[001]
Georgia
Camden County
I Aaron Jernigan, for the last few years
a Citizen of the County & state aforesaid, and an inhabi-
tant of that part of the County which his contiguous to &
near the head of the North Branch of the St Mary's
river do hereby certify that ever since I removed to said
County I have been in the habit of hunting game
of herding cattle & hogs throughout the Country in which
said North branch has its sources; that I have long
been perfectly satisfied that said stream, or a Consid-
erable port of its waters flow out of an immense
swamp which I have always heard Called, & which
I verily believe to be the Ocofonoke swamp. If it
be not the Ocofonoke the highland division has
now been seen by or reported to me by any person
who affirmed that he had seen it. This opinion
stands confirmed by a particular examination
which I made during a search of three days which
I lately made at the instance of the Georgia Com-
missioners now in the Country for the purpose of
locating the boundary between the State & Florida
I have no doubt that a stream called the Hog-
pen Branch into which flows from the West, or North
West from this immense swamp or Bay
several tributary branches & from
the South, a broad drain or long swamp, called
[002]
the "River of Styx," is the main or longest branch
of the North fork of St Mary, though I have been
told that some Gentleman heretofore sent into the Coun
-try as Commissioners have supposed the River of
Styx to be the longest or main branch.
Aaron X Jernigan
his mark
The above Certificate was made & signed by
Aaron Jernigan in our presence this 25
May. 1831
Jas Camak
Edward Lloyd Thomas
[003]
Aaron Jernigan's
Certificate Concerning
the North Branch
St. Mary
25 May 1831
No 2