Mitchell County State Historical Marker

Located at the Mitchell County Courthouse, Camilla, Ga.

(Text)

 

MITCHELL COUNTY

 

The county was created by an Act of the Georgia Legislature

on Dec. 21, 1857. Some historians say that the county was named

for David B. Mitchell, Governor of Georgia in 1809-13 and again

in 18153-17, and that Camilla was named for his daughter.

However, the Georgia Laws of 1857 (pages 38-40), creating

Mitchell county, say the county was named in honor of Gen

Henry Mitchell, who was born in 1760 and died in 1839. He

was a State Senator from Warren County, President of the

Senate in 1809, Presidential Elector in 1812, 1816 & 1820, and

an outstanding Georgian. He was a Brigadier General of

Georgia troops in the post-Revolutionary period.

 

The first officials of Mitchell County, who took office in

1858, were Sheriff Joshua P. Crosby; Ordinary John W. Pearce;

Clerk of Superior Court Montford S. Poore; Clerk of Inferior

Court Joseph T. Ellis; Tax Receiver John T. Allen; Tax Collector

George West; Treasurer Nathan Maples; Surveyor Murdock McLeod,

and Coroner William West.

 

David West donated fifty acres of his land as a site for the

Court House and Jail. A two story frame Court House was

built in 1860 and replaced by the present brick building in 1890.

 

101-1 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1954

Photo: Keith Hair

Go to Georgia Historic Markers website

Go to Mitchell County Courthouse page