Nesbit Family

Joshua Nesbit came from County Town, Ireland, in 1780 and settled in South Carolina and died there in a short time.

William Nesbit, son of Joshua Nesbit, b 10-20-1788 in York District, South Carolina d 6-27-1863 m Mary Nesbit and came to Georgia in young manhood and settled in the Hog Mountain community in Jackson County. In 1813 he assisted in constructing a road from Hog Mountain to Fort Gilmer at the Standing Peachtree thirty miles west of Hog Mountain. It was called the Peachtree road.

When Gwinnett County was created in December, 1818, Nesbit's home was made a part of the new county. He was the second sheriff of the county. He acquired a farm on or near the Gwinnett-DeKalb county line on the Atlanta highway. He, his wife and several of his family are buried in the family graveyard across the road from the place of his residence. His children were:

1) Mahaley b 7-1-1810 m John Burns. (See Burns family.)

2) Sarah Nesbit 1-18-1812 d 5-30-1885 m Alfred Williams. (See Williams family.)

3) Luzaney b 9-16-1813 m Hiram Williams. (See Isham Williams family.)

4) Joseph b 3-20-1816 d 4-27-1860 m Katheryn Wynn.

5) Delaney b 4-4-1817 m Harrison Brogdon. (See Brogdon family.)

6) John b 10-25-1818 m Elizabeth Hale.

7) Ira b 11-2-1820 d 1-19-1863 d unm.

8) Alvin b 12-5-1823 d 3-1-1885 m Rebecca Craig. (See Craig family.)

9) Sylvester b 12-23-1824 d 11-29-1902 m Carolyn Lively.

10) Parazade b 3-21-1827 d 3-11-1860 m Pink Craig. (See Craig family.)

11) Charlton b 9-22-1829 d 12-13-1862 unm.

12) Mary b 10-18-1832 d 12-13-1862 m Frank Jones.

taken from: History of Gwinnett Co. Georgia 1818-1960 Vol. II by James C. Flanigan, 1959 p. 568-569.

PEACHTREE ROAD OPENED

The officer whose duty it was to have this road constructed was probably Captain Nehemiah Garrison, who was in command of the detachment of soldiers when Fort Daniel was erected; and the next officer in rank was Lieutenant George R. Gilmer, afterwards prominent in Georgia as a member of congress and governor of this state. Writing in 1873 Judge R. D. Winn refers to this event as follows:

"There is probably but one man now living who assisted to garrison that post; and that man is our venerable and respected fellow citizen, James Stanley, now nearly ninety years of age. It became necessary to establish another post in communication with this one farther out in the Indian country; and the commandant at Fort Daniel procured the services of Robert Young, Isham Williams and William Nesbit, who were stock raisers and well acquainted with the country, to mark out the route. These three men, accompanied by Lieutenant Gilmer and a detachment from the fort, proceeded to the task by following the trail leading from the white settlement to Hog Mountain and from there to Suwanee Old Town or to the settlement of John Rogers, near the mouth of Suwanee Creek." They followed this trail to where it crossed the ridge, known since as Peachtree ridge, and then followed this ridge to an old Indian settlement near the Chattahoochee River where Montgomery's ferry was afterwards established in what later became Fulton County. The road thus surveyed terminated at the old Indian settlement; and it was generally understood that at this settlement there was a solitary peachtree of large size, and the place ever afterwards was called The Standing Peachtree, and the road thus marked out connecting the two forts was called Peachtree Road, and is so called at the present time. Hence Peachtree Road, Peachtree Creek and Peachtree Street.

"Nesbit, one of the party employed to mark out the road, was then a young man of wonderful activity and swift of foot as the following incident will show. On traveling the route for the proposed road, a wild turkey, disabled in one of its wings, ran across their way and Nesbit took after it and soon captured it. He was more successful than was Joe Hill in a similar race afterwards. Joe was a large backwoodsman in the early settlement of the county, large in body, but moderate in intellect, and still less in education and the use of language. He spent his time in the woods with his rifle, all the property he had, and got his living by killing deer, turkeys, bears and other wild game. On one of his hunts he shot a large gobbler and broke its wing. Throwing down his gun, he pursued it at the top of his speed for four miles and it was nip and tuck. On going down hill, Joe would 'crease' on it, but going up hill it would 'juce' away. Joe Hill was a brother of Josh Hill, a worthy fellow citizen who lived near the Appalachee, the scene of Joe's race with the turkey, and who, when a big boy, walked from Augusta to his home on the Appalachee, 140 miles, eating during the trip but one meal, a few bites with a wagoner who had stopped by the roadside to feed his team and eat dinner.

"After this road was marked out, or surveyed, it was important that it be constructed or opened up. Isham Williams, William Nesbit and Bob Young were employed to grade or construct the road, each one agreeing to furnish some hands, and William Nesbit was to superintend the work.

"I am able," continued Judge Winn, "to give a list of the persons engaged in opening of the road, as one of them, Hiram Williams, is still living, a valued citizen of the county and held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. William Nestit was 'boss.' John Young, Lewis Lawly, John Lawly, and a negro man did the work; and Hiram Williams and Gustin Young, who were boys, drove the cart. Isham Williams and Bob Young, who accompanied the party, were generally on picket duty, looking out for Indians who were then on the war path. On the evening before reaching the end of the road, as they were getting far down the Chattahoochee and in proximity to thr Indian settlements, Young thought it advisable that he and Williams should go off on a reconnoissance, lest the Red Skins give them a surprise, and accordingly, they mounted their horses and rode off. When night came, Nesbit and his men struck camp, built a fire, fed their stock and prepared supper for themselves. While eating they heard, to their dismay, a clear and shrill 'whoop, whoop, whoope-e-e! All dropped their cups and, alarmed, rose to their feet, for it was evidently an Indian war-whoop, and all eyes were turned to Mr. Nesbit, and the two boys placed themselves near him. Soon again, and nearer, 'whoop, whoop, whoope-e-e' rang out and the whole party took to the woods and secreted themselves. Mr. Nesbit kept the boys near him. Soon galloping horses were heard approaching the campfire and the voice of Williams calling for Nesbit was recognized, greatly to the relief of Mr. Nesbit and his party. The fearful war whoop had emanated from him as a bit of mischief, 't try the metal of the boys.'

