Son of Arthur FORT Sr 1719 – 1773 and Winefred PACE – 1779
Married Susannah TOMLINSON (Widow WHITEHEAD) 1755 – 1820; parents of:
Arthur FORT III 1785 – 1825
Tomlinson (Dr.) FORT Sr 1787 – 1859
Served as a soldier and on the "Committee of Safety", during the War of the Revolution.
SOURCE: "Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American", Volume 21, page 74, by Daughters of the American Revolution.
Arthur Fort, 1750-1833
"Arthur Fort, Sr., a representative of Wilkinson County, introduced the Bill in the Georgia Legislature to carve a new county out of Wilkinson County territory which became an Act on December 14, 1809, thus Twiggs County was created. After the division, he resided in Twiggs and died at his residence in 1833. Born January 15, 1750, North Carolina and came to Georgia when a young boy.
A Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and a patriot soldier, a member of the Council of Safety and the Supreme Executive Council in the darkest hour of the Revolution, a patriotic Christian zeal characterized his life to the latest hour. His immortal remains were interred in a burial plot within this vicinity in Bullard Community."
"Memoirs of the Fort & Fannin families" - {an excerpt from the Memoirs of Martha Low Fort} - As told by, Martha Low Fannin-Fort (at age 77), and... Edited by daughter, Kate Haynes Fort (at age 65), and published in 1903...
Part I.
I Martha Low Fort am seventy seven years old, and to gratify a whim of my children have consented to turn story teller and write for their amusement, all I can remember of my own and my husband's families as well as some of the incidents of my long life. True, I do not hold the pen myself but dictate to my daughters.
To begin this little history of the Fort Fannin families I will commence with Arthur Fort, the father of my husband. Of course I do not know so much of his family as I do of my own.
Arthur Fort came of English parentage. I only know that three brothers: Moses, Arthur, and Elias, first settled in North Carolina and afterward scattered to different parts of the country. Dr. Fort's family being descended from one of them. Arthur Fort, father of my husband, was born January 15th, 1750. He was living in Burke County, Georgia, when the Revolutionary war broke out. Before the war he had married a widow, Mrs. Whitehead, formerly Miss Susannah Tomlinson. She came of a Pennsylvania Quaker family, was a very small woman, with dark hair and eyes, she was a gentle, loving, mother, her children ever retained a tender memory of her. She died December 13th, 1820. She had one son by her first marriage, and eight sons and daughters by her second. Her oldest child, Sarah was born the 14th of August, 1779; Moses, March 17th, 1782; Arthur, April 3rd 1785; Tomlinson, July 14th, 1787; Elizabeth, December 26th, 1789; Susannah, March 11th, 1792; Zachariah Cox, February 12th, 1795; Owen Charlton, December 1st, 1798.
Arthur Fort, the father of this family, was a man of strong original mind. His early opportunities were poor, but he was possessed of uncommon intellect and passion for reading and was a leading spirit in the stirring times in which he lived. He was a great patriot, served in Georgia with distinction during the Revolution. When Sir James Wright evacuated Savannah, Georgia, he was put in charge of the Government house. This I heard in a lecture delivered by Mr., Stevens author of "Stevens' History of Georgia" in Milledgeville. Before Georgia was organized as a State, Arthur Fort was one of the men appointed as one of the first Executive Council. The members of this Council were the authors of the Code of Laws for the State, this fact can be verified in the archives of the State. He fought against the Indians with great bravery during the Revolution. On one occasion he was in a fort on the Ogeechee river, when it was surrounded by savages. The garrison was out of provisions and some one had to go for help. Arthur Fort volunteered to go, he stripped off his clothes except pants and shirt, tied a handkerchief around his head, mounted the fleetest horse in the fort. The gate was cautiously opened and he dashed out, through the watching Indians. They were so astounded at his daring that they set up a shout, a few hurried shots were fired at him, but he made good his escape, and soon brought relief to the beseiged fort. During the war he made a few stolen visits home and was once betrayed by a Tory neighbor, which was the cause of quite a dramatic scene. This neighbor collected a band of Tories and came in to take Arthur Fort a prisoner and kill him. His wife threw herself in front of her husband and one of the soldiers said, "I'll not kill him, little women, for your sake." The Tories contented themselves with depridations of all kinds, even cutting the cloth from the loom, a great calamity in those times. Arthur Fort ever after that vowed to kill that neighbor on sight, the war being over, he took his gun and went out to hunt him. The man seeing Arthur Fort coming fell down at his feet, threw up his hands and begged for mercy. Arthur could not kill such a wretch, but went up and kicked him, as if he had been a dog, and left him, his vengeance having been appeased.
