Old Georgia Militia Districts practically extinct.

[Artfuldodger]

Looking at genealogy and looking at old census reports, I see that people lived in Militia Districts. These were apparently set up at the Revolutionary War or at least before or shortly after the Civil War.

Mostly by the turn of the century, they were just used for voting and census takers. Used to be used for taxes, election districts, Justice of the Peace Courts, etc.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Here is a list from Coffee County;
19 Militia Dist. 437. Pickren 20 Militia Dist. 748. Douglas including Douglas town 21 Militia Dist. 1026. Willacoochee including Willacoochee town 22 Militia Dist. 1127. Wooten 23 Militia Dist. 1130. Pearson including Pearson town 24 Militia Dist. 1170. Tanner 25 Militia Dist. 1353. McDonald 26 Militia Dist. 1556. Phillips Mill

It's also interesting that a lot of those communities aren't even known by those names any more. As railroads and highways came through with new towns close by, the areas became known by the names of those new towns.

Phillips Mill is now Ambrose and Wooten is now Pridgen. Not that they replaced those communities, just that the new cities were so close, people quit using the old Militia District names.

 

[trad bow]

Live in Putnam and locals still refer to sections of the county by the district’s names. I believe the more rural an area is the more those names are used but the younger generation doesn’t use them as much. The rivers and creeks in this area had a lot of grist mills and the shoals they were located on are still known by the old mills names.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Live in Putnam and locals still refer to sections of the county by the district’s names. I believe the more rural an area is the more those names are used but the younger generation doesn’t use them as much. The rivers and creeks in this area had a lot of grist mills and the shoals they were located on are still known by the old mills names.

I would agree about younger folks than me. Maybe a lot of the old name will soon fade.
Besides mills, a lot of the towns or communities were rail road stops. Now that they are gone, the towns dry up and the post offices close.

I could ask my Mom or Dad where an old community was in Coffee County and they usually knew. Some of them I had never heard of. Some are still known even with the younger generation.

This is a list of Coffee County. I probably know where half of them are.
https://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/coffeecopn.htm

 

[Artfuldodger]

I use to have a .pdf list of all the Georgia towns and the origin of their names. It may have been titled something like "The Post Offices of Georgia."
I wish I would have saved the link or file.

 

[trad bow]

You can look up all the militia districts in each county by Georgia Militia Districts.

 

[BriarPatch99]

Saginaw Georgia ..... Right Smack in the Heart of Dixie....!!!

 

[JustUs4All]

Lots of old place names with a bit of history here:

http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/georgia_place-names.htm