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Welcome to Bryan County, Georgia Project!
History/Timeline
- Bryan co. area was inhabited in days before the time of Christ.[1]
- 1500's Spanish sailors explored the Ogeechee River. Spanish monks built a mission of Santa Diego de Satuache on the land now known as Genesis Point.[1]
- 1733 - In the Early days of the Georgia colony, General Jams Oglethorpe felt Savannah, Georgia needed some protection from western approaches. He built Fort Argyle near where 2 rivers meet, the Ogeechee and Canoochee Rivers. [2][3]
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Fort Argyle marker.
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- Fort Argyle was built as a deterrent near a pass which the Indians traveled upon. This was to give protection to the Savannah settlers from invading Indians and raiding Spaniards out of Florida. Exact location for this marker is within Fort Stewart Military Installation, Bryan County, GA.[4]
- Fort Argyle was named in honor of John, Duke of Argyle, friend of James Edward Oglethorpe, and was garrisoned by Captain McPherson with a detachment of Rangers. (The Marker for this is in the Georgia Historical Society marker series, erected 1958 as Marker #015-9) [5]
- 1754 Georgetown was surveyed and laid out by John Reynolds (known as 1st Royal Georgia Governor) on the lower Ogeechee River. All intended this to be another deep -water port, but Savannah and Sunbury became the commercial markets. [3]
- 1755 Georgetown was renamed as the colonial town of Hardwick, by Gov. Reynolds, surveyed and laid out as Bryan County first county seat. [6][3]
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Rice culture
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- pre 1776-1862 The location of the Ogeechee River to the area that became Richmond Hill was reason rice became the cash crop of economy. Early Ogeechee rice plantations belonged to Thomas Savage Clay and family at Silk Hope and the Harns, the Habershams at Dublin. Lower Bryan County became the center for the most productive rice as well as the Sea Island cotton plantations of tidewater Georgia. One was Richmond-on- Ogeechee (formerly Dublin) owned by Thomas Savage Clay and operated Tranquilly, Tivoli and Piecefield devoted to cotton. [2]
- 1785- A Plantation, known as WhiteHall Plantation was owned by Capt. James McKay. He named the Plantation after an uncle's house in Strathnaver, Scotland. McKay died after 1785, at which time the property was divided between his two daughters and grandchildren. George Washington McAllister bought plantation and operated it until 1850. McAllister's son, Joseph operated it until dying during the battle of Trevillion (Civil War) in 1864. Fort McAllister is named for the McAllister family and the main house as well as Fort McAllister are on the National Register of Historic Places..
- The plantation had a cemetery, the rice fields and the Rice Mill are submitted to be included in the Registry.. The land of the cemetery was used for burial of slaves of the plantation. This cemetery continued to be an active Cemetery fo the African Americans until 1970. the Rice Mill, and the associated rice fields are to be included in the Registry. Some descendants of the slaves expressed a desire to preserve the Strathy Hall Cemetery.
- 1793 Georgia legislature created Bryan County from Chatham and Effingham Counties, as 19th county (1 or 5 counties by an act of legislature. Early county meetings were held at Strathy Hall Plantation prior to the county seat being moved to Cross Roads. Cross Roads was located at an intersection of the Darien-Savannah Stage Road and the Bryan Neck Road. This became Richmond Hill. [2][6]
- Dec 19, 1793 Bryan County was the home of wealthy planters where good farm land for rice was located between the neck of 2 rivers. It was named in honor of Jonathan Bryan (1708-1788), a Revolutionary patriot (had been captures, imprisoned by the British in Revolutionary War). Early county meetings were held at Strathy Hall Plantation prior to the county seat being moved to Cross Roads, near the intersection of the Darien-Savannah Stage Road and Bryan Neck road., which later became Richmond Hill. [2][6]
- 1793 Governor Reynolds chose Hardwick to be the County Seat. Clyde was next county seat, which was hard to access, the clerk and Ordinary had offices at home. [7]
[8]
[9]
- 1794, part of Effingham County was transferred to Bryan County. A portion of Bryan County lost land when part of it was used to create Bullock County, 1796 as well as again in 1847 for Chatham county.[6][3]
- 1797 the General Assembly decided that court should be held at a settlement called Cross Roads, 2 miles from the Ogeechee River known as Cross Roads. This was near modern-day Richmond Hill.[6]
- Nov 18, 1814 the county seat was moved to Mansford on the Canoochee River.
