Jeff Davis County, in central Georgia, is the state’s 142d county, created in 1905 from parts of Appling and Coffee counties and named after Confederate president Jefferson Davis. The Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers merge on the northeast border of the county to create the Altamaha River. The county seat, Hazlehurst, was named after George H. Hazlehurst, the civil engineer who surveyed the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. In 1870 his teams simultaneously built railroad lines southward from Macon and northward from Brunswick, meeting approximately halfway between the two communities.

Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was captured by Union troops in Irwin County near the close of the Civil War in 1865. The location is marked today by the Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site, which includes a museum and a thirteen-acre park. Courtesy of Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print.

Jessye Norman, an Augusta native, began her career as an opera singer in 1969 with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Germany. She subsequently performed in Milan, Italy, and London, England, before making her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1983. The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print.

Joseph Addison Turner was a writer, editor, publisher, lawyer, and planter. He is best known for publishing The Countryman, a weekly newspaper produced from his Putnam County plantation during the Civil War (1861-65). Despite his previous publishing failures, Turner’s Countryman generated a wide southern readership during its four-year existence. Born on September 23, 1826, in Putnam County, Turner was the son of William (“Honest Billy”) Turner and Lucy Wingfield Butler. At seven years old, he suffered a bone infection that left him crippled for life and kept him homebound for several years.

The Judicial Building in Atlanta houses the Supreme Court of Georgia, as well as the Court of Appeals and the Attorney General's office. Courtesy of the Supreme Court of Georgia The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder.