If anyone has anything to add about the village/town of Marion Ga. Please do so. I have a large interest in Marion. My Evans lived there in the 1800's. Does anyone know where to get the records for the old Peck store that was there? Or any of the other businesses? Thanks Pat This again was taken from the History of Twiggs County. Page 48-52 MARION Historic old Marion was the first county-seat town of Twiggs County. It was established by the Georgia Legislature December, 1810. "Be it enacted-that the courthouse and other public buildings for the County of Twiggs shall be erected at or near Joiner's Spring above Savage Creek, on Lot No. 73, In the 25th district, late Wilkinson, now Twiggs county. And be it further enacted-to purchase as a site for public buildings not less than 75 nor more than 200 acres of said lot 73 above described.-Authorized to lay off on such land as may be purchased as aforesaid, such number of lots as may be proper, and the same to expose to public sale. The proceeds of said sales to be applied to the erection of the public buildings in said County, and for other county purposes." Thus was Marion created. The town was situated 36 miles south west of Milledgeville, 20 miles south east of Macon, 30 miles north of old Hartford, 28 miles south of Clinton, 20 miles west of Irwington, and 6 miles west of Jeffersonville. The township was named for General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of Revolutionary fame. Marion was hardly established before the War of 1812 caused the town and entire countryside alarm because of its location near the frontier. Marion was only eight miles distant from the Ocmulgee River, the western frontier of Georgia. Not far removed from the eastern bank of the River were Indian Villages. Within the Indian ranks were whites called "squawmen" - whites who had married Indian women and who affiliated themselves with the Redman's race. The indians, the squawmen - who practically to a man served as spies for the British - and the British soldiers composed the threat to Marion. To help defend the area three forts Jackson, Telfair, Twiggs were laid out in Twiggs county near the Ocmulgee River at about ten miles distance from each other. These forts composed a general line of defense stretching form Fort Hawkins to the Twiggs forts from thence southward into old Pulaski and Telfair counties. Although the Twiggs forts were never under seize by the enemy. They served to reassure the citizenry that the area was in readiness should eventualities demand defense. With War threats over, Marion and the surrounding country returned to a state of normalcy. Old Marion began to grow into a town endowed with a promising future. It was the capital of Twiggs County located in the geographical centers of both the state and the county. In addition to the courthouse and the jail. It had several stores, a post office, academy, boarding house, fine hotel, bank, church house, stage shop, law offices, doctors' shops, several saloons and a citizenry of several hundred souls. One of the more interesting places of business was the bakery or cake-beer shop. It was operated by an Old Negro who specialized in molasses cakes and beer. All legends indicate the town enjoyed a gay society. In the 1820's and 1830's when money was plentiful and the laws not so strict, the gentlemen of Marion and surrounding neighborhood were frequent guests at the saloons with their alcoholic drinks, gambling dens, and wild conversations. Here indeed social merriment was the order of business. On more that one occasion the gay-hearted Lotharios ended their merry-making in street bawls. The most noted merchant of Marion was the sprightly Ira Peck, a New Yorker. He came to Marion, like several of his neighbors, from the North. Over the years at Marion he grew immensely wealthy and enjoyed a lucrative business. In addition to carrying on his mercantile business he was a money lender and banking institution to many of the local citizens. But as the abolition movement gained momentum, and old Marion began to fade away, Mr Peck sold all his property and returned tot he north from which he came. The courts of justice were organized with capable judges, and the character and ability of some of the lawyers who practiced in the courts remain of renown in Middle Georgia today. The early Bar at Marion was composed of Lawyers Robert Perryman, Robert Evans, Thaddeus G. Holt, Robert A. Beall, Samuel Griner, Thomas Harris, Zachariah B. Cargrove, William Crocker, Moses Fort, S. Delk, Stephen F. Miller and others. Miller was an outstanding lawyer and authority on law, and author of, THE BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA. Another of the Marion lawyers, Perryman, was also a writer by vocation, his best known writing being, THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICE OF MAJOR-G ENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. The courthouse at Marion was a large, two-story, square frame building with blinds and three entrances. The first floor was one great room, and from which ascended steps to the various county offices above. In front of the main entrance was the judge's elevated desk; tot he right and left were jury benches. The front half of the room was devoted to the Bar, which by courtesy included all leading citizens, and the remainder of the space in the rear of the courtroom was for spectators. Marion was for many years the most important town in the Southern Judicial