Created by an act of May 15, 1821, Monroe County was an original county that contained all of Pike and parts of Bibb, Butts, and Lamar Counties. The land had been ceded by the Creek Indians in early 1821. Laid out by the Lottery Act, the county was rapidly occupied by large numbers of small landowners. It was named for James Monroe, President of the U.S. from 1817 to 1825. Its first officers, commissioned April 1, 1822, were John Cureton, sheriff; Wilkins Hunt, clerk of Superior Court; Isaac Welch, clerk of Inferior Court; John Tomlinson, coroner; and James Holloway, surveyor. On September 17, 1822, James Whatley became surveyor and Henry Jourdan coroner.