Fulton County

Fulton County was created out of DeKalb County by an Act of the Legislature approved December 20, 1853 (as amended and corrected by the Act of February 7, 1854). The City of Atlanta was made the County Seat. From 1872 until 1932, parts of Milton and Campbell Counties were added to Fulton. In 1932 complete consolidation with Milton and Campbell Counties and the annexation from Cobb of the Town of Roswell fixed the boundaries of the County. The first officers of the original County, commissioned February 15, 1854, were as follows: , Jonas S. Smith, Sheriff , Benjamin F. Bomar, Clerk, Superior Court , Columbus M. Payne, Clerk, Inferior Court , Joseph H. Mead, Ordinary , Madison S. Yoakum, Tax Receiver , John M. Smith, Tax Collector , James Bartlett, Surveyor , John K. Landers, Coroner , The legislative act creating Fulton County did not specify whom the name honored. The names of two persons have been suggested: Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat Clermont, and Hamilton Fulton, Chief Engineer of the State in 1826. In 1954 the Fulton County Centennial Commission, based on research by several Atlanta historians, gave that honor to Robert Fulton.