USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 25
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Oglethorpe's taet in dealing with the Indians, whether we ascribe it to his far-sighted wisdom or to his strong benevolence of soul, secured for the province a long immunity from hostile attack. During the entire period of his residence in Georgia not a drop of English blood gleamed on an Indian's tomahawk or stained a white man's doorstep; and for years after his return to England so pervasive was his influ- ence throughout the wilderness, so manifold the deeds of kindness which he had left behind him in Georgia, so just, humane and tender the recollections in which his good name was enshrined in the memory of these loyal friends of an alien race, so powerful the spell which he still continued to cast upon these savage men from whom he was sepa- rated by 3,000 miles of water, that no serious rupture with the Indians disturbed the smooth tenor of Georgia's colonial life, and even down to the close of the Revolution, both the Creeks and the Cherokees, still true to an old friendship, remained loyal to the flag of England.
But this friendship was at times sorely tested. As early as 1736 a German Jesuit named Christian Priber, in the employ of the French, had endeavored to alienate the affections of the Cherokee Indians. Priber was an accomplished linguist. He was also a man of intense religious zeal and with the courage of a Stoic. The ascendancy which he acquired over the Cherokees, among whom he made his residence, was marvelous, and for months all efforts to compass his arrest were futile. Finally, however, he was brought before Oglethorpe, who was
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amazed to find a man of such attainments dressed in a coarse attire of deer skin. Nor was he less surprised when Priber frankly admitted that he belonged to the order of Jesuits; that, acting under instrue- tions from his superior, he sought to organize not only the Cherokees but all the southern Indians into one confederacy, to instruct them in the useful arts, to teach them habits of industry, and, last but not least, by welding them into one compact and independent mass, to detach them from the British erown. Oglethorpe was moved to admiration for his prisoner, but since. Georgia was a Protestant colony, from the privilege of which Catholics were excluded by charter, he deemed Priber a dangerous man in the province, not only for political but equally for religious reasons. He, therefore, caused him to be imprisoned at Fred- eriea. Papers found on his person revealed somewhat more in detail the magnificent scheme of empire which he hoped to establish. Entries in his private journal told of a seeret treasurer in Charleston from whom he was receiving funds. Had Priber not been arrested there is no telling what mischief he might have wrought. Dying suddenly while imprisoned at Frederica, his tragie death brought a sense of relief. Thus fell the curtain upon one of the strangest of dramas.
We now come to another singular episode. It transpired in 1749, six years after Oglethorpe's return to England. For a while an Indian outbreak of serious magnitude seemed to be threatened as its natural consequence, but happily bloodshed was averted. Rev. Thomas Bosom- worth, an English minister, sent over by the trustees, had married Mary Musgrove, the Creek woman who had acted as interpreter for Ogle- thorpe during his first interview with the Indians. During the life- time of her former husband, Mary had maintained friendly relations with the whites. It was not long after her second marriage, however, that she was persuaded by Bosomworth to present a claim of 5,000 pounds against the colony for her services as interpreter and for dam- ages to the property of her first husband.
Under the influence of Bosomworth she was also induced to declare herself an Indian princess, the true Empress of the Creek Indians; and to support this contention Malatehe, a chief of the Lower Creeks, was persuaded to recognize her as a sister. Nor was this all. Mary demanded three islands off the coast of Georgia, to wit, Ossahaw, Sapelo and St. Catharine, all of which had been reserved by the Indians for pleasure grounds. Her demand likewise ineluded a traet of land near Savannah. Mary claimed that, in making this demand, she was not actnated by mercenary motives: that had she considered her own self- interest she could have made a fortune out of the colony; and that, had she desired to do so, it lay in her power to turn the whole Creek nation against the English, a result which would certainly have proved disastrous to Oglethorpe's humane project.
Strange to say, some of the most influential men in the colony espoused her eause, among them Maj. William Horton, commander of Oglethorpe's regiment at Frederiea, lately deceased; Colonel Ileron, who succeeded him, and who afterwards became commander of his majesty's forces in Georgia, besides many others. But President Stephens refused to recognize the validity of her claims, either to royal deseent or for damages against the province; and he was, in fact, dis-
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posed to impute sinister motives to some of the high officials who sup- ported her contentions. Greatly incensed by the president's attitude, she collected a band of Creek Indians, at whose head she placed herself, and, marching to Savannah, renewed her demands. It was a most impressive spectacle, well planned and well executed. At Mary's side marched her husband, the Rev. Thomas Bosomworth, dressed in his white flowing robes as a priest of the Church of England. In the rear followed kings and warriors of the Lower Creeks, belligerent with war paint and armed with hostile bows. The populace was alarmed and a battle seemed to be imminent.
