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OUR HISTORY |
| Where does our history start? Does it begin with "ancient vast upheavals" which resulted in the Crystalline area, as geologists call it? Or perhaps it begins with its Native Peoples, the Cherokee Indians, who named many of the county's landmarks? Or did it begin with the Old Federal Road that wound its way through North Georgia in the early years of the 19th century "for the accommodation of the citizens of the United States"? The official birthday of Cherokee County was December 26, 1831, and at that time, the new county contained some 6,900 square miles, in contrast to its present 429. SEE MAP OF "The Original Cherokee County--1831" Created primarily as an emergency measure, the original county served the temporary purpose of holding the territory together under Georgia's laws while the survey was being made and while a more permanent arrangement could be worked out for its disposition into Counties of normal size. In an act of the Georgia state legislature approved December 3, 1832, the original Cherokee County was divided into ten counties: Cherokee, Cass (now Bartow), Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding and Union. Later divisions of these eleven counties have increased the total number of counties made from the original Cherokee to twenty-two. SEE MAP OF "Land and Militia Districts of Cherokee County--1833" "Captain's Districts" or militia districts in Cherokee County were not totally legalized until after 1833. Militia districts of Georgia date from a time soon after the War of 1812, when the necessity became apparent for a standing army quickly available in emergency. Each county was divided, by statute, into "Georgia militia districts," and the able-bodied men resident in each district were organized into a military company by a captain, who was duly elected by the district. The militia system lasted until the Civil War period, although militia districts still retain the civil functions allowed to them by the original statute. |
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