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THURSDAY. JULY 12. 2007 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11B
Jasper, Georgia — 1857 - 2007 Part one in a series
The Town of Jasper - The Earliest Years
MOUNTAIN CONSTRUCTION
New Homes - Turn Key
By Mimi Jo Hill Butler
Marble Valley
Historical Society, Inc.
The settlement of Jasper was
in existence on 5 Dec 1853
when the General Assembly of
the State of Georgia in
Milledgeville, Georgia, laid out
and organized Pickens County,
named in honor of General
Andrew Pickens.
Pickens County was further
attached to the Fifth
Congressional District, Blue
Ridge Judiciary District, and the
first Brigade of the Georgia
Militia.
Founding fathers of the new
county, which was carved from
the southern section of Gilmer
County and northern section of
Cherokee County, had already
designated Jasper to be the
county seat.
Both Gilmer and Cherokee
Counties had been created by
the 1832 land lottery which
divided Cherokee Territory into
counties across north Georgia.
By 1838 all Cherokee had been
forced to leave their homes and
land and white settlers were
moving into the area in great
numbers. This was significant
because the Cherokee were
forced to leave their homes and
farms and many land grant win
ners or those who later pur
chased the land were provided
ready made homes for dwelling.
Many of these homes were in
what became Pickens County in
1853.
The first election for the new
county was designated for the
first Monday in January 1854 to
elect five Justices of the Inferior
Court, an Ordinary, Clerk of the
Superior Court, Clerk of the
Inferior Court, a sheriff, coro
ner, tax collector and receiver of
tax returns, a county surveyor
and a county treasurer. Local
election places were already
prescribed by the existing polls
in Gilmer and Cherokee
Counties.
Superior Court of the new
county would be held on the
second Mondays in May and
November in each year and the
Inferior Courts on the third
Mondays in January and July. 7
Feb 1854 the legislature
changed the times for Superior
Court to the third Monday in
May and November and Inferior
Court to the third Mondays in
February and August (Public
Laws, Acts of the General
Assembly of the State of
Georgia, 1853 - 1854).
Court days were special for
local citizens and provided an
occasion to meet, serve as a
juror, bailiff or constable or just
to socialize. Early courts were
held out of doors and prisoners
were housed in neighboring
county jails.
Jasper was an unincorporated
village right on the Old Federal
Road when Pickens County offi
cials, especially Clerk of the
Superior Court William Tate,
located the site for the new
Pickens County Court House
and Pickens County Jail. It took
at least two years to build the
two buildings which were locat
ed near the present Pickens
County Court House.
All county officials were
part-time and most listed their
profession on the 1860 U. S.
Census as “farmer.” They were
paid a percentage of the monies
they collected for Pickens
County. (The Marietta and
North Georgia Railroad would
not be completed to Jasper until
the early 1880's. The depot site
in Jasper was determined by its
convenience to the Court House
and jail.)
The Georgia General
Assembly in December 1857
acted on the incorporation of the
town of Jasper. Specifically, the
General Assembly designated
that A. K. Blackwell, John A.
Lyon, Adin Keeter, Levi W.
Hall, and George W. Harmon be
appointed commissioners of the
town of Jasper, in the county of
Pickens. It was further stated in
the Act that the said commis
sioners should continue in office
until the first Saturday in
January, 1859, on which day and
on the first Saturday each and
every year thereafter, all eligible
voters would assemble at the
Court House in said town and
shall vote by ballot to elect five
commissioners who will contin
ue in office for one year.
Elections were to be the respon
sibility of two Justices of the
Peace or two Justices of the
Inferior Court, together with one
freeholder, whose duty would be
to count the ballots. The
Commissioners were given
power to appoint a Marshall,
clerk and other officers needed
to carry out the Act.
The location of the
Pickens County
Court House was
important to the
citizens of
Jasper as the
commission
ers" jurisdic
tion was to
extend one
quarter of a
mile in each
direction
In the 1860 census, he was 35
years old and bom in SC. He
was living in the town of
Jasper with his wife,
Elizabeth, 33,
born TN, and
children: John
A. Jr. 9,
James A. 8,
Thomas H.
6, William
F. 2 and
Freeland
3/12. His
father, John
Asher
Lyon,
House in the town of Jasper. The
Commissioners were also given
power to tax and impose fines
upon all persons violating any
by laws of the incorporated
town of Jasper. The act was
passed by the Legislature 22
Dec 1857. (Acts of the General
Assembly of the State of
Georgia, passed in
Milledgeville, at a Session of
the same in November and
December 1857).
The first five Commissioners
of the town of Jasper were actu
ally the “founding fathers” in
the establishment of the town.
Although there was some over
lap of duties between the town
and county government, these
five men were “new” to politics
in the area. Ambrose K.
Blackwell was in Murray Co,
GA in 1850 when the U. S.
Census was taken 1 Oct 1850.
He was a 40 year old attorney at
law with a worth of $3500 and
born in GA. His wife (or sister)
was Roseda Blackwell, age 33.
Living in the home also was
likely his mother, Nancy
Blackwell, 84, born in SC.
