| Quitman County was created from
Randolph and Stewart counties on Dec. 10, 1858, by an act of the
General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1858, p. 28). Georgia's 128th county was
named for Gen.
John
A. Quitman (1799-1858). Quitman had served in the Mexican War
and had been governor of Mississippi--but it was his outspoken
defense of states rights that made him so popular in Georgia. Five
months after Quitman died, the General Assembly named a new county
in his honor. The County Seat is Georgetown. The
legislation creating Quitman County did not name a county seat but
left this to be decided by the justices of the inferior court. The
law further directed that an election of inferior court justices and
other county officials be held in Feb. 1859. Following the election,
the justices named Georgetown as county seat. The town was
originally settled with the name Tabanana (after the creek of the
same name) in 1831 or 1832. In 1836, the name was changed to
Georgetown [presumably after the town of the same name in the
District of Columbia]. Georgetown was incorporated on Dec. 9, 1859
by an act of the legislature.
|
Quitman County Courthouse
Click on picture for
Georgia Snapshot |
