JEFFERSON COUNTY

 

Jefferson County was created from Burke and Warren counties in 1796, becoming the twenty-third county.  Its territory had been part of two headright counties: Richmond and Burke.  The county was named for President Thomas Jefferson, the county seat, Louisville, for King Louis XVI of France.

 

George Galphin, who came from Armagh, Ireland, established a trading post in the 1750s near an Indian settlement known as "Old Town."  Galphin developed great influence among the Creek Indians of this region.  In 1785 the Creeks ceded to the State of Georgia the land between the Altamaha and the St. Mary's rivers, meeting at Galphinton, the trading post, to sign the treaty. 

 

Louisville was the Georgia capital from 1796 until 1806, succeeding Savannah and Augusta.  The present county courthouse is built on the site of the old state capitol, and many of the materials salvaged from the capitol were used in the courthouse which remains today one of the most distinguished governmental buildings in the state.

 

In front of the courthouse is a marker commemorating the burning of the Yazoo Fraud papers.  What amounted to a gigantic land fraud was negotiated in 1795 wherein some thirty-five million acres of Georgia land was sold for a half-cent per acre.  The act creating the land sale was rescinded in 1796.