About Alpharetta
by Anne Rogers Ferguson
Before Milton was created in 1857, a campground was in use a short distance north of Alpharetta's present City Hall. Several good springs of water made the area an ideal camp site for travelers going in any direction. The Cherokee Indians had used it throughout their existence, and when the white men started passing through the area, it was an ideal stopover for them, too. The area around these springs became known as New Prospect Camp Ground, and was often referred to as the "Methodist Camp Ground."
About the time Milton County was created, some of the travelers who had used the campground decided to build their homes near by and agreed they needed to establish a town.
They chose an area south of the campground and carefully laid out their town. A courthouse was to be built in the center of their town, and the town lots would extend for a half mile to each direction from the courthouse. Plans for the courthouse and a jail were quickly drawn up and registered in the Inferior Court record book on July 22, 1858. The courthouse was built by H. B. Wallace and cost $2,400.00 to build. The first sale of town lots was on April 30, and May 1, 1858. Other sales followed. Men were hired to dig stumps from the streets of the town and fill in holes for 40 cents per stump. George Hansard was paid $34.00 on May 3, 1858 for clearing off the ground for the first location for the Town of Milton. That was what they had named their new little town. The last time the "Town of Milton" was used in the records was on July 13, 1858 and the first time "Alpharetta" was used was on July 17, 1858. At no time was the town itself ever called "New Prospect."
The little town grew rapidly. Alpharetta was incorporated on December 11, 1858. Section VI of the incorporation specified the Town Commissioners had the power to levy a tax annually of not more than twenty dollars upon each grocery or retailing liquor store, hallway, billiard table or any other table of like character which may be set up in said incorporation; they should also have power to levy a tax not exceeding twenty-five dollars on all shows that may be exhibited within said corporation. The first Trustees Report showed a balance of $1,302.00 in 1859.
Although it was primarily a farming area, it was a busy little town with three hotels by 1860. Most likely the Methodist Church was one of the first buildings built, and it was undoubtedly built of logs and may or may not have had a wood floor in it. In those days, the church was usually built first of all, and church services held in it, even before the settlers built their homes. A school was also of primary importance and undoubtedly was a one-room log cabin to house all the children and had only one teacher. It is known that the first post office in the area was named "Farm House, Georgia." (This information regarding the first post office's name came from Aubrey Morris, of WSB fame.) The residents of the little town of Alpharetta were for the most part very poorly educated, but only about 50 adults could neither read nor write.
The town suffered a siege of smallpox in 1863 with 16 cases of smallpox in only two families. The county made payment to nurses and guards "to prevent the spread of smallpox." In the Phillip Wacasa family, eight were sick at one time, and in the John Vaughn family there were five sick at one time. There were several deaths.
On record also is "1864 Justice of the Inferior Court Debit to O. P. Skelton to carrying county records out from the Enemy $30.00" and "John Webb the sum of Sixty dollars for bringing County Books back from Jackson County." Dates for the actual moves were not given but both men received payment on these orders in full on January 25, 1865.
In the records the "burning of the courthouse" was mentioned several times. It may have been burned by Federal Troops in June or July of 1865 just prior to the burning of Atlanta. Milton County records reveal that the tax returns for 1864 and 1865 burned in the courthouse. There is also a record where the County Treasurer, S. L. Rucker, was ordered to pay the trustees of the Methodist Church of Alpharetta, Georgia twenty dollars for use of the church house to hold court in this 3rd September 1867, and a written receipt for $20.00 in full dated April 3, 1869 signed by B. F. Roberts for this transaction.
There are mentions in the Inferior Court records of five different public wells in the town of Alpharetta, but I have not been able to find the exact locations of all five. It is known that two were at the courthouse, one on either side of the front, one was at the Jail, which was believed to be located at the western edge of the town, one was at the Paupers' House, and the first well, according to what Mr. Louie E. Jones told me when I was a little girl, was located between the present City Park and Mr. Clayton's Photography Studio. This information had been handed down by word of mouth to Mr. Jones by some of his ancestors. I believe that, for the City Park is on the location of the former Alpharetta Hotel, also known as the Teasley Hotel because it was built by Mr. Isham Teasley, one of the founders of Alpharetta. When the opera came to Alpharetta in their ox-drawn wagons, the members of the opera stayed in this hotel. Another hotel, the Dodd Hotel, was built of wood and stood between the present Fire Station and the Cemetery on Milton Avenue. The Teasley Hotel was a beautiful brick structure which later housed several businesses on its street floor at various times.
List of purchasers of the first town lots of the Town of Milton (name changed to Alpharetta on July 17, 1858):
James M. Seale
Randal Burney (?)
