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Webster County, originally
named Kinchafoonee (Kin-cha-foo-nee) County, was created from Stewart
County on December 16, 1853. Organized in 1834 - at which time Preston
was chartered - Kinchafoonee was Georgia's 104th county. Later renamed
Webster County on February 21, 1856, the county is named in honor
of Daniel Webster (1782 - 1852).
We welcome any contributions on
families within the original county borders (which includes early
Lee, Randolph, and Stewart Counties, and later Terrell County).
Please note that the Webster
County Archives is a separate project - please submit your
items to both projects!
History of Webster County, Georgia
Contributed by Charles Waters
The first white settlement in
the area of Stewart County that would form Kinchafoonee County was
Lannahassee, which was settled in 1836.
In 1851, residents of Lannahassee
apparently moved to a nearby location, which they named McIntosh,
after the Creek Indian Chief. The 1853 act creating Kinchafoonee
County named Oliver Taggart, Mason H. Bush, Chappell Coy, Robert
Batey, and James Holley as commissioners with authority to locate
the site of the county seat and to purchase the land and have it
laid off into lots. The act also called for election of county officials
on the second Monday in Feb. 1854. If a county seat had not been
designated by the time of that election, the county's new inferior
court was to assume all power to designate the county seat. Though
the date of the action is not clear, either the commissioners or
the inferior court selected McIntosh as county seat.
Webster County was created from
Stewart County on Dec. 16, 1853 by an Act of the General Assembly
(Ga. Laws 1853, p. 304). Created by Act of the Legislature December
16, 1853, it was originally named Kinchafoonee (Kin-cha-foo-nee).
Organized in 1834 at which time Preston was chartered. Georgia's
104th county was named Kinchafoonee after the Kinchafoonee Creek
that flows through the county. ["Kinchafoonee" was a Lower
Creek Indian word that apparently referred to a mortar or bone device
for cracking nuts.] However, many residents of the new county thought
the name was awkward, undignified, and would invite ridicule from
outsiders -- so they asked that the county be renamed. On Feb. 21,
1856, the legislature changed the name of Kinchafoonee County to
Webster County (Ga. Laws 1855-56, p. 414). The new name honored
the famous U.S. orator and politician, Daniel Webster (1782-1852).
An Act of February 21, 1856, changed
the name to Webster in honor of Daniel Webster, New England orator
and statesman. Among the first Kinchafoonee County Officers in 1854
were: Sheriff Carey T. Cox, Clerk of Superior Court James G. Hall,
Clerk of Inferior Court John D. King, Ordinary E.B. Swiney, Tax
Receiver William McLendon, Tax Collector Lucius Sanders, Surveyor
Jno. McCain and Coroner James R. Moore.
On Feb. 21, 1856, the legislature
changed the county seat from McIntosh to Preston (Ga. Laws 1855-56,
p. 414). Some sources have suggested that this was just a name change,
though the actual text of the legislative act states:
"Sec. III. And be
it further enacted. That the county site of said county of Webster
be changed from McIntosh to Preston."
On Dec. 22, 1857, the legislature
incorporated the town of Preston (Ga. Laws 1857, p. 187). Preston
is believed to have been named for former South Carolina senator
William C. Preston (1794-1860).
The first Webster County Officers
included: Sheriff John P. Beaty, Clerk of Superior Court James G.M.
Ball, Clerk of Inferior Court Wm. R. Redding, Ordinary David G.
Rogers, Tax Receiver Eben E. Little, Tax Collector Alexander Winzor,
Surveyor John McCain, Coroner John D. Jones and Commissioners George
M. Hay, John W. Easters, William H. Hallen, Henry W. Spears and
James G.M. Ball. Webster County was created from Kinchafoonee County
by an act of Feb. 21, 1856, its name was changed making it our 103rd
county in the state.
Webster County is a small county
in the northern portion of the southwestern corner of Georgia. It
is primarily an agricultural county with peanuts, corn, soybeans
and grain being the main crops.
Indian tribe heritage in this
region are known as the Lower Creeks.
Creeks were not
a unified tribe or nation. In fact, the name "Creek"
was an English name assigned to them by the colonists; their
Creek name was "Muskogee." Not all the Creeks were
of the same linguistic origins; many were of the Muskhogean
stock, but there were some who belonged to other linguistic
stocks, such as the Yuchi and Shawnee. The "Creek Nation"
was actually a very loose confederation of towns along the Coosa
and Tallapoosa rivers in present-day Alabama (Upper Creek) and
the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers in Georgia (Lower Creek).
The main towns of the Lower Creek were all on the Chattahoochee
River and several of these had subsidiary villages on the Flint.
By 1790, the Chehaw, who had moved to the
Chattahoochee River after the Yamasee War, had at least two
villages on or near the Flint River in present-day Lee County,
Georgia. Au-muc-cul-le (pour on me) was located in Aumuculle
Creek (today Muckalee Creek), nine miles above its junction
with Kin-cha-foo-nee Creek. In 1799, it had sixty warriors.
A second much smaller Chehaw town named O-tell-e-who-yau-nau
(Hurricane Town), was on the west bank of the Flint river about
six miles above Kinchafoonee Creek. This town, apparently occupied
by both Chehaw and Ooseooche Creeks, had only twenty families
in 1799.
by Dr. Lee W. Formwalt; Albany State University
The county seat today is Preston.
The Probate Court has birth, marriage, death, burial, and probate
records. The Clerk of Superior Court has divorce, civil court and
land records.
For more reading on Webster County,
see "History of Webster County", compiled by Weston Woman's
Club, 1980. Library of Congress No. 80-53769. Copies of this book
may be ordered from Weston Woman's Club, General Delivery, Weston,
GA 31832.
For lookups in the "History
of Webster County," please contact your Webster County Coordinator.
Webster County's neighbors are
Stewart,
Marion,
Sumter,
Terrell,
and Randolph.
Links to other Georgia Counties
at the GAGenWeb.
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