Gilmer County was created by act of December 3, 1832, out of Cherokee. Originally it contained parts of Fannin, Dawson, and Pickens Counties. The county was named for George Rockingham Gilmer (1790-1859), who served with distinction as a soldier, lawyer, legislator, Congressman, and twice as Governor of Georgia, from 1829 to 1831 and from 1837 to 1839. The first officers, commissioned March 9, 1833, were Levi A. Hufsteller, sheriff; Thomas M. Burnett, clerk of Superior Court; and Henry K. Quillian, clerk of Inferior Court. Officers commissioned July 10, 1833, were Thomas Gutterry, coroner, and Benjamin M. Griffith, surveyor.