- 1815 - Population increased causing the county seat to be moved to Eden. [2]
- 1830-40's Bryan County was developing its agriculture farms, plantations. The Ogeechee River basin was fertile land and ideal for growing rice, Soon the lower river basin in lower Bryan county was the Ogeechee River basin in lower Bryan County became one of the most productive rice-growing areas. [10]
- 1830 The Savannah-Ogeechee Canal near Kings Ferry was completed which bolstered the agricultural economy by the transportation. The Savannah, Albany and Gulf Railroad linked Savannah to southwest Georgia. [2] [10]
- 1854 a wooden courthouse was built here named "Bryan Courthouse.. A few years later Eden, Georgia was the County Seat.. [6]
- 1855 3 million pounds of rice annually were being shipped from Bryan County plantations. The leading producers on the Ogeechee were Richard J. Arnold, George W. McAllister, and Thomas Savage Clay.[10]
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Richmond Hill Plantation
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Clay tombstone
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- Thomas Savage Clay (1801-1849)- His mother bought the "Dublin" tract on the Ogeechee River in Bryan County in 1819 and they renamed it "Richmond". The family also aquired Tranquilla, Tivoli, Piercefield, Ricedale, Frugality Hall, Thoroughgood on the Canoochee River. Thomas was Elder of Bryan Neck Presbyterian Church, but died at a young age of 48.
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Ways Station marker
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:1856 Albany, and Gulf Railroad was completed through the lower end of Bryan County, leading to the founding of Ways Station, later Richmond Hill, near the Ogeechee River crossing. Pembroke, Georgia began as a railroad town and shipped out turpentine and naval stores in 1890.. Soon it was a leading business center. Cross Roads was the settlement around the depot, later was called Ways Station, then Richmond Hill..[2]
- 1860 Richard James Arnold was the most prominent planter in the Bryan Neck area. In 1860, he owned 11,000 acres in lower Bryan County. Mulberry Hill and White Hall Plantations, located in Bryan County, Georgia, had more than 130 slaves when Richard James Arnold took over, following marriage to his wife in 1823. (The plantations were part of his wife's dowry.) [11] His 195 slaves planted, picked and tended the sugar cane and Sea Island cotton as well as this rice crop was 665,000 pounds. [2]
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Waymarker for Whitehall, plantation of Richard James Arnold
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- 1860 the county seat was known as Eden, Georgia. [9]
- 1861 South Bryan County was the locale of the earthen Civil War installation Fort McAllister (now Fort McAllister Historic Park) on the Ogeechee River for protection of the River plantations and the railways against Union forces.[2][9][1]
- 1861 The Union navy threatened the southern approaches of Savannah. Fort McAllister was built on the Ogeechee at Genesis Point not far from Ways Station. [9]
- 1862-65 - These confederate units served during the Civil War: [12]
- 11th Battalion, Georgia Infantry (State Guards) (Confederate), Company E,
- 25th Regiment, Georgia Infantry (Confederate), Company A
- 47th Regiment, Georgia Infantry (Confederate), Company E
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Ft. McAllister
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- 1862, 1863 Fort McAllister, a simple earthworks fort fortification repelled seven Union naval attacks. This included heavily armed Monitor class gunboats. Fort McAllister was named for one the largest slaveholders, Joseph McAllister and is located on Genesis Point on the Ogeechee River. Fort McAllister is now a state park. [2][9][1]
- 1863 - The CSS Rattlesnake (former CSS Nashville), a Confederate blockade-runner, took refuge in the Ogeechee River but was burned and sunk in the river near Fort McAllister by Union gunfire. The fort was the site of the first sea-land battles involving the ironclads.9 battles were fought at the fort, including the final battle of General William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea, which ended in Bryan County[2][1]
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Signal station on Ogeechee River
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- 1864 - Gen. William T Sherman's Union forces invaded Bryan Neck as they neared Savannah.. At one point the union marched down Bryan Neck on land and overwhelmed Fort McAllister by assaulting the fort from its unprotected landward side.[2]The fort and its outnumbered Confederate garrison finally fell during a bloody landward assault by Union general William T. Sherman's troops. Troops removed the ammunition with wheelbarrows from Fort McAllister, Bryan County.[10]
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Fort McAllister Historic Park.