But President Stephens was not to be intimidated by Mary's bold ultimatum. Despite his advanced years, he possessed a resolute spirit. He realized at once that a serious situation confronted him, and, calling out the military, under Capt. Noble Jones, to re-enforce his commands, he met the insurgent band on the outskirts of Savannah and ordered every man before entering the city to surrender his weapons. Con- strained by the presence of the troops, the Indians agreed. But they also doubtless remembered Oglethorpe, and recalling his friendship, did not wish to shed blood. However, nothing could be done by the Indians while under the baleful influence of a pretended queen. Con- sequently, within a short while after entering Savannah, the Bosom- worths were separated from the Indians and lodged in jail for safe- keeping. President Stephens, in a friendly address, then endeavored to conciliate the Indians by reminding them in the first place that all the lands claimed by Mary belonged, in fact, not to her, but to the Creeks, having been reserved to them under an old treaty with Ogle- thorpe in 1733. As for Mary's claim to royal descent, he convinced the Indians that she was only an imposter and that she was using this title to accomplish her own selfish ends. The Indians gave no further trouble. Pledges of friendship were renewed, presents were distrib- uted, and so far as the savages were concerned the affair was at an end.
But the Bosomworths left at once for England to prosecute this celebrated claim before the trustees. We cannot pause to consider fur- ther details. Years elapsed before a final decision was reached. The case became famous in the English courts. It was a source of great annoyance both to the corporation and to the Crown, but at length, in 1757, the matter was adjusted. Mary was awarded nearly two thon- sand pounds sterling in requittal of her claims. She was also given St. Catharine's Island, on which she was afterwards buried beside her second husband. Thus ended the Bosomworth claim. But long before its enlminating stages were reached, President Stephens, having relin- quished the helm of affairs, had closed his eyes in death at Beaulieu, his beautiful country seat, at the mouth of the Vernon River.
CHAPTER XIX
BEFORE PRESIDENT STEPHENS RETIRES FROM OFFICE A GREAT REVIVAL OF INDUSTRY IS WITNESSED-BUT THE SPINNING OF SILK CONTINUES TO LANGUISH-GEORGIA'S FIRST COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENT- HABERSHAM AND HARRIS-CENSUS OF 1750 GIVES GEORGIA 1,500 POPULATION-TO ASSIST THE AGED WILLIAM STEPHENS AT THE HELM OF AFFAIRS, HENRY PARKER IS COMMISSIONED VICE-PRESIDENT- EFFORTS TO REVIVE THE SILK INDUSTRY-PICKERING ROBINSON BUILDS A FILATURE IN SAVANNAH-MR. PARKER BECOMES PRESI- DENT-GEORGIA'S FIRST PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY-IT EXERCISES NO LEGISLATIVE FUNCTIONS-DISTRICTS, HOW REPRESENTED-FRANCIS HARRIS IS MADE SPEAKER-NUMEROUS RECOMMENDATIONS-THE PROVINCIAL MILITIA-THE FIRST GENERAL MUSTER-CAPT. NOBLE JONES IN COMMAND-SOUTH CAROLINA, NO LONGER IN DREAD OF THE SPANIARDS, SEEKS TO ANNEX GEORGIA-THE MIDWAY SETTLEMENT- HISTORY OF THE DORCHESTER PURITANS-INFLUENCE OF THIS SET- TLEMENT UPON THE FUTURE HISTORY OF GEORGIA-LARGE SLAVE OWNERS, ENTERING GEORGIA ONLY WHEN THE BAN ON SLAVERY IS REMOVED -- THE TRUSTEES PREPARE TO SURRENDER GEORGIA TO THE CROWN-WEARY OF A RESPONSIBILITY IN MEETING WHICH THEY HAD EXPERIENCED A NUMBER OF FAILURES AND WERE NOT ON THE WHOLE SUCCESSFUL-GEORGIA BECOMES A ROYAL PROVINCE OF ENGLAND.
NOTES: HISTORIC OLD MIDWAY-SKETCH OF PRESIDENT PARKER.
