| Irwin County,Georgia
History
IRWIN COUNTY.
Irwin was surveyed in 1819 by Daniel McBride.
It was ceded by the Indians to the whites in 1814 and 1818.
The first Superior Court held in Irwin County was in session one day(September 21, 1820). Judge Thomas W. Harris presided and Willam Stonewas Clerk.
The first Inferior Court was held, so the records of Irwin County show,at the residence of David Williams (the regular place of holding Court)on July S, 1821.
The Judges of the Inferior Court were David Calloway, Ludd Mobley,David Williams, John Sutton. William Stone was Clerk of this Court
July 22, 1822, the Inferior Court while in session changed the place ofholding court from David Williams' residence, near the present site ofDonniney's Mi'l, to Murdock McDuffie's School-house.
In 1839, a Court-house was ordered to be built. The dimensions were tobe thirty feet long and twenty-four feet wide, one and one-half storieshigh, the first story nine feet high and the upper story five feethigh. The two jury rooms were to be twelve feet square.
July 2, 1821, the first public road was ordered opened, followed up theOcmulgee River from Ludd Mobley*s via David Calloway's on House Creekto the county line near Poor Robin Spring. Many of the citizens of theterritory of what is now Turner County, were prominent in all theaffairs of Irwin County, in the pioneer days, to wit: Samuel Story,Jonathan Smith, Daniel Henderson, Thomas Musselwhite, Lott Whiddon,Mitchel Fortner, John Watson, Manassee Henderson, A. P. Clements, JesseHobby.
James Allen was the first Sheriff of Irwin County from 1822-1827, butit seems that Murdock McDuffie acted as first sheriff perhaps wasappointed until an election could be held. The first Ordinary of IrwinCounty in 1839 was Manassee Header-son, who lived two miles east ofwhere Ashburn is now located.
The Inferior Court in 1839 ordered the reopening of the old Columbusand St. Mary's road by the homes of Abe Clements, Aaron Chandler andManassee Henderson, on to the county line.
ORGANIZATION OFIRWIN COUNTY.
Early Settlers, Indian Warfare, Courts and County Officers. The countyof Irwin was surveyed into land districts and land lots in 1818. Therewere sixteen land districts in the county numbering from one to sixteeninclusive. In the first district there were 224 lots River'of landcontaining 490 acres each and forty-two fractional lots. In the seconddistrict there were 260 lots 490 acres each and thirty-five fractionallots. In the third district 272 whole lots. In fourth district 310whole lots and six fractional lots. In fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth,ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth districts there were 531lots in each district containing 490 acres more or less. In the ninthdistrict there were two fractional lots. In the tenth district, three:and the twelfth, one fractional lot. In the fourteenth district therewere 164 lots containing 490 acres and twenty-two fractional lots. Inthe fifteenth district there were 180 lots 490 acres and twenty-fourfractional lots. In sixteenth district there were 232 lots andtwenty-six fractional lots. An empire abounding in wealth, an unbrokenvastness of virgin pine forests, lands at that time considered oflittle value but which has proven to be the garden spot of Georgia ifnot of the whole United States. A climate unequaled, healthful to livein and at this early date abounding in game of all kinds anddescriptions; in short an Eden on this earth only awaiting development,possessing advantages and soil unsurpassed. Those fortunate enough topossess a home within its territory are indeed highly favored of theGiver of all good on this earth.
