The story of Asaph Perry

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Opening The Perrys Antebellum Forsyth A Yeoman's World War

Forsyth and Cherokee counties grew up quickly after the 1831 annexation of Cherokee County by the state of Georgia. In 1825, the area that would become Cherokee and Forsyth counties was part of the Cherokee Nation. The few whites living in the area were Christian missionaries and the occasional merchant overseeing the transportation of goods through the Cherokee Nation to Tennessee. After the discovery of gold in the Cherokee Nation and the annexation of the area in 1831, a radical demographic shift occurred. By 1835, the overwhelming percentage of Forsyth and Cherokee county residents were small farmers and gold prospectors who had won their land in the 1832 Georgia land lottery. The farms were generally small, a product of a land lottery system which limited the size of individual farms to 140 acres. Gold mining proved to be more speculative than profitable for the vast majority of prospectors. Without independent means of wealth and little in the way of gold prospects, most of these folks would settle into the demanding life of the yeoman farmer.

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Documents

Much like the lexia on Antebellum Forsyth, very little documentary evidence was required for this section of the story. We are unsure why the Perrys came to Lumpkin County, but might infer that it was related to the 1828 discovery of gold. The family first appeared in Georgia in the 1830 census. Prior to this, the Perrys were in Greenville, South Carolina.

In 1834 there were about 1,500 white residents of Cherokee County, which had just in 1831 been created by an act of the Georgia Legislature. In 1832, the area was subdivided into 10 counties, including the new county of Forsyth. In the 1834 census, Forsyth County had over 1,800 white residents. Most of these early settlers in these counties were gold prospectors (discovered in north Georgia in 1828) who won 40 acre gold plots in the 1832 land lottery. In other areas of north Georgia larger plots of 160 acres were granted in the 1832 land lottery for farming. Of course, very few of the 40 acre Forsyth plots had gold and the land was quickly converted for small farming. According to an 1835 census, only 162 Cherokee Indians along with 261 black slaves lived in Forsyth County.