Including data of genealogical and historical value, when and where available.

Douglasville was incorporated as the county seat of Douglas County, Georgia, by an act of the Georgia Legislature on February 25, 1875.

An election was scheduled for the first Saturday in March for a mayor, recorder and five aldermen.

The charter was revised in 1890 to designate town authorities as mayor, recorder and seven councilmen.

The first mayor of Douglasville, elected in 1875, was Joseph S. James, born March 20, 1849, died January 20, 1931, son of Stephen and Martha Shipley James, who were pioneer settlers and are buried at County Line Baptist Church, Lithia Springs.  Joseph S. James married in 1869 to Margaret, daughter of Dr. Edwin W. Maxwell of Douglasville.  J.S. James studied law and was made a justice of the peace in 1870.  After his service as mayor, he served as state representative for two terms from 1880 and in 1886 was elected to the state senate.  In 1893 he was named U.S. District Attorney for Northern Georgia under President Grover Cleveland.  James operated James & Brother General Store in Douglasville and in 1897 established the New Sentry cotton Mill and in 1898 the Lois Cotton Mill.  The founder of The New South newspaper, he also established the Atlanta Telephone Company in 1895.  He was the organizer of the Sacred Harp Musical Association in Atlanta and in 1911 published the Original Sacred Harp Song Book.  “Colonel” James is buried in an unmarked grave in the Douglasville City Cemetery just west of the pavilion.

John Valentine Edge, born June 5, 1850, died 29 January 1901, was the second mayor of Douglasville in 1877 and also served as county ordinary.  The son of lawyer John Miller Edge of Marietta and wife Clara Kolb, who lived in their later years on a farm on the north side of the Chattahoochee River northeast of Campbellton.  John V. Edge married Roena B. Danforth in 1871.  She later moved, with her children, to Newnan, Georgia.  John V. Edge died of suicide in a barber shop on Broad Street in Douglasville.  The Edge Center at Georgia Tech in Atlanta is named for a descendant.

James Madison Heaton, born in 1839, in what is now Haralson County, was the third mayor of Douglasville, 1877-78, and was deputy sheriff of Douglas County in 1880, living in Douglasville with wife Lida T. and family.  He moved to Douglasville from Buchanan, in Haralson County.  James M. was the son of John R. Heaton and wife Mary Ann Jenkins, both buried in the Van Wert Cemetery in Polk County.  Lida T. Heaton was the daughter of Moses and Lida Yates McCarley, both buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in Villa Rica.  Two brothers-in-law of James Madison Heaton were Douglasville merchants Pinckney Y. McCarley, 1847-1908, and Thomas J. McCarley, who operated a livery stable and served on the Douglasville City Council in the 1870s.

Andrew Jackson Richards, born in 1846 in Carroll County, was mayor of Douglasville in 1879.  An attorney, he was the son of attorney Robert L. Richards and wife Elizabeth Elrod.  Robert L. served as ordinary of Carroll County.  By 1881 A.J. Richards had returned to Carroll County, practicing law in Carrollton, and is said to have moved later to Texas.  His wife was Augusta Summerlin.

Robert Alexander Massey, born December 16, 1853, in Penfield, Georgia, died an untimely death on March 21, 1890, at Brunswick, Georgia.  An attorney, he was also owner of the Douglasville Star newspaper in the 1880s while serving as mayor 1880-81.  He also served as judge of the county court, 1884-86, and Douglasville postmaster, 1888.  He married first to Millie L. Murray, 1863-83, of Powder Springs, and in 1886 he married Sarah E., widow of Douglasville merchant Samuel A. McElreath.  His home on Price Avenue is still standing (as of 2001).  R.A. Massey was the son of Dr. Robert J. Massey, 1828-1915, buried in Douglasville, who wrote about the early history of Douglasville and who is said to have saved the state library in Milledgeville when Sherman’s troops burned the state Capitol in 1864.  A year after the death of R.A. Massey in 1890, his sister Kate Massey filed papers in Douglas County court asking to be appointed guardian of his daughter Louise, aged 3.  Her petition stated: “Emma, wife of the late R.A. Massey … has departed to parts unknown, leaving no knowledge of her whereabouts, save that she intended to end her life.”

William Thomas Roberts, born December 26, 1858, died February 9, 1932. He served as Douglasville mayor in 1883.  Born in old Campbell County (in what is now south Fulton County), he was the son of Melville C. Roberts, who died at Gettysburg in the War Between the States, and wife Susan Skeen.  W.T. Roberts clerked at Whitesburg and studied law before being admitted to the bar in 1881, arriving in Douglasville from Carrollton in 1882.  After serving as mayor, he became solicitor of the county court in 1885 and state representative in 1890.  From 1895-1903 he was solicitor general of the Tallapoosa Circuit, and from 1911 he served as state senator from the 36th District for one term.  At his death in Washington, D.C., he was an official with the Bureau of Markets.  He is buried in the Douglasville City Cemetery with his wife Emma Quillian, 1864-1931, a Douglasville teacher and the daughter of pioneer Methodist minister Rev. J.B.C. Quillian of Douglasville.  The W.T. Roberts home on Campbellton Street is currently (as of 2001) the home of the Cultural Arts Center.