After the country became more quiet, he settled on the shores of the Ogeechee river in Warren County, Georgia, where he lived for many years, representing his county in the Legislature and assisting in forming many of the most important laws of Georgia. Most of his children were born at this home. They afterwards moved to Twiggs County, Georgia, where he died on November 16th, 1833. He had two brothers who were soldiers in the Revolution. One of them died of smallpox in Charleston, S.C. during the war. He had also a maiden sister, "old aunt Rhoda", who lived in a little house in his yard. She was quite a shrew, they said, and odd in her dress, tormenting her young nieces by coming before their beaux in sack and petticoat. Her brother always took care of her and she died a few years before he did.
His children married as follows: Sarah, to Appleton Rossetter; Moses, to Eudocia Walton Moore; Arthur, to Mary Newsom; Tomlinson, to Martha Low Fannin; Elizabeth, to Lovett B. Smith; Susannah, first, to Robert Jemmison, and second, to Samuel Hunter; Zachariah Cox, to Amanda Beckham; Owen Charleton, died unmarried. He was a young physician of promise, he died and is buried in Twiggs County, Georgia, at thirty years of age.
These were all honest and upright men and women, unusually intelligent and devoted to information of all kinds. They were tall in statue, the men generally being over six feet, the women also were tall and spare, rather plain in appearance and brusque in manner, but they were very sincere. They were generally of a blonde type with light hair and blue eyes. Moses, a lawyer by profession, was perhaps the most showy of the brothers having extraordinary conversational abilities and shining talents. He was made Judge of the Superior Court, but soon retired from active business. Eudocia, his wife, deserves special mention, she outlived her husband many years. She educated and maintained her family and was a jewel among women. I have rarely met her equal for fine sense, extraordinary industry and sterling worth.
Arthur Fort, my husband's father, lived to be very old he left a stainless name. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty years. He rode on horseback fifty miles to hear the first Methodist preacher who visited this section, it was old Bishop Asbury. He took great interest in the politics of the country, had the papers read to him daily during his many years of blindness. He died of a sudden attack of pneumonia, and my husband, who was sent for to see him, arrived only a few hours before his death. It was during a very exciting election, and the old man roused up to ask news of it. He was told that his candidate, Governor Lumpkin, the democrat, was elected Governor of the State. The dying man bowed his head signifying satisfaction, and in a few moments breathed his last. He died November 16th, 1833.
SOURCE: "Memoirs of the Fort and Fannin families", edited by "Kate" (Catherine) Haynes Fort, pages: 07-thru-10
FORT, ARTHUR DAR Ancestor
Service: GEORGIA Rank(s): SOLDIER, PATRIOTIC SERVICE, CIVIL SERVICE
Birth: 1-15-1750 NORTH CAROLINA
Death: 10-19-1833 TWIGGS CO GEORGIA
Service Source: KNIGHT, GA ROSTER OF REV, P 77; CANDLER, REV RECS OF GA, VOL 1 P 306; VOL 2, P 48; VOL 3 P 187
Service Description: 1) RECEIVED LAND GRANT,1784; MEM OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL; APPOINTED MAGISTRATE, MARCH 1778
Residence
1) County: WILKES CO - State: GEORGIA
2) County: RICHMOND CO - State: GEORGIA
Spouse Name 1) SUSANNAH TOMLINSON WHITEHEAD
MARKER Location: 32° 37.818′ N, 83° 29.783′ W.
Marker is in Bullard, Georgia, in Twiggs County.
Marker is at the intersection of Bullard Road and U.S. 23, on the right when traveling east on Bullard Road.
Located in Dry Branch zip code.
