A standard history of Georgia and Georgians, Part 26

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 648

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" 'We have Hams and Dun-hams, Bacons and Greens,

Manns and Quartermans, a Plenty of Ways, but no Means.' "

But we have gone too far afield. Georgia's charter had been granted to the trustees for a period of twenty-one years. On June 9, 1753, this time limit was due to expire; nor was the corporation desirous of its extension. With only a few exceptions, the trustees of Georgia had been true to the trust imposed upon them by the Crown of England ; but to a man they wished to be relieved of a burden which had grown too onerous. These trustees had served without recompense, some of them at great pecuniary sacrifice; nor will Georgia soon forget the English gentlemen who were her earliest sponsors and who, though wedded to ideas more visionary than real, were humanitarians all.

During the life of the trust Georgia's spiritual interests had not been neglected. To the rule of religious tolerance there was only one excep- tion-the Roman Catholic Church. All other religious creeds were welcomed; and while the Church of England was regarded with special favor and nurtured with peculiar care, the colony's population embraced Presbyterians, Lutherans, Moravians, Methodists, Anabaptists and Hebrews. Rev. Henry Herbert was the colony's first spiritual shepherd. Then came Rev. Samuel Quiney, who for two years was the only elergy- man in Savannah. Next we find the Wesleys preaching in Georgia; but John was the accredited missionary. To succeed him the trust sent over Rev. George Whitefield, who built the famous orphanage and made the continent of North America rock with his eloquence. Next came William Norris, who baptized 142 persons, seventy-one of whom were soldiers, but he left under a cloud. Following him we find Rev. Christopher Orton, whom death, however, soon removed. Rev. Thomas Bosomworth Vol. I-12

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was the next appointee. His marriage to an Indian woman, the widow of an English trader, by the name of Musgrove, aroused in him merce- nary instincts, impairing his usefulness to the province and necessitat- ing his recall. As we have already seen, he persuaded his wife to de- clare herself empress of the Creeks and to make exorbitant demands. Rev. Bartholomew Zouberbubler was the last minister to serve in Geor- gia, under appointment of the trustees and it was under him that a church edifice, begun in 1740, was brought to completion on the site where the colonists first worshipped.

On June 23, 1752, the last meeting of the trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia was held in London, at which time the seal of the corporation was affixed to a deed of surrender. Not a bill remained unpaid. Not a claim was left unsettled. Not a grievance remained to be considered. All was in readiness for the last solemn act, after which the seal was defaced and the trustees ceased to exist as a body corporate. Having sent a memorial to the lords of the council, proposing to sur- render the province to the Crown, King George II, who still occupied the English throne, had consented to accept as a crown jewel the colony which bore his name; and when the formal act of relinquishment took place Georgia ceased to be a proprietary holding and became in the ful- lest sense of the word a royal province of England.

HISTORIC OLD MIDWAY: A SHRINE OF PATRIOTISM .- On the old military road between Savannah and Darien, in an angle which it here makes with the road to Sunbury, stands an ancient land-mark, built of wood, two stories in height. To the outward eye it presents few attractions. The simple taste of the Puritans who built it is proclaimed by an absence of anything which even remotely suggests artistic design. Its austere appearance is sternly in keeping with the rigid Calvinistie prin- eiples of the devont believers who here worshipped and who took no little pride iu the fact that they sprang from ancestors who belonged to the Ironsides of Cromwell. Except on commemorative occasions, the building is no longer used; and those of its members who are not sleeping underneath the live-oaks, in the little grave-yard across the road, are scattered far and wide. Before the war, there was not to be found in Georgia a community of thriftier planters than the one which stretched for miles in every direction around this saered center; but today it stands amid the abandoned acres, like a grim sentinel keeping watch over a silent past, while upon it from one Lord's Day to another there broods the hush of an unbroken Sabbath. Once each year, the descendants of the early settlers gather in the little house of worship on the green plaza in front of it to revive the recollections of former days, some of them coming from the most distant parts of the continent. It may be ques- tioned whether the North Star casts a more potent spell upon the needle of the mariner's compass than does this hallowed spot upon the descendants of the early Puritans of Georgia. ' Nor is it a matter of marvel. The loadstone which draws them is in some respects the most famous of America's patriotic shrines: historie old Midway Church.