Before retiring from office, President Stephens witnessed a great revival of industry in the Province of Georgia. Coineident with the radical changes made by the trustees, permitting the use of slave labor, removing the restrictions upon land tenure and allowing the importa- tion of rum, an era of prosperity was inaugurated, the like of which had been unknown. Commerce also revived. Not only were importa- tions from England inereased, but an export trade with the mother country was developed. Some of the artieles exported to England were deer-skins, riee, rosin, tar, indigo and staves. Efforts to encourage the planting of mulberry trees, however, yielded only indifferent results. The silk industry was doomed from the hour of its birth; but the trus- tees were slow to grasp this fact. Half of the silk in the colony was produced by the Salzburgers at Ebenezer, who alone possessed the requisite patienee for earning its small profits. New varieties of grapes obtained from Europe were cultivated with great success. Settlers began to come into Georgia from other colonies, causing a steady
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increase in population. According to a census taken in 1750 there was a net gain of 1,500 souls.
Georgia's first commercial establishment-excepting, of course, the publie store owned by the trust-was organized in 1749 by two enterpris- ing residents of Savannah, Messrs. Francis Harris and James Habersham. The latter had accompanied Whitefield to Georgia and had been associ- ated with him in organizing Bethesda, his celebrated home for orphans. Habersham and Harris were the colony's first merchants to engage in foreign commerce. They also chartered the first ship to carry the prod- ucts of Georgia to England, and these enterprising business men were largely instrumental in laying the foundations of a trade destined to yield rich revenues.
To assist the aged William Stephens in the discharge of his execu- tive duties, Henry Parker, on June 26, 1750, had been commissioned vice-president of the colony, while to the office of secretary James Habersham had been elected. At the same time, an assembly of the people of Georgia was called to meet between Michaelmas and Lady Day, the purpose of which body was to recommend to the trustees what was deemed for the best interest not only of each particular settlement but of the province in general. Thus we here find the beginning of local self-government in Georgia; but this body, as we shall see later, was not a legislature. It proposed, but did not enact, laws.
The silk industry alone failed to share in the general improvement. To stimulate the production of silk, Pickering Robinson was placed by the trustees at the head of this industry, at a salary of 100 pounds per annum. He was also allowed 25 pounds for a clerk. To act with him James Habersham was appointed as a special commissioner without compensation. The year previous, Mr. Robinson had been sent to France, at the expense of the trust. to acquire new methods at first hand. On his arrival in Georgia a filature was built at Savannah as a sort of normal school for the benefit of the colonists. Liberal prices were offered for green cocoons and substantial outlays were made for bounties, but despite every effort to foster the industry it continued to languish. Up to the time when the charter of Georgia was surrendered by the trustees scarcely 1,000 pounds of raw silk had been raised in the province. Yet it was warmly asserted, if not actually believed, in the beginning, that the silk-worm industry of Georgia would, in vari- ous capacities, employ 40,000 individuals, and would net to the Crown a saving of 500,000 pounds per annum.
On April 8, 1751, Mr. Parker was commissioned president of Georgia to succeed William Stephens who, now having attained to the dignity of an octogenarian, was retired on a yearly pension of 80 pounds. Francis Harris and Pickering Robinson were named as assist- ants to the president, while Capt. Noble Jones was commissioned to serve the colony as registrar.
President Parker's administration was signalized by the meeting of Georgia's first provincial assembly, but its powers were somewhat lim- ited. Since the authority to enact laws was vested by charter in the trustees, this assembly, therefore, could not legislate. It merely sug- gested to the trustees such measures as were deemed of vital importance to the welfare of the province or conducive to its best interests. The
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assembly was to convene in Savannah once a year at such a time as the president might choose, with the advice of his assistants. Its deliber- ations were not to continue longer than one month. There was to be one deputy allowed each town, village or district in the province con- taining ten families, and for each settlement having thirty families two deputies were to be allowed. Savannah was given four deputies, Augusta and Ebenezer two each. Frederica was also to be allowed two, if thirty families were there resident.
In accordance with a provision to this effeet made by the trustees, writs of election were issued, and on January 15, 1751, the assembly met and organized by electing Francis Harris its speaker. Pickering Robinson was appointed to prepare a report on the state of the prov- ince. The deputies-sixteen in number-who constituted Georgia's first provincial assembly, with the jurisdictions represented by each, were as follows: *
Savannah District-Francis Harris speaker; John Milledge, Wil- liam Franeis, William Russell.
