Johnson County, Georgia: History
Johnson County was created by the Georgia legislature on December 11, 1858, from parts of Emanuel, Laurens, and Washington counties. Johnson County was named for Georgia governor, senator, and U.S. vice-presidential candidate Herschel Vespasian Johnson.
In 1919, a deputy driving Jim Waters, a black prisoner accused of rape, out of the county was stopped by a group of 150 men at a bridge over the Ohoopee River. The men tied Waters to a tree and shot him numerous times. The case was closed without any investigation.