Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-06

Charles F. M. Garnett, then chief engi- neer of the state, to designate the loca- tion 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 con scientious consideration of all its advan- tages and disadvantages. It was then a wild. unhroken forest. without habita- ton or even fence ill 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 heshould have the honor of making the state dona- tion of all ground that might be neceS- sary for public purposes free of charge, although urged him to receive fair compensation
 MT. MitChelrs public spirited generos- ity will be the better appreciated in the light of the knowledge that the land sharperS and speculators had already been after him. and he was consequently not without knowledge of the value of the property he so freely gave away. That his very generosity should ulti- mateiy have the effect of hampering the growing city could not then, of course, be forcScen, 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-five acres. He lived To see the utter insuf- ficiency of this and to express his regret that he had not secured more land for public purposes from the generous MT. Mitchell.
 When the town came to be lald out, MT. Mitchell wished 1t to bear the name Lumpkin, in honor of the governor but the latter objected. because we already had in Georgia q county as well as q beau tiful aud houriShinS little village called Lumpljr, i'll honor of myself" He thought, too, it would be indelicatc. con silcrinS his connection with the matter, and advised Mir. Mitchell 10 give the town lis own namc. This Mir Mitchell would not hear of, and he and Colonel Gaructt finally compromised the matter by calling il Marthasvillc, in honor Of tho governors daughter.
 Tho city was called Marthasvillc for the first four years of its existence. and the governor said in the letter quoted above: 1t would have borne that name vet but for the Tredominating 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.
 T. Edgar Thompson. an engineer on the Georgia railroad. first suggested the name Atlanta i'll letter to Richard Peters. resident of Marthasville, and MT. 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 ulterior motive.
 Miss Hattie Lumpkin. as she is still called ill Athens. though she Is widow and her legal designation is Mrs. Martha Lumpkin Compton, is a pleasant old lady of 66, whose face still possesses great sweetness of expression and shows traces of the beauty that half century ago gave her rank among the most fas- cinating girls ill 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 captious about the change of the city'S name.