Acknowledgments

A BOOK of this character, dependent as it is on such varied and scattered sources of information, can be written only with the assistance of innumerable persons. Fortunately, the willingness to help of the many individuals, specialists, and others on whom I have called has made the writing not only possible but exceedingly pleasant.

First I wish to pay tribute to my sister, the late Eugenia Marion Johnston. We worked together for ten happy years, and her guiding spirit has been with me during the years I have worked alone. To her memory I have dedicated the book which originated with her.

Five persons, especially, I wish to mention for their generous help and encouragement, and to whom I render sincere and hearty thanks. But while expressing my gratitude I do not wish to suggest that they are in any way responsible for the book’s shortcomings:

Mrs. Marmaduke H. Floyd of Savannah, authority on Georgia Colonial history and author of many monographs and articles on Georgia history.

Dr. Philip Davidson, dean of the Graduate School and of the Senior College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Mr. Walter Charlton Hartridge of Savannah, student of history and editor of The Letters of Don Juan McQueen to His Family and of The Letters of Robert Mackay to His Wife.

Mr. Charles Francis Jenkins of Germantown, Pennsylvania, president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, author of Button Gwinnett, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of other works.

Dr. E. Merton Coulter, Head of the History Department at the University of Georgia and author of several books of history and biography. on Georgia subjects.

It would have been impossible for my sister and me even to have begun writing without the guidance of Mrs. Floyd who taught us the technique of research, introduced us to some source material, and aided us repeatedly in special problems.

To Dr. Davidson, to whom we submitted part of the original draft of the manuscript, we owe the first words of encouragement. His many illuminating suggestions on planning and writing the book we tried to follow.

Mr. Hartridge has been an interested and an enthusiastic critic. Besides the many valuable suggestions he has offered, he has read the manuscript many times, he has contributed several important items from his research, and to his persistent “prodding” the completion of the book in its present form is largely due.

My correspondence with Mr. Jenkins through the years introduced me to a friendly and scholarly spirit whose advice, interest, and gifts of historical papers have heartened me many times.

Dr. Coulter has rendered me a service which I can repay only by these inadequate words. He read the entire manuscript, he made many suggestions for its improvement, he recommended it and he helped to further its publication. The assistance of so distinguished a historian has been a privilege and a most rewarding experience.

The many persons connected with the following organizations, offices, and libraries have given me assistance and have accorded me privileges for which I am grateful:

The Georgia Society of the Colonial Dames of America for the use of its library in Colonial Dames House, Savannah; the office of the Secretary of State, Atlanta; the Department of Archives and History of the State of Georgia, Atlanta; the Library of Congress; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the United States War Department, Adjutant General’s Office; the United States Veterans Bureau; the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior; the New York Public Library; the New York Historical Society; the Savannah Public Library, especially the Reference Department; the Savannah Historical Research Association; the British Museum; the University of Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s University, Scotland, and the Institute of Jamaica, B.W.I.

Last, but not least, there is a long list of individuals that I cannot omit because they have been gracious in assisting me in many ways which are impossible to specify:

Colonel F. W. Alstaetter (U.S.A., retired); Dr. Victor H. Bassett (deceased); Mr. Marmaduke H. Floyd; Miss Ola M. Wyeth; Miss Elizabeth Hodge; Miss Margaret Goodley; Mrs. Forman M. Hawes; Mr. Thomas F. Walsh, attorney-at-law (deceased); Judge Raiford Falligant (deceased); Mr. William B. Clarke, A.I.A. (deceased); Mr. George H. Hoffmann; Mrs. Peter W. Meldrim (deceased); Mr. Raiford J. Wood; Miss Edith Inglesby; Mrs. S. Branch LaFar (deceased); Mr. James M. Holland, formerly superintendent of Fort Pulaski National Park, Cockspur Island; Judge Alexander R. MacDonell; Mr. G. Lloyd Roberts, former British Consul; Mr. Victor Schreck (deceased); Mr. W. Feay Shellman, of the City Engineer’s Office; Mr. W. F. Shellman, Jr.; Lieutenant Smedley, formerly of the United States Engineer’s Office; Mrs. J. C. Thompson; Mrs. Charles E. Waring; Miss Clermont Lee; Mr. Malcolm Maclean Young; Mr. G. Noble Jones; Colonel A. R. Lawton, attorney-at-law, all of Savannah.

Mrs. J. E. Hays, State Historian; Mrs. Perryman Little; Miss Ruth Blair; Mrs. Macartan Campbell Kollock (deceased); Miss Susan Marion Kollock; Dr. James Houstoun Johnston; Mrs. M. Hines Roberts; Mrs. George C. Griffin, Miss Elmira Boone, all of Atlanta. Mrs. Charles W. Rooney, of Decatur, Georgia.

Dr. Clarence S. Brigham, Director of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts; Mr. William Reitzell, Director of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Miss Mary A. Givens of the staff of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Mr. James Marion Johnston of Chevy Chase, Maryland; Miss Mary A. Benjamin of New York City; Dr. James J. Waring of Denver, Colorado; Mr. J. Frederick Waring of Savannah and Hudson, Ohio; Miss Jessie L. Farnum, secretary to the Librarian, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.; Mr. John Coddington, of Alexandria, Virginia; Mr. James Patrick Houstoun of Houston, Texas (deceased); Mrs. Isaac Read of Augusta, Georgia (deceased); Dr. Albert B. Saye, University of Georgia, Athens; Mr. Bayard Clinch Heyward of “Lamont,” Habersham County, Georgia (deceased); Miss Fitsimmons, Librarian, Charleston Library, Charleston, South Carolina; Miss Bessie Lewis of Darien, Georgia; Miss Emma Bull of Charleston, South Carolina; Reverend George Muir of Renfrewshire, Scotland; Mr. J. J. Haggart-Spiers, Proprietor of Houston House, Renfrewshire, Scotland; Mrs. A. May Osier of Kent, England.

Finally, acknowledgement and my gratitude are due to the many lineal descendants of the Georgia Houstouns who have made possible the publication of this book. A list of the contributors will be found in the Appendix.