Mr. Holcomb was also the census taker in 1850, the last time Murray figures included what is now Whitfield and Catoosa Counties. Approximately 48% of the 12,503 inhabitants were Georgia natives. Fifteen percent were from Tennessee and South Carolina, while eleven percent were North Carolinians by birth. Seven percent were from the British Isles. The remaining four percent were from other states, like Virginia and Kentucky, or other countries such as Canada or Germany. Murray's citizenry included 2.047 dwellings, 6,604 white males, 5.888 white females, 3 free black males, eight free black females, and 1,930 slaves. There were 20 schools serving 646 boys and 442 girls. Three hundred benefited from the $1,100 in poor funds. Almost 300 males were illiterate as were 555 females. During the census year there were 98 marriage and 462 births. Twenty-five manufacturing establishments were operating and among the churches in existence were 17 Baptist, eight Methodist, and two Presbyterian congregations. The value of real estate was 51,660.705 while personal property was valued at SI,268,406. The 1.035 farms in the county included 51,102 acres of improved land and 163,470 unimproved acres.
Spring Place was growing rapidly. At the time of the census, Franklin Morris, Addison Jarnagan, John Tyler. John Beall, and John O'Conner were merchants; Charles E. Broyles. Anderson Farnsworth, Dawson A. Walker, John C. Buich, William Loften, James Douglas, J.A.W. Johnson, James A.R. Hanks, Owen H. Kenan, Ambrose Blackwell. and R.H.L. Buchanan were listed as attorneys; James Henry. James Ramsey, William Hunter, Asa May, James Dykes, E.S. Bird, and Wesley Mauldin were blacksmiths; and James J. Allen, Samuel Dwight, William Anderson. Joseph McDowell, Baxter Brown, and J.A. Black were doctors. Brickmasons were Joseph Reuble(?), William H. Steed, Alfred Wheat and John Bowman-while George M. Brown, Mr. Dickinson, John Taiiaferro, and Hugh Goddard were tanners. William Chambers was a cooper, William Laughmiller was a saddler, Abraham Wilson made chairs, Benjamin Buchanan taught school, and S.H. Sterling was a barkeeper.
Also on the census were tailors Robert Stansberry, J.M. league, and John H. Williams; shoemakers John Conally and William Stanfield; wagon makers Gordon Webb, Alex Paul; cabinet maker Thomas Crews; "plasterers" John Shamblin(?) and James Young, carpenter Hugh Shannon; and William Hames, a "gold digger." Clerk of Court Ralph Allison, Tax Collector Thomas J. Harper, Sheriff Buchanan, Postmaster Andrew Morris, and Presbyterian minister William B. Brown were also living in Spring Place. Another early Murray family was the Nathanial Harben clan, owners of a farm here before they moved to Dalton between 1855 and 1858 for the children to attend school. The youngsters born in Murray were Frances, Thomas, and Georgia, while Will, born soon after the move to Dalton. became a well-known Georgia novelist.
While the census of 1850 was a major occurrence in Murray County, another important event was the establishment of the "General System of Public Schools." Apparently the old plan where the Justice of the Inferior Court (Ordinary) was responsible for administering school funds had not worked in Murray County. Therefore, an act of the legislature created the equivalent of a Board of Education whose duty it was to appoint a clerk/treasurer to receive and distribute "poor school funds." The Board of Commissioners as it was then called also had to examine the teachers for the poor schools. The first commissioners were J.A.W. Johnson, Dawson A. Walker, John C. Birch, John A. Tyler, and William R. Bernier.
Permission to form school districts was granted by the legislature in 1857 and during the next year several were established. By this time the ordinary was once again paymaster for the teachers. Another act regulating schools in Murray was passed in 1859.
