The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1893-10-13

Charles F. NJ. Garrett, then chief engi-
neer of the state, to designate the loca-
ton Of the terminus of the road.
The site of the present city OF Atlanta
was selected after a careful examination
Of the surrounding country and a con
scientious consideration of all its advan-
tages and disadvantages. 1t was then a
wild, unbroken forest, without g habita-
ton u even a fence in sight, and the
two gentlemen upon whom the selection
depended had not the slightest knowl-
edge of the ownership Of the land they
chose. They found afterward that it
belonged to Samuel Mitchell Of Pike
county, and Governor Lumpkin opened
negotiations with him for the purchase
of the necessary land for depot buildings
and other purposes. That gentleman,
however, refused to receive any compen-
sation from the state, and, as Governor
Lumpkin has left on record, 'claimed
as a right and urged that he should have
the honor of licking the state a dona-
ton of all gr, that might be neces-
sary for public purposes free of charge,
although l urged HIM to receive a fair
compensation"
Mr.. Mitchells public spirited generos-
ity will be the better appreciated in the
light of the knowledge that the land
sharpers and spectators had already
been after him, and he was consequently
not without knowledge of the value of
the property he 80 freely gave away.
That his very generosity should ulti-
mately have the effect of hampering the
growing city could not then, of course,
be foreseen, but it certainly did have
that effect.
Governor Lumpkin, with very made
quate notions, as he afterward con
fessed, Of "the vast Importance of this
spot of ground" took only what was
absolutely necessary at the time-fve
acres. He lived to see the utter insult
ficiency Of this and to express his regret
that he had not secured more land for
public purposes from the generous Mr..
Mitchell.
When the town came to be laid out,
Mr.. Mitchell wished it to bear the name
Lumpkin, in honor Of the governor, but
the latter objected, because we already
had in Georgia a county as well as beau
tiful and f%ourishing little village called
Lumpkin, in honor Of myself" He
thought, too, it would be indicate, con-
sidering his connection with the matter,
and advised Mr.. Mitchell to give the
town his w name. This Mr.. Mitchell
would not hear of, and he and Colonel
Garnett finally compromised the matter
by calling it Marthasville, in honor of
the governors daughter.
The city was called Marthasville for
the first four years of its existence, and
the governor said in the letter quoted
above: 1T would have borne that name
yet but for the predominating low vice
of envy" History has failed to record
anything that shows the reason for Gov
ernor Lumpkin's entertainment of this
belief, and his daughter, who still lives
at the old family seat near Athens, has
no remembrance Of that phase of the
subject.
J. Edgar Thompson, an engineer on
the Georgia railroad, first suggested the
lldIuc SLioiIbd Ii d leIICE W hlClldTu
Peters, a resident Of Marthasville, and
Mr.. Peters was active in securing sigma
lures to the petition for a new charter
in which the name was changed, but
nothing appears to show any Interior
motive.
"Niss Matte Lumpkin," as she is still
called in Athens, though she is a widow
and her legal designation is Mrs. Martha
Lumpkin Compton, is a pleasant old
lady of &C, whose face still possesses
great sweetness of expression and shows
traces of the beauty that half a century
ago gave her rank among the most fas-
cinating girls in her native state. She
is very fond of a joke, very proud of
her family history, extremely proud of
the fact that the metropolis and capital
of Georgia was once named for her, and
not at all eaptious about the change of
the city's name.