Da-lon-ni-ge-i: Golden Antioch...a short post created through extensive research

Riches Abound in Polk County, Georgia's 

 Historic Antioch Community

In a previous post, I briefly discussed the 1834 map of present-day Polk County (shown below,) and its reference to Gold.  Long before Antioch Church came into play when the community was first settled by white man, the current Antioch Community was called “Yellow Stone” Township. 

1834 Map of Paulding/ now Polk County Area

The Official Georgia Map of Paulding County for the year of 1846 (shown below) no longer mentions the word or name of Gold; however, the same three locations are still noted with the symbol used for Gold in the 1834 map.

                            Official Map of Paulding/ now Polk County, Georgia, 1846

               

References to other names of this community relating to the gold discovery have been Dahlonega (from an ancestral record of Eliza Wynn,) and Ringgold, as written by the photographer, A.J. Bankston, on the back of a portrait of Mrs. Mary E. Jenkins Wright, who was the wife of Bednego.  At the time the portrait was made, I have found concrete evidence that the Bednego Wright family did, indeed, reside in Yellow Stone, aka Antioch.  Likewise, I have concrete evidence that Eliza Wynn lived here in Antioch at the time family ancestry records note that she lived in "Dahlonega, Polk, GA" during the 1860s.

As most know, the names Dahlonega and Ringgold now belong to other cities in the state that are also known for the discovery of gold in those areas.  The name of Dahlonega has several implications from the Cherokee Language.   

The website http://www.georgiamountains.org had this to say about the word and name of Dahlonega:

Dahlonega - Some say it is from "Tahlonega" meaning "golden". Others interpret the name as "place of yellow money". Still others say it is a corruption of the Cherokee word "da-lon-ni-ge-i", the Cherokee term for the color yellow.

The interpretation, place of yellow money, is the most intriguing to me, as it really captures the essence of how a community name could evolve from the original indigenous word with this meaning.  Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the Cherokee Indians may have referred to the place we now know as Antioch and formerly known as Yellow Stone with their word, Da-lon-ni-ge-i or Tahlonega.  Sadly, the very thing that inspired this particular Cherokee reference to the locale ultimately became the reason for the cruel demise and forced mass-exodus of the Cherokee people on The Trail of Tears.

That injustice of the white man, in reference to the Trail of Tears, is one that I personally believe is one of the most deplorable actions of humankind on record. Unjust as it was, we still have much to gain by exploring the historical and cultural implications on our land that the Cherokee Nation left behind.  There is so much we will never know, but I feel confident that our Antioch, aka Yellow Stone was a place of abundance for the reverent Cherokee.  I also believe it first became a named community, not by English speakers, but by the Cherokee people, using their native word for the color yellow, or more specifically as the Place of Yellow Money.  Our Antioch was their "Da-lon-ni-ge-i."

~Bobbie