 For a long time no one lived in America, although many animals roamed the land. A bridge of land connected America with Asia. (Now the Bering Strait separates them.)
Then there were Indians who wandered over the land bridge that connected America with Asia. Very probably they first left Asia in search of animals for food. Archaeologists set this time as long ago as 20,000 years.
Not all the Indians came at once. Slowly, they spread throughout North and South America. And for thousands of years they lived by hunting. Gradually, they began to raise corn, beans, potatoes, squash, and other plants. With farming they did not have to hunt so much and, thus, they had time to build more permanent homes and towns and to develop arts and crafts such as basketry, weaving, and pottery. They began to hold regular religious ceremonies and to organize government. As time went on, they developed distinctive ways of life. The Cherokee and Creek Indian Nations settled in the territory that now is Georgia. The Cherokee occupied the highlands and the Creek, the south.
The Creek Indians lived in rectangular houses with thatched roofs and plaster walls. They sometimes built their houses around a central area which included a council house, ball field, and large earth pyramids with temples on top. The people lived by raising crops, hunting, and fishing.
In 1733, only 42 years before the Revolutionary War, James Oglethorpe, with 114 colonists, arrived from England at Yamacraw Bluff (now the present site of Savannah, Georgia) and founded a colony which he named Georgia for King George, II of England. Over a period of time, numbers of colonists were sent to Georgia by King George. More than 1,000 settlers came at their own expense.
In 1733, in the first treaty between the Creek Nation and the United States Government, white settlers in Georgia were invited "to make use and possess all those lands which the Nation hath not occasion to use." The Creek Indians were friendly toward the colonists.
And in 1778, three men, Button Gwinett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton, signed the Declaration of Independence for Georgia. In 1788, the Georgia Legislature ratified the United States Constitution, making Georgia the 4th state to ratify it.
After the 1733 treaty, the Creek Nation established its capitol city at Indian Springs, Georgia, and their government consisted of representatives from about fifty Creek towns. The Indian population was as much as forty to fifty thousand.
With the passing of time the Indians of the Creek Nation needed money to purchase arms and tools. They raised their own food and traded pottery and furs for barter; but they had no money. Repeated ceding of Indian territory to the United States Government for the State of Georgia brought the funds but also an increasing dissatisfaction among some of the tribes. Finally, the Creek National Assembly passed an enactment that no further cession of territory would be made except by its unanimous consent, pledging the lives of the chief or chiefs involved as forfeit for the violation of the agreement.
There was another cession, one which gave to the State of Georgia that part of Creek Indian territory which now is Troup County. This treaty cost the president and head chief of the Creek Nation his life.
George Michael Troup was Governor of Georgia from 1823 to 1827. During Governor Troup's administration the treaty with the Creek Nation was negotiated by the United States Government for the cession of the territory of which Troup County now is a part. The treaty was signed at Indian Springs, Georgia, on February 12, 1825, by commissioners on the part of the United States Government and by William McIntosh, President and Head Chief of the Creek Nation. This territory, which included the land between the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers, was purchased for the State of Georgia for $400,000 and other considerations.
After signing the February 12, 1825, treaty, William McIntosh remained at Indian Springs to settle his personal affairs and to accumulate his personal belongings. In April of 1825 he returned to McIntosh Reserve, his home in Carroll County, Georgia. A number of Indian Chiefs awaited him and in accordance with Creek Law, they executed him. Chief McIntosh had violated the enactment that no further cession of territory would be made except by unanimous consent of all members of the Assembly.
After the signing of the 1825 treaty, the State of Georgia under Governor Troup's direction began surveying work to subdivide the territory into land districts and land lots in preparation for the establishment of counties. Five counties were formed, one of which was Troup County.
The original Troup County contained twelve land districts with 3,146 land lots. "That all that land lying between said rivers, and known as the Third Section, shall form one county to be called Troup" is a quote from the Act of the General Assembly of Georgia dated December 11, 1826, which further identifies Troup County. Troup County, which received its name from Governor George Michael Troup, was opened for settlement in 1827.
The land lots were distributed by lottery to the citizens of organized counties of Georgia. The eligibility qualification was three years of residency in the state. Revolutionary soldiers and those who served in the Indian wars, as well as widows of such soldiers, were entitled to an extra free draw in the land lottery of 1827.
Settlers, drawn by stories of the fertile soil and pure water, the virgin forest, the wild game and the friendly Indians, traveled by wagon and on foot into the new territory. Much of the land in Troup County was very rugged and very rich.
The County was rapidly settled, not by poor people, but by well-to-do planters from eastern Georgia who opened large cotton plantations. They came into possession of land by lottery grants or purchases from grantees. Many of the early settlers were people of education and property and brought with them into the wilderness that was Troup County tools, cattle, slaves, and household furnishings.
Almost immediately they began to plan for schools and churches. Soon there were two institutions for the education of women - LaGrange Female College and Southern Female College. No other county in the state gave more attention to education, especially to the education of women. Brownwood was the school for men.
One of the first buildings was a Methodist church. The Baptist and Presbyterian were strong denominations as early as 1835. By 1830 Troup County had a population of 6,000.
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