Marker is in this post office area: Dry Branch GA 31020, United States of America. "
Married Susannah TOMLINSON (Widow WHITEHEAD) 1755 – 1820; parents of:
Arthur FORT III 1785 – 1825
Tomlinson (Dr.) FORT Sr 1787 – 1859
Served as a soldier and on the "Committee of Safety", during the War of the Revolution.
SOURCE: "Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American", Volume 21, page 74, by Daughters of the American Revolution.
Arthur Fort, 1750-1833
"Arthur Fort, Sr., a representative of Wilkinson County, introduced the Bill in the Georgia Legislature to carve a new county out of Wilkinson County territory which became an Act on December 14, 1809, thus Twiggs County was created. After the division, he resided in Twiggs and died at his residence in 1833. Born January 15, 1750, North Carolina and came to Georgia when a young boy.
A Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and a patriot soldier, a member of the Council of Safety and the Supreme Executive Council in the darkest hour of the Revolution, a patriotic Christian zeal characterized his life to the latest hour. His immortal remains were interred in a burial plot within this vicinity in Bullard Community."
"Memoirs of the Fort & Fannin families" - {an excerpt from the Memoirs of Martha Low Fort} - As told by, Martha Low Fannin-Fort (at age 77), and... Edited by daughter, Kate Haynes Fort (at age 65), and published in 1903...
Part I.
I Martha Low Fort am seventy seven years old, and to gratify a whim of my children have consented to turn story teller and write for their amusement, all I can remember of my own and my husband's families as well as some of the incidents of my long life. True, I do not hold the pen myself but dictate to my daughters.
To begin this little history of the Fort Fannin families I will commence with Arthur Fort, the father of my husband. Of course I do not know so much of his family as I do of my own.
Arthur Fort came of English parentage. I only know that three brothers: Moses, Arthur, and Elias, first settled in North Carolina and afterward scattered to different parts of the country. Dr. Fort's family being descended from one of them. Arthur Fort, father of my husband, was born January 15th, 1750. He was living in Burke County, Georgia, when the Revolutionary war broke out. Before the war he had married a widow, Mrs. Whitehead, formerly Miss Susannah Tomlinson. She came of a Pennsylvania Quaker family, was a very small woman, with dark hair and eyes, she was a gentle, loving, mother, her children ever retained a tender memory of her. She died December 13th, 1820. She had one son by her first marriage, and eight sons and daughters by her second. Her oldest child, Sarah was born the 14th of August, 1779; Moses, March 17th, 1782; Arthur, April 3rd 1785; Tomlinson, July 14th, 1787; Elizabeth, December 26th, 1789; Susannah, March 11th, 1792; Zachariah Cox, February 12th, 1795; Owen Charlton, December 1st, 1798.
Arthur Fort, the father of this family, was a man of strong original mind. His early opportunities were poor, but he was possessed of uncommon intellect and passion for reading and was a leading spirit in the stirring times in which he lived. He was a great patriot, served in Georgia with distinction during the Revolution. When Sir James Wright evacuated Savannah, Georgia, he was put in charge of the Government house. This I heard in a lecture delivered by Mr., Stevens author of "Stevens' History of Georgia" in Milledgeville. Before Georgia was organized as a State, Arthur Fort was one of the men appointed as one of the first Executive Council. The members of this Council were the authors of the Code of Laws for the State, this fact can be verified in the archives of the State. He fought against the Indians with great bravery during the Revolution. On one occasion he was in a fort on the Ogeechee river, when it was surrounded by savages. The garrison was out of provisions and some one had to go for help. Arthur Fort volunteered to go, he stripped off his clothes except pants and shirt, tied a handkerchief around his head, mounted the fleetest horse in the fort. The gate was cautiously opened and he dashed out, through the watching Indians. They were so astounded at his daring that they set up a shout, a few hurried shots were fired at him, but he made good his escape, and soon brought relief to the beseiged fort. During the war he made a few stolen visits home and was once betrayed by a Tory neighbor, which was the cause of quite a dramatic scene. This neighbor collected a band of Tories and came in to take Arthur Fort a prisoner and kill him. His wife threw herself in front of her husband and one of the soldiers said, "I'll not kill him, little women, for your sake." The Tories contented themselves with depridations of all kinds, even cutting the cloth from the loom, a great calamity in those times. Arthur Fort ever after that vowed to kill that neighbor on sight, the war being over, he took his gun and went out to hunt him. The man seeing Arthur Fort coming fell down at his feet, threw up his hands and begged for mercy. Arthur could not kill such a wretch, but went up and kicked him, as if he had been a dog, and left him, his vengeance having been appeased.
