Burke County, GA
History
Burke County is one of Georgia's eight original counties. When the colony was established in 1732, the area now known as Burke County was called the Halifax District. In 1758 Georgia was divided into parishes, and the Halifax District became the parish of St. George. In 1777 St. George Parish became one of Georgia's first counties, named for political philosopher and member of British Parliament Edmund Burke, who advocated appeasement of American colonial grievances.The original inhabitants of the area were Creek, Cherokee, and Catawba Indians, who lost their land when members of their leadership, often not speaking for all of them, signed treaties in 1733, 1736, and 1758 with the English. The first white settlers were "headright settlers," or those who acquired land via a system that granted parcels to the heads of families. The majority were farmers who were attracted by the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers, a few other settlers came from parishes to the south in addition to immigrants from across the Atlantic who were primarily Scots-Irish Protestants.