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Liberty County, Georgia
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==History== The area that was to become Liberty County was originally occupied by the [[Guale]] Indians. In the early 16th century, the Spanish placed a Catholic mission called [[Santa Catalina de Guale]] on today's [[St. Catherines Island|St. Catherine's Island]] to minister to the Guale. During the 18th century, the Guale became part of the [[Muscogee]] confederation. In 1733, Gen. [[James Oglethorpe]] negotiated with the local Muskogean Indian tribes for this land that became part of the new [[Province of Georgia|colony of Georgia]]. Settlement of the area by European settlers was sparse until 1752. In that year, a group of [[Congregationalism|Congregationalists]] from [[Dorchester, South Carolina]] petitioned the royal government of Georgia for grants of land in an area known as the [[Midway, Georgia|Midway]] District, located between the Ogeechee and South Newport Rivers. The land was granted to them, and they moved as a community with their families and Negro slaves into the area. They immediately began clearing the swamps and marshes and establishing rice fields. On March 15, 1758, the royal government of Georgia created Saint John's Parish, which included this area between the Ogeechee River and South Newport River. The town of [[Sunbury, Georgia|Sunbury]] was established on June 19, 1758, on the Medway River and quickly became the 2nd busiest port in Georgia, behind [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]]. The Congregationalists who settled the Midway District were able to establish a flourishing rice culture with the use of Negro slaves to tend to the rice fields. These Congregationalists were 2nd and 3rd generations of people born in [[British America]] and had become more independent-minded and distinct in their political views from the other citizens of the colony. In 1774, they were among the first in the colony of Georgia to join the movement for the repeal of the [[Intolerable Acts]]. In 1775, unable to persuade the rest of the colony of Georgia to join with the other 12 colonies to send a representative to the [[Second Continental Congress|2nd Continental Congress]], they sent their own representative from Saint John's Parish, Dr. [[Lyman Hall]]. The royal government of Georgia came to an end in January 1776 when the patriotic Georgia [[Committee of safety (American Revolution)|Council of Safety]] arrested the governor, [[James Wright (governor)|James Wright]] and took over the government of the colony. The new government, composed of many of the leading citizens of Saint John's parish, organized a convention and established the first [[Constitution of Georgia (U.S. state)|Constitution for the State of Georgia]]. On February 5, 1777, under the new constitution, the parishes of Saint John's, Saint Andrew's and Saint James' were consolidated and named Liberty County to honor the efforts of the citizens of Saint John's parish in pursuing the American ideal of [[liberty]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gannett|first=Henry|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ|year=1905|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n185 186]}}</ref> [[Sunbury, Georgia|Sunbury]] was first designated the county seat in 1784. In 1797, the seat was transferred to [[Riceboro, Georgia|Riceboro]], and in 1837 it was transferred again to Hinesville.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA233 | title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=Routledge | date=May 13, 2013 | access-date=November 30, 2013 | author=Hellmann, Paul T. | pages=233| isbn=978-1135948597 }}</ref> === 1922 lynching === {{Main|Lynching of James Harvey and Joe Jordan}} On July 1, 1922, James Harvey and Joe Jordan, two African American men, were [[lynched]] by a mob of about 50 people in Liberty County during an escort by police from [[Jesup, Georgia]] to a jail in [[Savannah, Georgia]]. The event drew condemnation from both the local black community and from several prominent white citizens, with the preacher at Midway Methodist Church denouncing the acts and publishing a widely circulated letter condemning the [[Wayne County, Georgia|Wayne County]] officials of being complicit in the murders. The incident prompted an investigation by the [[NAACP]], and in total, 22 men were [[indicted]], with four being [[convicted]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Harris|first=J. William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BGPzqTo8eZAC&q=joe+jordan+james+harvey&pg=PA288|title=Deep Souths: Delta, Piedmont, and Sea Island Society in the Age of Segregation|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8018-6563-3|pages=288|language=en|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
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