INTERESTING BITS OF HABERSHAM COUNTY HISTORY PART 1 HISTORY OF CLARKESVILLE, GEORGIA Mrs. Julia Wales Erwin Wilson, Sister to W. S. Erwin Habersham county was organized in 1819. The first white man to settle in the area was Mr. Sutton, uncle of the late Judge C. H. Sutton. Most of the county was settled by the sturdy Scotch-Irish people who came first to Pennsylvania, then came further south to the mountains of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and East Tennessee. These Scotch-Irish people have always been the backbone of our Republic. There were the authors of the MecKlenburg Declaration and many of them had revolutionary lineage. There is an old saying, "Mountaineers are always free". True to this fact, Habersham county, with a voting population of 800, sent to the Sourther Confeeracy over a thousand men. The town of Clarkesvile dates its beginning from the year 1823. Two men, Chastain and Vaughn, gave land lots No. 2 and 19 as the site for the town. Clarkesville wa named in honor of Gen. Elijah Clarke, who was so active in north and east Georgia during the Revolutionary War. The Court House, a small frame building, was located on the Public Square, and a log jail on the lot where Mr. F. L. Asbury's residence now is. When a brick court house was built, in 1832, the old building was moved down to the livery stable lot where it still stands, (The Claud Adams home). Judge John Dooly, the famous Georgia wit, held the first court in Habersham. At this time, and for a good many years after, much of this country was still in possession of the Indians. I have heard my mother say that when she came to Clarkesville, a bride, in 1838, there were United States Troops here for the purpose of removing the Indians. The young Lieutenant in charge of the troops was J. B. Magruder, afterwards the famous Confederate General. The discovery of gold in the Nacooche Valley, and other parts of the country, soon brought to this hitherto unknow section, many seekers for the precious metal. From the first these settlers were of a superior class. Among them may be mentioned the names of Alex Maulden, William Hacket, Thos. Fayetter, Jessie Norris, T. B. Wood, Elihu Barkley, J. R. Wyly, William Hicks, S. H. J. Alley, the Lambert brothers, A. J. Nichols, Hexekiah Dyer, John Fuller, and John S. Dobbins who were the first to settle the town. Dr. George D. Phillips came in 1829. He was a Virginian, a skillful physician, and a man prominent in the politics of the state. His wife was the daughter of James Patton, the founder of Ashville, N. C. Dr. Phillips built a home at Farm Hill, where Dr. James P. Phillips still lives. Mr. father, Alexander Irwin, a North Carolinian, and a son of a man who, as a boy, fought at King's Mountain, came here in 1829, and with Gen. B. F. Patton, also a North Carolinian, whose home was what is now the Ketron farm, put up a sotre for the purpose of trading for gold, in the old building that stood where the present court house now stands. My uncle, S. A. Wales, just graduated from the law school at Yale, with his brother-in-law T. H. Trippe, also a lawyer, were two early comers. Col. Wales built the Bleckley House which wa burned a few years ago. Col. Trippe built the old Campbell home, now the property of Mrs. W. B. Hill. Col. Trippe sold his home to the town for a academy. Afterwards it was the home of Rev. R. C. Ketchum, the Presbyterian minister for about twenty years. It subsequently became the summer home of Gen. Robert Toombs, and when it was burned some ten years ago was the home of Judge Logan E. Bleckley, chief justice of Georgia; a pretty good record for one house, I think. Col. Trippe sold his home to Mr. Robert Campbell who occupied it during most of each year for more than thirty years. Judge Garnet Andrews in the reminiscences of an old Georgia layer, gives an amusing account of a Clarkesville lawyer whom he called Col. Stamper. The original of this sketch ws Col. Studman who lived in the house now owned by J. B. ERwin. He was a brother-in-law of Judge J. W. H. Underwood and is said to have been quite as interesting character as Judge Andrews pictures him. John R. Stanford bought much land in and around Clarkesville. He was a mercahnt, a man of wealth of public spirit. His wife was Miss Charlton, of the well-known Savannah family. He built the beautiful home on the hill, now owned by J. F. Minis, and as Pamona Hall it was for years the center of social life of the town. A company headed by Jacob and Adam Stroop and in which Hon. John C. Calhoun was a stockholder, put up an iron works plant on the site now occupied by the Habersham Mills. Jarvin Van Buren came out from the north to take charge of it and built the house now occupied by Idus Brewer. Mr. Van Buren was a New York man, a cousin of Martin Van Buren, and looked very much like the picture of the President. He had the distinction of having, as engineer, run the first train ever successfully operated in the United States. It was a short line about forty miles in length, and, I think, ran between Schenectady, NY and Albany, NY. The first academy of the town as the old Grove House. This afterwards became the home of Mr. William Smith, grandfather of the late Thomas F. Bean and of the Ansleys of Atlanta. It was at one time occupied by Hon. John E. Ward, first minister of the United States to China. Col. Robert McMillian bought this place about 1854. The old Shade Alley place is probably the oldest place in our town. It was built by a Mr. Brannan, and afterwards was owned by Gen. J. R. Wyley. Mr. Wyley was the grandfather of John Sevier, Gen, in the Revolutionary army, and governor of Tennessee. Mrs. Ruth Erwin comes from the same family. The little town seems to have had good schools in those early days. My uncle, Rev. Stanhope Erwin, a young Presbyterian minister, taught here while studying for the ministry. Gen. William Phillips was one of his pupils. His wife was Miss Danwoody, cousin of Mrs. Teddy Roosevelt. A man named Blair was iported from Pennsylvania and had a fine school here. Dr. J. T. Phillips, Dr. Rossingnol and Dr. Starr were three of his pupils. Mr. Blair went back to his native state, was later sent to Congress, and became a most violent abolitionist and hater of the south. Later Mr. Round taught here and also Mr. Williams Rogers.