MIGRATION TO PUTNAM COUNTY GEORGIA – Nathaniel and Martha Kennon Brodnax Harrison

MARTHA KENNON BROADNAX HARRISON’S STORY – THE MOVE FROM VIRGINIA TO GEORGIA – BIRTH OF A BABY ENROUTE

Nathaniel Harrison (1770 – 1845) and Martha Kennon Brodnax (1776-1858) were born in Brunswick County Virginia around the time of the American Revolution. They were married in Brunswick on 25 March 1799. They migrated to Creek Indian Territory in Georgia in 1801. They settled in Baldwin County. Putnam County and several others were formed in 1807. The Creeks and Cherokees were relocated westward by 1830. Alexander Brown Harrison was said to have been born on the wagon train trip from Brunswick County, Virginia to Central Georgia.

THE MOVE TO GEORGIA

Nathaniel Harrison and Martha Kennon Brodnax Harrison, along with other families, most likely drove their caravan of horses, wagons, oxen, cows, pigs, chickens and children down the Fall Line Road past Cheraw and Camden SC and Augusta GA.

WHEN THEY GOT TO GEORGIA

Crossing the Savannah River at Augusta, possibly using the Sand Bar Ferry, they would have traveled westward toward Hancock and Baldwin Counties. (Hancock was founded in 1793, Baldwin in 1803 and Putnam was formed from Baldwin in 1807). From Hancock County they would cross the Oconee River using Little Ferry at Rockville between Sparta and Eatonton. It is interesting that the ferry was was still in operation in the 1940s, nearly 150 years later (see below).

After crossing the Oconee River near Rockville, they would have driven south toward Milledgeville where they settled on land lots 312 and 321 near the Oconee and what is now Pea Ridge Road. They occupied territory the United States Federal government was acquiring from Creek Indian nation, as the Creeks and Cherokees were being pushed toward Oklahoma and reservations in the western parts of the country.

The 1878 Putnam County map below shows the Little Ferry crossing.

Upon arrival at their new land, their work had just begun.