After the country became more quiet, he settled on the shores of the Ogeechee river in Warren County, Georgia, where he lived for many years, representing his county in the Legislature and assisting in forming many of the most important laws of Georgia. Most of his children were born at this home. They afterwards moved to Twiggs County, Georgia, where he died on November 16th, 1833. He had two brothers who were soldiers in the Revolution. One of them died of smallpox in Charleston, S.C. during the war. He had also a maiden sister, "old aunt Rhoda", who lived in a little house in his yard. She was quite a shrew, they said, and odd in her dress, tormenting her young nieces by coming before their beaux in sack and petticoat. Her brother always took care of her and she died a few years before he did.
His children married as follows: Sarah, to Appleton Rossetter; Moses, to Eudocia Walton Moore; Arthur, to Mary Newsom; Tomlinson, to Martha Low Fannin; Elizabeth, to Lovett B. Smith; Susannah, first, to Robert Jemmison, and second, to Samuel Hunter; Zachariah Cox, to Amanda Beckham; Owen Charleton, died unmarried. He was a young physician of promise, he died and is buried in Twiggs County, Georgia, at thirty years of age.
These were all honest and upright men and women, unusually intelligent and devoted to information of all kinds. They were tall in statue, the men generally being over six feet, the women also were tall and spare, rather plain in appearance and brusque in manner, but they were very sincere. They were generally of a blonde type with light hair and blue eyes. Moses, a lawyer by profession, was perhaps the most showy of the brothers having extraordinary conversational abilities and shining talents. He was made Judge of the Superior Court, but soon retired from active business. Eudocia, his wife, deserves special mention, she outlived her husband many years. She educated and maintained her family and was a jewel among women. I have rarely met her equal for fine sense, extraordinary industry and sterling worth.
Arthur Fort, my husband's father, lived to be very old he left a stainless name. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty years. He rode on horseback fifty miles to hear the first Methodist preacher who visited this section, it was old Bishop Asbury. He took great interest in the politics of the country, had the papers read to him daily during his many years of blindness. He died of a sudden attack of pneumonia, and my husband, who was sent for to see him, arrived only a few hours before his death. It was during a very exciting election, and the old man roused up to ask news of it. He was told that his candidate, Governor Lumpkin, the democrat, was elected Governor of the State. The dying man bowed his head signifying satisfaction, and in a few moments breathed his last. He died November 16th, 1833.
SOURCE: "Memoirs of the Fort and Fannin families", edited by "Kate" (Catherine) Haynes Fort, pages: 07-thru-10
FORT, ARTHUR DAR Ancestor
Service: GEORGIA Rank(s): SOLDIER, PATRIOTIC SERVICE, CIVIL SERVICE
Birth: 1-15-1750 NORTH CAROLINA
Death: 10-19-1833 TWIGGS CO GEORGIA
Service Source: KNIGHT, GA ROSTER OF REV, P 77; CANDLER, REV RECS OF GA, VOL 1 P 306; VOL 2, P 48; VOL 3 P 187
Service Description: 1) RECEIVED LAND GRANT,1784; MEM OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL; APPOINTED MAGISTRATE, MARCH 1778
Residence
1) County: WILKES CO - State: GEORGIA
2) County: RICHMOND CO - State: GEORGIA
Spouse Name 1) SUSANNAH TOMLINSON WHITEHEAD
MARKER Location: 32° 37.818′ N, 83° 29.783′ W.
Marker is in Bullard, Georgia, in Twiggs County.
Marker is at the intersection of Bullard Road and U.S. 23, on the right when traveling east on Bullard Road.
Located in Dry Branch zip code.