"The road was opened and for doing the work the contractors were paid $150.00. Bob Young, referred to above, was a character. His like has seldom been seen and will seldom be seen hereafter. He was original in his looks, in his language, in his habits, and the character of his mind. Wholly illiterate, with no knowledge of books except the great book of nature from which he drew literally, he was a man of superior sense, superior judgment, and had stored up, from observation, a large fund of information that was valuable to him and his friends. While a confirmed infidel, perhaps an atheist, he was true to his word, faithful to his honor, truthful to the fullest extent. His word, his promisea and his integrity were never questioned by those who knew him. He always wore his hair tied in a 'queue' which he prized most highly and of which he wea proud to the day of his death."

taken from: History of Gwinnett Co. Georgia 1818-1943 Vol. I by J.C. Flanigan, 1943, p. 16-18.

1872

WILLIAM NESBIT

William Nesbit was the first sheriff of Gwinnett County and held the office consecutively as sheriff and deputy sheriff for fourteen years. It has been said, and it was universally conceded by the old citizens, that he was the most efficient sheriff the county ever had. As an arresting officer especially, he has had no equal with my knowledge so far as this county is concerned.

In his day as sheriff, the county was new, the population to a great extent wild and lawless, and had within its limits many desperadoes as is common in all new countries. It was said by William Brogdon once that North and South Carolina had boiled over and the scum had run over into the new part of Georgia. Many of these desperate men had at various times resisted successfully the constables, but when Nesbit got after them, if they could not outrun him, they were sure to be taken.

I still remember his clear shrill voice in calling parties and witnesses into court. That clarion voice is still upon my ear as he would open court with his "Oyes! Oyes! Oyes! The Superior Court of Gwinnett County is now opened according to adjournment. God save the state and the honorable court." It was said with as much grace and dignity as it is said in England by one of the high sheriffs of the realm.

Those were my Robin Hood days, the days of the log cabin and the sanded floor, of pewter plates and basins displayed in the sun and to passers-by on a shelf at the front door and to visitors in the cupboard in the principal room in the house; of tinkers with packs on their backs to mend such wares as might be broken, or to mould new ones from the old for the thrifty housewives. Those were the days when the land was fresh from the hand of God. No sedge or old pine fields; and the country was covered with magnificent forests, and the streams were full of fish. If a young man wished to marry, he went on the other side of the spring, or to the other side of his father's virgin soil, built his log cabin, cleared a turnip patch and cowpen, married and went to multiplying and replenishing the earth according to law. Since then, alas! The country is scarred with red gullies and old wornout fields, the forests are gone, and if a young man marries, there is but little assurance but that he will become a profligate and debauchee, and procuring an emigrant ticket, elopes with another woman to the distant West, leaving his wife in wretchedness and his children in want.

Mr. Nesbit served two sessions in the state senate, first in 1829 and again in 1833. He was born in York District, South Carolina, and in early life came to Jackson County and afterwards moved to this county and died June 27, 1863, at the age of 76. He lived for many years near the DeKalb County line on the Hightower trail, the dividing line between the counties of Gwinnett and DeKalb. He was a man of striking appearance, full six feet high, of wellrounded proportions, evincing strength and activity, a remarkable walk indicating independence and resolution. His face was of the finest type, bespeaking manliness but kindness and benevolence.

Upon a recent visit by the writer to his son, Hon. John Nesbit, of Milton County, he showed me a photograph of his father. It was a perfect facsimile of William Nesbit, with his peculiar form, handsome face and determined contour of the mouth that had so often excited my admiration of the original when in life.

It was in his domestic life that the nobler and kinder traits of the man were displayed. When his married daughter would reach that point in married life, woman's greatest extremity, when all the affections of the father are drawn out and his keenest solicitude aroused for the safe passage through the dreaded ordeal, he would be there at the bedside to administer comfort and assurance; and amid all his noble traits of character, this was the noblest and kindest, the best of them all.

Of all the men of whom I have or may write, the subject of this sketch has claims upon me hardly equaled by any. He was for a long series of years the fast friend and companion of my father and the devoted friend of his family, agreeing in all their views, especially in politics in which they were in harmony through a long life with uninterrupted friendship and cordiality. Being of the first settlers of the new county, they went, shoulder to shoulder, in efforts to suppress crime and rascality, thereby contracting an intimacy that terminated only with their lives.

I would that I was competent to pronounce a suitable eulogy of his private life and public services. I feel my inability for the task.

He, with his associates and compeers of early times and history of our county, had their brief day. They have now nearly all 'wrapped the drapery of their couch about them and lain down to pleasant dreams.' It is left to me, in a feeble way, to call up their memories. This task is agreeable but the service is lame.

"I name them over one by one
And weep o'er days forever gone;
O'er friends whose suns of life have set
And voices thrilling memory yet.

"They vanished like a morning beam
Or sunlight on the rippling stream;
And gloom lurks in the web of years
And hope of youth all disappears.

"Now when the moon her chariot drives
And night, the jeweled maid, arrives,
I think upon departed hours
With hush of moon and blush of flowers."

taken from: History of Gwinnett Co. Georgia 1818-1943 Vol. I by J.C. Flanigan, 1943, P. 374-376.