Cryptures April 2016

George Edward Smith traveled to the 6th District of Coweta County (the 6th district was considered the garden spot of the county) in 1829 by wagon from Oglethorpe County. George was only 15 years old at the time. He brought with him several men to help clear land and build cabins for his uncle Dr. Ira Ellis Smith who won the land in the Land Grant Lottery of 1828. Dr. Smith’s plantation house was built seven miles east of Newnan close to the Thomas’ Crossroads on the old Wynn’s Pond road. It would later be named Shoal Creek and is still standing today according to one report.

George returned with the hands to Oglethorpe County only to come back to Coweta on foot driving cattle for two well to do men. He received twenty-five cent a day for his labors. This might not sound like more than a very long walk but he was walking through primal forest where lurked puma, wolf, bear and any number of other varmints and Indians. Can you imagine anyone doing that today for those wages!

George was a hard worker and very industrious. He was well educated and became a highly respected Methodist Episcopal preacher in Coweta County. His home church was Cokes Chapel, however there is no evidence that he every preached there. He was well loved but was also known for being puritanical and insisting that the women folk refer to their husbands as Mr. or My Lord. The Methodists of the time believed in austerity and were known for expelling women wearing jewelry to church.

Two of George’s sons built the pulpit in Cokes Chapel around the middle post. It was later removed to the Fellowship Hall but has since gone missing.

Reverend George Edward Smith was buried in the Cokes Chapel cemetery January 05, 1883. He was only sixty-nine years old.
 
Thom McCague, thommc49@gmail.com

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