Augusta District-George Catogan, David Douglass.
Ebenezer District-Christian Reidlesperger, Theobald Keiffer.
Abercorn and Goshen Districts-William Ewen.
Joseph Town District-Charles Watson.
Vegnonbourgh District-Patrick Hountoun.
Acton District-Peter Morell.
Little Ogeechee District-Joseph Summers.
Skidaway District-John Barnard.
Midway District-Audley Maxwell.
Darien District-John Mackintosh, B.
These deputies were required within three days after assembling to submit a written statement showing the number of inhabitants in the province, white and black, male and female, the quantity of land culti- vated by each inhabitant, in what erop planted, the number of negroes owned and employed, the quantity of mulberry trees standing on each plantation, fenced and unfenced, the progress made by each family in the culture of silk, indigo, cotton, etc. This detailed report, together with such suggestions as the assembly might see fit to offer, was to be signed by the speaker and delivered to the president of the colony, to be forwarded to the trustees. There were no qualifications prescribed for delegates to the first assembly, but after June 24, 1751, no inhab- itant of the colony could be elected a deputy who did not have 100 mulberry trees planted and fenced on every fifty-acre tract which he owned. Moreover, no one could be a deputy who did not adhere strictly to the prescribed number of negro slaves allowed by law in proportion to white servants employed, who did not have in his family at least one female skilled in the reeling of silk, and who did not annually pro- duce fifteen pounds of silk for every fifty aeres which he owned. If ever a colony was organized on Utopian principles it was Georgia. Most of her early legislation was monopolized by silk worms; and not only a man's wealth, but his value to society, his standing in the church and his hope of heaven were all gauged by mulberry trees.
* Charles C. Jones, Jr., in "History of Georgia," Vol. II.
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After remaining in session some three weeks the assembly adjourned on February 8, 1751, having submitted a number of grievances which the president of the colony was thought competent to redress. One of the recommendations urged by this body was that a militia be organ- ized, and to this overture, President Parker, on assuming office, addressed himself. Since the disbandment of Oglethorpe's regiment the colony had been at the mercy of the Indians, whose friendship, while warmly professed, was somewhat uncertain. Civilians were forced to rely upon themselves for police duty, and consequently there was no adequate protection for the colony's exposed borders. To form a militia, therefore, all adult white male inhabitants who possessed 300 acres of land or over were ordered to appear on horseback, well accoutered, while all white male proprietors who owned less than 300 acres were to be armed as infantrymen. There were four companies in the militia thus organized, one of horse and three of foot, numbering in all some 300 men. On Tuesday, June 13, 1751, the first general muster was held at Savannah, under the general command of Capt. Noble Jones. There were 220 men who responded to this call. Later Captain Jones was given a colonel's commission. His son, Noble Wym- berly Jones, formerly a cadet in Oglethorpe's regiment, was given the command of a troop of horse.
Conservators were named at this time for some of the more populous districts in which there were no established courts. Capt. John McIn- tosh was appointed at Darien, James Frazer at Augusta, and Audley Maxwell for the district of Midway and Great Ogeechee. These con- servators, to use the phraseology of a later day, were justices of the peace, empowered to try cases where the amount involved did not exceed £20 sterling.
Disturbed no longer by the dread of a Spanish invasion, South Caro- lina began to covet once more the rich lands which lay to the west of Savannah, out of which a colony had been formed for her protection. Consequently, a movement for the annexation of Georgia to South Caro- lina was projected. It met with vigorous opposition on the part of the colony's first assembly and a strong pamphlet entitled "Objections to Annexing Georgia to South Carolina" was published at this time, a copy of which is still in existence among the Shaftsbury papers, in the Public Record Office in London. But the proposed consolidation failed to materialize .*
In 1752 a colony of Puritans destined to make its profound impress upon the future history of the state, came to Georgia, settling in the famous Midway district, between Savannah and Darien. These new settlers came directly from South Carolina, where they had acquired an extensive property in slaves. For some time they had coveted these rich alluvial lands on the Georgia coast, but it was not until the trust permitted an introduction of negroes and modified its policy with respect to land tenure that they felt at liberty to settle in Georgia. Most of
* South Carolina made a similar attempt during the Revolution to incorporate Georgia within her boundaries; and to this end sent Wm. H. Drayton to Savannah to address the Legislature. But such was the hornet's nest of opposition aroused by his speech that he returned somewhat hastily to South Carolina, where he felt much safer.