Irwin County was named after Governor Jarried Irwin, a native of NorthCarolina. He came to Georgia when he was seven years old,represented Washington County in the legislature many years, waspresident of the Senate, and Governor 1806 to 1809. Helped to revisethe Constitution in 1789 and 1798. Was buried in the northern part ofWashington County in 1815. He will al-ways be revered for hisuncompromising oppo-sition to the Yazoo fraud. It was while he wasGovernor at Louisville that the records of this collossal iniquity wasby his order committed to the flames using a sun glass to draw firefrom the sun to ignite the records. His son Dr. Jarried was in thefirst graduating class at Athens. His decendants are numerous andrespected. Irwin County originally embraced part or all of thefollowing counties: Worth. Wilcox, Turner, Ben Hill, Tift, Colquitt,Thomas, Cook, Brooks, Berrien. Lowndes, Echols, Clinch, Lanier,Atkinson, Coffee, Ware, Charlton, Jeff Davis, Bacon, Pierce andBrantly. The county was organized in 1820. Within the boundary oforiginally Irwin County were quite a few pioneer settlers before thecounty was created coming from different sections, some from NorthCarolina, others from South Carolina and Virginia and quite a few fromthe older settlements in Georgia. The Indians were here, so when theycame they were obliged to build block houses and fortified placescalled stands as oftentimes hostility with the Indians occurred. Wolveshowled about the cabin doors at night, bear was plentiful, deer,turkey, fish and all other game were to be had almost for the taking.When these sturdy pioneers first laid eyes upon Irwin County it was agoodly land to look upon. An unbroken pine forest of original treesstately and majestic which would be a most beautiful sight to thepeople of this time and generation. In the forest could be seen wilddeer and turkeys in droves, it being no unusual sight to see a dozenwild deer in a drove or as many as twenty wild turkeys in oneflock. Vicious animals such as bear, tiger or catamountwere numerous.
In that day living was easy in a way, but crude. To place the presentgeneration in similar circumstances I fear that they would make anabsolute failure. The necessaries of life were few, markets were at adistance and luxuries of life such as we have in this day were unknown.The loom and the spinning wheel constituted the dry goods store. Themother of the family with other females of the family, if any, did thedying of the thread, the spinning and weaving of every bit of cloth tomake the clothing for the entire family. The socks and stockings werehome knit. Today a spinning wheel to spin the thread would be anovelty, and a loom to weave the cloth would be a curiosity. To go tothe woods as our mothers used to do and gather herbs to dye the threadthe cloth was made of would be a task the present generation could notperform as they would not know how to begin or what to gather to startthe process. And if they had the material they would not know how tobegin operations.
Stock raising was engaged in largely by the pioneer settlers of thecounty, the range for cattle was excellent, they thriving andincreasing rapidly and many settlers having large herds. Sheep at firstdid not do so well until the country was rid of the ferocious animalswhich preyed upon them necessitating their being penned at night nearthe home for protection. In later years it was an ideal place for themand almost every one engaged in raising them. Many owned large herdswhich were very profitable.
I have not been able to learn the date of the first election held inthe county for county officers; however, William Sloan was the firstClerk of the Superior Court serving from the organization of the countyin 1820 until April terra of Su-perior Court, 1837.
INDIANS.
When the first settlers came to Irwin County, they found the Indianshere who for a great portion of the time were friendly. I have heardMrs. Judy Whiddon. my grandmother, say they would often come to theirhouse to procure milk or roasting ears or potatoes and if friendlybefore reaching the place they would conceal their arms, such as bowand arrows, muskets, etc., would appear unarmed, hold their hands up intoken of their friendliness, state their wants and soon as pro-videdfor would quietly leave the place. Their wants were quickly appeasedand no questions asked because the folks were glad to see them leave.If they were unfriendly they would appear with their weapons and uponbeing discovered, the family concealed themselves at once. The Indianswere peculiar in many ways. If a white person did them an in-jury theywould invariably seek revenge, ofttimes taking re-venge on some whitesettler or family, twenty miles away who knew nothing of what had beendone to them and was entirely innocent in thought or deed. As anillustration, in what is now Wilcox County, but originally Irwin, liveda man by the name of James Brown. He caught an Indian stealing a hogand shot him. The Indians did not molest Brown but went from thereabout five miles west of Ashbura, now Turner County, at least thirtymiles away where lived a family by the name of Willis. The husband wasaway from home at the time and they killed his wife, mutilating thebody severely and took a small baby by the feet and smashed its brainsout on a stump. The settlers came together and gave chase, followingthem south out of the country. From that time until his death Mr. Brownwent by the name of (Indian Jim Brown). The lady's name who was killedwas Peggy Willis. The company following these Indians came up with themsouth of Ashbura on what is known as Hat Creek at a point not far fromwhere the road crosses said creek leading from Irwinviile to Inaha. Inthe company following the Indians was a man named Hobby who was ridinga spirited young horse. The Indians were concealed in the swamps ofthis creek and a battle was fought. Mr. Hobby's horse becamefrightened and threw him in the creek where he lost his hat. The horsefollowed after the horses of the whites and when he appeared among themthe whites thought Hobby had been killed but later on he appeared onfoot bare headed and upon relating his experience the creek was thennamed Hat Creek, by which name it is known to the present time. Thesettlers followed the Indians from this point on, finally coming upwith them at a point on the Albany road at a place now in Worth County,formerly Irwin, at a pond called the Wavering Pond, where a battle wasfought and a majority of the Indians were killed or captured.
