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Other Information:
In an act of Dec. 10, 1807, the General Assembly provided that
house of Willis Anderson serve as temporary courthouse of Wilkinson
County until a courthouse could be built (Ga. Laws 1807, p. 3).
In 1809, the legislature named Stephen Johnson, John Eady, Sr.,
Elkanah Lofton, Philip Pitman, and William Crawley as commissioners
to select a county seat, purchase land, lay it off into town
lots, sell the lots, and use the proceeds to construct a courthouse
and jail (Ga. Laws 1809, p. 75). Apparently nothing happed, so
two years later the legislature named John Proctor, Robert Barnett,
John Speight, John Ball, and Daniel Hicks as commissioners to
construct a courthouse and jail (Ga. Laws 1811, p. 123). Until
this was done, the legislation directed that a temporary courthouse
be built on land lot 83 in the 4th district. By 1817, Wilkinson
County apparently had a courthouse, for the legislature designated
the town boundaries of Irwinton as all areas falling within 400
yards of the courthouse (Ga. Laws 1817, p. 65). In 1818, the
General Assembly authorized a special tax to be levied in Wilkinson
County for the purpose of building a courthouse (Ga. Laws 1818,
p. 25). It is not clear whether a new courthouse was built utilizing
this tax. A courthouse built in 1829 burned down that same year.
At some date, a new courthouse was built -- but in 1854 it too
was destroyed by fire. A new courthouse built before the Civil
War was burned by Sherman's troops in 1864. At an unknown date,
another courthouse was built--but it burned in 1924, with the present
courthouse built in its place the same year.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
On June 16, 1802, the Creek Indians and U.S. commissioners signed
the Treaty
of Fort Wilkinson, which ceded Creek lands in two different
areas to Georgia. The northern cession involved land west of
the Oconee River, which the legislature divided into two new counties
-- Wilkinson and Baldwin -- on May 11, 1803 (Ga. Laws 1803 Extra.
Ses., p. 3). [Click here
for text of act defining Wilkinson County's original boundaries.]
In 1805, the Creeks signed the Treaty
of Washington, which extended Georgia westward to the Ocmulgee
River. An act of June 26, 1806 added lands ceded by the Creeks
to Baldwin and Wilkinson counties (Ga. Laws 1806 Extra. Ses.,
p. 3). In an act of Dec. 10, 1807, Laurens and Telfair counties
were created entirely from Wilkinson County (Ga. Laws 1807, p.
3). In an act of Dec. 14, 1809, Twiggs County was created entirely
from Wilkinson County (Ga. Laws 1809, p. 75).
Georgia's 28th county was named for Gen. James B. Wilkinson
(1757-1825), one of the U.S. commissioners who negotiated the
Treaty of Fort Wilkinson, in which the Creeks ceded the land that
would be used to form Wilkinson County. Gen. Wilkinson, who served
in the American Revolution and War of 1812, was the first governor
of the Louisiana Territory (1805-1807). [Click here for more
on Gen. Wilkinson.]
County Seat:
The 1803 act creating Wilkinson County made no provision for
a county seat. In 1805, the General Assembly authorized the justices
of the county's inferior court to select "some convenient
place, as nearly central as circumstances will admit" for the courts
to meet (Ga. Laws 1805, p. 51). No action was taken, so the legislature
in 1807 directed that Wilkinson County courts and public business
take place at the house of Willis Anderson (Ga. Laws 1807, p. 3).
The next year, the General Assembly named Arthur Fort, John Hays,
William Biven, Elkanah Loftin, and Jesse Brown as commissions to
select the county seat of Wilkinson County, provided that their choice
was within two miles of the center of the county (Ga. Laws 1808,
p. 70). Until a county seat was designated and courthouse built,
the 1808 act directed that Willis Anderson's house continue to serve
as temporary courthouse. In 1809, the legislature appointed Stephen
Johnson, John Eady, Sr., Elkanah Lofton, Philip Pitman, and William
Crawley as new commissioners to select a county seat, purchase between
100 and 202.5 acres of land, and lay off and sell town lots (Ga.
Laws 1809, p. 75). Finally, in 1811, the legislature directed that
the county seat be located on land lot 83 in the 4th district and
be known as Irwinton (Ga. Laws 1811, p. 123). Incorporated by an
act of Dec. 4, 1816 (Ga. Laws 1816, p. 72), Irwinton was named for
Jared Irwin (1751-1818), who served as Georgia governor for three
terms (1796-1798 and 1806-1809).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 452.0 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 43rd out of 159
Population:
Wilkinson County
City of Irwinton
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