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Although it took the foresight of men like James Patterson
McConnell, town founder, and John E. Jacobs, Grayson's first mayor
to actually establish what has become known as Grayson, our history
does not begin there. It was the foresight of others that brought
these men to this area where the land upon which we stand became
available for settlement.
The rich lands of Gwinnett County, Georgia were home to the Lower
Creek and Cherokee Indians many thousands of years before the first
European settlers set foot on them. In February 1784 Franklin
County, which is now part of Gwinnett, was opened for settlement. A
State Legislation Act that fixed the price of land at 3 shillings an
acre and limited settlers to 1000 acres maximum opened the area.
Land Lotteries and other legislation later governed the
distribution. Lands east of the Appalachee River became Gwinnett
County in December of 1818. Gwinnett and Walton Counties were
surveyed from the natural "Rockbridge" on the Hightower Trail in
1819.
Our Southern part of Gwinnett County, which would later become the
city of Grayson, was formed on either end of what is now considered
Grayson. The New Hope or Tribble's Mill area and the Haynes Creek or
Midway Area were thriving settlements in the early to middle
nineteenth century.
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