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these Puritans were rice planters. Having employed white labor with disastrous results, they found negro labor a source of profit, and they became in time the largest slaveholders in the state.
To find the historical genesis of this devout community on the Georgia coast, we must go back to the ancestral seats, beyond the water, in England. On March 30, 1630, there gathered upon the docks of Plymouth, to embark for the New World, a band of Puritans. They came together from the neighboring counties; and, after a day spent in worship, took passage on the Mary and John, a small vessel of 400 tons, commanded by Captain Squeb. Entering the harbor of Nantucket, on the coast of Massachusetts, they settled in the tide-water region near-by, calling the place Dorchester, in honor of the old home in England from which many of them came. There were 140 members in this pioneer flock. At the expiration of five years, becoming dissatisfied, they re- moved to the present site of Windsor, Connectient. In 1695, some of these same Puritans, migrating southward, planted a settlement on the Ashley River, in South Carolina, which they likewise called Dorchester; and when, in 1751, the restrictions upon slave labor and land tenure in Georgia were removed by the trustees, these enter- prising planters sent representatives into the adjoining province to reconnoiter. At last they decided to locate upon the fertile bottoms of the Midway district. According to the records, the first settlers were beset on the journey by the most violent storms ever known on the Georgia coast; but they were not to be deterred. They proceeded into the interior some ten miles, and selecting a locality which seemed to meet the requirements, they ealled it Dorchester, thus memorializing for the third time this prime favorite among the English towns.
On December 5, 1752, the advanee guard arrived at the place of settlement, Benjamin Baker and Samuel Bacon, each accompanied by his family ; but the death of Mrs. Baker, on the day following, east a gloom of sadness over the little eamp. In the spring of the next year, Parmenas Way, with his family, arrived; and during the year 1754 there came seventeen families, ineluding the pastor's, Rev. John Osgood, and two single men, John Quarterman, Jr., and Moses Way. Those hav- ing families were: Rev. John Osgood, Richard Spencer, John Stevens, Richard Baker, Josiah Osgood, Samuel Way, John Quarterman, Sr., Sarah Mitchell, John Mitchell, Samuel Burnley, Edward Way, Edward Sumner, William Baker, John Shave, Nathaniel Way, and Benjamin Andrews. Three of these were from Pon Pon, a settlement on the lower Edisto River, viz .: Sarah Mitchell, John Mitehell, and Benjamin An- drew. In 1755 there arrived six families and two single men. The heads of families were: John Gorton, John Winn, John Lupton, Joseph Baeon, Andrew Way, Isaae Girardeau. The two single men were : Thomas Peacock, of Charleston, and Joseph Massey, of Pon Pon. Five families eame in 1756, those of William Graves, Jolin Stewart, Sr., John Stewart, Jr., John Graves, and Daniel Dunnom. The next year came the family of Richard Girardeau ; and in 1758 Samuel Jeans and family, James Andrew and family, and Mrs. Lydia Saunders. Then came an interval of several years until 1771, when three families eame, those of Jonathan Bacon, William Norman and Isham Andrews, mak- ing a total of thirty-eight families, in addition to five single persons.
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OLD MIDWAY CHURCH
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Besides the above named settlers, there were some from other locali- ties; and the fact must not be overlooked that several families were established in the district before the Dorchester colonists arrived. The journal of the first General Assembly of the Province in Savannah, in 1751, shows that the community was represented by Audley Maxwell, whose family was probably the oldest one in this section of Georgia.
Vast changes have taken place since 1752; but the names of the old settlers are still preserved by descendants in the immediate neighbor- hood. The sturdy John Quarterman, from whose loins have come twenty-three ministers of the gospel, seven foreign missionaries, and eight distinguished educators, is not without witnesses in the old settle- ment to testify to his manifold virtues. The Ways have also replenished a large part of the earth, nor is the name likely to become extinct in Liberty for some time to come, for here it still flourishes amid the de- serted fields in which other stalks have withered. Relationships have been greatly mixed by intermarriage between the various families. Says Doctor Stacy : "The case is very aptly put in the following couplet of names, formed, it is said, by Dr. W. P. MeConnell, in 1843, a year gen- erally known as one of exceeding scarcity and hardness, which I give both as a specimen of Liberty County wit and as an illustration of the point. Said he :
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