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Other Information:
Wilcox County's first courthouse was a wooden building constructed
in 1858. This lasted until the current three-story, brick courthouse
was built in 1903 (see
early photo).
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Wilcox County was created from Dooly, Irwin, and Pulaski counties
on Dec. 22, 1857 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1857,
p. 46). [Click here
to read legal description of Wilcox County's original boundaries.]
Wilcox County was named for Gen. Mark Wilcox (1799-1850),
who fought in the Indian wars. On three different occasions (1825-28,
1832-34, and 1842-43), Wilcox represented Telfair County in the
Georgia House of Representatives, where he worked for creation of the
Georgia Supreme Court.
In 1905 and 1906 respectively, portions of Wilcox County were
used to create Turner and Ben Hill counties.
County Seat:
The act creating Wilcox County provided for election of county
officials on the first Monday of March 1858. After that election, the
new justices of the county's inferior court were authorized to select
"some central and convenient place" within the county for use as the
county seat, to lay out the site into lots and streets, and to arrange
for construction of a courthouse and other public buildings. Reportedly,
David Fitzgerald donated 60 acres near the Ocmulgee River for use as
the county seat. While this meant that the county seat would be on
the county's eastern boundary, the inferior court accepted the land
donation. The town that grew up around the courthouse was known as
Abbeville, a name variously attributed to Abbie Fitzgerald (wife of
the land donor), to Abbie McNally, and to the Abbeville District
in South Carolina.
Criticism of Abbeville's location prompted the General Assembly
on Sept. 27, 1879 to enact legislation allowing any taxpayer in
Wilcox County to challenge in court whether Abbeville's location complied
with the 1857 act requiring that the county seat be in a central and
convenient place (Ga. Laws 1878-79, p. 409). Apparently, no serious
challenge resulted. On Sept. 15, 1883, the legislature incorporated
Abbeville as a town.
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 383.3 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 64th out of 159
Population:
Wilcox County
City of Abbeville
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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government,
University of Georgia
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