Rude drawings in caves once inhabited by the early Cave-Man and crude writings expressed the desire of our most ancient ancestors to give to posterity their history. In the great pyramids of Egypt the Egyptians went even farther, and, in addition to carving their history in stone, undertook to send down their royal personages in actual bodily preservation and presence. This history of Pulaski County is an attempt to recreate on the printed page and to make live again before our eyes the Indians fishing along the banks of the Ocmulgee; the earliest American explorers as they crossed our county in their westward course of exploration; the early settlers who wrested from the dense wilderness and the hostile Indian, homes and plantations; the amazing growth in population and material and cultural development of the past century and a quarter; and some record of the people of the county as they are today.
Pulaski County is not one of the largest counties of the State, but it takes just pride in the men and women it has given to the world. Hawkinsville has furnished Macon and Atlanta, as well as other cities, such a noticeably large number of “leading citizens” that outsiders are sometimes said to wonder if there can be any good people left in the county. As an outsider sojourning here for the past seven years, I am in position to testify that, instead of giving out all of her “leading citizens,” she kept her best at home. Never have I known a higher type of citizenry, a kindlier people, or a nobler strain of Native American stock.
The aid of the Federal Government in the long and arduous task of writing this history is hereby gratefully acknowledged, together with our thanks to Mrs. Grace Watson, through whose kindly offices this invaluable assistance was secured, without which it would have been impossible.
The people of the entire county, and, no doubt, all who in the years to come have occasion to read these pages, will feel a deep sense of gratitude to the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which is publishing this history. Probably at no time in the entire history of the county could there have been found three women so well qualified as exponents of Pulaski’s personality; charm, and culture as the editor, Mrs. T. H. Bridges, and her associates, Mrs. Leonard Atkinson and Miss Carolyn Jordan. Together with these qualities is found an indomitable initiative in the person of Mrs. N. A. Jelks, Regent of the D. A. R. Chapter, and prime mover in the publication of this history. To these noble women Pulaski Countians from now until the end of civilized time will be indebted for the valuable records herein contained.