From this parental stock have sprung hundreds of the most distinguished men in the public life of the nation. It has produced two Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett), two Generals of the Revolution (James Sereven and Daniel Stewart), besides numerous officers of lower rank, two Commodores, one President of the United States (Theodore Roosevelt, descendant of Daniel Stewart), the wife of another President (Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, grand- daughter of Rev. I. S. K. Axson), three United States Senators, four members of Congress, four Governors of Georgia, and at least six judges of the Superior Court. In advance of the rest of the Province the first bold stand for independence was here taken and the Colonial, flag on Fort Morris was the last to be lowered when Georgia was overrun by the British. Not less than six counties of the state bear

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names whose origin can be traced to the Midway settlement. Two of the most eminent of modern scientists were natives of the Parish of St. John. The list also includes two university chancellors, three presidents of female seminaries, one presi- dent of the State Normal School, one United States Minister to China, six authors of note, two historians, six editors, six foreign missionaries, and scores of successful business men, together with a host of other notables including soldiers, statesmen, educators, inventors, doctors, lawyers, and ministers of the gospel .* Can any other religious organization in America exhibit such a record? The explanation is to be found in the substantial pabulum upon which the offspring of the settlement were nourished, the emphasis put upon moral and educational values, the sturdy examples which were set before them, and the fear of God which was an ever-present factor in the lives of these devout people. To what depths the vital truths of religion struck root in this fertile soil may be gleaned from the fact that eighty-two clergymen have sprung from the Midway settlement. Fifty of these have been Presbyterians, seventeen Baptists, three Episcopalians, and thirteen Methodists, one of whom attained to the high office of Bishop. Included among the early pastors of the church was the father of the famons New England poet: Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. -L. L. Knight, in Georgia 's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends, Vol. I, pp. 135-138.

MIDWAY: DERIVATION OF THE TERM .- There is some difference of opinion among the historians concerning the origin of the name by which this famous settlement is known. The river which waters the district was originally written Medway, a spelling which can still be found npon some of the old maps and charts. William DeBrahm, the colonial engineer, in the original plan of the district drawn by him spelt it thus, but in his history he chose the other form. Capt. Hugh McCall calls it Medway, likewise William Bartram in his Travels. It is so designated in the letters of Sir James Wright; and even Colonel Jones, who holds to the opposite view- point, reprodnees in his Dead Towns of Georgia, a map, on which the name is spelt Medway. But the latter is quite positive that such is not the correct form of the word. Says Colonel Jones: "The territory lying between the Great Ogeechee and the Sonth Newport rivers was called the Midway district because of its central loca- tion, being about equidistant from the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, which then constituted respectively the northern and southern boundaries of Georgia. It has been suggested by some and the belief is to a limited extent enrrent that the name both of the district and of the river which permeates it was at the earliest period, Medway and not Midway, an appellation which was borrowed from one of the well- known rivers of Merrie Old England. The records do not justify the intimation, and in the light of history it should be repudiated."

Doctor Stacy, on the other hand, is equally certain that in the beginning at least the river was called Medway and that from it the name of the settlement was derived. Says he: * "My own opinion is that the district or neighborhood was named after the river, which was not called Midway, because of any eqnidistance between any two points, but Medway, after the river of the same name in England. This form of the word, however, soon degenerated into the more common and familiar name of Midway; and, both the church and the community hecoming known by the degen- erated appellation, the idea of eqnidistance was purely as an afterthought. It is an easy matter to account for Midway coming out of Medway, but difficult to explain how to get Medway out of Midway. However, for several generations, the church has been familiarly known as the Midway church, and I have so written it both here and in the public records." Doctor Stacy is a native of the Midway District. Two of his family were clerks of the church session, John Stacy, from 1798 to 1818, and John W. Stacy, from 1824 to 1854, a period of fifty years having been covered between them. Doctor Stacy himself is the historian of the Midway Settlement; and though Colonel Jones was an offspring of the same historic settlement, the weight of authority in this particular instance is probably upon the side of the former.

