Ed Jackson and Charly Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

July 30

1730 The first actual attempt to seek a charter for Georgia was made by James Oglethorpe, John Percival, and other associates interested in creating a new British colony in America. On this date, Percival recorded in his diary: "We agreed on a petition to the King and Council for obtaining a grant of lands on the southwest of Carolina for settling poor persons of London, and having ordered it to be engrossed fair, we signed it, all who were present, and the other Associates were to be spoke also to sign it before delivered."

1912 Gov. Joseph M. Brown approved a joint resolution of the General Assembly proposing a constitutional amendment creating Bleckley County. [The amendments were necessary because of a constitutional limit of 145 counties, meaning any additional counties had to be authorized through constitutional amendment.] The proposed new county was to be created from portions of Pulaski County and was named for Georgia Supreme Court Justice Logan E. Bleckley. On Oct. 2, 1912, Georgia voters ratified the amendment creating Georgia's 147th county.

1913 The third day of the Leo Frank trial proved a good one for the defense. Detective John Black, who had obtained most of the evidence against Leo Frank, seemed confused and openly admitted being "mixed-up" over portions of his testimony. He contradicted himself numerous times and said he could not remember significant details of the case. Finally, he even admitted that he couldn't be sure of what he had testified to previously. The defense was jubilant after his testimony. Others testified on this day as well; W.W. (Boots) Rogers testified that Leo Frank never saw Mary Phagan's body at the undertaker's; Frank had said he did. Grace Hicks, another factory employee, recalled how she was called to identify the body. She also said she had worked at the factory for five years and had only spoken to Leo Frank three times. Finally John Gantt, whom Frank had discharged from the factory for a shortage in a pay envelope, testified that he simply returned to the factory April 26th to retrieve a pair of shoes he had left there. The first three days of the trial were noted for standing room-only crowds, with many gathered outside to hear news, and for the sweltering heat, with temperatures in the upper 90s. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1918 Gov.Hugh Dorsey approved a joint resolution of the General Assembly proposing a constitutional amendment creating Cook County. [The amendment was necessary because of a constitutional limit of 145 counties, meaning any additional counties had to be authorized through constitutional amendment.] The proposed new county was to be created from portions of Berrien County and was named for Gen. Philip Cook, who served as Georgia congressman and secretary of state. On Nov. 5, 1918, voters ratified the amendment creating Georgia's 155th county.

1929 A bronze replica of the famous statue of Romulus and Remus was presented to the city of Rome, Ga. [Click here to view the statue and read about its story.]

1931 Gov. Richard Russell signed an act incorporating Milton County into Fulton County, conditioned on approval of a referendum in each county. Voters of both counties ratified the consolidation, which became effective Jan. 1, 1932.

1936 David O. Selznick paid Margaret Mitchell $50,000 for the motion picture rights to Gone With the Wind. At the time, more than 200,000 copies of the popular novel had been sold, and the $50,000 was the most ever paid for screen rights for an author's first work.

1956 Eleven-year-old Brenda Mae Tarpley of Lithonia, Georgia, recorded "Jambalaya" -- her first hit for Decca Records. Tarpley, better known as Brenda Lee, had been singing professionally since age six. During the 1960s, she recorded 29 hit songs, moving to country music in the early 1970s. [Click here for official Brenda Lee web site.]

1961 Laurence 'Larry' Fishburne was born in Augusta, Georgia. The Tony Award-winning actor would star in such movies as Apocalypse Now (1979), The Cotton Club (1984), The Color Purple (1985), Boyz N the Hood (1991), and Othello (1995).

1993 To help mark the grand opening of the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Postal Service issued a set of four commemorative stamps, one of which showed an old Milledgeville, Ga. postmark.

1980 Eleven year old Earl Terrell disappeared after leaving a swimming pool. He was the latest victim in the Atlanta Child Murders case.

1996 This was the twelfth day of the 1996 Summer Olympics -- and day 11 of Olympic competition. In downtown Atlanta, Olympic Centennial Park reopened three days after the bombing. 

2007 The Atlanta Braves traded several highly touted minor league prospects for Texas Rangers star first baseman Mark Teixeira. Teixeira played collegiate baseball in Atlanta at Georgia Tech.

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved on July 30:

1903 Armena (Lee County) and Plainville (Gordon County)

1908 Riverdale (Clayton County) and Woodland (Talbot County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1864 The Civil War had become a very personal matter for Gertrude Thomas, as recorded in her journal:

"The war is nearing our own door -- Passengers from Macon say that it was rumoured that our forces and the Yankee Raiders were drawn up in line of battle eight miles from that place where the train left. The central R Road has been cut at Gordon on Friday . . . and a number of cars burnt -- the raiders busy tearing up the track. . . . A large party of raiders was seen in the vicinity of Covington last night. I fired off two pistol shots tonight to keep my courage up. . . . I don't know how I feel! A strange kind of apathy comes stealing over me as if I knew that it must come -- that which we had so often talked of -- so often jested upon, would soon be a fact that the Yankees would be in our midst and then what? I don't know. Let the future decide."

Source: Virginia Ingraham Burr (ed.), The Secret Eye: The Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, 1848-1889 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990), p. 230.

1864 As Sherman's forces continued to take battle after battle in their effort to take Atlanta, Lt. Col. Fredrick Winkler of the 26th Wisconsin Infantry wrote to his wife:

"I had hardly dipped my pen in ink to dispatch a few officials yesterday, when orders to march came, and we had to pack up and go. We did not march far, but we were on the road a long time, at noon marching a few rods and then halting again. The heat was intense; over a dozen men were attacked by sunstroke. We came to the extreme right of the army. I believe it was intended as a reconnaissance, but we took position and fortified the front line last night, and we still remain here. The Army of the Tennessee, now under Howard, commenced shifting from the left to the right a few days ago and were there attacked by the rebels in force day before yesterday, just as they were coining into position. The rebels were again repulsed with fearful slaughter. We passed over the field yesterday, and hundreds of their men lay there awaiting burial. General Howard's entire loss was not more than five hundred and fifty, while that of the rebels cannot be less than three thousand, perhaps four thousand. I have it upon pretty good authority that they gave their forces whiskey, certainly a bad policy this hot weather. Yesterday that tartaric acid you sent me in the bag of oil silk did us a great deal of good. When it was so hot at noon, we made lemonade with it, and it was good and refreshing. General Howard rode by a few minutes ago and complimented me on the good record my regiment had gained during the campaign. The statements in the Wisconsin that portions of Johnston's Army have gone to Virginia I had, at one time, thought were true, but the recent battles near Atlanta have developed beyond a doubt the presence of the three corps with which Johnston commenced the retreat from Atlanta nearly three months ago, reduced of course by the casualties of battle, desertions, etc. I have just learned that our division is going to extend a line to the right; we won't have to march far to do that."

Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers Home Page

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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