Marker is in this post office area: Dry Branch GA 31020, United States of America. "
Son of Arthur FORT Sr 1719 – 1773 and Winefred PACE – 1779
Married Susannah TOMLINSON (Widow WHITEHEAD) 1755 – 1820; parents of:
Arthur FORT III 1785 – 1825
Tomlinson (Dr.) FORT Sr 1787 – 1859
Served as a soldier and on the "Committee of Safety", during the War of the Revolution.
SOURCE: "Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American", Volume 21, page 74, by Daughters of the American Revolution.
Arthur Fort, 1750-1833
"Arthur Fort, Sr., a representative of Wilkinson County, introduced the Bill in the Georgia Legislature to carve a new county out of Wilkinson County territory which became an Act on December 14, 1809, thus Twiggs County was created. After the division, he resided in Twiggs and died at his residence in 1833. Born January 15, 1750, North Carolina and came to Georgia when a young boy.
A Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and a patriot soldier, a member of the Council of Safety and the Supreme Executive Council in the darkest hour of the Revolution, a patriotic Christian zeal characterized his life to the latest hour. His immortal remains were interred in a burial plot within this vicinity in Bullard Community."
"Memoirs of the Fort & Fannin families" - {an excerpt from the Memoirs of Martha Low Fort} - As told by, Martha Low Fannin-Fort (at age 77), and... Edited by daughter, Kate Haynes Fort (at age 65), and published in 1903...
Part I.
I Martha Low Fort am seventy seven years old, and to gratify a whim of my children have consented to turn story teller and write for their amusement, all I can remember of my own and my husband's families as well as some of the incidents of my long life. True, I do not hold the pen myself but dictate to my daughters.
To begin this little history of the Fort Fannin families I will commence with Arthur Fort, the father of my husband. Of course I do not know so much of his family as I do of my own.
Arthur Fort came of English parentage. I only know that three brothers: Moses, Arthur, and Elias, first settled in North Carolina and afterward scattered to different parts of the country. Dr. Fort's family being descended from one of them. Arthur Fort, father of my husband, was born January 15th, 1750. He was living in Burke County, Georgia, when the Revolutionary war broke out. Before the war he had married a widow, Mrs. Whitehead, formerly Miss Susannah Tomlinson. She came of a Pennsylvania Quaker family, was a very small woman, with dark hair and eyes, she was a gentle, loving, mother, her children ever retained a tender memory of her. She died December 13th, 1820. She had one son by her first marriage, and eight sons and daughters by her second. Her oldest child, Sarah was born the 14th of August, 1779; Moses, March 17th, 1782; Arthur, April 3rd 1785; Tomlinson, July 14th, 1787; Elizabeth, December 26th, 1789; Susannah, March 11th, 1792; Zachariah Cox, February 12th, 1795; Owen Charlton, December 1st, 1798.
Arthur Fort, the father of this family, was a man of strong original mind. His early opportunities were poor, but he was possessed of uncommon intellect and passion for reading and was a leading spirit in the stirring times in which he lived. He was a great patriot, served in Georgia with distinction during the Revolution. When Sir James Wright evacuated Savannah, Georgia, he was put in charge of the Government house. This I heard in a lecture delivered by Mr., Stevens author of "Stevens' History of Georgia" in Milledgeville. Before Georgia was organized as a State, Arthur Fort was one of the men appointed as one of the first Executive Council. The members of this Council were the authors of the Code of Laws for the State, this fact can be verified in the archives of the State. He fought against the Indians with great bravery during the Revolution. On one occasion he was in a fort on the Ogeechee river, when it was surrounded by savages. The garrison was out of provisions and some one had to go for help. Arthur Fort volunteered to go, he stripped off his clothes except pants and shirt, tied a handkerchief around his head, mounted the fleetest horse in the fort. The gate was cautiously opened and he dashed out, through the watching Indians. They were so astounded at his daring that they set up a shout, a few hurried shots were fired at him, but he made good his escape, and soon brought relief to the beseiged fort. During the war he made a few stolen visits home and was once betrayed by a Tory neighbor, which was the cause of quite a dramatic scene. This neighbor collected a band of Tories and came in to take Arthur Fort a prisoner and kill him. His wife threw herself in front of her husband and one of the soldiers said, "I'll not kill him, little women, for your sake." The Tories contented themselves with depridations of all kinds, even cutting the cloth from the loom, a great calamity in those times. Arthur Fort ever after that vowed to kill that neighbor on sight, the war being over, he took his gun and went out to hunt him. The man seeing Arthur Fort coming fell down at his feet, threw up his hands and begged for mercy. Arthur could not kill such a wretch, but went up and kicked him, as if he had been a dog, and left him, his vengeance having been appeased.
