Jenkins County History

Jenkins County was formed on August 17, 1905 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1905, p. 57). It was the 138th Georgia county and was formed from land then belonging to Bulloch, Burke, Emanuel, and Screven counties. The General Assembly specified the Jenkins County boundries. See the University of Georgia's website for the specified boundries and a 1904 map showing the future Jenkins bountries overlaid on existing counties in 1904. The University of Georgia's website also has a nice picture of the Jenkins County Courthouse in Millen. The Courthouse is one of several sites in Jenkins County listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Jenkins County encompasses an area of 349.8 square miles. In the 2000 census the population was 8,575 persons. See georgia.gov for additional information.

The county was named for Governor Charles J. Jenkins (1805-1883), who was Governor during the Reconstruction period (1865-1868). It was originally proposed that the county be called Dixie.

Maintained by Marvin Thorpe

Copyright © 2003, 2004

Page updated 16 June 2004