The earliest days of Gwinnett County witnessed rapid growth as the Cherokee, Yuchi, and Muscogee (Creek) lands were ceded to the state between 1817 and 1825, paving the way for settlers seeking new land following the American Revolution and the War of 1812. In grade school, we all learned about westward migrations and the routes used by settlers, such as the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail. The settlement of Georgia and Gwinnett County depended on similar trails, mostly those that followed the east side of the Appalachian Mountains down into the Carolinas.
The people who came to Georgia after the American Revolution were mainly Scots-Irish and German. These immigrants to the New World arrived in America between 1720 and 1770, settling in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. They were farmers, craftsmen, and often soldiers who fought in the French and Indian War or the American Revolution.
Those who came south in the 1700s may have done so for economic reasons. The cost of land was dramatically cheaper in these new areas. A 50fifty-acre farm in Lancaster County, PA would have cost 7 pounds, 10 shillings in 1750. In North Carolina and southward, five shillings would buy 100 acres. But often, families moved after being victims of war. The Germans and Scots on the frontier bore the brunt of it, with settlements burned, families kidnapped or killed, and supplies stolen. At the time, the Cherokee supported the British, making the Carolinas and Georgia seem safer. Settlers went south instead of west over the mountains because the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War, prevented them from settling west of the mountains. And even after the American Revolution, there were more opportunities in the South…