Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Etowah County
    Etowah County
    Etowah County
    Ebook123 pages28 minutes

    Etowah County

    By Mike Goodson

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Etowah County, located in northeast Alabama, was formed in 1866 from parts of Marshall, Calhoun, St. Clair, DeKalb, Blount, and Cherokee Counties. Originally known as Baine, the area was named Etowah County in 1868. Although the smallest county in Alabama in land area, Etowah is rich in local history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateFeb 16, 2009
    ISBN9781439622667
    Etowah County
    Author

    Mike Goodson

    Mike Goodson has been interested in local history for many years. He grew up in the Alabama City suburb of Gadsden in northeast Alabama and was educated in the public school system of Gadsden. He has been writing and researching local history now for many years. Goodson writes a history-based column for the Gadsden Times that began in 1999 with the �Looking Back� section. Since then, he has written more than six hundred columns relating to local history. Goodson has authored and coauthored several books on local history and has conducted several local walking tours in downtown Gadsden. He has also conducted a ghost walk and ghost watch downtown during Halloween each year. These have proven to be very popular! He is a lifelong resident of Gadsden and Etowah County. He is married to the former Ann Moore, also a lifelong Gadsden resident.

    Read more from Mike Goodson

    Related to Etowah County

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Gene Autry in Oklahoma

      Mar 5, 2024

      Gene Autry in Oklahoma
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pieces Of History: The Story Of Gee’s Bend

      Aug 4, 2021

      Quilts are what propelled the small community of Gee’s Bend into the headlines, so it is fitting their quilts tell the Gee’s Bend tale… Long before the quilts of Gee’s Bend hung in museums of Fine Art, the women of Boykin, Alabama were making quilt

      6 min read

    • Article

      West Words

      Sep 29, 2020

      ‘The greater portion of the laborers employed by us are Chinese, who constitute a large element in the population of California. Without them it would be impossible to complete the western portion of this great national enterprise within the time req

      3 min read

    • Article

      Father Of The Modern Plow

      Dec 10, 2021

      Father Of The Modern Plow
      5 min read

    • Article

      Frio Town, Texas

      Sep 24, 2019

      Frio Town, Texas
      3 min read

    • Article

      Great Notes of the Great Plains

      Oct 5, 2021

      For this month, we’ll travel to the Midwest and visit a couple of towns in the plains of western Kansas. I had visited these locations some years ago and am finally putting together some information on them and their banks. We’ll start in Sherman Cou

      4 min read

    • Article

      Nobles’ Undertaking

      Jul 23, 2019

      Nobles’ Undertaking
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Town Within Famed Cody

      Jul 6, 2021

      A Town Within Famed Cody
      4 min read

    • Article

      White Oaks’ Dark Roots

      Aug 9, 2022

      White Oaks’ Dark Roots
      8 min read

    • Article

      Cast in Iron?

      Apr 2, 2020

      Cast in Iron?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dead Men For Breakfast

      Jul 28, 2020

      Dead Men For Breakfast
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Greening of Al Smith

      Dec 19, 2019

      The Greening of Al Smith
      6 min read

    • Article

      Who Owned the Trees?

      Sep 7, 2023

      Who Owned the Trees?
      22 min read

    • Article

      Selling Yosemite

      Oct 19, 2021

      Selling Yosemite
      10 min read

    • Article

      McCUBBIN COLLECTION SOLD

      Mar 26, 2019

      McCUBBIN COLLECTION SOLD
      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters from Readers

      Dec 4, 2020

      Letters from Readers
      4 min read

    • Article

      Stambaugh's Treaty

      Mar 7, 2023

      Stambaugh's Treaty
      22 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Etowah County

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Etowah County - Mike Goodson

      author.

      INTRODUCTION

      The county in which we live today had a colorful and fiery beginning during the late 1860s. Originally known as Baine County, it was formed in the days following the War Between the States, or the Civil War.

      In November 1866, Alabama’s first postwar legislature convened in Montgomery. Cherokee County senator Augustin L. Woodliff delivered a petition on December 7 signed by residents of Cherokee, Calhoun, St. Clair, Blount, Dekalb, and Marshall Counties. This petition called for the formation of a new county, the center of which would be at or near Gadsden in Cherokee County. This bill easily passed the Senate, 27 to 3, and the House, 69 to 13. The Speaker of the House, Thomas B. Cooper, suggested the name of the new county be Baine County in honor of David W. Baine, a Confederate hero and a former resident of Centre in neighboring Cherokee County.

      Baine County originally covered an area of 620 square miles, with a population of over 6,500 people. The choice for the county seat was between Gadsden and the Junction, later known as Attalla. The Junction offered to change its name to Bainesville in an effort to lure the center of the county government there. However, Gadsden was chosen as the county seat in a special election. In this election, held on March 4, 1867, L. E. Hamlin was elected the county’s probate judge, and Thomas J. Burgess was elected as the first sheriff.

      The fall of 1868 would see things take a tragic turn for the young Baine County. A military government was imposed on Alabama, and with the poverty associated with the Reconstruction, times became hard for people living in the new county. Sheriff Burgess was removed from office when he refused to sign the amnesty oath, although he would later serve as sheriff in 1875. Samuel Dillard was chosen to replace Burgess as sheriff.

      Baine County only survived one short year. By a vote of 41 to 34, the carpetbagger-controlled Constitutional Convention voted to abolish the county. Baine County was a sensitive spot, since it carried the name of a Confederate hero whom the delegates regarded as a Northern traitor. Baine County’s representative to the convention, Dr. W.T. Ewing, fought gallantly to save the young county.

      On December 1, 1868, the state legislature repealed the ordinance abolishing Baine County and restored the previous boundary lines. County court was to be held at the Baptist church in Gadsden until a permanent site could be determined in an election scheduled for the following March. Before this was done, however, the name Baine was dropped and was replaced with Etowah, a derivative from the Cherokee Indian word Itawa, which means strong tree. Authority was given to the governor to appoint all county officers. James M. Moragne was appointed probate

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1