Recycling Center in Snellville, GA

In 1874, Thomas Snell and James Sawyer, 17-year-old friends from London, secretly planned a voyage to the New World. On March 18, James Sawyer and his brother, Charles, left England. However, Snell’s parents, having learned of the plan, would not allow him to leave, thus delaying his departure. The Sawyer brothers arrived in New York City on April 1, and after a few weeks, headed toward Athens, Georgia, and then to Madison County, where they stayed and worked on a farm for $10 a month. Snell did eventually follow his friends to New York and made his way south to meet them. The three then made their way through Jefferson and Lawrenceville. Shortly after Snell’s arrival, Charles left for Pennsylvania, later returning to the South and settling in Alabama, where he went into the turpentine business. James had gone also, in search of his brother, leaving Snell to work on the farm of A. A. Dyer.

Unable to find his brother, James Sawyer returned to New York and began work on a farm near the Hudson River area until his 21st birthday in 1878, when he returned to England to claim his inheritance. Shortly following, in August 1879, he returned to Americus, Georgia, and then Gwinnett County. Once in Gwinnett County, Sawyer found Snell in the small settlement then known as New London, near Stone Mountain. In the homestead that Snell now referred to as Snellville, the two built a small wood-frame building and started a business together, Snell and Sawyer’s Store, similar to the one in which they were employed in London. As was common in small mill towns of the time, they printed store money with the trade value and Snell’s likeness on the front that regular customers could use to purchase goods. By the end of 1879, the business was prospering and catering to customers from the neighboring towns of Lawrenceville and Loganville. Travelers bought supplies at “Snell and Sawyer’s” and often spent the night in the nearby oak groves, as the trip was too great for one day’s travel. When New London officially became Snellville is unknown, but the location of the partners’ store was referred to as Snellville in their advertising, and the young town began to show a promising future.

The partnership later dissolved, and Sawyer kept the old store, building granite stone above and around the old frame and then disassembling the wood frame from within. Snell built a new store of granite. In 1883, Sawyer built a home and married Emma Webb, of the historic Snellville Webb family, on November 15. Sawyer opened Snellville’s first post office in 1885 and served as postmaster from the back of his store.