Georgia lawmakers have at long last given Henry Harding Tift his due. House representatives passed Wednesday a resolution recognizing him as the proper namesake of Tift County.
Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, said Tift County was originally named in honor of Tift’s uncle Nelson as Henry Tift was still living when the county was created in 1905.
But there was just one problem, Roberts said: “(Nelson Tift) was a good man, but he was from Dougherty County, not from Tift County.”
House Resolution 281 is intended to properly recognize Henry Tift, a former mayor of Tifton who helped shape the area, for his contributions.
The resolution passed unanimously, a move that Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, light-heartedly said “has rectified one of the great errors in Georgia history.”
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