William Albert James, born May 7, 1847, died March 15, 1933, and is buried in the Douglasville City Cemetery with an undated Confederate marker showing that he served in Company I, 3rd Alabama Cavalry, CSA.  He is buried with his wife Matilda Strickland, 1855-1936, daughter of pioneer Douglasville settler Williamson Parks Strickland.  Williamson Parks Strickland, a city councilman in the 1880s, lived on the street named for him, Strickland Street.  W. A. James, who served as mayor 1885-86 and 1892-98, was the brother of former mayor Joseph S. James.  W.A. lived in Wilcox County, Ala., in the 1860s before returning to Douglas County in 1870.  He was admitted to the bar in Fulton County in 1871.  W.A. James also served as chairman of the board of trustees of Douglasville College.

John Hiram McLarty, born (in Paulding County) October 24, 1862, died July 21, 1934.  He served as Douglasville’s mayor in 1887-89, 1904-06, 1920-22, and 1926-27.  He is buried in Douglasville with his wife Emma A. Watson, 1860-1945, daughter of James Motley Watson and wife Elizabeth Clonts of Brownsville, Paulding County.  J.H. McLarty, who also served as county ordinary for 20 years, was a son of John Jackson McLarty and wife Frances M. Brown of Cobb and Paulding counties.  Two of J.H. McLarty’s daughters were Douglasville school teachers: Bessie Frank McLarty and Hazel McLarty Cobb.

Benjamin G. Griggs, Douglasville’s mayor in 1890-91, is buried in the Douglasville City Cemetery with an undated marker, labeled: Col. B.G. Griggs, wife Helen C.  The 1900 census shows that he was born in October 1861 and his wife Helen in May 1864.  An attorney, Benjamin G. was the son of Dr. Benjamin W. Griggs and wife Martha F., who lived in Fayetteville, Fayette County, on the 1870 census.  The marriage of Benjamin W. Griggs to Susan A. Milner is recorded in Fayette County in 1860.  Benjamin G. Griggs is said to have died in 1915.  His grandson Robert Leslie Griggs, 1912-1962, was a Douglasville newspaper editor.  His household in 1920 consisted of his son Walter C. Griggs, a bookkeeper, and daughter Maude E. Griggs, a teacher.

William Albert James (see above) served again as mayor 1892-98.

Dr. Thomas Rice Whitley served as mayor of Douglasville in 1899-1900, 1922, and 1930.  A physician, he was born February 24, 1855, at Campbellton on the Chattahoochee River to Evan R. Whitley, 1821-78, and wife Mary Rice, 1832-1916.  Evan R. Whitley served as a deputy sheriff of Douglas County after the War Between the States, during which he served as captain of Company E, 35th Georgia Infantry.  T.R. Whitley graduated from Atlanta Medical College in 1876 and moved to Douglasville, where he was a physician and druggist.  He served as state representative of Douglas County and state senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1918.  He was influential in the construction of Bankhead Highway through the county and was a co-founder of Douglasville College.  Dr. Whitley married in 1876, to Mary Frances Holcombe, daughter of Hosea H.C. Holcombe and Raymouth R. Rice.  Dr. Whitley married second to Rno Harper Mundy of Jonesboro.  An adopted son of Dr. Whitley was James Cowan Whitley, funeral home owner.

Robert E. Edwards, February 11, 1869-April 6, 1941, served as Douglasville mayor, 1900-03, 1911-12, and 1915, and is buried in the City Cemetery with wife Ida Baggett, 1876-1945, daughter of Douglasville merchant James Boyd Baggett, 1848-1894.  R.E. Edwards was born in Paulding County, lived in the early 1870s in Douglas County, and moved in 1885 with his widowed father Miles Edwards to Haralson County.  Miles Edwards, who married Margaret Ann McLarty, served as ordinary of Paulding and Haralson counties.  “Bob” Edwards moved to Douglasville in 1891 as a partner with James E. Phillips in a grocery business before serving on the city council and as mayor.  For a period in the 1890s he served as editor of The New South newspaper and was leader of the local Masonic lodge.  During the Florida boom of the 1920s, he moved there.  Unsuccessful in that venture, he returned to Douglasville and eventually settled in Atlanta.

