MANUSCRIPT LEGAL COMPLAINT, LUMPKIN COUNTY, CHEROKEE CIRCUIT, GEORGIA: OBADIAH E. PAYNE VS. JAMES RAMSEY. PAYNE OWNS A FORTY ACRE LOT IN LUMPKIN COUNTY. HE LEASED IT TO SETH STRANGE OF FRANKLIN COUNTY. SETH STRANGE PERMITTED ONE JAMES RAMSEY "TO ENTER WITH HIM UPON THE SAID LOT OF LAND FOR THE PURPOSE OF OPERATING THEREON FOR GOLD." STRANGE THEN ENDED HIS LEASE WITH PAYNE, AND RAMSEY REMAINED IN POSSESSION UNDER THE LEASE. DESPITE EXPIRATION OF THE LEASE, RAMSEY "ON THE CONTRARY IS CARRYING ON AN EXTENSIVE OPERATION IN MINING FOR GOLD AND CARRYING THE SAME OFF AND CONVERTING IT TO HIS OWN USE IN QUANTITIES WHICH THIS COMPLAINANT HATH NO LEGAL MEANS OF ASCERTAINING." RAMSEY IS "DAILY COMMITTING OF WASTE IN CUTTING DOWN AND DESTROYING THE TIMBER UPON THE SAID TRACT OF LAND, DIGGING UP AND TURNING UP THE SOIL . . . AND WILL UNLESS RESTRAINED WILL RENDER THE SAID TRACT OF LAND WHICH IS NOW VALUABLE AS A RICH GOLD MINE, OF LITTLE OR NO VALUE TO THIS COMPLAINAN. "
Lumpkin County, Georgia: 1844. Folio, 8" x 12-3/4". Three leaves: [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [2] pp. Completely in ink manuscript. Light tanning, old folds, minor wear and some short splits at fold edges. Prepared and signed by William H. Underwood, as Solicitor for the complainant. Very Good.
From 1805 through 1832, Georgia used a lottery system to distribute land taken from the Cherokee and Creek Indians. The Georgia Gold Rush began in 1829 and continued through the early 1840s. Separate Gold Lotteries in 1832 and 1833 divided lots into 40 acres and distributed them. The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States and was particularly significant in the county seat of Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, where it began, soon spreading through the North Georgia Mountains. Due to the significant amount of mined gold, Congress established the Dahlonega Mint in 1838. By the early 1840s, gold became less plentiful, and many miners migrated to California for the California Gold Rush. ["Dahlonega Gold Museum", Roadside Georgia website accessed on Wayback Machine Internet Archive, October, 2025; Wikipedia.]
Judge A. R. Wright issued a ruling 15 April 1844 enjoining Ramsey "from committing future waste spil or destruction in and upon the lot of land," until further order of the Court, and required him to appear and respond to the complaint.
Obadiah E. Payne a/k/a Paine [1807-1892] was a farmer from Floyd County, Seth Strange [c.1804-1881] was a farmer from Franklin County, and James Ramsey [c.1798-1869] was a farmer from Cherokee County doing gold mining in Lumpkin County for a time. [United States Federal Census records on Ancestry website.]
William H[enderson] Underwood [1779-1859] was a Georgia lawyer, a Captain in the War of 1812, and was elected Judge of the Western Circuit of Georgia in 1825. ["Sketches of Georgia Lawyers. . . William Henderson Underwood", The Weekly Telegraph, 14 June 1867, page 2.]
Augustus Romaldus Wright [1813–1894] was an American politician and lawyer who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1857-1859, served in the First Confederate Congress, organized "Wright's Legion" of Georgia Volunteers, and served as a colonel in the Georgia 38th Infantry C.S.A. President Lincoln offered him a position of provisional governor of Georgia in 1864 if the state withdrew from the Confederacy, which it did not. ["Wright, Augustus Romaldus", online Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.]. Item #41397
Price: $875.00