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On August 14, 1920, the General Assembly proposed a constitutional
amendment to create Brantley County from portions of Charlton,
Pierce, and Wayne counties (Ga. Laws 1920, p. 34). In that year's
general election, Georgia voters ratified the proposed amendment
on Nov. 2, 1920, which marks the date of Brantley County's creation
(although a state historical marker on the courthouse square
incorrectly cites the county's creation as the day the legislative
act proposing the constitutional amendment was approved).
Why was Brantley County created by constitutional amendment
instead of an act of the General Assembly? In 1904, Georgia voters
had approved a constitutional amendment limiting the number of
counties in the state to 145. The next year, the General Assembly
created eight new counties, bringing the total number to 145
-- the constitutional limit. Nevertheless, there was continuing
pressure to create more counties. Beginning in 1906, lawmakers
got around the 145-county limitation by creating new counties
through constitutional amendments that were not subject to the
limitation. By 1924, Georgia had 161 counties -- 16 of which
had been created by constitutional amendment. On Jan. 1, 1932,
Milton and Campbell counties merged with Fulton, leaving 159
counties. In 1945, Georgia voters ratified a new constitution
-- one which provided an absolute limit of 159 counties, with
an additional provision (see
text) that no new country could be created except through
consolidation of existing counties.
Two years after Brantley County's creation, local authorities
discovered that the legal description of the county's boundaries
contained several errors. As a result, the General Assembly passed
an act on Aug. 5, 1922, which corrected the language of the 1920
constitutional amendment (Ga. Laws 1922, p. 335). According to
this act, Brantley County's boundaries were now defined as:
"Beginning at the southeast corner of Pierce County,
at the southeast corner of lot of land number three hundred (300)
in the ninth district of Pierce County, and thence northwards
along the line between Pierce and Charlton Counties to the southwest
corner of land lot number thirteen (13), in the second district
of Charlton County; thence eastwards along the south line of
land lots numbers thirteen (13), fifty-two (52), seventy-seven
(77), one hundred and sixteen (116), one hundred and forty-one
(141), one hundred and eighty (180), two hundred and five (205),
and fractional lot two hundred and forty-four (244), and thence
continuing in a straight line to the Big Satilla River, and thence
northward along the channel of said Big Satilla River to the
Camden County line;' thence northwards along the line between
Wayne and Camden Counties to the Glynn County line; thence further
northwards along the line between the Counties of Wayne and Glynn
to a point on said county line one mile north of the main line
of the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway; thence westwards
along a line one mile north of and parallel with the aforesaid
main line of the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway to
the Little Satilla River and the line between the Counties of
Wayne and Pierce; thence southeast along the channel of the Little
Satilla River to the southwest corner of land lot number one
(1) in the third district of Wayne County; thence southwards
along the west lines of land lots numbers thirty-two (32) and
thirty-one (31), in the second district of Pierce County to the
channel of the Big Satilla River; thence westwards up the channel
of the Big Satilla River, through Pierce County, to the county
line between Pierce and Ware Counties; and thence south and southeast
along the county line between Pierce and Ware Counties to the
Charlton County line; and thence eastwards along the county line
between Pierce and Charlton to the southeast corner of Pierce
County, the point of beginning aforesaid."
There is a debate as to whom Georgia's 158th county was named
for. The state historical marker on the grounds of the Brantley
County courthouse and several other sources (including an article
that appeared in a Savannah newspaper in 1920) say the county
was named for Benjamin
D. Brantley (1832-1891). Other sources, however, say the
real person being honored was Brantley's son, William
Gordon Brantley (1860-1934). The younger Brantley worked
for a while with his father, but left home to attend the University
of Georgia, where he graduated from law school. After practicing
law in Pierce County, William Brantley represented Brantley County
in the Georgia House of Representatives (1884-85) and Georgia
Senate (1886-87). He also served as prosecuting attorney (1888-96),
but is most remembered for serving eight terms as a member of
the U.S. House of Representatives (1897-1913). For sixteen years,
William Brantley represented the area that would become Brantley
County in Congress. In 1913, after thirty years in public office,
Brantley decided to return to the practice of law. Seven years
later, the legislature created Brantley County. Which Brantley
was the legislature honoring? The act creating the county did
not say, and notwithstanding the Savannah newspaper account,
there is not conclusive evidence. However, most Georgia counties
are named for politicians or military heroes, and William Brantley
seems far more likely to have the record of public service for
which the legislature would honor when naming a new county.
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