After the country became more quiet, he settled on the shores of the Ogeechee river in Warren County, Georgia, where he lived for many years, representing his county in the Legislature and assisting in forming many of the most important laws of Georgia. Most of his children were born at this home. They afterwards moved to Twiggs County, Georgia, where he died on November 16th, 1833. He had two brothers who were soldiers in the Revolution. One of them died of smallpox in Charleston, S.C. during the war. He had also a maiden sister, "old aunt Rhoda", who lived in a little house in his yard. She was quite a shrew, they said, and odd in her dress, tormenting her young nieces by coming before their beaux in sack and petticoat. Her brother always took care of her and she died a few years before he did.
His children married as follows: Sarah, to Appleton Rossetter; Moses, to Eudocia Walton Moore; Arthur, to Mary Newsom; Tomlinson, to Martha Low Fannin; Elizabeth, to Lovett B. Smith; Susannah, first, to Robert Jemmison, and second, to Samuel Hunter; Zachariah Cox, to Amanda Beckham; Owen Charleton, died unmarried. He was a young physician of promise, he died and is buried in Twiggs County, Georgia, at thirty years of age.
These were all honest and upright men and women, unusually intelligent and devoted to information of all kinds. They were tall in statue, the men generally being over six feet, the women also were tall and spare, rather plain in appearance and brusque in manner, but they were very sincere. They were generally of a blonde type with light hair and blue eyes. Moses, a lawyer by profession, was perhaps the most showy of the brothers having extraordinary conversational abilities and shining talents. He was made Judge of the Superior Court, but soon retired from active business. Eudocia, his wife, deserves special mention, she outlived her husband many years. She educated and maintained her family and was a jewel among women. I have rarely met her equal for fine sense, extraordinary industry and sterling worth.
Arthur Fort, my husband's father, lived to be very old he left a stainless name. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty years. He rode on horseback fifty miles to hear the first Methodist preacher who visited this section, it was old Bishop Asbury. He took great interest in the politics of the country, had the papers read to him daily during his many years of blindness. He died of a sudden attack of pneumonia, and my husband, who was sent for to see him, arrived only a few hours before his death. It was during a very exciting election, and the old man roused up to ask news of it. He was told that his candidate, Governor Lumpkin, the democrat, was elected Governor of the State. The dying man bowed his head signifying satisfaction, and in a few moments breathed his last. He died November 16th, 1833.
SOURCE: "Memoirs of the Fort and Fannin families", edited by "Kate" (Catherine) Haynes Fort, pages: 07-thru-10
FORT, ARTHUR DAR Ancestor
Service: GEORGIA Rank(s): SOLDIER, PATRIOTIC SERVICE, CIVIL SERVICE
Birth: 1-15-1750 NORTH CAROLINA
Death: 10-19-1833 TWIGGS CO GEORGIA
Service Source: KNIGHT, GA ROSTER OF REV, P 77; CANDLER, REV RECS OF GA, VOL 1 P 306; VOL 2, P 48; VOL 3 P 187
Service Description: 1) RECEIVED LAND GRANT,1784; MEM OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL; APPOINTED MAGISTRATE, MARCH 1778
Residence
1) County: WILKES CO - State: GEORGIA
2) County: RICHMOND CO - State: GEORGIA
Spouse Name 1) SUSANNAH TOMLINSON WHITEHEAD
MARKER Location: 32° 37.818′ N, 83° 29.783′ W.
Marker is in Bullard, Georgia, in Twiggs County.
Marker is at the intersection of Bullard Road and U.S. 23, on the right when traveling east on Bullard Road.
Located in Dry Branch zip code.