Lee Z. Dorsett, Douglasville mayor in 1907, was born April 22, 1864, and died July 7, 1948.  He is buried in Douglasville with wife Minnie Smith, born 1876, daughter of Rev. Beecher Smith and wife Hannah Hamrick of Carroll County who are buried at Pleasant Grove Church at Villa Rica.  An attorney who began his career in Douglasville, L.Z. Dorsett was a son of Joseph Smith Dorsett, 1811-95, a pioneer settler of the Campbellton section from Laurens County, South Carolina, and wife Nancy Jane Silvey.  L.Z. Dorsett also served a town recorder, 1902-05, and state representative from Carroll County, 1915-17.  Returning to Douglasville in 1935 after 25 years in Carroll County, he also served as mayor, 1938-39, and state representative from Douglas County, 1943-45.  A half-brother of L.Z. Dorsett was Samuel N.P. Dorsett, 1848-1933, one of the first merchants in Douglasville in the 1870s with Dorsett, Price & McElreath, co-owner of “The Weekly Star,” Douglasville postmaster, county clerk of court and county treasurer.  Samuel N.P. Dorsett mysteriously abandoned his two young children in 1896, according to courthouse records, and moved to Louisiana, where he remarried (apparently) and practiced law before his death and burial in DeRidder, Louisiana.

John Robert Hutcheson, born November 8, 1871, at Draketown on the border of Paulding and Haralson counties, died June 3, 1954, and is buried in the Douglasville Cemetery with wife Minnie Henley, 1871-1933, daughter of Dr. James E. Henley of Campbellton.  J.R. was the son of John Radford Hucheson, a native of Henry County who married Susannah E. Hesterley.  J.R. Hutcheson came to Douglasville in 1897 after teaching school and began the practice of law.  He served as city attorney, mayor (1908-10), solicitor general of the Tallapoosa Circuit, state senator and circuit judge.  His children included Douglasville teachers Sue and Florence Hutcheson.  The Hutcheson Building remains on Broad Street in Douglasville.

Robert E. Edwards, see above, once again served as mayor 1911-12.

Lucius C. Upshaw (pronounced “Upshur”) served as mayor 1913-14, after having served on the city council in 1909-10, and as state representative in 1911-12.  He was born in 1864 in Wedowee, Alabama, and is buried in the Douglasville Cemetery with wives Beatrice Christian, 1866-94, and Rose S. Smith, 1870-1957.  Earlier he had taught school in Powder Springs.  He died in Washington, D.C. in 1921.  The year following his death, his daughter Carolyn was killed in the Knickerbocker Theater disaster when the roof collapsed from the weight of a heavy snowstorm.  L.C. Upshaw was the son of Isaac D. Upshaw and wife Addie Stamps of Coweta County, Wedowee, Ala., Powder Springs and Douglasville.  A brother of L.C. Upshaw was William D. “Earnest Willie” Upshaw, 1866-1952, U.S. Congressman from the 5th District of Georgia, 1921-27, and candidate for President on the Prohibition Party ticket.  W.D. Upshaw lived for a time in Douglasville.

Robert E. Edwards, see above, once again served as mayor 1915.

Major Earnest Geer, popular manager of the Lois-Beaver Cotton Mill, moved to Douglasville with wife Stella and family from South Carolina before 1910 and served as mayor of Douglasville in 1916.  During his administration, City Hall moved from the courthouse to an office on the west side of Campbellton Street behind Broad Street and remained there until the 1950s.  His home was on Strickland Street.

Joseph S. Abercrombie, May 28, 1874-April 28, 1921, served as mayor 1917.  He is buried in the Douglasville Cemetery with wives Dura Ward, 1873-1909, and Inez Harper, 1873-1963.  The son of James Marsion and Margaret Selman Abercrombie, buried in the old Holly Springs Cemetery at Chapel Hill, Joe Abercrombie operated a livery stable in Douglasville.  His brothers W. Claude Abercrombie, who also served as mayor, and Walt A. Abercrombie were also in the horse business, operating horse and mule barns and livery stables.

Vander R. Smith, who died in 1948, aged 75, is buried in the Douglasville City Cemetery with wife Carrie K. Nutt.  A native of Brownsville in Paulding County, he was the son of David Smith, 1835-1907, and Ellen D. Winn, 1844-1923, daughter of the Rev. Francis Winn who founded the Methodist Church at Flat Rock (which later became the First United Methodist Church of Douglasville).  The David Smith home was on East Strickland Street.  V.R. Smith lived in the former Lutheran church building and schoolhouse, converted into a home at the eastern corner of Strickland Street and Chicago Avenue.  A cotton buyer, he served as mayor 1918. He was also owner of the Kozytorium, Douglasville’s first motion picture theater, located on Broad Street just west of the present site of the downtown plaza.  His business career began in 1896 when he bought out the firm of grocers Theo and Charles O. Dorsett.

