Dear Mr. Mehlberg,
Your query untrigued me since I have done a fair bit of research in GA, especially in Jasper County which lies on the western border of Putnam, of which Eatonton is the County seat.
Your question about the early extent of the county and the possibility that it extended into SC and TN did not jive with what I thought I knew, so I looked into some of my regional histories and used the Newberry Library's excellent Historic Atlas of County Boundaries (http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/downloads/index.html). Another great reseource for finging out about Georgia's history and localities is the The New Georgia Encyclopedia (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2249)
These sources confirmed my recollection of the history of Eatonton, GA. The territory that would become Putnam county was ceded to Georgia by the Creeks in the 1790, and was first a part of Baldwin County, which was in turn created from the Land Lottery of 1803. Putnam County was established on 12/10/1807 when it was sectioned off from Baldwin County. Eatonton was established as the county seat in 1808, and it was incorporated in 1809. It remains the only incorporated city in Putnam. Putnam County achieved it current configuration on 12/15/1810 when the county lines were redrawn giving Jones County a portion of the southwest corner of Putnam County.
I also checked and found no evidence to suggest that any part of the "Non County Areas" of the Cherokee and Creeks Cessions were ever identied as "Eatonton" between 1765 and 1790. While the cession territory extended a short bit south into Florida, it traced the southern border of TN and GA (the northern GA border) and a small portion of the border in northeast GA precisely, suggesting that there was no territorial overlap.
Good luck!
John D. Metz
Director of Archives, Records, and Collection Services
The Library of Virginia
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lynn Melberg
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 10:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] VA-HIST Digest - 31 May 2013 to 2 Jun 2013 (#2013-101)
I have something which need to be explained.
Eatonton, GA is listed in the 1800's as the home of many of those whom I research.
It seems to cover most, if not all of SC; a large part of the area which became TN and parts of VA. Was it a county of a state or a territory at one time??
Thank you for your help.
Lynn W. Melberg
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