Circuit. Here lived the first Judges of the circuit, Harris, Holt, and Fort, and here, too, was born Judge A. T. McIntyre, Sr. During court sessions some of the most legal minds Georgia could muster assembled at Marion. At times an incidental remark make during the course of a trial would lead to a thunderous outburst of voices that would rattle the very window, and make chills run down the lofty rafters. Marion was a mecca to the legal profession in early middle Georgia History. Three middle Georgia towns bade for dominance of the early mid-Georgia trade area. The pretenders were Clinton in Jones County, Macon in Bibb County, and Marion in Twiggs County; but Clinton and Marion soon fumbled I the race. Both Clinton and Marion banked on the prosperity of the past, and the good days of the present while Macon worked, planned, and gambled on the future. Macon was accessible to river boat transportation and the only town to show and interest in railroad construction. The citizens of Marion fought the railroad and the progress it might have brought the community. The town wanted no part of the new "puffing" machine and the so-called advantages it offered as a modern media of transportation. The majority of the town people and country folks were ladies and gentlemen schooled to leisure who disliked the idea of change. The people were satisfied with their customary oxen, buggy, surrey and stage type transportation and saw no advantage of building a railroad to and through the county capital. Many citizens feared the advent of the horseless carriage, believed it to be a curse upon their welfare, and stated publicly and emphatically that they wanted no part of any untried gadget running loose in their midst! Lucian Lamar Knight state in, GEORGIA LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS, "The original survey of the Central Railroad was made to Marion: but the iron horse was an untried experiment- and the people objected to the intruder on the ground that it might endanger livestock and demoralize the poultry yard." The good people of Marion and Twiggs County wanted no part in constructing any railroads or railroad. And so, in obedience to their request the Central Railroad bypassed Marion. But it was not long before Marion and Twiggs citizens realized their error. The merchants and planters soon became aware of the fact that merchandise and cotton could be hauled more efficiently and less expensively by rail than wagon team and river barge. Years later when a second railroad was proposed through western Twiggs County, the Macon and Brunswick, now Southern Railway, the anti-railroad sentiment was gone and the people wished it well. Marion made its exit as a leading Middle Georgia town during the 1840's as Macon, 20 miles north, provided the magnetic pull for the business and professional men. It was during this period that several business men and their families, and several "colonels" and their plantation families began to leave Marion and vicinity looking for a golden opportunity to succeed. Thus, Marion was soon reduced to a "Deserted Village". During the 1850's Marion was so devastated that the people of the County decided to move the public buildings to another site. The new proposed county - seat was to be named Marion but the delay in carrying out the plans fixed the new county capital at Jeffersonville. The old residents who remained at Marion and their friends in the County fought to keep the public buildings from being relocated at Jeffersonville. On 8-10-1867 a special order from headquarters, Third Military district, Atlanta was issued halting the dismantling of the public buildings at Marion. "The taking down of the Court House, at Marion, Twiggs County, State of Georgia, and its removal from Marion to Jeffersonville, in the same county, are hereby ordered to be suspended until after the completion of Registration, when an election will be ordered to decide upon the question of the removal of the County site from Marion." This order only delayed matters for s short period of time as the removal of public buildings to Jeffersonville was soon completed. The old frame courthouse once removed from old Marion to Jeffersonville continued to serve the county well until it burned February 6, 1901. Not only were public buildings moved from Marion to Jeffersonville, but several families moved their private buildings, including the fine old two story hotel. The hotel building stood in Jeffersonville until 1953 when it was purchased by an individual of Danville, Georgia who had it wrecked in order to salvage the choice heart timbers for another building. Marion no longer exists as a town, the name does not appear on a modern map of Georgia. The contributions made by the two generations of Georgians who lived in the Middle Georgia village will live through the annals of history as a part of the growth and expansion of the Piedmont area of the State. Post Masters: Post Office was established 10-26-1812 (information not available on former postmasters) 8-31-1831 Allen Fleming 10-12-1835 Edward B. Young 1-28-1837 Allen Edwards 6-1-1838 Peyton Reynolds 4-23-1841 Charles Eason 6-23-1844 Elijah E. Crocker 2-4-1845 William J. Stephens 7-2-1845 Andrew Anderson 11-30-1848 Benjamin T. Smith 2-15-1849 Ira Peck 1-13-1855 Henry K. Peck 3-28-1856 Wright Neel 12-19-1859 Marcus E. Solomon 5-18-1860 Henry C. Keys 3-9-1866 W. H. Bichum 5-8-1866 Mrs. Abigail Jordan 1-8-1867 E. E. Crocker 2-19-1867 Lou Land Discontinued - 5-15-1868