History of Clinch County
From George White's Historical Collection's of Georgia
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CLINCH COUNTY
This county is bounded N. by Irwin and Telfair, E. by Ware, S. by the State of Florida, W. by Lowndes.
Named after General Duncan L. Clinch.
The rivers are Allapha and Suwannee.
Magnolia is the county site, distant from Milledgeville 210 miles.
Among the citizens residing
in this county at the time of its organization were --Benjamin
SEMMONS, J. C. KIRKLAND, Sameul REGISTER, John TOMLINSON, Sen., John ROBERTS, J.
J. ROBINS, E. H. MORGAN, John NORTH, Wm. STARLING, Abraham REGISTER, H. SEARS.
Additional Broader History (not from above source)
Clinch County was established in February 4, 1850 and was named for the recently deceased General Duncan L. Clinch. After a long military career serving in the War of 1812, and the Florida Indian wars from 1836-38, he also had campaigned for governor of Georgia against George W. Towns in 1847 but was defeated. Ironically, it was Governor Towns who named the county for his opponent. In the group to promote the creation of a new county was James W. STATEN, Elijah MATTOX, John TOMLINSON, Jr., and Benjamin SIRMANS.
Lands of Ware and Lowndes contributed to the formation and is bounded thus, "commencing at the mouth of Cane Creek where it empties into the Okefenokee Swamp, thence along said creek to the ford at Daniel LANE's, thence a direct line to the mouth of Reedy Creek where it empties into the Satilla River near John B. WALL's, then the river to be the line up to the county line, thence the county line to the Florida line, to the Okefenokee Swamp; the territory thus included shall form a new county to be called the County of Clinch."
While the original county seat was Polk, eventually it was moved to Homerville. The first commissioners appointed to manage the new county were: Elijah MATTOX, Simon W. NICHOLS, Timothy KIRKLAND, Benjamin SIRMANS, and John J. JOHNSON. Other such notables in the new administration were: Johnathan KNIGHT, Simon W. NICHOLS, Charles COWART, Benjamin CORNELIUS, Isham F. JOHNSON, Hiram SEARS, Manning SMITH, David BLACKBURN, and John MATHIS.
Notice the map of Georgia above, the red location is Clinch County.
(Sourced from: Huxford, F. The History of Clinch County, Georgia. 1916.-- J. W. Burke Co. Macon, Georgia)
