DeKalb Co. GAGenWeb

DeKalb County, Ga. History

DeKalb County was split off from Henry County (with small portions of Gwinnett and Fayette counties added) in 1822, one year after Henry was created from land ceded by the Muskogee (Creek) Indians. The new county spanned the area from Stone Mountain to the Chattahoochee River and contained the tiny village that would become the city of Atlanta until Fulton County was created in 1853. DeKalb was named for Baron Johann DeKalb, a German hero of the American Revolution. The county seat, Decatur, was named for American naval hero Stephen Decatur.

"Plain People"

"The early settlers of DeKalb were plain people of English, Scotch and Irish descent, coming directly and indirectly from Virginia and the Carolinas. They were poor, not highly educated, generally industrious and temperate. They were small farmers, owning their homes, which were generally log cabins and owning few slaves, many of them none at all. I do not suppose there was in the entire county a single land and slave owner, who because of the size of his holdings or farm operations, could have been called a planter, such as were known in the older East and Middle Georgia counties."

Charles Murphey Candler
Centennial Address
Nov. 9, 1922