The First Families Project - GA - Henry County The first settlers were: Wm. Hardin, Jesse Johnson, James Sellers, H. J. Williams, Wm. Pate, D. Johnson, W. H. Turner, M. Brooks, S. Weems, W. Herbert, Roland Brown, R. M. Sims, Wm. Crawford, E. Mosely, John Brooks, Reuben Deming, Jacob Hinton, E. Brooks, John Calloway, R. Jenks, Colonel S. Strickland, Parker Eason, Jos. Kirk, Wm. Griffin, John Griffin, Daniel Smith, Wm. Tuggle and John Lovejoy. In 1830, not ten years after it was made a county, there were over 10,000 inhabitants in Henry County. By 1850, the population was 14,726 of which nearly 5,000 were slaves. It was a healthy county; land was cheap, and settlers from South Carolina and the older counties in Georgia crowded into it. They were very plain, good people—industrious, economical and religious. Much of the land was hilly, and much of it very thin; but it produced those things that were needed for the sup port of its inhabitants, and there was no want among them. During the pioneer era, from 1820 to 1860, the original settlers cleared 104,000 acres of farmland and built churches with a seating capacity of 15,100. They also, constructed 4 merchant mills, a cotton factory, 8 saw mills, 14 grist mills and 6 distilleries. When the Southern railway from Macon to Atlanta and the Midland from McDonough to Columbus were opened, the country was furnished with the best railroad facilities, flourishing villages sprang up along the line, and McDonough, which had declined until it was a very small hamlet, began to take on the proportions of a considerable and prosperous county town. This book focuses on the “Pioneer Era” documenting the families who made Henry County the “Tara” which is now… Gone With The Wind. Sources: The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People 1732 to 1860 by George Gillman Smith, D.D. Originally published c. 1901. http://www.henrycounty.org/resources/History.html http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/counties/georgia/henry.html http://www.russpickett.com/history/mcdobio.htm Sources: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ga/county/whitfield/ The 1840 Census of Cherokee County, GA