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Paulding County GAGenWeb is a free genealogical site about the history of the county. We hope you find helpful clues for your research of Paulding County ancestors.

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Assistant State Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney

State Coordinator: Paula Perkins

COUNTY FORMATION

John Paulding (1759-1818) was one of the men that captured British spy Major Andre during the American Revolution. The county was named in his honor in 1832. For John's bravery and valor he was presented a medal by General George Washington and soon after his death the City of New York raised a monument to Paulding over Benedict Arnold\s grave commemorating his contribution to the Independence of the United States. Major Andre was Benedict Arnold's accomplice in the General's betrayal of the Country.

Paulding County was one of the ten (10) counties made up from the first Cherokee County and was one of the most remote areas in North Georgia. Only a single minor east-west route ran through Paulding county at that time. This route began at the "Shallow-Ford" of the Chattahoochee, and thus ran south of Kennesaw Mountain and due west to Alabama, where it passed near the present-day town of Dallas.

This area was claimed by both Creek, who dominated the southern portion of the county and Cherokee which controlled the north portion of the county. In 1825 Chief William McIntosh signed "The Treaty of Indian Springs", which chained the removal of the Creek in 1825, only the Cherokee remained.

The County was for the most part divided into 160 acre lots in the Land Lottery of 1832, although a small portion in the NE corner was distributed out as smaller 40 acre gold lots. The County was recognized on December 3, 1832 by the Georgia Legislature. The first county seat was Van Wert. Van Wert was named for the Van Wert that was involved in the capture of Major Andre. In 1838, the remaining Cherokee were moved west to Oklahoma on the infamous "Trail of Tears".

DALLAS

Polk County was formed on December 20, 1851, and the county seat of Van Wert was included in Polk County. Paulding County moved its county seat to Dallas in 1851. Dallas is named for George Mifflin Dallas, VP of the United States under James Polk. On May 14, 1852, Dallas was founded on land deeded from Garrett H. Spinks. The original courthouse was little more than a shack, about 3 miles north of the present downtown area.

Agriculture was prominent in the county along with grist mills, saw mills, potteries and tanyards. When the Civil war erupted the small town boasted a small cotton mill, cotton gins, tanneries and a brick yard and a potash works. Unlike other counties to the North, Paulding County had become to rely on cotton for some of its revenue. Although cotton was dominating the area, only +/- 129 people owned slaves.

On four occasions during the Civil War the county saw large numbers of Rebel and/or Union troops.
1) William Tecumseh Sherman left the Western and Atlantic Railroad near Kingston, GA to avoid a battle at Allatoona Pass - he moved to Joseph E. Johnston's left, hoping to outflank him by moving through the thick underbrush that made much of north Paulding County impassable. Once Johnston realized Sherman's plan, he began moving troops to block the way. In a series of three battles that stand out that are often confused or merged, Johnston and Sherman fought for control of the dense forest in late May of 1864.

Sherman chose the small town of Dallas as a good place for Battle because of the well-developed network of roads that spread out from its center, although he did not plan to utilize the roads, he thought he could entice Joe Johnston away from his stronghold at the Allatoona Pass.

New Hope Church, Dallas and Pickett's Mill were all fought in the confines of the county. Four months later John Bell Hood moved large numbers of troops to the area as a ruse to confuse Sherman, who had already taken the City of Atlanta. As Hood began to move North on the disastrous Nashville Campaign, Sherman followed him, passing through the County the third week of October, 1864. Finally, in March and April of 1865, a large number of Union soldiers moved into the County.

NEW HOPE CHURCH is the site of the 1864 Battle between General Sherman and Confederate General Johnston and PICKETT'S MILL STATE PARK is where a related battle was fought between General Clayborne and General Howard. A monument and memorial park stand at New Hope Church describing the events of this well-known battle. The terrain of the seven hundred plus acre site of Pickett's Mill is still today almost as it was on May 27th, 1864 - when Sherman was turned away from Paulding County and moved towards Kennesaw.

NEWSPAPER

The first newspaper was -- The New Era --

RAILROAD

The East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroads were one of a spate of Railways that launched a building program in the late 1870's. By the end of the decade the town of Dallas had tripled in size due to the Railroad - the lines one & only stop in the County.

Train "Ole 88" jumped the track near the Pumpkinvine Creek Trestle on October 18, 1903 - this was one of four major railroad accidents to occur in the County. The fireman, J. M. Flagler lost his leg jumping from the train. One car was loaded with Bull Durham smoking tobacco and ended up in a ditch fifty feet below the track. Paulding County residents claim all the boys learned to smoke as a result of this accident.

In 1910 the train depot burned.

In 2004 Paulding has grown immensely in number of population, enterprise and structures, but has maintained a great amount of its hometown flavor. The downtown area still looks
like a nice downtown area from the past. Further out of the downtown area the area has
increased in more modern buildings, and the number of new subdivisions going up are in large
numbers. The bypass highway has directed much of the traffic out of the downtown area,
but that does not seem to have declined the area, in actuality it has probably saved the
area.