Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-12
HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY
Shepherds District-Origin OF IT'S Name
Mortality Amounting to Plague.
Written EnDresSlv for the Madison (Gd.) Mad
iSO7aiIn bU Fred O. Foster

10 u Adkues
Written EoDresslv for the Madison (GG.) Mad
tSoatdn 6D Fred q. Foster.
On the east side of Little Indian creek,
near half mile from its confluence with
Big Indian, In an open and partially cul-
tiVated field, now the property of W. A.
Broughton and his sister, Mrs. A. M.
speer, is small spot of ground not eV-
ceeding an eighth of an acre, whereon the
weeds and grass grow in greater profu-
sion and much more luXuriantly than on
the surrounding lands. Locking for the
cause which brought about the fertility
OF the soil, producing such excess of veg
citation, the careful observer will find a
small mound, on which, half imbedded
IN the soft black earth, are
several fiat rocks, which upon close scru-
tiny will reveal the fact, that at some Pc
Rod in their existence they have been
subjected to considerable heat. Near this
mound is the head of little gully, which
runs of down the hillside to a small
branch that goes creeping along through
the bullrush and alder bushes to the
creek. This is enough: The experienced
eye, having taken in these sur
roundings. instantly there is formulated
i'll the brain the idea that this is an old
"house place."
In 1903, before there was any county
organization whatever, James Shepherd,
with his wife and 2-year-old child, left
his home IN Virginia, near the North
Carolina line. and sought a home in the
wild woods west OF the Oconee. Fam
lily tradition fails to disclose whether or
not be was the owner of any property in
Virginia. The presumption is that he
was not, inasmuch as he made his jour-
ney to Georgia in a one-horse wagon,
and this, so far as Is now known, was
all OF this worlds goods he then pos
sessed. He crossed the river where Parks
mill now stands, out in fiat boat, and
Travelled the road to a point near the
present residence Of A. q. Zachry. Here
the road stopped. There were only few
settlers west of this place, and they had
not been in the county long enough to
construct roads. An Indian trail led of
through the woods to Old Town, an Indian
village on the Ocmulgee. The woods
were open. The annual fires kindled by
the saVages for the purpose OF burning of
their hunting grounds, had destroyed the
underbrush, and the Old Town trail could
be followed in wagon with but little OF
no trouble. Shepherd took this trail, and
in few minutes put civilization and all
its comforts and conveniences behind
him.
As the day advanced they arrived at the
old ''house place. before mentioned. The
horse was unhitched and staked out to
Craze on the tender and succulent grass.
A fire was made, and Shepherd. for the
first time, went down what was after.
terward the path, now the gully, to the
spring for water. The good woman got
out the frying pan, the skillet and the
= nv.1 wrl.s Oh ~.
their simple meal her husband. with axe
in hand, constructed a brush shelter to
protect them from the heayv dews of the
fast approaching night. This was inc
first shelter ever erected by a white man
in that portion OF the county, now EN-.
braced in the 2S5th district, and from the
builder, the first settler, it gets its name,
shepherds district.
Early on the morning after his arrival
James Shepherd commenced cutting the
logs for his house. The long, slender
trees stood ready at his hand, and 1t was
but a few days before he mounted his
horse and rode back to the settlement to
summon the kind-hearted aud generous
pioneers to his house raising. They re.
sponded with alacrity, and while some
we're notching up the logs others were
irving the boards, and when the last logs
or plates for the rafters we're put in
place, the boards were ready, and the
house soon covered, not by nailiEg on the
boards, for they had no nails, but by
simply laying them on and putting upon
each layer a fattened log TO hold them in
place. All this was done In one day, and
that night Shepherd and his little family
silent in the first house ever erected In
Shepherds district. He afterwards put
floor in it, and built the chimney, the
remnant Of which is still TO be seen In the
mound.
shortly after James Shepherds coming
the old Seven Island road was laid out
and opened, and in few years became
one of the most noted, as we'll as one oil
the most travelled thoroughfares In all the
State of Georgia. 1t crossed the Oconee
At Parks mills, and passing directly by
the house of Mrs. Shepherd. widow OF
Carter Shepherd, ST., across Little river,
some two miles below the mill of Peter
W. Walton. went on to the Seven Islands,
in the Ocmulgee river. From these islands
IL got its name.
During the years intervening between
1910 and 1910, the Seven Island road was
the great public highway, running across
this portion Of the State, from east TO
west. A regular line OF stages, carrying
passengers and the malls, made daily
NfAI5 ONNA w. kVAhE w anu ASbuAiink nun
Augusta and Columbus. Shepherc's
house was one OF the stage stands, and
there passengers were entertained, and
horses changed. To accommodate his
guests, aud prepare for them suitable and
cOmmodious lOdgings,he, in 1892, built the
present six-room house In which the
widow Of his son now lives. He also
built a store house, and stocked II with
goods.
Shepherds district, now 30 healthy, has
a darR history OF dtatn end woe. In 1910,
the decaying deadened timber, which the
settlers had left in their clearings, pro-
duced chills and fever; and as the years
went on, more and larger clearings were
made. these diseases were augmented by
other and more violent forms OF malariaI
fever, which were exceedingly fatal. But
it was reserved for the year 1892,
the same In which James Shep-
herd built the present house, 70
write the gloomiest page in the annals OF
the district. During that year death rode
on the wings Of the wind, and lurked In
the very atmosphere breathed by the ter
ror-stricken and doomed inhabitants. The
mortality was simply appalling. II
amounted 10 plague. During the time
the carpenters were engaged la building
Shepherds house, they we're interrupted
IN their work not less than forty times to
make as many collins for the dead.