Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

360 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
created a new county to bear his name; but the town of AYaynesboro, a
thriving community, the county-seat of Burke, had already testified to
Georgia's admiration for this gallant soldier: the renowned hero of
West Point.
But while, under the Federal Constitution of 1787, Georgia had been
allotted three representatives in Congress, it appeared from the Fed
eral census of 1790 that the state's population did not entitle her to three
members in this body, and much to Georgia's mortification, therefore,
her representation in Congress was reduced from three to two members,
at which figure it remained stationary for the next decade. When
the Federal census of 1800 was taken it was found that Georgia's popu
lation had doubled and accordingly in the Eighth Congress she Was
allotted four representatives.*
But, in the Third Congress (1793-1797), there were only two repre
sentatives from Georgia: Abraham Baldwin and Thomas P. Carnes.
There was no change in United States senators until March 4, 1793,
at which time Major Jackson succeeded William Few. Senator Gunn
continued to occupy his old seat.t Colonel Few had been an officer in
command of partisan troops during the Revolution. Two other brothers,
Benjamin and Ignatius, had also been officers; while a third brother,
James, had been captured and executed without trial, near Salisbury,
N. C., by Governor Tryon, in 1771. He was a leader of the famous
Regulators, 3,000 of whom were engaged in a battle fought, May 16,
1771, on Alamance Creek, with the king's troops. Capt. James Few
has been styled the first martyr of American liberty, since the insurrec
tion which culminated in blood on Alamance Creek marked the begin
ning of the American Revolution.
But returning to Col. Benjamin Few. He seems to have been bit
terly fought by the Yazoo cabel of a later period because of an unsuc
cessful bid offered by him, in association with other men of wealth, for
some of the Yazoo lands. Defeated for the United States Senate, he
removed to New York, where he became president of the City Bank, a
member of the State Legislature, and alderman of the City of New York.
He died on June 16, 1827, at Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, where his ashes
lie buried.
Two new counties were created by the General Assembly at its ses
sion in 1790; Columbia and Elbert. Columbia was detached from
Richmond, with Appling as its county-seat. It contained the historic
old town of Wrightsboro, famous for its Quaker colony, a town today
marked by its tottering ruins and crumbling monuments; but once an
abode of culture, gentleness and thrift. Here lived Col. AYilliam Cand-
ler, with his kinsmen, the Fews; also the Carrs, the Whites, and other
families whose names appear on the muster-rolls of the Revolution.
Near the present line of McDuffie lived Capt. Thomas Cobb, patriot and
centennarian, who reached the phenomenal age of 111 years, and became
the progenitor of a numerous offspring. Capt. Cobb was not an ancestor
of the Cobbs of Athens. But he was the grandfather of Hon. Thomas
W. Cobb, a United States senator, for whom Cobb County was named;
* "Bio'g. Gong. Directory, 1774-1911," p. 29, also p. 55.
t "Biog. Gong. Directory, 1774-1911," p. 36.