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Georgia Genealogy Trails "Where your Journey Begins" |
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Talbot County, Georgia History |
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Created by Legislative Act, December 14, 1827, from Muscogee and Troup Counties. Named for Governor Matthew Talbot, who, as President of the Georgia Senate, succeeded to the chair of State, on the death of Governor Rabun. Talbotton, the county-seat, also named for Governor Talbot Matthew Talbot was by inheritance an aristocrat. He belonged to one of the oldest Norman families of England, and the distinguished Earl of Shrewsbury was among his ancestors. John Talbot, the father of the future Governor, purchased from the Indians, in 1769, an extensive tract of land, in what is now Wilkes County, G-a., containing 50,000 acres of land. It is said that he brought to Georgia as his agent in surveying this body of land, the future Signer of the Declaration of Independence, George Walton. He did not transfer his household to Georgia until 1783, at which time, Matthew Talbot, who was then just of age, accompanied him. From the date of his arrival in Georgia, the subject of this sketch became a power in politics. Entering the legal profession, he was first made a judge of the county court and then a member of the State Legislature. For a while he resided in Oglethorpe, which county sent him to the Constitutional Convention of 1798. He served in the General Assembly of Georgia for a period of thirty years. From 1818 to 1823 he was President of the Senate; and, on the death of Governor Rabun, in 1819, he became ad interim Governor of Georgia, serving until the vacancy was filled by election. He was defeated for Governor by George M. Troup, after one of the most heated contests ever known in Georgia politics, and it proved to be the last election under the old method of choosing the chief executive by the legislative vote. Governor Talbot died at his home in Wilkes, on September 17, 1827, at the age of sixty-five, and was buried at Smyrna Church, near Washington, Ga., where his grave is substantially marked. Governor Talbot was a man of fine appearance, courtly in manners, easy of access, notwithstanding his patrician blood, and well educated for the time in which he lived. Talbotton, the county-seat of Talbot, was settled by a class of people who were superior in many respects to the average residents of the pioneer belt, and the town became widely known as an educational center long before the war. At Collingsworth Institute, two of the famous Straus boys were educated—Nathan and Isidor—both of whom became millionaire merchants and philanthropists of New York. It was founded by Josiah Flournoy, a wealthy citizen of the State, and was long a famous high school among the Methodists. The LeVert Female College, named for the celebrated Madame LeVert, was another pioneer institution of the town. It afterwards became the graded school of Talbotton. Shadrach Ellis, a soldier of the Revolution, died in Talbot, aged 80. Federal pensions were granted to the following patriots of '76, residents of Talbot: John Green, a private, in 1814; John P. Warnock, a sergeant, in 1839; James Bidean, a private, in 1849. Original Settlers. White gives the original settlers of Talbot as follows: George Tilley, William Evans, Marcus Andrews, Asa Alexander, William Little, S. Creighton, William Gunn, Amos Stewart, H. Ellington, B. Jones, G. Kent, A. B. Stephens, W. Anderson, R. King, N. Chapman, A. Graham, and S. Harris. To the foregoing list of early settlers may be added: Thomas J. Clemens, a soldier of the War of 1812; Samuel G. Redcliff, a scion of the nobility of Ireland; Caleb Norwood, father of Judge Thomas M. Norwood; Dr. Wm. G. Little, father of Judge Wm. A. Little; Wm. Searcy, a pioneer school teacher; Daniel G. Owen, Joel H. Burt John H. Walton, John Ellison, Peter Malone; Lewis Ryan, Lewis "Wimberly and Dr. John B. Gorman, a noted scientist, author of "The Philosophy of Animated Existence or Sketches of Living Physics." Talbot's Noted George W. Towns, a distinguished Governor of the State and a former member of Congress, practiced law for a number of years in Talbotton, but after retiring from the Governor's office he removed to Macon, where he lies buried. Allen F. Owen, a lawyer and a diplomat, who served the State in Congress lived here; and here for many years resided Judge Barnard Hill, father of the distinguished Chancellor of the University of Georgia, Hon. Walter B. Hill. Hon. Henry Person?, a former member of Congress and a trustee for years of the University of Georgia, lived at Geneva. Talbotton was the birth-place of an eminent jurist and man of letters, who at one time occupied a seat in the Senate of the United States: Judge Thomas M. Norwood, of Savannah. It was also the boyhood's home of Judge William A. Little, ex-Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, and a former occupant of the Supreme Bench. Nor is it the least claim to distinction -which this famous old town possesses that here lived for a number of years the noted Straus family of New York. Hon. Charles H. Jones, a distinguished American journalist, credited with the authorship of two national Democratic platforms, was born in Talbotton. During the last years of his life Mr. Jones resided in the city of Paris. John B. Gorman, Jr., and Ossian D. Gorman, both distinguished men of letters, were born in Talbot. The latter wrote "The Battle of Hampton Roads", a noted war poem. Towns, Hamlets
and Villages
Geneva,
an incorporated town of Talbot county and a station on the Central of
Georgia railroad, is located about seven miles south of
Talbotton. It has a money order post office, with free rural
delivery, express and telegraph offices, several stores and mills, does
a good local business and has some shipping interests. The
population in 1900 was 264.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Marilyn Clore) Juniper,
a village
of Talbot county, with a population of 100,
is on Upatoie creek, about two miles south of a station of the same
name on the
Central of Georgia railroad. It has a money order postoffice, with
rural free
delivery, and is a trading center for the neighborhood in which it is
situated. Max, a post-hamlet of Talbot
county, is
about eight miles northeast of Talbotton, which is the most convenient
railroad
station. |
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