Gwinnett County

Created in 1818 from Cherokee and Creek cessions, Gwinnett was an original county. Courts, elections, and sheriff sales were first held in the home of Elisha Winn, 1 mile east of the Appalachee River. Chosen to buy a permanent site for the county town, Winn purchased Lot 146, consisting of 250 acres in the Fifth Land District, for $200 from John Breedlove of Hancock County, who had drawn it in the lottery. The first county officers, commissioned in March, 1819, were William Blake, sheriff; James Wardlaw, clerk of Superior Court; Thomas A. Dobbs, clerk of Inferior Court; John Wynn, coroner; James C. Reed, surveyor; James Loughridge, tax collector; and John W. Beauchamp, tax receiver. In 1849, the four corner lots on the public square were deeded to Charles H. Smith, Bill Arp, N.L. Hutchins, James P. Simmons, and T.W. Alexander, lawyers, as long as they maintained a substantial fence around the square to keep out wandering livestock, and the first fence under this agreement was eight feet high with a stile on each side.

Lawrenceville, Georgia · United States