* History of Midway Congregational Church, by Rev. James Stacy, D. D., New- nan, 1899. Under the head of Liberty County, in Part 2 of this work, the contribn- tions of Midway Church are discussed more in detail.

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SKETCH OF PRESIDENT PARKER .- Henry Parker entered the service of the Trust as a constable on July 4, 1733. The next year he was promoted to be third bailiff, and the year following he became second bailiff. In 1738 when Canston was deposed, Parker was given the position of first bailiff of Savannah; and he continued to hold that office until the charter of the colony was surrendered to the king. When the province was divided into counties, Parker was made first assistant for the County of Savannah; and in 1743 he was made first assistant for the whole of Georgia. On March 27, 1750, he was advanced to the office of vice-president, which had been created to give relief to President Stephens on account of his great age and infirmi- ties. On May 24 of the following year, Parker was made president of the colony and held the position when the government of England took charge of the province.

Parker's character is clearly delineated in all the accounts we have of him. He was strongly addicted to the habit of drunkenness, and it seems that he never over- came this handicap. He was a poor manager of his own affairs and was often redneed to want, his dress and appearance becoming despicable for service in his office. The neglect of his personal affairs was partly occasioned by his zeal for the colony, for he was ever ready to serve the public when he was not under the influence of strong drink. In consideration of his poverty and services, the Trustees in 1738 gave him the use of two Trust servants and a gift of money additional to his salary. In his public service, he was acknowledged by his enemies to be a man of good sense and of an impartial temperament, though he showed no special initiative or strength of will. That he was comparatively easy to lead was evident in 1739 when a number of malcontents in Savannah got him to join with them in petitioning for negroes and changes in tenures, though he himself was not interested in the changes and knew that the petitioners were mainly bent on embarrassing the Trustees. As a punish- ment for his weakness in this instance, as well as his other shortcomings, the Trustees removed him from the offices which he held under them; but before the removal took effect, he was restored to office. His restoration was due to his acknowledgement of his faults and his promise to make an effort to overcome them .- J. R. McCain: The Executive in Proprietary Georgia.

CHAPTER XX

RELATION OF OGLETHORPE TO GEORGIA-POWERS AND LIMITATIONS- FAILURES AND SUCCESSES-DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OGLETHORPE AND THE TRUSTEES RELATIVE TO FINANCIAL MATTERS-THE WHOLE MAT- TER REVIVED BY AN IMPARTIAL INVESTIGATOR.

(This chapter contributed by James Ross McCain, A. M.)

One of the interesting problems of the colonial history of Georgia is the relation and importance of James Oglethorpe to the settling and developing of the province. Was he the father of the enterprise? Was he responsible for the plans and rules under which it was attempted ? What motives prompted him to accompany the colonists to America ? Was his presence of real benefit to the colony ? What were his legal powers in Georgia ? What led to the later friction between him and the trustees and to his withdrawal from participation in Georgia affairs? The answer to at least a portion of the questions may be found by ex- amining the principal facts of his life and by following in order the varions entries in the records of the trustees regarding his activities under their directions.

No detailed account of Oglethorpe's life is necessary, and indeed the facts are not sufficiently established to warrant a full summary of his life before he went to Georgia. He was born on June 1, 1689. He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, though the date of his entrance is in doubt, but he soon left his college work for service in the army. In 1710 he was an ensign in the British Army and served till the war ended in 1713. It was in this war of the Spanish Succession that he got his first contract with the Spanish, a contract which was to be hostile when renewed in America. Soon after the Treaty of Utrecht, he entered the service of Prince Eugene of Savoy, with whom he con- tinned until 1718, when he returned to England. There is no definite information available as to the amount or the quality of the service ren- dered by Oglethorpe during the time he was connected with the army. Many conjectures have been made as to his attainments in military science and experience; but they are inferences from his later career rather than actual facts .*

On the death of his brother Theophilus, he inherited a considerable estate at Westbrook, and he settled down to what gave promise of being the ordinary life of an English gentleman. His manor was situated near Godalming in Surrey County and was sufficient to enable him to live in independence and comfort. Like so many of the country gentle-

* Wright 5, 7.

