Burke County, whose eastern edge shares the border with South Carolina along the Savannah River, is one of Georgia's eight original counties. When the colony was established in 1732, the area now known as Burke County was called the Halifax District. In 1758 Georgia was divided into parishes, and the Halifax District became the parish of St. George. The county currently encompasses an area of 831 square miles after portions of it were incorporated into Screven (1793), Jefferson (1796), Richmond (1841), and Jenkins (1905) counties. The original inhabitants of the area were Creek, Cherokee, and Catawba Indians, who lost their land when members of their leadership, often not speaking for all of them, signed treaties in 1733, 1736, and 1758 with the English. The first white settlers were "headright settlers," or those who acquired land via a system that granted parcels to the heads of families, with more land going to larger families. Almost all of the first landowners came from the older American colonies, especially after Georgia lifted its ban on slavery in 1751. The majority were farmers with small- and medium-sized operations who were attracted by the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers, which offered transportation and water for their livestock. A few other settlers came from parishes to the south, and some (mostly Scots-Irish Protestants) arrived from across the Atlantic. The New Georgia Encyclopedia. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2301&hl=y Retrieved 3/18/2009.
Upson County, in west central Georgia, was established by an act of the state legislature on December 15, 1824. The Treaty of Indian Springs (1821) between the United States and the Creek Indians gave the government the land that extended from the Ocmulgee River to the Flint River through middle Georgia. Upson County was created from Pike and Crawford counties. Many settlers were drawn to the area by the lottery system used to settle the acquired lands. The state's fifty-ninth county was named in honor of the noted Georgia lawyer Stephen Upson (1784/5-1824) just four months after his death. It is also the birthplace of John B. Gordon, a major general in the Confederate army and a governor of Georgia. The majority of the settlers to Upson County came from the eastern counties of Georgia, between the Oconee River and Augusta. Some were wealthy plantation owners who also owned many slaves. Farming the rich soil of the eastern section of Upson County, around the town of The Rock and along the Flint River, they primarily grew cotton. Other settlers came from North Carolina and South Carolina. The first cotton mill in Upson County, the Waymanville or Franklin Factory, was built on Tobler Creek in 1833, and in 1835 a group of New Englanders arrived to manufacture textiles. The New Georgia Encyclopedia. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1266&hl=y Retrieved 3/18/2009.
From the description of Boyt and DeLoach records, circa 1790-1978. (University of Georgia). WorldCat record id: 316220531