Marker is in this post office area: Dry Branch GA 31020, United States of America. "
Married Susannah TOMLINSON (Widow WHITEHEAD) 1755 – 1820; parents of:
Arthur FORT III 1785 – 1825
Tomlinson (Dr.) FORT Sr 1787 – 1859
Served as a soldier and on the "Committee of Safety", during the War of the Revolution.
SOURCE: "Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American", Volume 21, page 74, by Daughters of the American Revolution.
Arthur Fort, 1750-1833
"Arthur Fort, Sr., a representative of Wilkinson County, introduced the Bill in the Georgia Legislature to carve a new county out of Wilkinson County territory which became an Act on December 14, 1809, thus Twiggs County was created. After the division, he resided in Twiggs and died at his residence in 1833. Born January 15, 1750, North Carolina and came to Georgia when a young boy.
A Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and a patriot soldier, a member of the Council of Safety and the Supreme Executive Council in the darkest hour of the Revolution, a patriotic Christian zeal characterized his life to the latest hour. His immortal remains were interred in a burial plot within this vicinity in Bullard Community."
"Memoirs of the Fort & Fannin families" - {an excerpt from the Memoirs of Martha Low Fort} - As told by, Martha Low Fannin-Fort (at age 77), and... Edited by daughter, Kate Haynes Fort (at age 65), and published in 1903...
Part I.
I Martha Low Fort am seventy seven years old, and to gratify a whim of my children have consented to turn story teller and write for their amusement, all I can remember of my own and my husband's families as well as some of the incidents of my long life. True, I do not hold the pen myself but dictate to my daughters.
To begin this little history of the Fort Fannin families I will commence with Arthur Fort, the father of my husband. Of course I do not know so much of his family as I do of my own.
Arthur Fort came of English parentage. I only know that three brothers: Moses, Arthur, and Elias, first settled in North Carolina and afterward scattered to different parts of the country. Dr. Fort's family being descended from one of them. Arthur Fort, father of my husband, was born January 15th, 1750. He was living in Burke County, Georgia, when the Revolutionary war broke out. Before the war he had married a widow, Mrs. Whitehead, formerly Miss Susannah Tomlinson. She came of a Pennsylvania Quaker family, was a very small woman, with dark hair and eyes, she was a gentle, loving, mother, her children ever retained a tender memory of her. She died December 13th, 1820. She had one son by her first marriage, and eight sons and daughters by her second. Her oldest child, Sarah was born the 14th of August, 1779; Moses, March 17th, 1782; Arthur, April 3rd 1785; Tomlinson, July 14th, 1787; Elizabeth, December 26th, 1789; Susannah, March 11th, 1792; Zachariah Cox, February 12th, 1795; Owen Charlton, December 1st, 1798.
Arthur Fort, the father of this family, was a man of strong original mind. His early opportunities were poor, but he was possessed of uncommon intellect and passion for reading and was a leading spirit in the stirring times in which he lived. He was a great patriot, served in Georgia with distinction during the Revolution. When Sir James Wright evacuated Savannah, Georgia, he was put in charge of the Government house. This I heard in a lecture delivered by Mr., Stevens author of "Stevens' History of Georgia" in Milledgeville. Before Georgia was organized as a State, Arthur Fort was one of the men appointed as one of the first Executive Council. The members of this Council were the authors of the Code of Laws for the State, this fact can be verified in the archives of the State. He fought against the Indians with great bravery during the Revolution. On one occasion he was in a fort on the Ogeechee river, when it was surrounded by savages. The garrison was out of provisions and some one had to go for help. Arthur Fort volunteered to go, he stripped off his clothes except pants and shirt, tied a handkerchief around his head, mounted the fleetest horse in the fort. The gate was cautiously opened and he dashed out, through the watching Indians. They were so astounded at his daring that they set up a shout, a few hurried shots were fired at him, but he made good his escape, and soon brought relief to the beseiged fort. During the war he made a few stolen visits home and was once betrayed by a Tory neighbor, which was the cause of quite a dramatic scene. This neighbor collected a band of Tories and came in to take Arthur Fort a prisoner and kill him. His wife threw herself in front of her husband and one of the soldiers said, "I'll not kill him, little women, for your sake." The Tories contented themselves with depridations of all kinds, even cutting the cloth from the loom, a great calamity in those times. Arthur Fort ever after that vowed to kill that neighbor on sight, the war being over, he took his gun and went out to hunt him. The man seeing Arthur Fort coming fell down at his feet, threw up his hands and begged for mercy. Arthur could not kill such a wretch, but went up and kicked him, as if he had been a dog, and left him, his vengeance having been appeased.
