No, I’m not talking about the very beginning, 18 billion years ago right after the Big Bang. I’m not talking about 68 million years ago when the dinosaurs became extinct and homo sapiens could begin to really develop.

I’m talking about 1821 when Fayette County was created.

There were five counties created that year, Fayette, Henry, Houston, Dooley and Monroe.

These counties were divvied up into 202.5 acre squares and could be drawn by folks meeting certain restrictions: you were a Revolutionary War veteran; a widow with minor children; your husband had been killed in the Revolutionary War or perhaps the father of minor children was in prison.

As I have mentioned before, all this territory was first Creek Indian territory. The next two years the Creeks were marched to what became Oklahoma and one out of four did not make it.

Fayette was divided into five sections – these sections later became voting districts.