Previously, he had been listed as
a white living in Lumpkin Co,
GA in 1834 with three in his
household. (Whites Among the
Cherokees, page 166) By 1857,
Ambrose Blackwell was estab
lished in the town of Jasper
where he was recognized by the
Georgia General Assembly as
being a leader. However, by the
1860 U. S. Census, Ambrose
Blackwell, 48, is listed in the
Jerusalem District with a
Talking Rock Post Office. He
was an attorney with land val
ued at $500 and personal prop
erty valued at $6500. Roseda is
with him but not Nancy.
Ambrose is mentioned in
Confederate records of Pickens
County.
Likewise, Adin Keeter, a
commissioner for the town of
Jasper in 1857, was living near
Blackwell in the 1860 U. S.
Census, Jerusalem District,
Talking Rock Post Office, not in
the town of Jasper. He was 38
years old and a merchant. His
wife, Elizabeth, was 29 and he
had two children, Mary A. 6 and
Benjamin H. 4. His land was
valued at $500 and his personal
property at $4800. He was born
in NC. Adin Keeter was found
in the 1850 U. S. Census living
with his mother, Susannah
Keeter, age 50, born SC, and
two brothers, John C. 24 born
NC and Jack J. 22 born in SC.
No father is in the home. In
1900, 78 year old Adin was in
the home of his daughter and
son-in-law in Marietta, Cobb
Co, GA. His daughter, Laura K.
Mell was 39 and his son-in-law
was Charles N. Mell. This Mell
family had ties to Col. Charles
Duvall Phillips, commander of
the 52nd Georgia Infantry and
one of the founders of the
Marietta and North Georgia
Railroad.
Levi W. Hall was involved
both with the town of Jasper and
Pickens County government. In
the 1860 census he was in
Townsend District with a Jasper
postal address. He was 35 and
profession was listed as tailor.
His land worth was $850 and his
personal property valued at
$600. He was bom in SC. His
wife was Kisiah, 33, born GA
and his children were: William
J. 12, Joel J. 6, John L. 5, and
Sarah E. 2. His status improved
by 1870, when at 45, his profes
sion was physician. His land
value was $600 and personal
property value $400. Two other
children had been born, Drayton
C. age 9 and Kissiah age 7. All
of his children were attending
school and Jacob L. Wood, 26,
was in his home studying - like
ly an apprentice physician. Levi
W. Hall served as County
Treasurer for Pickens County
for some years.
John A. Lyon was both a
Baptist minister and physician.
organized Refuge Baptist
Church and was one of the earli
est ministers at Cool Springs
Baptist Church. Most of the
Lyon family moved on to
Cherokee County.
Little is known about George
W. Harmon. It is possible that
he was in Jasper and Pickens
County only for a short while.
Statistics found in the 1860
Pickens County U. S. Census,
town of Jasper District, are
interesting. There were 118
houses in the town. 75 citizens
were farmers and 32 listed as
farm hands. With so much corn
being grown, three millers were
listed: John Forrester, 34,
Lemuel Padgett, 34 and Nelson
Sosebee, 22. John A. Lyon was
the only physician in the town
and William Gordon, 40, born in
AL, was the only merchant in
the town with land valued at
$1800 and personal property
valued at $14,460. Two mer
chant’s clerks were listed,
Marshall McClure, 32, and
William McHan, 17. There was
one shoemaker, a Mr.
Glasscock, 35, born in VA.
There were two carpenters,
Jeremiah Sosebee, 29, and
Reubin Fields, 35. Elias Allred,
36, was the only hotel keeper.
There were two attorneys:
William T. Day, 30, and William
Simmons, 35. Seven single
women, likely widows, were
listed as domestics: Nancy
Sosebee, 60, Frances Cantrell,
60, Sarah Blackstock 31,
Matilda Blackstock, 33, Cola
Adcock 38, Elizabeth Pool, 35
and Mary Mann 42.
There was likely much busi
ness for the five blacksmiths:
Grafton Adair, 39 (who helped
install iron works in the first
Pickens County jail), Leander
Neal, Minor Cox, Jonathan
Taylor and Ephriam Sosebee.
Fourteen residents in the town
listed marble related profes
sions. John Berry, 44, born NC,
listed his profession as “gentle
man” with land valued at $2000
and personal property valued at
$3000. His wife, Mary E. was
23 and he had one child,
William C. age 1.
One of the most overwhelm
ing statistics found in the 1860
Pickens County U. S. Census,
which was taken by William
Tate, was the number of vacant
houses. Throughout the county,
Assistant Marshall Tate listed
every vacant house in the order
that he took the census. Of the
1007 houses in Pickens County,
137 were vacant houses. In the
town of Jasper itself, there were
17 vacant houses of the 118
total.
This is the only county in
north Georgia where this author
has found this information. The
only explanation for this is that
the vacant houses were formerly
homes of the Cherokee who
were evacuated in 1838. Either
land lottery winners built their
own home on the awarded land,
or the land had not yet been set
tled.
The town of Jasper, 1/4 mile
in every direction from the first
Court House, had 17 such
homes.
Mr. Tate insured that this
information would never be for
gotten. Census abstracts over
look these facts. Since his fam
ily was in north Georgia prior to
1838, it is possible that he was
sympathetic to the Cherokee's
plight.
The War Between the States
greatly impacted the town of
Jasper and her citizens. The
census for 1870 greatly differed
from the 1860 census. The
impact will be explored further
in the next 150th Anniversary
article.
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