Nathan Crawford Barnett | |
|---|---|
 The Great Seal of the State of Georgia | |
| Georgia Secretary of State | |
| In office 1843-1849 1851-1853 1861-1868 1873-1890 | |
| Member of theGeorgia House of Representatives from theClarke County district | |
| In office 1836–1840 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1801-06-28)June 28, 1801 Columbia County, Georgia |
| Died | February 2, 1890(1890-02-02) (aged 88) Milledgeville, Georgia |
| Spouse | Mary A. Barnett |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Branch/service |  Georgia Militia |
| Rank |  Colonel |
Nathan Crawford Barnett (June 28, 1801 - February 2, 1890) was a state legislator and long servingSecretary of State in the U.S. State ofGeorgia. He is remembered as the man who twice saved the Great Seal of the State of Georgia.
Barnett was born inColumbia County, Georgia in 1801 to William Barnett and Ann Crawford Barnett. His father died while Barnett was still quite young, and his widowed mother moved the family toLexington inOglethorpe County where he received his education at the Lexington Academy. Barnett married Margaret J. Morton ofClarke County and the couple established a home inWatkinsville, which was the county seat at that time.
Barnett engaged inplanting and merchandising, and in 1832 he was elected Surveyor, and assisted in surveying theCherokee Purchase in the area of present dayRoswell, Georgia in preparation for the sixth state administrated land lottery.[1][2] It was during this time that he was also elected to the position of major in theGeorgia Militia. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of colonel, and in that capacity assisted in theCherokee Removal from Georgia.[3][4] Col. Barnett's first wife died in 1840, and he remarried shortly thereafter to Mary Ann Cooper.[4]
In 1836 Col. Barnett was elected to theGeorgia House of Representatives.[5] Of the legislative initiatives which he sponsored or supported, during this period, the most notable was one which authorized construction of theWestern and Atlantic Railroad.[4] That government-owned railroad was established on December 21, 1836. The city ofAtlanta was founded as the end of the W&A, with theterminus marked with theAtlanta Zero Mile Post. The line is still owned by the State of Georgia from Atlanta to CT Tower in Chattanooga. After two terms in the House, Barnett declined to run for re-election, after the illness and death of his first wife in 1840.[5]
In 1843, Barnett was elected (by theGeorgia State Senate) to the position ofGeorgia Secretary of State, a position he held for three terms until 1849. He was subsequently elected to another, single, term in 1851.[4] He was again elected to the position for the period 1861-1868,[6] but was removed by the Military Governor at the onset of theReconstruction era. It is said that Barnett twice saved theGreat Seal of the State of Georgia.[7] The first time was when Union troops underWilliam Tecumseh Sherman were about to capture the State Capitol atMilledgeville. Barnett took the seal, and numerous official documents andActs, and with the assistance of his wife Mary, buried them at his farm.[8][9][10] After Sherman's troops marched on, Barnett returned the seal and the documents to the state.[7] In 1866 Barnett again removed the Great Seal from the capitol.General Ruger, who was at that time acting as theMilitary Governor of Georgia, requested that Barnett affix the seal to an executive act, which Colonel Barnett could not approve.He refused to sanction the papers with the imprint of the seal and as a consequence was removed by General Ruger.[11] Colonel Barnett then took the seal with him to prevent it from falling into the hands of what was considered an illegitimateCarpetbagger government which occupied the state:so that it was never affixed to any of the documents of misrule which followed under the carpetbag government.[7][9] Since the seal was required, to certify official acts of the state government, the Reconstruction government fabricated a replacement. That replacement was identical in all respects except one. The soldier depicted on the replacement seal held his sword in the wrong hand.[12][13] The period of the Reconstruction government in Georgia is thus referred to as the "Period of the False Seal". The Great Seal and documents were buried on Barnett's farm, and remained hidden there until 1868, when a new state constitution was enacted and a new government installed.[11] After democrats regained control of state government, Barnett was again elected Secretary of State in 1873. Upon his return to office, both houses of the Legislature voted to present him with a replica of the Executive Seal, which replica is now inSavannah, Georgia, the property of theGeorgia Historical Society.[13] Barnett continued to serve as Secretary of State until his death on 2 February 1890.[14] Toward the end of his more than 30 years of service as secretary of state under numerous administrations and into his late 80s, he was said to wear a row of three pairs of glasses. A portrait of Barnett hangs in the office of the Georgia Secretary of State to this day.[11]
Nathan Crawford Barnett, who was reported to betall and thin in his youth, at 6'6" in height, died at the age of 89.[11] Only three of Nathan and Mary Barnett's eight children survived into adulthood. Barnett was remembered as a life-longMethodist.[7] The Georgia Capitol (relocated to Atlanta in 1868) was closed February 4, 1890, the day of Colonel Barnett's funeral, held at Milledgeville.TheCentral Railroad tendered free use of its cars for Colonel Barnett's family and members of the funeral party.[11] Mary A. Barnett died in Atlanta on January 11, 1902, at the age of 82. She was buried in Milledgeville.[15]
