The first murder trials in Forsyth
county which resulted in guilty
verdict's and hanging took place in
Cumming in 1859 and 1860. Five men were
indicted for the murder by knifing of
Claiborn Vaughn. The five were Isaac
Freeland, Jacob Pettyjohn, Levi
Q.C.McGinnis, William Brannon and James
McGinnis. The murder took place in
"Wildcat" while all were drunk on 7 Aug
1858. Isaac Freeland was tried for first
degree murder and found guilty on 26
February 1859. He was sentenced to hang
and that sentence was carried out on 15
April 1859. Jacob Pettyjohn went on
trial on 16 April 1859 for second degree
murder and on 23 April 1859 was found
guilty of murder in the second degree.
He was sentenced to hang on 24 June
1859.Pettyjohn won a stay of execution
on 21 May 1859. The case was appealed to
the Supreme court of Georgia and on 18
Aug 1859 the court issued a decision
that the lower court verdict be reversed
and a new trial be granted. Meanwhile,
Pettyjohn, who was free on bond left the
county. He failed to appear in court
August 1859 or February 1860. Finally on
19 April 1860 all witnesses in the case
were dismissed. ( It should be noted
that Pettyjohn had been previously
elected Constable of district 795 and
had served with distinction) It was
rumored that Pettyjohn had escaped to
Texas. When the Civil war started the
case was forgotten. More than a decade
passed then the state initated action to
bring him back to Georgia for another
trial. Col. Hiram P. Bell appealed to
Govenor Colquitt and the motion for
extradition was dropped. It was first thought that Pettyjohn had served his country heroically
during the Civil war as a high ranking
Confederate officer. We now know that he served as a Pvt. (More on Jacob
Pettyjohn later). Bill Brannon and Jim
McGinnis were tried jointly. They were
found guilty of involuntary manslaughter
and sentenced to three years hard labor.
Levi Q.C.McGinnis was tried and found
guilty of second degree murder and on
April 21 1860 was sentenced to hang on
15 Jun 1860. Levi's case was appealed
but it was not overturned so he was
executed on 15 March 1861.The murder and
following murder trials rocked the
entire county and tore apart the lives
of all concerned which included the
families, neighbors and friends.
Recently new information has been
uncovered concerning Jacob Pettyjohn. He
was found on the 1860 Clay Co, Texas
census and shown as being a member of an
elite Company of the Texas Rangers. It
was verified with Texas state archives
that he served under Capt William C.
Dalrymple during the period of 23
January 1860 thru 13 October 1860 in the
Mounted Texas Rangers on the Texas
frontier. Pettyjohn is next found in
Webberville, Texas where on 16 April
1861 he joined Company "A" of
McCullough"s 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment,
mounted Rifles for one year. Numerous
Pettyjohn's served with distinction
during the Civil war, some giving their
lives. This article will be updated as
facts are presented. Some of the information found here was taken from the "Pioneer History of Forsyth County Georgia" compiled and edited by Don L. Shadburn 1981.For further
information or to provide additional
information on any of the men mentioned above, contact Sam Anderson-Email
chiefsam@webtv.netFor more on
ancestry of Jacob Pettyjohn go to
https://www.angelfire.com/ga2/pettyjohn
