LEAVES FROM OUR TREE:

  A BRIEF HISTORY OF EARLY MADISON COUNTY, GEORGIA

During the summer of 1773 the Cherokee Indians ceded a large land area including what became eastern Madison County to pay Indian debts to white traders. Georgia Governor James Wright planned to sell farms of 100 to 1000 acres to settlers to pay those debts. Numerous farms were sold before the American Revolution. In 1777 this area became Wilkes County but there were no buyers.

Soon after the war, bounty grants and headright grants of land were offered free except for office and surveying costs (200 acres + 50 acres for each additional family member-including slaves). Higher ranking officers received more acres, as did individuals who established iron furnaces and forges, industries in demand. A limit of 1,000 acres was set but not well observed. In 1784 another ceding of land was demanded from the Creeks and Cherokees because they fought on the side of the British. The area which became western Madison County was included in this ceding.

Because early land grants made prior to 1801 totaled more than seven times the actual area of the county, the State of Georgia changed is method of granting land. After 1802 all land secured from the Indians was surveyed and the divisions numbered and distributed to the citizens of the State by lottery. Eight land lotteries were held between 1805 and 1835. Some citizens of Madison County successfully drew lots during each of the lotteries.

Governor David B. Mitchell signed the act of the Georgia Legislature creating Madison County on December 5, 1811. Parts of Franklin, Jackson, Clarke, Oglethorpe and Elbert Counties were cut off to make the new county. On July 1, 1812, the Justices of Madison County Inferior Court purchased for the sum of $200 fifty acres of land for the new county seat of Danielsville from Henry Mitchell and John Crowder of Hancock County. During the first eight months of 1812, the name Danielsville was chosen for the new county seat in honor of General Allen Daniel, one of the area's most prominent citizens and probably the one most responsible for the county's creation. The county boundaries were changed several times since 1812, most notably in 1813 and 1830

In 1820 Madison County's population was 3,735; by 1970 the population had increased to 13,517. In 1820 there were 3 whites to one colored, only 2 colored people in the county were free. Corn and tobacco were the cash crops of early settlers. Cotton growing increased after the invention of the cotton gin in 1793. Farming was the primary occupation in Madison County from its creation until about 1950.

Paul Tabor in The History of Madison County, stated that most of the population was "middle class or below in culture....A rural culture inherited from English and Scotch-Irish ancestors was nurtured. Hospitality, mutual assistance, independence, resistance to change, and prejudice against the Roman Catholic Church were some of its characteristics."

Madison County was never wealthy and was, in fact, ranked in the lower half of Georgia counties since it was created. One county official referred to it as a "pauper county" because since the Civil War more money was received from the State of Georgia than was paid in taxes.

Malaria and typhoid fever were epidemic soon after early settlement. While typhoid fever was the most feared disease for many years, pneumonia caused more deaths than typhoid. Life expectancy was low until recent times.

The Madison County Academy was incorporated in Danielsville in 1823. Annual tuition was $10.00 for courses in writing, reading and arithmetic; $14.00 for courses in geography, English grammar, logic, philosophy and rhetoric; and $20.00 for surveying, Euclid, Latin and Greek. Board in the vicinity was $6.00 per month. There were 22 male and 14 female students at the academy in 1833, and by 1836 enrollments had increased to 27 males and 16 females. By 1850 there were 9 one-teacher schools in the county with an enrollment of 27% of all children between 5 and 20 years old. In 1868 the newly adopted Constitution of Georgia provided for free public education for all children in the State. Prior to that time all schools were run on a private payment basis.

During the early days people in Madison County rode horseback or walked. At that time agents of the Federal Government collected a tax on the amount of whiskey made by individuals and on carriages. No record was ever found of a carriage being owned by an early settler of Madison County.

Homes built by the early settlers were one or two room log cabins with a large fireplace for cooking and heating. When sawn planks became available, frame homes began appearing. About 1800 Alexander Thompson built a frame two-story, gable-roofed house with a chimney at each end which still stands and is lived in today.

Source:
Tabor, Paul, History of Madison county, Georgia, (Advocate Press, 1974).

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