EARLY CHEROKEE COUNTY HISTORY |
The land later known as
Cherokee County was long as island inhabited by Indians surrounded by whites. To
the west lay developing Alabama, to the north Tennessee whose white settlement
began before the Revolution, to the east the Carolinas and to the south across
the Chattahoochee was Georgia. As early as 1750, paths of traders from
Charleston and Augusta on the east and from Fort Toulouse near Wetumpka, Alabama
on the west criss-crossed the land. During the Revolution British-led Indians
fought American-led Indians a site where the Cherokees had a pony race track.
The white man began moving into Northwest Georgia early in the 1800's; but by
1825 there were still only 220 white men, women and children living among the
13,000 Indians and their 1277 slaves. This part of North Georgia along with the
extreme northeastern section of Alabama, southeastern Tennessee, and
southwestern North Carolina was the ancestral homeland of the Cherokees, and was
known as the Cherokee Nation.
The Cherokees considered themselves a sovereign nation and declared their nation
completely beyond the control of the State of Georgia or the Untied States
governments. In 1827 the Cherokee Nation agreed upon and adopted a written
constitution and a code of laws in which they denied the jurisdiction of the
State over the land, and proclaimed themselves to be on of the distinct,
autonomous nations of the world. They also adopted a law which prohibited any
person from living in the Cherokee Nation without first having obtained a permit
from them. This proved to be a very serious mistake and chilled relations with
the State Federal Governments, and eventually let to their forced move to the
Western Territory.
But before the removal and in an effort to maintain control over the Indian
Territory, the Georgia legislature in 1827 passed an Act "extending the State's
authority over the Cherokee Territory and placing it under the jurisdiction of
the courts of Carroll and DeKalb Counties." Interestingly enough this
legislation did not annex the Cherokee Nation to Carroll and DeKalb counties but
only extended their legal jurisdiction over the Cherokee Nation. This was done,
no doubt, in direct response to the declaration of sovereignty by the Cherokees
and as a means of controlling the territory and affording protection to lives
and property.
The next year, 1828, the legislature did add the Cherokee Nation to the counties
of Carroll, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Hall, and Habersham and this curious and unclear
legal existence continued for three years. The discovery of gold in the
territory brought hordes of people and it soon became apparent that a legal
survey and lottery of the lands was imperative. At the time the residents of the
territory, Indian and settler alike, found themselves in a precarious legal
predicament. The Indians claimed ownership of the land; the State had annexed
the Indian land; the United States laws forbade anyone settling or trading on
Indian Territory without a proper license from the U. S. government; the State
of Georgia had extended its jurisdiction, legally or not, over all the Cherokee
lands applying them as of June 1, 1830, to Indians as well as settlers. The
Cherokee laws provided that no one could settle or trade on their land without a
permit from their officials.
This uncertain state of affairs continued until 1832 when the first lottery was
held. But by this time one thing had become certain; like the Creek Nation
before them, the Cherokee Nation would soon become politically overpowered by
the State and Federal governments and these proud people would be moved away to
make room for the settlers who came in increasing numbers in search of gold.
In December 1831 the legislature passed an Act creating "Cherokee County"
describing the boundary as being "all the territory lying west of the
Chattahoochee River and North of Carroll County ---- to be called Cherokee".
This new county comprised 6,900 square miles, an area almost six times the size
of the State of Rhode Island and containing all the Cherokee Indians occupied
land remaining in Georgia.
The bill also provided that on the 1st Monday in February 1832 all persons
entitled to vote were to assemble at the house of Ambrose Harnage to elect five
justices of the Inferior Court, a Clerk of the Superior Court, a Clerk of the
Inferior Court, Sheriff, Corner, Tax Receiver, Tax Collector, and a County
Surveyor. This legislation also provided for division of the county into
Captain's districts, erection of public buildings, authorized the Justices of
the Inferior Court to select grand and petit jurors and fixed the time for
holding Superior Court and Inferior Court.
It was provided that the new county would become a part of the Western Judicial
Circuit and a part of the 1st brigade, 7th Division of the Georgia Militia.
In December, 1832, Senate Bill 23 divided Cherokee into 10 smaller counties.
Besides our present Cherokee County, the others became Forsyth, Lumpkin, Union,
Cobb, Gilmer, Murray, Cass (now Bartow), Floyd, and Paulding. The provisions of
the Act were essentially the same as the 1831 Act, providing for election of
officers and placed all 10 counties in the Cherokee Judicial Circuit. It also
fixed the place of holding an election in the following March "at the place
where John Lay now lives." This was near Canton (then Etowah).
Elected were the following:
Reuben F. Daniel as Clerk of Superior Court.
William Grisham as Clerk of Inferior Court.
John P. Brooke as Sheriff.
Roger Green as Surveyor.
Lewis S. Langston as Corner.
John McConnell, Randal McDonald, Elias Putnam, William Lay, and William Baker
were elected as Justices of Inferior Court.
These early settlers led the way to what we know today as Cherokee County
Georgia, one of the fastest growing counties in the United States.
Source:
The following is taken from the book
"Glimpses of Cherokee County" published by the Cherokee County Historical
Society in December 1981, and used here with their permission.
Editing: (WT-Corrections BP)