Murray County was created from Cherokee County on Dec. 3, 1832 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1832, p. 56). [Click here for complete text of legislation.] According to the 1832 act :

". . . such parts of the twenty-seventh, twenty-sixth, twenty-fifth and twenty-fourth districts of the second section, as lie west of the lines herein-before designated, and the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth districts of the third section, and the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth districts of the fourth section, shall form and become one county, to be called Murray."

In way of background, by 1830, the Cherokee Nation consisted of most of northwest Georgia (see map), plus adjoining areas in Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Even while Cherokee Indians remained on their homeland in Georgia, the General Assembly on Dec. 21, 1830 enacted legislation claiming "all the Territory within the limits of Georgia, and now in the occupancy of the Cherokee tribe of Indians; and all other unlocated lands within the limits of this State, claimed as Creek land" (Ga. Laws 1830, p. 127). The act also provided for surveying the Cherokee lands in Georgia; dividing them into sections, districts, and land lots; and authorizing a lottery to distribute the land. On Dec. 26, 1831, the legislature designated all land in Georgia that lay west of the Chattahoochee River and north of Carroll county as "Cherokee County" (see map) and provided for its organization (Ga. Laws 1831, p. 74). However, the new county was not able to function as a county because of its size and the fact that Cherokee Indians still occupied portions of the land. On Dec. 3, 1832, the legislature added areas of Habersham and Hall counties to Cherokee County, and then divided the entire area into nine new counties -- Cass (later renamed Bartow), Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding, and Union -- plus a reconstituted and much smaller Cherokee County.

According to its original boundaries, Murray County comprised the entire northwest corner of Georgia (see map). Later created entirely from Murray County were Walker County (1833), Dade County (1837), and Whitfield County (1851).

Georgia's 86th county was named for lawyer and legislator Thomas W. Murray (1790-1832) of Lincoln County. Murray, who served as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives in 1825, was a candidate for Congress at the time of his death in 1832.

Historical Maps

 

 

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1834

 

1839

 

1846

 

1855

 

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1874

 

1883

 

1885a

 

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1895

 

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1904

 

1910

 

1915

 

1952

 

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1970a

 

1970b

 

1999

 

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2001b

Go to Historical Atlas of Georgia Counties

Go to Murray County Courthouse page