History of Chambers County Alabama United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Population: White, 11,364; colored, 12,076. Area, 610 square miles. Woodland, all. All metamorphic.

Acres-In cotton (approximately), 70,934; in corn, 49,306; in oats, 9,258; in wheat, 11,520; in tobacco, 39; in sugar-cane, 211; in sweet potatoes, 1,038.

Approximate number of bales of cotton, 20,100.

County Seat-La Fayette; population, 2,000; located on East Alabama Railroad, eighteen miles from Opelika, and eighty-four miles from Montgomery.

Newspapers published at County Seat-Chambers County Democrat and Sun, both Democratic.

Postoffices in the County-Bloomingdale, Bosworth, Buffalo, Chapel Hill, Cusseta, Fredonia, Happy Land, Hickory Flat, La Fayette, Lystra, Milltown, Oakbowery, Osanippa, Sandy Creek, Sharon, Stroud, Tuckersburgh.

Chambers County lies in the eastern portion of the State, and joins the State of Georgia, from which a portion of it is separated by the Coosa River.

The county was created in 1832 from a portion of the lands ceded by the Muscogees at the treaty of Cusseta. It was named in honor of Hon. Henry Chambers, of Madison County, who represented Alabama in the Senate of the United States at the time of his death in 1826.

The area of the county is about 610 square miles. The surface is rolling and hilly, with light soils, having a good sub-soil, though in the county there is a considerable area of bottom lands rendered very fertile by alluvial deposits. The land generally is red, mulatto or gray, the first of which is specially adapted to the culture of grain. The gray lands are best adapted to the production of cotton, while the mulatto lands produce all crops abundantly.

This county is well wooded, and it contains fine forests of red, white, post and Spanish oaks, which grow luxuriantly on the red hill lands. Long-leaf pine is found in limited quantities, but not sufficiently to be enumerated as one of the factors of material wealth.

Chambers County is well watered, being touched on the southeastern quarter by the Chattahoochee River, while the Tallapoosa cuts off its northwestern corner. Through the center of the county there runs from the northeast to the southeast a ridge, which is the watershed that divides the waters that flow into the Chattahoochee and those that flow into the Tallapoosa. The body of the county is watered by several creeks, tributary to one or the other of these rivers, the principal of which are: Weehadkee, Oclickee, Osanippa, Heolethloochee, Cohelsaneia and several other minor streams.

The climate of the county is excellent and especially adaptable for fruit culture, which promises to become an important industry. At present it ranks as one of the first counties of the State in the production of peaches. The mineral resources of the county have never been developed, but there is very little doubt that it contains many articles highly valuable. It adjoins the counties of Tallapoosa and Randolph, in both of which gold is known to exist, and by many it is thought that this precious metal will one day be discovered in Chambers. Granite has been found here, as well as a superior article of graphite, both of which might be developed with great profit.

This county is possessed of ample water-power, which is being utilized for running grist- and saw-mills and gins. There are two cotton factories on the Chattahoochee, partly in Chambers and partly in Georgia.

The Western Railroad of Alabama passes through the southern corner of the county, and the East Alabama & Cincinnati Railroad extends to the central portion from Opelika, terminating at Buffalo Wallow.

La Fayette is a pleasant little city. It is located in the central portion of the county, and enjoys an excellent trade. It possesses all the advantages of rail communication, and is the seat of several educational institutions of a high order. The inhabitants are noted for their refinement and hospitality, and no city of its size in the State can present more attractions as a home.

Churches of the leading Christian denominations are found here.

The other towns, worthy of mention, are Fredonia, Milltown and Cussetta. At the latter place the celebrated treaty was concluded with the Muscogees in 1832, whereby that tribe surrendered a large body of land, the last of its possessions in Alabama, to the General Government.

SOURCE:Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical; Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land, 1888

Biographies:

Samuel Porter Jones, evangelist, was born in Chambers county, Ala., Oct. 16, 1847. He removed to Cartersville, Ga., in 1859, studied under private tutors and at boarding schools and was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1869 and began the practice of law, which his intemperate habits interfered with to such an extent as to destroy his business. After his father's death in 1872, he reformed, studied for the ministry and became a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He was pastor of several churches in the North Georgia conference, 1872-80. He founded, organized, supported and served as agent of the Decatur Orphans' Home, 1881-93. He devoted much of his time to evangelistic work and after 1892 travelled over the country and lectured and held revival meetings in all the larger cities of the United States. During the summer months he lectured at the Chautauqua meetings. He is the author of: Sam Jones's Sermons (1883); The Music Hall Series (1886); Quit Your Meanness (1886); Sam Jones's Own Book (1887); St. Louis Series; Thunderbolts.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Chambers County Alabama

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