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- 1866 - The records of the Ordinary's office were destroyed by fire. The land records were then were stored in a small wooden building. There was a safe which is too small (holding 1/5 of the books). The clerk keeps the newest ones in the safe. The old records are in danger from fires of the woods or the turpentine farms. [7]
- 1866-70's Free African Americans on Bryan Neck purchased their own land from the heirs of old plantation owners. Amos Morel, the head slave for Richard J. Arnold, became the most prominent freedman as well as the largest landowner. [2]
- New settlements of the former slaves were at Brisbon, Rabbit Hill, Port Royal, Oak Level, Fancy Hall, and Daniel Siding. African Americans worked for wages at the old Ogeechee River plantations, which prospered until the 1890 hurricanes stopped the rice industry in tidewater Georgia. After this many African Americans worked in the local lumber industry. [10]
- 1880s The county seat was called Bryan, Georgia. [9]
- 1886 - Eden, Georgia was renamed Clyde, Georgia. As the population of the area expanded into Bryan County area north of the Canoochee River, the county seat was moved again in 1815, this time to Eden, [10][2]
- 1895 -1901 County Seat was Clyde, Georgia. A 2 story wooden courthouse was built in Clyde. This remained the County seat until the U.S. Army began plans for an anti-artillery training center, to be Fort Stewart .[6] Hilton Dodge Lumber Company opened a sawmill and timber port on the Belfast River, activity that continued until 1916.[2]
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Henry Ford Retreat
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- 1925 - Automotive pioneer, Henry Ford bought 85,000 acres of land near the Ogeechee River in lower Bryan County. Ford had a great impact on helping Bryan County develop its coastal area of Ways Station. He began a sawmill, established schools, churches, industries, and medical facilities in the Ways Station area, thus greatly improving social and health conditions in an impoverished coastal Georgia Ways Station area. [10][2]
- 1935 Clyde served as the seat until 1935, when Clyde was in the area of Fort Stewart military reservation, which the military was forming in Bryan county. Clyde had to be demolished.. [9]
- 1937 Clyde was county seat until 1935, when Fort Stewart Military Reservation was forming. The army needed this land. Georgia General Assembly designated the town of Pembroke (incorporated Aug 23, 1905) as Bryan's new county seat. Pembroke was a railroad settlement and named for Pembroke Williams and was a railroad settlement.Today, the sole evidence of Clyde is a cemetery located on the Fort Stewart Military reservation.[6][10] [9]
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Map of Bryan County, with Ft. Stewart
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- 1940 Fort Stewart Military Reservation began. Bryan County lost over 1/3 of its acreage to the U.S. government and was split into two sections, upper and lower Bryan County. Its county seat is now in Pembroke, located in the upper part. Richmond Hill is the largest city in the coastal south. 1990- Byran county is a part of metropolitan Savannah and is a fast growing county.