This decade also saw the last major physical changes in Murray County. Walker County had been taken away in 1833 and Dade was formed from Walker 4 years later. Murray also gave up land to Bartow (1834) and Gilmer (1838). As the 1850's began the Murray-Walker line was adjusted and a small area added to Gordon. In 1851 Whitfield was created from Murray and two years later Catoosa was formed out of Whitfield. Other boundary adjustments were made with Bartow County in 1850. with Gordon (formed in 1850) in 1852, 1853, 1866 and 1876. and with Fannin in 1856. Taxes were increased and laws were changed in 1859. Within two decades Murray County had been reduced to approximately 342 square miles in area.
The 1850's saw the first of several mining crazes spread across the county. Euclid Waterhouse, Gideon B. Thompson, Thomas H. Caloway, John Towns, and Thomas Leach made up the Tocoah Mining Company while Archibald Fitzgerald. Dawson A. Walker, Edward M. Gait, Francis W. Gait, John W. Wood, Caloway and Waterhouse comprised the Spring Place Mining Company. These ventures were chartered in 1854 along with the Conasauga and Cohutta Mining Companies. A drought occurred in 1852.
G.W. Fowler and B.B. Brown were doctors in 1853 while Thomas May was Justice of the Peace in 1856. Also in Spring Place was the Jarnagan Tanyard located west of the Cleveland Road in the 1850's and 1860's. In 1860 H. Heart-sell sold his lanyard to John C. King who in turn sold it to Henry Williams 11 years later. Rev. Selvidge preached to blacks around Spring Place during the 1850's. In 1860 an act was passed to suppress the use of intoxicants at elections in Spring Place.
A militia company known as the Spring Place Volunteers was formed in 1859. Within a short time these soldiers would be involved in the Civil War for throughout this decade the clouds were gathering. Eulalie Lewis wrote that at the time of the Civil War "a good hard-surfaced road ... led from Spring Place to Sonora (now Sonoraville)." Perhaps this was the road used by Major Lemuel Dillard (father of the late J.T. Dillard and grandfather of R.E. Dillard) when he brought mail on horseback from Cassville and other points south to Spring Place.
On the eve of War a Mr. Garrett took the 1860 Murray County Census. The now smaller Murray included eight districts with the following post offices listed: Spring Place, Woodlawn. Rock Creek, Hassler's Mill, Fancy Hill. Holly Creek. Conasauga. Cohuttah Springs, and Upper King's Ridge (or Bridge). In Spring Place a few of the businessmen from the 1850 count were still around, but most of the names were new. Frank Vonberg and Mr. Crews were cabinet makers, John Russell was a silversmith, Mina Crews was a dressmaker, and Mary Adams was a seamstress while John O'Donally was a tailor, Burger Gaither a tanner, Hiram Garrett a carpenter, and Zachariah Walls a farm agent. N.P. Fams-worth was "a drygoods clerk," F.C. Farmer was a mail carrier, Joel Henry made wagons. John Glover was a miller, and Solomon Plemons made shoes. Doctors were E.H.L. Keister. P.P. Sloan, Anderson. Elias McCutcheon, and James F. Haley. Lawyers included William Luffman, John H. Moffett. W.W. Wilkens, Joseph Slate. Jarnes W. and J.S. Powell. John Oats, and Anderson Farnsworth. Several blacksmiths worked in the town. Among them were J.J. & James H. Cantrell, M.W. Woodard. James C. Henry, and Nathan Davis. Grocerymen and merchants included Matthew Adams, E.W. Jackson, John Edmondson, Whitfield, Robert Powells. A.F. Lowery. and Daniel Nix. John O'Connor and W.W. and Hannah Stone were hotel keepers while John Beall was postmaster. Teachers were J.H.H. Parker, James and L.A.G. Randle, and William Drewsford. James Adams and J.L. Burns were Baptist ministers while Rev. Brown remained at the Presbyterian church. N.T. Osborn was Clerk of Court.
Murray County's early years ended. The struggles to establish the county were over, but another nation-wide struggle was beginning.
Murray County Heritage