One of the old settlers, a Mr. Arnold, relates a story of the SwitchieIndians coming from Louisiana when he was a small lad, camping somethree or four miles southwest of Abbeville at a place called BreakfastBranch. After a short time the Indians became warlike and engaged thesettlers in a skirmish in which Mr. Mark Wilcox was wounded and wascarried out or back by Mr. Natt Statham. The Indians were routed andmoved towards Abbeville crossing what is now the Dixie Highway at theStubbs place in the city and thence east the old river ferry which isnow replaced by a new river bridge on what is now known as theJefferson Davis Highway. The Indians crossed the river in their birchbark canoes and con-tinued on towards Eastman. This continues to bearthe name of the Switchie Trail crossing of the Ocmulgee River. The MarkWilcox referred to was one of the old settlers of originally IrwinCounty.
The last fight of note between the Indians and whites occurred March 9,1810 on the south side of the Ocmulgee River about twenty-five milessouth of Hartford and a few miles northeast of Bowens Mill, originallyIrwin County but now Ben Hill County. On March 3,1810, Joseph Burch andhis sons were at work building a house on south side of the OcmulgeeRiver near Bowens Mill when the Indians appeared and began firing uponthem, killing the father and severely wounded a son and thinking himdead they scalped him and left him for dead. The son revived and wasable in two days' time to cross the river and reach the home of Mr.John Wilcox near where Temperance P. 0. in Telfair County is locatedand was cared for by Mr. Wilcox and his family. On March 9th,thirty-six citizens of the community, mostly living in Telfair County,crossed the river to seek redress. Some distance from the river theydiscovered a band of Indians advancing within gun shot. Firing began byboth parties and continued for sometime. A part of the detachmenteffected a retreat bringing off one badly wounded and four were killed.Major Cathorn was in command and was among the missing, four Indianswere killed. Mitchell Griffin, State Senator from Telfair County, wasamong the killed and Mark Wilcox was wounded. During the year 1930 thechapter of D. A. R. at Fitzgerald, Georgia, erected a marker on thehighway from Fitzgerald to Abbeville commemorating this fight. Theencounter with the Indians took place northeast of the monument sitebut it was placed upon the highway where it was easy of access while tohave placed it upon the exact spot it would have been inaccessible onaccount of gullies and underbrush.
From investigations I have made, I am assured that the Indians, inoriginally Irwin County, which sometimes were called the SwitchieIndians were the Oswichee tribe and while at one time they had asettlement in Florida they migrated to Georgia setting up upon landswhich later became Irwin County and that they later removed to Arkansas.
A tribe of Oswichee Indians once lived near the Ocmulgee River on landknown in 1818 as Irwin County. There, towns were calledOswitchee and Ocilla and sometimes Ocichi. The trail that led out fromthese towns was called the Oswitchee Trail.
The French census shows that a town named Osochi existed there in 1750.A later census in 1832 gives Oswichee as the name of another Indiansettlement close to Osochi. This town's name was changed seven times,first it was called by the Indians, Assile, next Aglie, Axilla, Agulil,Ochile and lastly Ocilla. On a very old map there was shown a creekwhich emptied into the Ocmulgee River which was called Ocilla River.Benjamin Hawkins called the towns Osochi, Ooseooche and sometimes bothof the towns were known as Oswichee.
