The history of early Georgia is largely the history of the Creek Indians. For most of Georgia’s colonial period, Creeks outnumbered both European colonists and enslaved Africans and occupied more land than these newcomers. Not until the 1760s did the Creeks become a minority population in Georgia. They ceded the balance of their lands to the new state in the 1800s. Early History The Creek Nation is a relatively young political entity.

Crisp County, in south Georgia, is Georgia’s 138th county. The 274-square-mile county was carved from Dooly County in 1905, after residents successfully petitioned for a division of that county. It was named for statesman Charles Crisp, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1891 to 1894, and Cordele was selected as the county seat. History The area now forming Crisp County was once a province called Chisi, Ichisi, or Achese, which was inhabited by the Lower Creek division of the Muskogee Indians.

The neoclassical revival-style Decatur County courthouse was built in Bainbridge, the county seat, in 1902. Courtesy of Don Bowman 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. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLHOq56imZWjsLqvy6innpyZlnuwvsZomKusmZi5pr%2BOnKaupqSesrR5wqKrop2jYrumtcahmaiqmKS8pb%2BOnZycmaSqv26vzq6lrbFfmbKkrdOuqWabn6q%2FtbTOrqqeZZKkxK6tzZhnaWldZ3w%3D

Georgia native DeForest Kelley was an actor best known for his role as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the Star Trek television series and feature films. Jackson DeForest Kelley was born on January 20, 1920, in Atlanta. He was the second son of Clora Casey and the Reverend Ernest David Kelley. His father’s work as a Baptist minister kept the family moving throughout Georgia before they settled down in Conyers in 1930.

The Dooly County Courthouse, completed in 1892, is the third to be erected in Vienna, the county seat. Designed in the Romanesque revival style, the courthouse underwent renovations in both 1963 and the late 1980s. Courtesy of Don Bowman 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.