Murray County was drawn from Cherokee County in 1832 and subse­quently gave up lands to form the counties of Whitfield, Walker, Catoosa, Dade and part of Chattooga. Is it named for Thomas Walton Murray, a lawyer and state legislator who served as speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. The first county seat was Spring Place, but in 1912 Chatsworth was designated the seat of government. This county had been the center of Cherokee Indian culture, home of Chief James Vann and site of a Moravian mission among the Cherokee.