This town and Chiaha on the Flint River were the first to give of theirold square grounds and to adopt the manners and customs of the whitesettlers. A trail was blazed by the Oswichee Indians to Ocmulgeefields, now Macon, on to the trading post at Augusta between the dates1750 and 1832.
Desoto in his famous march through the United States in his search forriches in 1540 came through originally Irwin County stopping at theIndian village south of Abbeville and also at the village nearAbbeville and was entertained by the Indians despite the fact of hisarbitrary and dictatorial manner toward them.
In 1802 Georgia ceded to the United States all land between theChattahoochee River and Mississippi, the United States binding itselfto remove the Indians from Georgia reserved territory as soon as itcould be done peaceable and on reasonable terms.
Source: History of Turner County. Atlanta, Ga.: Pate, John Ben.. SteinPrint. Co., 1933.
GA IrwinCo Sketches
Fitzgerald, a new town in Irwin county was founded by colonists from the northwestern states through the agency of Ex-Gov. W. J. Northen. It is located at the junction of two branches of the Atlantic & Birmingham railway and was incorporated in 1896. Although founded in the woods it has by 1900 grown into a thriving little city with a population of 1,817 in the corporate limits of 2,515 in the entire district. The population is now (1905) estimated at over 3,000 in the corporate limits alone. Fitzgerald has electric lights and water works worth $45,000 all paid for and owned by the city, three banks, a money order postoffice, with rural free delivery, express and telegraph offices and many prosperous mercantile establishments enjoying a good trade. Of about 8,000 bales of cotton received and shipped from the county 5,000 are handled in Fitzgerald. There are also one wagon factory and three sash and blind factories. School and church privileges of the highest order are enjoyed by the citizens.
[Source: Georgia: Sketches, Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions & People, Vol. 2, Publ. 1906 Transcribed By: Maggie Coleman]
Fitzgerald Public Schools.—The public school system of Fitzgerald, as now constituted, was inaugurated Jan. 1, 1898, under the charter adopted in 1897. The first board of education was composed of W. H. Marston, E. S. Childs, E. Towne, D. B. Jay, D. T. Paulk, C. E. Becker, J. W. Turner, and J. Baughman. Prof. James Saunders was the first superintendent, with a corps of nine teachers. Prof. M. D. Miller succeeded him in 1899, to be in turn succeeded by the present incumbent, Prof. W. H. Klepper, in 1904, who held the position until his death on May 30, 1906. The board of education has always been composed of representative business and professional men, and for the year 1906 is as follows: President, Hon. W. H. Marston, postmaster, who is serving his eighth year on the board; vice-president, C. P. McMillan, tinner, who is likewise serving his eighth year; Clerk, Dr. L. S. Osborne, seventh year on the board; and Dr. J. H. Twyman, dentist, sixth year on the board; C. H. Gill, machinist, second year on the board; J. H. Hicks, retired; W. B. Moore, real estate; and J. C. Glover, hardware merchant. The system is composed of three primary, four grammar, four high-school and two commercial grades. The Latin-scientific course is sufficiently comprehensive to accredit the high school to the state university. The commercial course is thorough and included everything needed to fit the graduates to fill any business position. In the near future will be added to the high-school curriculum a two-years normal training course for teachers and a preparatory course for those pupils who have been unable to obtain the advantages of a public school until beyond school age. This will give Fitzgerald educational facilities equal to any outside the largest cities of the state. Since the opening of the “Colony City” its school system, with free tuition and free text books, has always been the pride of the people, and never has it been more worthy of this appreciation then in the year 1906, when the schools have a total enrollment of 950, with fifteen teachers.
[Source: Georgia: Sketches, Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions & People, Vol. 2, Publ. 1906 Transcribed By: Maggie Coleman]
Fletcher, a post-hamlet of Irwin county, is about six miles northeast of Inaha, which is the nearest railroad station.
[Source: Georgia: Sketches, Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions & People, Vol. 2, Publ. 1906 Transcribed By: Maggie Coleman]
Holt, a post-hamlet of Irwin county, is located on the Atlantic & Birmingham railroad about five miles east of Ocilla.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Kim Mohler)
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