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men of the period, he was a Tory in politics, though his later career indicates that he was not an extremist in his political faith. In 1722 he was chosen as one of the representatives in Parliament of the Town of Haslemere, which was located in Surrey County not far from the Ogle- thorpe estate, and he continued in this relation until he was defeated in 1754 .* His father and both his older brothers had formerly represented the same borough, and this was probably a help to him in gaining the position, but the fact that he held it so long indicates that he must have been satisfactory to his constituents.

Oglethorpe seems to have taken no active part in parliamentary affairs during the first six or seven years after his election. It was not until 1729 that he attracted any considerable attention. In that year he was made chairman of a committee of the House of Commons whose business it was to visit and report on the condition of the Fleet, Mar- shalsea, and King's Bench prisons. The committee was composed of fourteen members, and it seems to have been appointed on the motion of Oglethorpe, who had learned something of prison conditions through a visit to one of his friends who was incarcerated for debt. It is not entirely clear that he inaugurated the movement, but as chairman of the committee he was active in the work and he presented to Parliament the results of the investigations.t The first of these reports was submitted to the House on March 20, 1729, and the last was on May 11, 1730. With details of the reports we are not now concerned, but it is worth noting that the work seems to have been done with expedition and thoroughness. Bills were introduced by Oglethorpe to ameliorate the wretched conditions which the committee had found and to punish the worst offenders among the prison wardens.}

In other respects Oglethorpe began to show himself interested in the unfortunate or the oppressed. On January 13, 1732, he made a speech in the House of Commons in which he showed sympathy for the perse- cuted Protestants of Europe and expressed the wish that something might be done for their relief .** He was also a member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and in addition he was on a council of fifty who looked after the support and education of exposed and deserted children. In "The Sailor's Advocate," he de- fended seamen against the worst evils of impressment. He ably advo- cated the petition of the Moravians for assistance, and he sustained a motion to relieve the poor of certain of their most burdensome taxes.tt

As to whether or not Oglethorpe first thought of or suggested the scheme of making the settlement of Georgia, the evidence is not suffi- cient for a definite decision. Original documentary evidence that he fathered the idea is lacking. In none of the lists of those interested in the matter is his name mentioned first. In the charter three men are mentioned ahead of him on the lists of both the general board and the Common Council. Neither was he made the first president of the cor- poration or the first chairman of the Common Council. In some of the

* Ibid., 12, 373.

t Cobbett VIII: 706 et seq.

# Ibid., 706-753, 803-826.

** Ibid., 875-876.

tt Stevens I: 82-83.

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references to the petitioners for the charter as recorded in the "Acts of the Privy Council," his name does not appear at all, though it is quite likely that he was included under the general term "and others." After the petition for the charter had been referred to the board of trade for investigation, Oglethorpe wrote to the board a number of suggestions. Among other things he proposed for the new corporation the name, "Corporation for Establishing Charitable Colonies," which was for a while considered but was finally discarded. Just what were his other suggestions and whether they were adopted or not cannot be ascer- tained .* After the board of trade had made its report, Oglethorpe in company with others appeared before a committee of the privy council to ask for certain changes in the report in order that the trustees might have more power than was proposed in the matter of selecting the civil and military officers of Georgia.t