Zachary Taylor Dake, born February 12, 1870 (in Tennessee), died August 25, 1924, and is buried in the Douglasville Cemetery with wife Lillian Dozier, 1874-1960.  A newspaper editor, he served as mayor 1919.

John Hiram McLarty, see above, once again served as mayor 1920-21.

Thomas Rice Whitley, see above, once again served as mayor 1922.

W. Claude Abercrombie Sr., born May 11, 1876, died January 20, 1964, served as Douglasville mayor in 1923.  He is buried in the Douglasville Cemetery with wife Mattie McLarty, 1878-1947, whom he married in 1900.  She was the daughter of Douglasville merchant Arch W. McLarty and his wife Frances Stewart.  W. Claude Abercrombie, who operated a horse barn and livery stable in Douglasville, was the father of Mac C. Abercrombie, who succeeded A. Seawright Baggett as county sheriff in 1933.

Chester Gay Brown, born July 4, 1886, died November 5, 1929, is buried in the Douglasville Cemetery with wife Jimmy May Herring, 1889-1977, daughter of Martin M. Herring, a pioneer Douglasville carpenter who settled in Douglasville in the 1870s, and his wife V.A. Hallman.  He served as mayor 1924 while in this 30s and was a bank clerk before his election.  He was an uncle of Eugene Brown, 1915-69, who served as Douglasville city attorney, and of Maggie Lou Brown Glover.

Daniel W. Peace, 1861-1932, served as mayor 1925, and is buried in Douglasville with wife Lola Nichols, 1868-1949.  Born in Alabama, he arrived in Douglasville in 1892 and was the town’s telegraph operator and railway agent.  His household in 1900 included his father Daniel Peace, born in 1826 in Virginia.  Lola Nichols Peace was born in Milltown, Alabama, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Nichols, and married Daniel W. Peace in 1889 in Heflin, Alabama.  Their daughter Mary, 1897-1980, a Douglasville elementary school teacher, was the wife of Frank M. Winn, Douglas County’s long-time historian.  A grandson of D.W. Peace is retired Judge Daniel Peace Winn, formerly of the old Tallapoosa Circuit.

John Hiram McLarty, see above, once again served as mayor 1926-27.

Astor Merritt, born December 24, 1891, died February 26, 1949, and is buried in the Douglasville Cemetery with wife Rose Golden, 1890-1981.  He served as mayor 1928-29 and 1940-41.  A Douglasville attorney, he was a native of Haralson County.  His home was on Campbellton Street.  Merritt’s father, J.P. Merritt, died in January 1950 at the age of 87 and was buried in the Temple Cemetery in Temple, Georgia

Thomas Rice Whitley, see above, once again served as mayor 1930.

Nathaniel M. Hawley served as mayor of Douglasville in 1931-32 at the beginning of the Great Depression.  Later, in 1949-50, he served as postmaster of Douglasville.

William Jasper Payne, 1884-1946, is buried at Ephesus Baptist Church in Winston with his wife Jewel Johnston, 1889-1975, daughter of Richard Malcolm and Jewel Watkins Johnston of Winston.  W.J. Payne, who served as mayor 1933, was the son of the Rev. Fleming Caleb Payne, born in 1854, and his wife Lou Wilson of near Villa Rica, Carroll County.  His paternal grandfather, also named William Jasper Payne, came to Villa Rica from Monroe County, Tennessee, with his wife Polly Ann Woods in the 1850s and died in 1862 in the War Between the States at Richmond, Virginia

William Elisha “Pop” Hewett, 1889-1964, who served as mayor 1934-35, is buried in Douglasville with wife Mary Skinner, 1891-1986, daughter of James R. and Burke Camp Skinner.  Hewett’s brother-in-law Camp Skinner was a well-known athlete who played baseball with the New York Yankees in 1919 and the Boston Red Sox in 1924.

Thomas Nat Mozley, 1890-1959, and first wife Willie Kate Campbell, 1891-1920, are buried in the Douglasville City Cemetery.  Serving as mayor 1936-37, Nat Mozley was the son of Hiram Thomas Mozley, 1856-1930, buried at County Line Church, Lithia Springs, with wife Mary R. Lane.  Nat Mozley and brother Sam were grocers on Broad Street in Mozley Brothers Grocery.  Nat’s son Harold Mozley was elected mayor in 1946, becoming at age 28 the youngest mayor in the United States.  Nat Mozley’s grandparents, Miles G. and Sallie Humphries Mozley, pioneer settlers of the Lithia Springs area, are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Austell.  Willie Kate Campbell Mozley was the daughter of Alexander and Arrilla James Campbell of Lilthia Springs.

Lee Z. Dorsett, see above, once again served as mayor 1938-39.  During this administration he made the first dialed telephone call from the city on July 7, 1939.  Operator-assisted telephone service started in Douglasville in 1899.