Jasper County, Georgia: History
This area was inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. At the time of European-American settlement, it was inhabited by the Cherokee and Muscogee Creek peoples, who became known as among the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast.
The county was created on December 10, 1807, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly with land that was originally part of Baldwin County. It became part of the new area of upland settlement through the South eventually known as the Black Belt, and a center of large plantations for short-staple cotton. Invention of the cotton gin in the late 18th century had made processing of this type of cotton profitable, and it was cultivated throughout the inland areas. As migration continued to the west, the county population rapidly rose and fell through the nineteenth century. Georgia settlers pushed Congress for the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which eventually forced most of the Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.
Jasper County was originally named Randolph County (after the Virginian John Randolph). Because of Randolph's opposition to U.S. entry into the War of 1812, the General Assembly changed the name of Randolph County to Jasper County on December 10, 1812, to honor Sergeant William Jasper, an American Revolutionary War hero from South Carolina. However, Randolph's reputation eventually was restored, and in 1828, the General Assembly created a new Randolph County.
Newton County was created from a part of the original Jasper County in 1821.
In March 1921, the bodies of at least nine Black men were found mutilated in shallow graves or local rivers. Reports indicated the men were held in peonage by a local farmer, John Williams.
The Jasper County courthouse was shown and used for filming the courthouse scenes in the 1992 comedy film My Cousin Vinny. Although the setting of the movie is in Beechum County, Alabama (a fictitious place), near the end of the movie, Sheriff Farley (played by actor Bruce McGill), actually mentions Jasper County, Georgia by name.