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Historic info about Fayetteville available online

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Fayetteville residents or transplants eager to learn a little bit about the city’s history can do so via the World Wide Web.

With the click of a mouse, residents can learn everything from when the city of Fayetteville was established, who the town was named after to how the community has grown over the years.

The document entitled “A Brief History of the City of Fayetteville” can be found by visiting fayetteville.govoffice.com.

John Lynch, manager of the Holliday-Dorsey-Fife House Museum, the author of the piece and a city historian, said he wrote the entry largely from his own personal knowledge and memory.

But occasionally, he would call on the help of friends, and he used a few “dates” from the “History of Fayette County,” which is published by the Fayette County Historical Society and “a couple of sentences” from the “Statistics for the State of Georgia,” written by George White.

He said he believed it is important to share the city’s history.

“It took me two or three days to write (the piece),” Lynch said. “The city asked me to do it in October and I worked on it a little in November. It didn’t take me long, because I didn’t go into detail.”

Lynch is a six-generation Fayette Countian. His family is a part of Fayette County’s original history.

“My folks have been here since Day One,” Lynch said Thursday from the museum. “My third great-great-great grandfather (Manson Glass), his land was the second deed recorded in Fayette County history. One of my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War. He was buried in Fayette County.”

A chunk of that land later was deeded to Clayton County, so officially, his ancestor is buried in Clayton. Lynch is also a relative of the Dorseys, one of the families, the Holliday-Dorsey-Fife Museum is named after.

One footnote indicating Lynch sources is listed at the end of the piece. However, “The History of Fayette County,” was omitted as a source of reference. Lynch said the footnotes will be updated to reflect all sources used.

“I think it was oversight,” he said. “It will definitely be put back on there.”

Lynch said knowing about the history of Fayette County simply comes with the territory. And Toni Vacinek, Fayetteville’s Main Street marketing coordinator, said she was thankful Lynch assisted their effort.

“People would call and say I am doing some research and we need this and we would always refer them to John or the library or the Fayette County Historical Society, so we thought let’s just put a general history up there so that it’s at people’s fingertips,” Vacinek said.

Residents now will able to access this information 24 hours a day.

“The history provides information that a lot of people don’t know,” she said.

Vacinek is a Ohio native and the piece has helped her learn more about her adopted home. She knows it will help others, too.