Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3149JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE. History has firmly intrenched Oglethorpeas the founder of Georgia, He founded it as a refuge for a large class ofunfortunates and bravery- defended its soil against Spanish aggression, thusestablishing his plantation as a noble enterprise and precedent. James E.Oglethorpe was a native of London, England, born December 22, 1696. In1710 he entered the royal army and in 1722 became a member of Parliament.While serving iri that body the unhappy death of a friend in a debtors'' prison drew his attention to the abuses perpetrated in that special institutionand others of a similar nature. The attention of Parliament was broughtto the necessity of a reform in that field and he was appointed chairman ofan investigating committee. In 1732, after several remedial measures hadbeen passed, Oglethorpe and others obtained a royal charter for a large tractof land between the Altamaha and Savannah rivers in America. The plantation was called Georgia, in honor of George II, who was much interested in thephilanthropic plan of taking to the) New -World a colony of debtors andother men of broken fortunes. Parliament also granted £10,000 to forwardthe project, and in November, 1732, Oglethorpe as governor of the colonyset sail from England.Savannah was bounded by the brave philanthropists and for nine yearshe poured his energies, his money and his abilities into the furtherance oftile colony's interests. The Spaniards of St. Augustine, Florida, threatenedits security. He organized the defenses of the colony and iri 1738 brought overa regiment of trained soldiers from England. In 1739 his forces repelled aSpanish attack on Amelia Island. In May, 1740, he marched against St.Augustine at the head of a force of 2,000 militia and Indians, with a smallsupporting fleet, but although that expedition failed, two years afterward herepelled another Spanish attack directed against Frederica, and his victorywas so deceive as to avert any trouble from that foreign quarter in the future.In 1743 he was made a brigadier general in the English army, but was obligedto return to England in an effort to recover a portion of the fortune whichhe had spent in sustaining the colony and defending it against the enemies ofEngland. In 1752 he and other trustees of the Georgia plantation wereobliged to resign their charter and the colony became a royal province. Oglethorpe died in 1785, and Georgia could not have had a nobler founder.SAMUEL BARNARD ADAMS is a native of Savannah, where he was bornSeptember 8, 1853, and has made his record as a resident in that city. Hegraduated from the University of Georgia in 1872, was admitted to the. barin the following year and has never left his native city as a place of residence.Besides being in practice there for forty years, he has filled out an unexpiredterm on State Supreme bench and was city attorney of Savannah for morethan twenty years. He has been president of the State Bar Association,chairman of the Savannah Board of Education and a director or trustee innumerous banks, railroads and industrial and philanthropic organizations.WILLIAM H. BOYD. For the past score of years Mr. Boyd has been engaged in practice of his profession in the City of Savannah, and his character and achievement have been -such as to fully entitle him to designationas one of the representative members of the bar of his native state. In the historic old City of Savannah he maintains his law offices in the Citizens' TrustBuilding, and he is favored in having as his home a fine rural estate nearSavannah, in Effingham County, where he finds diversion and much satisfaction through his activities in connection with agricultural and live-stock enterprise, his farm being one of the fine places in the vicinity of Savannah.Mr. Boyd was born in Burke County, Georgia, on the 2d of April, 1864,and in the same county were born his parents, John and Mary (Boyd) Boyd,where they were reared and educated and who there passed their entire lives,Vol. VI 24