Geo. E. Goodwin
Thomas Brice
Wm. A. Teasley
J. M. Reeve
Samuel Baker
Isham Teasley
Charles Dunwoody
Valentine Coleman
John J. Stuart
Marion J. Seale
P. F. Rainwater
John J. James
James A. Stuart
T. T. Key
Thos J. Harris
John Fitch
Jackson Gregory
G. W. Arnold
Richd A. Seals
Daniel Pettit
H. M. Cowan
Jno. T. Paden
Chas A. Dunwoody
Wiley C. Anderson
Henry W. Parris
M. R. Harris
H. H. Dean
Jno W. Nesbit (transferred to J. J. Stewart)
Alex A. McMakin
O. P. Skelton
Jas. T. Revis
Ulm P. Brown
W. P. Slaton
Wm. Harris
R. M. (?) Moore
Laloson Fields
Hampton Smith
T. T. Key
Isham Teasley
Fair Fitch
Some people Purchased more than one lot. The total amount of the first sale of lots was $6,656.25.
SOME FIRSTS
Courthouse built by H. B. Wallace. Cost $2,400.00
First Notary Public: Samuel H. Baker
First County Clerk: John B. Moore
First Census Taker: Joseph J. Mattocks
First County Treasurer: J. P. Revis
First Sheriff and Jailor: James C. Mitchell
First Ordinary: O. P. Skelton (the doctor)
First Tax Collector: S. E. Rogers
First prisoner in the jail: Wiley Barmore
First post office named: Farm House, Georgia
It was hard times in Alpharetta following the Civil War, and the little town grew very little. The Alpharetta Baptist Church was organized between 1903 and 1905 by twenty ladies and was officially constituted on June 10, 1905.
An annual event, begun in the early 1860's (the first annual singing convention, according to the records of the Sacred Harp Singing Convention, was held in Alpharetta in 1868) still takes place in Alpharetta. It is the June Singing held on the second Sunday in June. It was originally held in the Courthouse, upstairs. Beginning at 10:00 that morning, the first notes were sounded by the Singing Convention leaders, and religious songs from the Christian Harmony Song Book were sung. First the notes of the song were sung, then the words. Christian Harmony had seven notes: do, ra, fa, sol, la, ti, do. After a morning of perfect harmony like you wouldn't believe, the group spread lunch which each family had brought from home, in a grove of trees just back of the courthouse. Following their lunch, around 1:00 p.m., the group sang again, this time from the old Sacred Harp Song Book, which used only four notes, fa, sol, la, mi.
One of my earliest memories is going to the singing in the morning with my father and then in the afternoon with my mother. It was a time for the families for miles around to get together and visit and share their lives since the last year. When I was a child, thousands of people would be there: even the streets were standing full of people enjoying the day.
The singing is now held at Alpharetta City Hall (the site of the former Milton County Courthouse). The Court or Meeting Room where the singing is held is very rarely filled now on the second Sunday in June. The singing is as beautiful today as in the old days, just not as many voices taking part. A college music professor in Tennessee recently remarked that this type of singing is the most perfect harmony that is sung.
In 1932 Milton County merged with Fulton, and all its records became the property of Fulton County. This merger was very beneficial to the Milton County residents. Among other things, it was now possible for Alpharetta to have its first paved roads. I was five years old at the time and was being sent by my mother to the grocery store for various small items. What a thrill!
My father was the local blacksmith, and you could hear his hammer ringing on the anvil all over town as he sharpened plows, shod horses and did other work needed by the residents. He even made a liquor still one time for one of the residents who got really angry with him because, as a bailiff, he later raided the still.
When a still was raided, it was chopped up so it couldn't be used again and the confiscated liquor was brought to Alpharetta and poured out in the gutter in the side of Main Street in front of the Courthouse. This was a bonus time for some of the residents who ran out with tine cups, etc. to scoop up the booze and drink it.
I would be remiss in writing this if I did not mention that just before World War II hit us with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Alpharetta had bowling alley. It was located on the corner of Academy and Main Streets across from the Alpharetta City Hall in the building owned by C. P. Brady & Sons. It was in the upstairs area of this building, and mules were lead up the stairs to the area to sand the floor to make the bowling lanes. This was really an accomplishment, and was a favorite gathering place for many of the city's residents. You could hear the bowling balls thundering down the lanes and striking the pins all over town!
Then the war started, and the fun and games were mostly over. An air raid siren was installed in town, blackout curtains were required, scrap metal and even foil chewing gum wrappers were saved for the war effort. Sugar, meat, shoes, automobile tires, etc. were purchased only if you were lucky enough to have ration stamps to buy them with. A bus ran from Dahlonega to Atlanta several times a day, and car pools were widely used to aid in transportation. It was rough times, but everybody, even the children were helping with the war effort. My father worked at the Army Depot in Conley as a blacksmith, and at night and on the weekends, sharpened plows and other tools, and shod horses to keep things going and aid the farmers in their work. If you wanted a bar of candy, or a pair of hose, or other various items, you stood in line and hoped you'd be lucky enough to get to the front of the line before the scarce commodities were sold. It was a new and different way of life for all of us, but we made the best of it, and when the war was finally over, welcomed our loved ones home and started to rebuild our lives.
What wondrous changes have been made in the Town of Milton (Alpharetta) since its beginning!
NOTE: The "About Alpharetta" Article was compiled by Anne Rogers Ferguson. The first pages were taken from the actual original Old Milton County Records which were researched by Nellie Rogers, and William and Anne Ferguson.
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