- 1941 Ways Station, Georgia was renamed Richmond Hill in honor of Ford, whose winter home, Richmond plantation was located on the Ogeechee River rice tract from the 1800's. [10]
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Fort Stewart sign
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- 1941 the federal government condemned 105,000 acres of sparsely settled land in the center of Bryan County for Camp Stewart U. S. Army training base. Communities were moved such as Letford, Georgia, Roding, Georgia as well as Clyde, Georgia from the area. Many displaced citizens built houses in Richmond Hill. [2]
- 1947 - International Paper Company bought the land where Henry Ford's Richmond Hill plantation and other holdings in Bryan Neck were located. [2]
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map of Richmond Hill locale
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- March 3, 1962 Georgia legislature passed an act which incorporated Richmond Hill. The first city elections were held for a mayor. The population of the town at this time was about 500 residents. Richmond Hill remained a quiet, rural community built along both sides of U. S. Highway 17 until rapid suburban growth from nearby Savannah began in the 1980s.[2]
- 1962 Richmond Hill history is very old, dating back to 1733, when Fort Argyle was built to protect the settlers from the invasion of the southern Indians and Spanish from Florida. Slavery began 1750 for cultivating the bottom lands near the Ogeechee River and many crown land grants were issued. County leaders met at Strathy Hall Plantation near Richmond Hill. The Ogeechee River was the draw for the rice plantations such as those of Thomas Savage Clay ("Richmond-on-Ogeechee and the Harns. Three Railways ran into Richmond Hill as well as the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal, when it was called Ways Station. By 1860 Richard James Arnold was prominent with 195 slaves growing 665,000 pounds of rice. During the Civil War, Fort McAllister was built to repel the Union naval attacks. CSS Rattlesnake was burned and sunk in the river due to Union bombardment. The Union forces then assaulted the fort from its unprotected side on land. Henry Ford bought land on Bryan Neck until he owned 85,000 acres on both sides of the river. When the Federal government condemned 105,000 acres of Bryan county for Camp Stewart US Army training base, residents were displaced and moved to Richmond Hill where the Richmond Hill plantation had been.. When Richmond Hill was incorporated, it was quiet, with 500 residents, but began a suburban growth from Savannah in 1980.[13]
- 1990 the county grew in population 50%.[10]
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Wall found on Silk Hope plantation.
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- 2000- Archaeologists discovered the outline of another wall trench at the Silk Hope Plantation, which was a 1700's rice plantation in Bryan County. Markings indicated the locations for a wall trench and post, such as might have been in a slave dwelling. There was features indicating a pit used for storage.[3]
- 2010 population The county seat, Pembroke, is in the upper portion of the county, while Richmond Hill, the county's largest city, is in the coastal south. During the 1990s Bryan County, as a part of metropolitan Savannah, was among the fastest-growing counties in the United States, and its population grew by more than 50 percent between 1990 and 2000. According to the 2010 U.S. census, the current population is 30,233, (increase of 23,417 in 2000. [10]
Government Offices
1st County Seat Mansfield, Georgia
2nd County Seat -Hardwick, Georgia
- 1793 Governor Reynolds chose Hardwick to be the County Seat. Clyde was next county seat, which was hard to access, the clerk and Ordinary had offices at home. [7]
2nd County Seat, Eden, Georgia
- 1866 - The records of the Ordinary's office were destroyed by fire. The land records were then were stored in a small wooden building. There was a safe which is too small (holding 1/5 of the books). The clerk keeps the newest ones in the safe. The old records are in danger from fires of the woods or the turpentine farms. [7]
3rd County Seat -Clyde, Georgia
- Eden, Georgia may have been renamed Clyde, Georgia
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Bryan County Courthouse
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4th County Seat - Pembroke, Georgia.
Geography
- Bryan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia.
- Population, 2010 census, the population was 30,233.
- County seat is Pembroke
- Military - Bryan county had Fort McAllister during the Civil War and currently has Fort Stewart which is located in the center of the county. Thus the county is split into 2 parts -
- 1) Upper and
- 2) Lower Bryan County
- Fort Stewart is in the Center
- Bryan County is part of the Savannah, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
- Location A triangular area in the NE of Bryan County, from NW of Pembroke to N of Richmond Hill, is located in the Lower Ogeechee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin
- Location - N half of the remaining area in the county south of Richmond Hill. The northwestern portion of the county, from east of Daisy to Richmond Hill, is located in the Canoochee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin. The rest of Bryan County is located in the Ogeechee Coastal sub-basin of the same Ogeechee River basin.
- Bryan County is unique in that it is totally divided by the military installation at Ft. Stewart. Pembroke is in more rural north Bryan, while Richmond Hill in south Bryan county is a suburb of Savannah.
- To travel between the two on public roads, it is necessary to leave the county.
- Bryan County is separated into two parts (North Bryan and South Bryan)
- Fort Stewart in the middle of the county.
Size: total area of 454 square miles (1,180 km2), of which 436 square miles (1,130 km2) is land and 18 square miles (47 km2) (4.1%) is water.
- Sub-basin - A triangular area in the NE Bryan County, from NW of Pembroke to N of Richmond Hill, is located in the Lower Ogeechee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin,
- Northern 1/2 of the remaining area in the county S of Richmond Hill is in the Lower Ogeechee River sub-basinof the Ogeechee River basin.
