Wagon Roads

I have started a project for the Fannin County Historical Society. I am researching early emigration into Fannin County. As a part of that project, I am trying to locate pre-1860 wagon roads within the county.

Fannin County has a complicated history. Northern Georgia was originally designated Cherokee County and was the home of the Cherokee Indians. It was a huge area encompassing almost the entire top one-third of the state. In 1832 the Cherokee were forcibly removed and sent to Oklahoma (the infamous Trail of Tears), and Cherokee County was divided into ten smaller counties two of which were Union and Gilmer County. Georgia divided the land into 160 acre lots and sold them by lottery. Then, in 1854 Fannin County was carved out of parts of Union and Gilmer County. A few white settlers trickled into the area that became Fannin County before 1832, but most settlers started arriving after the Cherokee were removed.

Because of this history, I have to research records in Fannin, Union, and Gilmer Counties to be able to reconstruct how settlers first moved into Fannin County and what roads they used and created.

Complicating the picture further is that many Cherokee adopted the ways of the white man before 1832. They lived in wooden houses, had farms, built and operated grist mills, used wagons and carts, etc. Some even owned slaves. There were at least five Cherokee villages in Fannin County.

Because the Cherokees had grist mills, it seems reasonable that they had some wagon roads or at least cart trails to transport their corn from the farms to the mills. It doesn’t make sense to me that they would take just a bag of corn to the mill on the back of a horse. I think it probable that some early roads in Fannin County are Cherokee in origin. The problem is that there are almost no records dating to when the Cherokee lived here.

So far the earliest map I have been able to locate is an 1897 U.S. Geological Survey of Fannin County. I have references to earlier maps dating to the 1840’s. Even if I can locate maps from the 1830’s and 1840’s, I doubt they will show all the wagon roads in the county. Thus, I’m going to have to identify potential early wagon roads based on geography and the location of early settlements, stores, churches, mills, and fords, then go out and see if I can find any trace of them.

I know that traces of the old wagon roads exist. As you drive around Fannin County you can see winding wagon trails, now overgrown with trees, off to the side of the paved roads. I probably will not be able to confirm with certainty that a particular old wagon track existed before 1860. But if I can establish that it leads from one old settlement to another or to a mill or church that existed before 1860, the odds are that it dates back to the early days.

The thought has occurred to me that my road research could be dangerous. Who knows how many stills, marijuana patches and meth labs are located in those hills?

As part of my research I recently reviewed the 1860 census of Fannin County. It gives the occupations of the people who resided in Fannin County. As you might expect, there were a lot of farmers and farm hands, several merchants, and a handful of blacksmiths. There were also quite a number of miners and mine hands because there were gold and copper mines in this area.

Some of the occupations harken back to an older time: cooper, wagoneer, weaver, basket maker, collier, miller, carpenter, teamster, and wood chopper.

There was one man identified himself as a distiller. From what I know of those days, it was not uncommon for farmers to have stills. Apparently this guy distilled for a living.

Benjamin C. Pugger listed his occupation as plank sawyer. I don’t know if he had a water powered mill to saw logs into boards. If he did it by hand it must have been a bitch of a job.

I’ll say this—wherever took the census was brutally honest. A couple of people are listed as infirm paupers. Arminda Sosebee’s occupation is “no occup./lunatic”, and Margaret Rose’s is “no occup./insane.” The Sosebees, incidentally, are a big family in this county. One of them is a county commissioner, and another is the district attorney. I guess that shows that having a nut case or two in your family doesn’t have to hold you back.

Three women, Catherine Yourther, Mary A. Dillard and Sarah Jones, listed their occupations at “Lady of Pleasure.” I’m not sure what to make of that, particularly since John Franklin listed his occupation as a “Gentleman of Pleasure.” I can buy that there may have been two or three hookers in Fannin County in 1860, but I doubt there was a gigolo.

I don’t know if this is a joke or what, but Thomas L. Redmon listed his occupation as “Pike’s Peak Miner.” As noted above, there was gold and copper mining in Fannin County in those days, but it appears that Redmon specialized in Pike’s Peak mining. I guess he was out of a job in Fannin County.

One of the most interesting things to me, and I suspect this is true in many rural counties, is that history is very much alive among those who are native to Fannin County. They know their lineage, when their ancestors first came to Fannin County, where they settled, and where they are buried. There are a number of family cemeteries scattered back in the hills that date to those early days.

For instance, the chairperson of the Feed Fannin organization I am involved with is Connie Galloway. Frazier Galloway is widely considered to be the first white man to settle in Fannin County. He arrived in 1822. There is a Galloway Road, and you can drive by the old Galloway homestead and visit the Galloway family cemetery.

Obviously, with a last name of Yacavone, I’m not fooling anyone. They know that that I am an import. I tell them that my ancestors fought in the War of Independence, but then I have to admit it was the War of Italian Independence under Garibaldi.

I think it’s neat to be in an area where people have roots, remember them and value them. How different it is here than it was in Pinellas County. I’m glad I came.