Editing Lowndes County, Georgia (section)

===Early county history===
Lowndes County was established by an act passed by the Georgia legislature on December 23, 1825. It was formed out of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, and 16th land districts of [[Irwin County, Georgia]].<ref>{{cite act |title=  Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Passed Milledgeville, at an Annual Session November and December. 1825.|number= 54 |language= en |date= December 23, 1825|article= To form two new counties from the counties of Irwin and Decatur}}</ref> The county was named for [[William Lowndes (congressman)|William Jones Lowndes]] (1782–1822), a prominent South Carolina lawyer and Congressman. His father [[Rawlins Lowndes]] had been a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] leader and was elected as South Carolina Governor.<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/n190 191]}}</ref> The [[Coffee Road]] was an improved trail first cut by Georgia militia to supply federal troops in Florida during the Creek Wars. It was the first route through the area of Lowndes County and opened up the area to white settlers.

During the first few years after Lowndes County was organized, its courts met at the tavern owned by Sion Hall on the Coffee Road, near what is now [[Morven, Georgia]] in Brooks County, on the west side of the Little River. The first county seat was established at Franklinville (sometimes spelled Franklynville) by the Georgia General Assembly on December 16, 1828.<ref>{{cite act |title= Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Passed in Milledgeville at an Annual Session in November and December, 1828 |number= 136|date= December 16, 1828 |article= AN ACT to make permanent the site of the public buildings in the county of Lowndes, and to name the same.}}</ref> Franklinville was located about 5.6 miles to the east of Hahira in the eastern half of land lot 50 in the 11th land district; it was named after statesman and Founding Father of the United States, [[Benjamin Franklin]].

At the time of the 1830 federal census, Lowndes County had 1,072 white males, 1,044 white females, 156 male slaves, 179 female slaves, and 4 [[free people of color]], for a total population of 2,455. The introduction of steam-powered ships on the Withlacoochee and Little rivers led to a shift in the population toward the rivers. In December 1833 the state legislature passed a law establishing a new county seat at a place to be called Lowndesville. The law called for a courthouse, a jail, and a town to be laid out within land lot 109 in the 12th land district. This land lot is near the present Timber Ridge Road in Lowndes County.

It is uncertain why the plans for Lowndesville were abandoned, but in December 1834, the state legislature authorized commissioners to select a suitable site for a courthouse so that the county seat could be moved away from Franklinville. In October 1836, another group of commissioners was advertising for contracting proposals for the construction of a brick courthouse at [[Troupville, Georgia|Troupville]]. By Summer 1837, Troupville and Franklinville were both serving as courthouse sites. This continued until at least 1838. In December 1837 [[Troupville]] was incorporated. Rumors of the coming of the Brunswick and Chattahoochee Railroad, the opening up of Florida, and the prosperity of the surrounding farmland led to the growth of Troupville and Lowndes County in general. In 1845, the remaining county-owned land at Franklinville was sold at the courthouse in Troupville.

The closest battle to Troupville between Native Americans and whites was at Brushy Creek on November 10, 1836, in modern [[Berrien County, Georgia|Berrien County]]. [[Muscogee (Creek) Nation|Creek Nation]] people were passing through Lowndes County to join the [[Seminole]] in Florida. [[General Winfield Scott]], commander of United States field forces in the area, intended to stop the Creek movement and did. Virtually no Native Americans were left in South Georgia.

In February 1850 Lowndes County lost land to the formation of [[Clinch County, Georgia|Clinch County]]. At that time the eastern border of Lowndes County was defined as the [[Alapaha River]].<ref>{{cite act |title= Acts of the State of Georgia, 1849-50.|number= 145 |date= February 14, 1850 |article= AN ACT to lay out and form a new county from the counties of Ware and Lowndes, and to provide for the organization of the same.}}</ref>
By the time of the 1850 census, Lowndes County had a free white population of 5,339, a free colored population of 20, and a [[Slavery in the United States|slave]] population of 2,355. Lowndes County lost additional territory with the establishment of [[Berrien County, Georgia|Berrien]] and [[Colquitt County, Georgia|Colquitt]] counties on February 25, 1856.