Photo: The county courthouse in Elberton, Georgia, where Rose Davis has family history
Elberton, Georgia, is located in northeast Georgia, near Athens. It is the county seat of Elbert County. Both the city and the county were named after Samuel Elbert (1740 – November 1, 1788). He was an American merchant, military officer, and politician from Savannah, Georgia.
He was the son of William Elbert, who was a Baptist minister, and Sarah Greenfield. His parents died when he was fourteen. Samuel Elbert would later marry Elizabeth Rae in 1769. Their union would produce six children: Catherine, Elizabeth, Sara, Samuel de Lafayette, Matthew, and Hugh Lee. He became a captain of a grenadier company of Savannah’s First Regiment of Militia in June 1772.
Elbert fought in the Revolutionary War, and during that time, he rose in rank. He became a major general in the Georgia militia and a colonel in the Continental Army. He commanded the colonial forces in a naval battle near St. Simons Island in Georgia on April 19, 1778. They won that battle. In 1779, at the Battle of Brier Creek, he was wounded and captured. He regained his freedom in a prisoner exchange. He became a brigadier general after the war ended. He was elected sheriff of Chatham County and was made a vestryman for Christ Church.
In 1784, he was elected to the United States Congress, but he didn’t serve because he didn’t think he was physically fit for the task. He later served a term as governor of Georgia.
He was also an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of Georgia and a Freemason. He served as the last Provincial Grand Master of the first English Provincial Grand Lodge of Georgia in 1785.
The city of Elberton was settled in the 1780s and designated the seat of Elbert County in 1790. It was incorporated as a town in 1803. It would later become a city in 1896. It is known as the “Granite Capitol of the World.” It is famous for its extensive granite quarries, which produce more monuments than anywhere else in the world. Some of the attractions in Elberton include the Granite City Walking Trail, the Elberton Granite Museum, the Elbert Theatre, the Richard B. Russell State Park, the Nancy Hart Cabin, and the Jim-Ree African American Museum.
According to the 2020 census, the population is 4,640. The median age is 41.4. Approximately 23.3% of the population is under the age of eighteen, while 21.9% is sixty-five or older. The population is 48.36% white (2,244 people), 40.09% Black (1,860), 0.24% Native America (11), 1.23% Asian (57), 3.19% other/mixed (148), and 6.9% Hispanic/Latino (320).
