were opened, the country was furnished with the
best railroad facilities, flourishing villages sprang up along the
line, and McDonough, which had declined until it was a very small
hamlet, began to take on the proportions of a considerable and
prosperous county town.
The people of Henry have always been noted for their moral and
religious excellence. The Baptists and Method ists have been the main
bodies of Christians. The Methodists for many years had a very
prosperous camp-ground in the county, and at one time more than one.
Hampton is a small but sprightly village on the line of the M. & W.
R. R., and Locust Grove and Stockbridge flourishing towns on the
Southern.
Towns, Hamlets and Villages
Henry
County was created in 1821, from lands acquired by treaty with
the Indians, and was named for patrick Henry, the renowned patriot and
orator of Virginia. The first superior court of Henry county was held
June 10, 1922, at the home of William Ruff, Judge Clayton presiding. It
lies in the central part of the state and is bounded on the north by
DeKalb county, on the northeast by Rockdale and Newton, on the
southeast by Butts, on the south by Spaulding, and on the west by
Clayton. Numerous small creeks flow across the surface in all
directions watering every part of the county. The soil along these
creeks is rich and yields abundant crops of cotton, corn, wheat, oats,
rye, sweet and Irish potatoes, sorghum, sugar-cane, field and ground
peas. The Henry county cotton is noted for its superior quality and is
in great demand at the Eastern mills. Fruit of all kinds grows with
little cultivation, though but little of it is exported. Most of the
streams offer excellent water-power inducements for the erection of
factories and the people are anxious for cotton, cotton seed oil mills
and canneries, which would effect a home market for the products of
their plantations and orchards. The Central of Georgia and two lines of
the Southern railway system traverse the county, providing good
opportunities for transportation. McDonough is the county seat. It is
claimed that the Jacksonian, published at McDonough in 1828, was the
first newspaper to advocate Andrew Jackson for president. Flippen,
Stockbridge and Locust Grove are thriving towns. The population in 1900
was 19.602, a gain of 2,382 since 1890. The county is well supplied
with good schools.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions,
and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ. 1906.
Transcribed by Angelia Carpenter)
Flippen,
a
village of Henry county, is
located on the Southern railroad, about three miles northwest of
McDonough. It has a money order postoffice, with free rural
delivery, an express office, some stores with good local trade and does
some shipping. The population in 1900 was 127.
[Source: Georgia:
Sketches, Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions & People, Vol. 2,
Publ. 1906 Transcribed By: Maggie Coleman]
Locust
Grove, an incorporated
town in the Southeastern part of Henry county, is located on the main
line of the Southern railway, about eight miles from McDonough.
It has a money order postoffice, from which several free delivery
routes supply mail to the surrounding country, express and telegraph
offices, a number of good mercantile concerns, and is an important
shipping point. The population in 1900 was 254.
(Source: Georgia
Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II,
by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Joanne Morgan)
Luella, a village
of Henry county, is on
the Southern railway, ten miles southwest of McDonough. It has a
money order postoffice, with rural free delivery, express and telegraph
service, and in 1900 reported a population of 61.
(Source: Georgia
Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II,
by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Joanne Morgan)
McDonough, the county
seat of Henry county, is located on the Southern railway between
Atlanta and Macon, and is the terminus of the Columbus division of the
same system. It was incorporated by act of the legislature in
1823, had in 1900 a population of 683, and has extra (illegible) 2,723
inhabitants. It has a court house with a telegraph and express offices,
a money order postoffice with rural free delivery, a bank and several
successful mercantile establishments. The annual shipment of
cotton from this post is about (illegible) bales. The school and
church privileges are excellent.
[Source: Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Vol 2, Publ 1906. Transcribed by Renae
Donaldson]