- NW part of the county, from E of Daisy to Richmond Hill, is located in the Canoochee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin.
- The rest of Bryan County is located in the Ogeechee Coastal sub-basin of the same Ogeechee River basin.
- Bryan County is unique in that it is totally divided by the military installation at Ft. Stewart. Pembroke is in more rural north Bryan, while Richmond Hill in south Bryan county is a suburb of Savannah. To travel between the two on public roads, it is necessary to leave the county.
Adjacent counties
- Effingham County, Georgia - north
- Chatham County, Georgia - northeast
- Liberty County, Georgia - south/southwest
- Evans County, Georgia - west
- Bulloch County, Georgia - northwest
Protected areas
- Fort McAllister during 1860's
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Fort McAllister Historic Park.
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Demographics
In 2000, there were 23,417 people in the county with a population density of 53 people/sq. mi. The racial makeup of the county was 82.79% White, 14.14% Black or African American, 0.32% Native American, 0.77% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.58% from other races, and 1.34% from two or more races. 1.99% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. In 2010 there were 30,233 people in the count with a population density of 69.3 people/sq. mi. The median income for a household in the county was $63,244 and the median income for a family was $72,118. The per capita income for the county was $28,365. About 8.8% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.0% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over. [14]
Highways | Highways | Highways | Highways
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I-16 Interstate 16 | I-95 Interstate 95 | U.S. Route 17 | U.S. Route 80
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U.S. Route 280 | Georgia State Route 25 | Georgia State Route 26 | Georgia State Route 30
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Georgia State Route 67 | Georgia State Route 119 | Georgia State Route 144 | Georgia State Route 204
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Georgia State Route 144 Spur
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- Bryan County is unique in that it is totally divided by the military installation at Ft. Stewart. Pembroke is in more rural north Bryan, while Richmond Hill in south Bryan county is a suburb of Savannah. To travel between the two on public roads, it is necessary to leave the county.
Cities
Pembroke
- Pembroke, Georgia]
Towns/Communities
- Richmond Hill, Georgia
- Keller
- Lanier
- Black Creek
County Resources
- Savannah-Ogeechee Canal
- Fort McAllister
- Fort Stewart Military Reservation
Notables
- Gregg Allman - musician, Allman Brothers Band
- Mattie Belle Davis - first woman judge of Metropolitan Court of Dade County, Florida
- Justin Smiley - pro football player, All-American at University of Alabama
- John Smoltz - MLB pitcher, owned a summer home here while playing for the Atlanta Braves
Census
- 1800 --- 2,836 —
- 1810 --- 2,827 −0.3%
- 1820 --- 3,021 6.9%
- 1830 --- 3,139 3.9%
- 1840 --- 3,182 1.4%
- 1850 --- 3,424 7.6%
- 1860 --- 4,015 17.3%
- 1870 --- 5,252 30.8%
- 1880 --- 4,929 −6.2%
- 1890 --- 5,520 12.0%
- 1900 --- 6,122 10.9%
- 1910 --- 6,702 9.5%
- 1920 --- 6,343 −5.4%
- 1930 --- 5,952 −6.2%
- 1940 --- 6,288 5.6%
- 1950 --- 5,965 −5.1%
- 1960 --- 6,226 4.4%
- 1970 --- 6,539 5.0%
- 1980 --- 10,175 55.6%
- 1990 --- 15,438 51.7%
- 2000 --- 23,417 51.7%
- 2010 --- 30,233 29.1%
- Est. 2016 --- 36,230
Cemeteries
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 http://roadsidegeorgia.com/county/bryan.html
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 http://www.richmondhillhistoricalsociety.com/history-of-richmond-hill.html
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/bryan-county
- ↑ https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=29523
- ↑ https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=29523
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/counties/bryan
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 http://genealogytrails.com/geo/bryan/countyhistory.html
- ↑ http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/bryan/history/1878/deadtown/hardwick698gms.txt
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_County,_Georgia
- ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/bryan-county
- ↑ https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/176006/
- ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Bryan_County,_Georgia_Genealogy#Military
- ↑ http://www.richmondhillhistoricalsociety.com/history-of-richmond-hill.html
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_County,_Georgia