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IN A LOG CABIN IN MURRAY COUNTY PAYNE WROTE THE MELODY. Murray a ‘Part of Old Cherokee, the Field of Many ‘Indian Battles in the Early Part of the Last Century. A County Without Railroads, but One Is to Be Built This Year. Spring Place, the County Seat, So Named on Account of Forty Springs—A Town Full of History. Was the Home of Van, One of the Chiefs. of the Six Nations—His House Still Standing. Murray county's history is identified with the history of Whitfield, and with Bartow and Walker? counties, which were once @ part of Murray,_ and also with Dade and Catoosa, which were laid off from Walker, so that what is written about the older county, as I mentioned in my sketch of Whitfield, is common property. Murray county, as it is, is compara tively small when compared with what it was in 1832, the year it was laid off from old Cherokee, the mother of coun ties in Northwest Georgia. Its pres ent area is 352 square miles. It is watered by the Connesauga and Cosa wattee rivers, the wanited waters of which form the Oostanaula, which, joining the Etowah river at Rome, forms the Coosa. The land is rolling and partly mountainous, and the soil fertile, producing corn, wheat, rye, oats, cotton, potatoes, white and sweet; fruits of all kinds do well. The Cohcuttah range, which crosses the eastern part of the county, is rich in minerals, and several companies are carrying on profitable mining opera tions. _ The county is without railroads, though the Western and Atlantic passes near its boundaries, and there is every reason to expect that the Dal ton and Alacassey Railway will be built this year. ‘This railroad will ex tend from Dalton, via Spring Place, to Cohuttah Mountain, a distance of twenty miles, and thence to connec tion with the A. K. and N. Rail way at Murphy, N. C. The build ers of this road are gentlemen inter ested in the United States Toy Trust and other manufacturing concerns of Binghamton,N. C., and Dr. Kilmer of “Swamp-Root” fame. Murray is noted as* a butter and cream, and stock raising county. I omitted to say’ that the county was named after the late Hon. Thomas W. Murray, a gentleman of political prom inence in the early years of the nine teenth century. The county seat of Murray is Spring Place, ‘and derives its name from forty bold- springs*it the neighborhood. It is an old and interesting town and full of historical incidents. It has a brick court house, a hotel, the’ Temple House, kept by Mr. W. W. Shields, and a number of thrifty stores and neat cottages.’ The pride of the town is the Nancy Hill Institute, which is built on the site of the old Moravian Mission building. .The institute bears the name of the only daughter of Mr. George Hill, a prominent citizen of Murray, who was killed by being thrown from her horse, and her ‘father widowed the institute in loving mem ory of his lost one. There are two newspapers in Spring Place—The Simplecute, edited by Col. Co. L. Henry, who at the time of my visit was engaged in making bricks with which to build a house, and the Journal, of which Mr.C. 4. Shriner is editor. There are three churches—the Meth odist, Rev. N. A. Parsons, the Bap tist, Rev. C. P. Roney, and the Pres byterian, the pulpit of which is unfilled. In a log house in Spring Place, tra dition says, ““Home, Sweet Home” was written. The story is that during what our forefathers called “the late war,” that with England in 1812, John How ard Payne wandered into the Cherokee Nation,and was put in durance vile by the United States military author ities for meddling with what did not concern him. The back Indians of Georgia and Alabama at the time men tioned were engaged in scalping white men, women and children, while the older Indians remained at home and lived on the funds contributed to the missions by the kind-hearted people of the United States. Payne is a romantic Character in American history. He was an editor who wrote for two continents; a writ er of dramas, one of which, “Vir ginius,,’ still has a place on the stage; an actor of more than ordinary his trionic ability, who played to audiences in London as well as New York; and a poet whose song fissung the world over. Payne closed his eventful life in his sixtieth year as a ‘semi-diplo mat, at, Tunis, Africa, where he was United States consul in 1852; and by An the, best-known American of his day. Payne doubtless had reason to think while confined in that log cabin away off in the Indian land, with a sentry standing guard over him, that there was no place like home.” After a brief confinement he was sent back to the white settle ments, where his philanthropic tenden cies could not interfere with the ef forts of the Government which with the help of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory, and his soldiers were trying to keep the red man in a reasonable peaceful mood, or put them “where the wicked cease from troubling.” Spring Place was until the removal of the Cherokees to the Indian terri tory, the home of Wan, one of the lesser chiefs of the Nation. Under the care of the Moravian Missionaries, and those of