After the country became more quiet, he settled on the shores of the Ogeechee river in Warren County, Georgia, where he lived for many years, representing his county in the Legislature and assisting in forming many of the most important laws of Georgia. Most of his children were born at this home. They afterwards moved to Twiggs County, Georgia, where he died on November 16th, 1833. He had two brothers who were soldiers in the Revolution. One of them died of smallpox in Charleston, S.C. during the war. He had also a maiden sister, "old aunt Rhoda", who lived in a little house in his yard. She was quite a shrew, they said, and odd in her dress, tormenting her young nieces by coming before their beaux in sack and petticoat. Her brother always took care of her and she died a few years before he did.
His children married as follows: Sarah, to Appleton Rossetter; Moses, to Eudocia Walton Moore; Arthur, to Mary Newsom; Tomlinson, to Martha Low Fannin; Elizabeth, to Lovett B. Smith; Susannah, first, to Robert Jemmison, and second, to Samuel Hunter; Zachariah Cox, to Amanda Beckham; Owen Charleton, died unmarried. He was a young physician of promise, he died and is buried in Twiggs County, Georgia, at thirty years of age.
These were all honest and upright men and women, unusually intelligent and devoted to information of all kinds. They were tall in statue, the men generally being over six feet, the women also were tall and spare, rather plain in appearance and brusque in manner, but they were very sincere. They were generally of a blonde type with light hair and blue eyes. Moses, a lawyer by profession, was perhaps the most showy of the brothers having extraordinary conversational abilities and shining talents. He was made Judge of the Superior Court, but soon retired from active business. Eudocia, his wife, deserves special mention, she outlived her husband many years. She educated and maintained her family and was a jewel among women. I have rarely met her equal for fine sense, extraordinary industry and sterling worth.
Arthur Fort, my husband's father, lived to be very old he left a stainless name. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty years. He rode on horseback fifty miles to hear the first Methodist preacher who visited this section, it was old Bishop Asbury. He took great interest in the politics of the country, had the papers read to him daily during his many years of blindness. He died of a sudden attack of pneumonia, and my husband, who was sent for to see him, arrived only a few hours before his death. It was during a very exciting election, and the old man roused up to ask news of it. He was told that his candidate, Governor Lumpkin, the democrat, was elected Governor of the State. The dying man bowed his head signifying satisfaction, and in a few moments breathed his last. He died November 16th, 1833.
SOURCE: "Memoirs of the Fort and Fannin families", edited by "Kate" (Catherine) Haynes Fort, pages: 07-thru-10
FORT, ARTHUR DAR Ancestor
Service: GEORGIA Rank(s): SOLDIER, PATRIOTIC SERVICE, CIVIL SERVICE
Birth: 1-15-1750 NORTH CAROLINA
Death: 10-19-1833 TWIGGS CO GEORGIA
Service Source: KNIGHT, GA ROSTER OF REV, P 77; CANDLER, REV RECS OF GA, VOL 1 P 306; VOL 2, P 48; VOL 3 P 187
Service Description: 1) RECEIVED LAND GRANT,1784; MEM OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL; APPOINTED MAGISTRATE, MARCH 1778
Residence
1) County: WILKES CO - State: GEORGIA
2) County: RICHMOND CO - State: GEORGIA
Spouse Name 1) SUSANNAH TOMLINSON WHITEHEAD
MARKER Location: 32° 37.818′ N, 83° 29.783′ W.
Marker is in Bullard, Georgia, in Twiggs County.
Marker is at the intersection of Bullard Road and U.S. 23, on the right when traveling east on Bullard Road.
Located in Dry Branch zip code.
Marker is in this post office area: Dry Branch GA 31020, United States of America. "
Family Members
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