In no case above cited does Oglethorpe seem to have exercised more infinence than any other of the active petitioners for the charter. That is not proof positive at all that he was not more influential, nor would it prove that he was not the originator of the project. There are a num- ber of indications that such honor ought to be given him. By common consent the historians of Georgia and the biographers of Oglethorpe agree that he was the first to propose the settlement and that it was through his efforts that the other men who later became trustees became · interested in the work. The literature of the time paid tribute to him as pre-eminently benevolent of soul, but the compliments paid him in nearly every case came after he had gone to Georgia, and they were seemingly called forth on that account rather than because he was the author of the scheme. The fact that he had shown already indications of interest in imprisoned debtors and in foreign Protestants, and the additional fact that he was prominently connected with several other charitable enterprises, are perhaps the best reasons for thinking that he would and did originate the plan for settling the new province. Whatever may be the facts about its origin, Oglethorpe was indisputably earnest in helping to carry forward the project.

It has been incidentally mentioned that he was a member both of , the general corporation and of the common council which was to do so much of the actual work of government. He was faithful in attending the meetings of these bodies. Before he left England, there were nine- teen meetings of the general board of trustees, and Oglethorpe was present seventeen times. Only one other member of the board equalled him in faithfulness. There were, in addition, seven meetings of the common council, and he was present at six of these, being surpassed by two members and equalled by four others in regard to the number of times in attendance. He was also active in the committee work of the early organization. For the common council he served in this capacity six times before leaving England, being equalled in this particular by only two others. For the general board he also served on six commit- tees, having only one man to surpass him in activity. In this connection it is worthy of note that Oglethorpe served on the most important com-

* Abstract of B. T. Papers, S. C. Hist. Collec. II: 127.

t Acts of Privy Council, 1720-1745: 301-303.

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mittees. He was the chairman of the one to draw up laws and regula- tions for the colony," and we shall have occasion to discuss later whether or not the work of this committee was wisely done or not. IIe was ap- pointed a committee of one to see that the project was given the proper publicity through the newspapers and also to prepare commissions and boxes for those who should be willing to solicit funds for the enterprise. t He seemed for the time being to have charge of the receipts and dis- bursements, for which he rendered a regular account.$ Whether on account of his financial relation to the undertaking or because of his greater interest in it, he reported more names to the board of those who were willing to solicit money for the work than any other trustee. In addition to the activities already noted, he is thought to have written in behalf of the new colony the pamphlet entitled, "A New and Aceurate Account of the Provinces of South Carolina and Georgia." **

When preparations for the first embarkation of colonists to Georgia were being made, Oglethorpe decided to accompany the new settlers in person. This determination seems to have been entirely voluntary on his part; but, while the trustees had not urged him to the course, they were glad to avail themselves of his generous offer. The people who were going to Georgia were almost all of good character, but they had not hitherto been successful as a rule in managing their private affairs; and so it could not be reasonably expected that they would be capable of directing . a whole settlement. Some guiding hand was needful. The . normal thing to do was to appoint a governor who would be strong and experienced enough to put into operation the various plans of the trustees; but the latter were unwilling to appoint such a governor lest they should lose some of their authority, since the charter provided that a governor must be obedient to the Crown as well as the trustees. They seemed to feel that if Oglethorpe went over to get things well started the colony could get along without much government; and they cer- tainly acted on this theory whether they consciously held it or not. Oglethorpe probably sympathized with his fellow trustees in desiring to keep independent of government control, for this was ever his later policy whenever it was possible. Another reason why he may have been induced to undertake the journey was his love of adventure. He had served as a gentleman volunteer on the continent before entering the English army, and he had later joined the Austrians against the Turks, as we have noticed ; and the establishing of a buffer colony against his old opponents, the Spanish, would doubtless appeal to him on the mili- tary and adventurous side. There is no good reason for doubting, how- ever, that he was greatly, and perhaps mainly, moved by compassion for the poor debtors and other unfortunates who were preparing to go to a new country, and who would need all the help and advice obtainable in order to succeed. His action was regarded in this light at the time; and he was highly eulogized for leaving his home and the comforts of so- ciety and the pursuits of ambition in order to do a work from which he could hope to receive no private advantage.tt

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A standard history of Georgia and Georgians, Part 26

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 648

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 648