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Other Information:
An act of Dec. 21, 1819 organizing Early County directed that
until a courthouse was erected, county courts were to meet at
the house of Richard Grimsley in the 28th district. It is not
clear how long Grimsley's house served as courthouse, but in
1826 Benjamin Collier gave the county 25 acres for building a
courthouse and other public buildings. A wooden courthouse was
built here in 1826, followed by other structures in subsequent
years. A courthouse built in 1858 served until the present building
was constructed in 1906 (see
photo). The current courthouse was rehabilitated in 1992-93.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Early County was one of seven counties created on Dec. 15, 1818,
by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1818, p. 27). [Click
here
for a legal description of Early County's original boundaries.]
Early, Irwin, Appling counties extended across south Georgia
and were created from Creek lands acquired in 1814 by the Treaty of Fort Jackson.
Irwin, Appling, and Early counties were organized by an act
of Dec. 21, 1819, which provided for election of county officials
in each county (Ga. Laws 1819, p. 65).
Portions of Early County's original boundaries were used to
create the following counties: Decatur (1823), Baker (1825),
Clay (1854), Calhoun (1854), and Miller (1856). Other counties
created from these five counties and falling within Early's original
boundaries are: Dougherty (1853), Mitchell (1857), Grady (1905),
and Seminole (1920). Also a portion of Thomas County (created
in 1825) falls in Early's original boundaries.
Georgia's 40th county was named for former governor, congressman,
and judge Peter
Early (1773-1817). Early was governor when the Creeks ceded
the lands that would later be used to form Early, Irwin, and
Appling counties. The year after Early's death, the legislature
named a new county for him.
County Seat:
The 1818 act creating Early County made no provision for a county
seat. An act of 1819 organizing the county designated the justices
of the inferior court as courthouse and jail commissioners and
authorized them to select a county seat "as near the centre
thereof as convenience will admit" (Ga. Laws 1819, p. 65).
The act further directed that until a courthouse was erected,
Early County courts were to meet at the house of Richard Grimsley
in the 28th district. An act of Dec. 19, 1823 appointed William
Howard, John Dennard, Wright Sheffield, Samuel C. B. Jackson
and Joseph Grimsley as commissioners to select a temporary seat
of government for Early County and to erect a temporary courthouse
(Ga. Laws 1823, p. 57). In 1826, Benjamin Collier gave the county
25 acres for use as the county seat. An act of Dec. 27, 1826
provided that "the present site of the public buildings
in the county of Early, be and the same is hereby made permanent,
and shall be called and known by the name of Blakely" (Ga.
Laws 1826, p. 174). Reportedly, the town was named for War of 1812
naval captain Johnson Blakely (1781-1841). The legislature incorporated
Blakely on Oct. 24, 1870 (Ga. Laws 1870, p. 168).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 516.3 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 24th out of 159
Population:
Early County
City of Blakely
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