the American Board of Missions who came later, the Indians made fair progress. in civilization, their children attended ‘the schools which were established throughout the Cherokee Nation; churches were built, in some of which Indian converts preached; farms were’ cultivated and ‘the mechanical arts were en couraged. The Government, how ever, built the Great or Fed eral highway, and, as the In dians predicted, wherever a “wagon could come the white man would come,” this road while it afforded the means of ready access for troops, it also opened the country to the white settler, and the Cherokees eventually had to go wet. On+a-hill outside of the ‘corporate limits of Spring Place, is: a‘preten tious’ house, built of brick; two_ stories in-hight with a spacious cellar ‘and high attic. The doors, windows, man tels “and stairways show excellent workmanship, and were doubtless made in England In fact, it is a tra dition that the bricks and other mate rial were shipped from England to Sa vannah by ship, and then carried over the Indian trails to where they now stand. The house was built in the latter part of the eighteenth century by the Cherokee chief, Van, who lived in it until he and his people were re moved from Georgia. It is said that the old chief was bitterly opposed to leaving, his native land, and also that he was the instigator of the Indian troubles of those days, though he is too shrewd to take an active part in them. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and energy, and was quite wealthy for a Cherokee . He owned “‘Van’s Ferry,” on the Federal road, where it crosses the Chattahoo chee ,river, seven miles from Gaines ville. The Van's house at Spring Plate is now owned ‘by Mrs. N.S. Dill, who kindly Showed me’ through it! ‘The property is for sale, and to any one who desires to be the possessor of a real Indian curio, and at the same time Secure a pleasant summer home, this, as my friend, Mr. Dorsett, would call it, “is a rare opportunity.” Besides the mission at Spring Place there were others scattered through out the Cherokee Nation. An Indian named Gess originated an alphabet of eighty-six characters by which the Cherokees could communicate with each other by letter. At first, there was considerable opposition among the Indians to the missionary schools, but after awhile they became very anx ious to have their children educated, and the Council of the Nation set apart, 100,000 acres of land for educa tional purposes. The New Testament was translated into the Cherokee language. This good ‘work among the Indians was not in vain, for though in a few years the Cherokees had to leave Georgia, the education‘ that they “had received placed them,far above other tribes in, the Indian ‘Territory. With the departure of ‘the red man, Murray county, which was the larger, part of Northwest Georgia, was rapt ‘idly populated’ by the’ whites and soon ‘became noted for its prosperity, and so continued until the War between the States, when it suffered in com mon with other parts of the state. Since then it has been gradually re covering, and bids fail to not only re gain but add to its’ former prosperity. The county officers of Murray county are: ordinary, T. J. Ovbey; clerk W J. Johnson; sheriff, W.C. Groves; dep uty, W. D.Heartsell; tax collector, W A. Parsons; tax receiver, M.H. Bramslett; treasurer, O. Parrott; coro ner, L. M. Jones; surveyor, “Robt. Dunn. The county commissioners ‘are, George Hill,C.C. Keith and Thos. M. Hemphill. In ‘Spring Place and en route, I had the pleasure of making the acquaint ance of the following gentlemen, not heretofore mentioned . Ex-Senator €. N. King, Frank Vonberg, Frank Kil gore, Daniel C. Kenner, D. T. Brown, Dr. John Steed, Henry Tankersley, D. W. Mitchell, Dr. Barnum Bagwell, Dr. J. B. Hughes, M. L. €ox of Ellijay, L.. P. Russell, Wm. Morgan, Thos Tread well, John Kuhn, Lewis Thompson, Wesley Everett,Jas. Everett, Post master, Hon. Frank Peeples, Mayor, C. L. Herring, Capt. L. M. Jones, Benj. Freeman, Wm. Pendley, Willard Pard ley, Lawson Tankersley, Joel Ether idge, Augustus Pierce, Dr. W. W. An derson, Clarke Anderson, James Mc Gee, John Cole, George Moore. To the settler of the tourist, Murray and her daughters, Whitfield,’ Catoosa,’ Dade, and other counties, offer great inducements. ‘ ‘To the List its soil and’ climate are everything that could be, desired, and to the latter the induce ments of good hunting and fishing are offered.. The Connesauga Tiver, which divides Whitfield from Murray,is ‘a beautiful stream abounding in moun tain trout. I saw a ‘lone fisherman sitting on a rock with his line tan gling“in the river, hold’ up a bunch of speckled beauties we taken from the Connesauga, and I felt like buying a rod and line, and letting Mr. Terrell and Mr. Guerry carry on the plitical campaign without my help. J. H. ESTInT.
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Dalton North Georgia Citizen
Dalton, Georgia, US
Thu, Jul 17, 1902
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Kyle Z.
USA 27 Jan 2026
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Dalton North Georgia Citizen
