Chapter III

PATRICK HOUSTOUN IN GEORGIA

A timely topic in London in 1733 was the newest colony in America. It had been sixty years since Englishmen had discussed colonization in the plantations across the Atlantic, as the Carolina settlements were founded in the sixteen-seventies and by 1733 were well established. Titled men of England as well as commoners were among the Georgia Trustees, and that lent distinction to their plan. Church circles aspired to convert the Indians, and contributions poured into the Trustees’ treasury to be devoted to the salary of a missionary and for the erection of a church building in the colony. Such organizations as the Associates of the Late Dr. Bray, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge ably assisted James Oglethorpe by giving contributions through John Lord Viscount Percival, later the Earl of Egmont, the Trustees’ president. The Associates of the Late Dr. Bray sent with the first shipload of settlers, the Reverend Henry Herbert, D.D., a priest of the Church of England.

It was not long before residents of North Britain were informed of the establishment of Georgia. Soon after the colony was settled two Scottish gentlemen with their thirty servants emigrated to Georgia where they received grants for plantations. Other Scotsmen heard of the new colony. Their native fondness for adventure led them to abandon their home occupations and strike out for the new land. Patrick Houstoun may have been the instigator of the venture, since his kinsman Dr. William Houstoun certainly had told him of Georgia, and had perhaps inspired him with the idea of founding a new home for himself. Patrick either interested some friends or they persuaded him, for plans took shape in the late spring of 1733. Learning of the Trustees’ requirements for settlement for men of means: to pay their own expenses, to take ten or twelve servants and to plant and cultivate mulberry trees for the propagation of silkworms, Patrick Houstoun and possibly his brother James, both of Glasgow, were in the Scottish company of new settlers, as were the following: Dr. Patrick Tailfer, a physician of Edinburgh; Andrew Grant and John Bailie, merchants, also of Edinburgh; Thomas Bailey, of “Orkney in Scotland,” Alexander and Robert Bailie, brothers; Hugh Stirling, and perhaps others.

The Houstoun cousins probably corresponded about Patrick’s plan, as it was Dr. Houstoun who petitioned the Trustees at their meeting on July 11, 1733, for his kinsman, “Mr. Houston, of Glasgow,” to go to Georgia and to carry twelve servants on his account, and two weeks later the Trustees at their meeting, August 1, received one pound one shilling from Dr. Houstoun, (then ill in Jamaica), “the Consideration money mention’d in the Grant of Patrick Houston.”¹

Patrick Houstoun was born in Scotland in 1698, the son of Patrick, the second son of the first baronet and his wife.² Although he is referred to officially as being from Glasgow, family tradition connects him with Paisley. The two places are about ten miles apart. The city of Glasgow lies in the counties of Lanark and Renfrewshire, and when Patrick Houstoun was living there the population was about 17,000. He grew up in what was then a large city. Paisley, which is in Renfrewshire, was an old burgh situated on rising ground on the west bank of the White Cart River, and had long, regular streets. Houstoun Castle was in the town of Houston in the same county, and whether his father lived in Glasgow or in Paisley, Patrick must have visited often the castle of his ancestors. Sir Patrick Houstoun, his grandfather, had died there in 1696; and John, his uncle, the second baronet, and his cousins, John, the third, and John, the fourth baronets, occupied the castle before the former emigated to Georgia.

At the age of fifteen Patrick Houstoun matriculated in Glasgow University for the class of humanity and literature, under Professor Ross.³ No record can be found of his having registered in any other course of study, or that he graduated from the University.⁴ From the position which Patrick Houstoun occupied later in Georgia, it is apparent that his classical education at the University of Glasgow was sufficient, and endowed him with attainments and a certain confidence that proved him to be a man of ability and made him eligible to command leadership in the affairs of his adopted country. It is not known how long his parents lived.

Patrick Houstoun prized highly a devotion to duty; he also practiced meticulous care in any trust imposed upon him, and he jealously guarded his integrity when circumstances made it open to question. When the occasion demanded he was firm and resolute; but on the other hand, he knew the fine distinctions of courtesy. Such is a brief picture of one of the several gentlemen from Scotland, who set out for the shores of Georgia. Love of adventure and colonization, inherent in men of Scotland, seemed incapable of suppression, for even the disastrous attempt of the Darien scheme thirty-five years previous failed to leave Scotsmen cool to bold enterprise abroad.

Georgia, as well as other English colonies, profited by the indomitable spirit of Scotsmen. Patrick Houstoun was motivated by the same verve and daring. Because his father was the second son of a titled parent, probably it never occurred to him that he would one day himself hold the title of baronet. Since he had a kinsman in the service of the Georgia founders, his attention was drawn to an opportunity embraced by many younger sons of the British gentry, who for years flocked to the American colonies. Patrick Houstoun at the age of thirty-six left for Georgia, where for twenty-eight years he lived as a landed proprietor, giving unstintingly of his time in the service of his king and province.

The other members of the Scottish expedition, having each received his grant of five hundred acres, and the necessary preparations having been made including the “freighting” of their own ship, sailed from “North Brittain” in the early part of March, 1734. As each one of the Scotsmen was obligated to carry ten servants with him, the ship’s company at the beginning of the voyage amounted to over one hundred persons exclusive of the crew. The ship sailed from a port probably on the eastern shore of Scotland and cruised through the North Sea to the English Channel. An unexpected delay necessitated laying the ship aground at Portsmouth, “in order to refit her, being pretty much Damaged by an unlucky accident which happened there.” While the repairs were being made twelve or more servants were “enticed on Board the King’s Ship at Portsmouth (a warm Press being on foot),” and when the vessel was made seaworthy again, she set sail and finally reached her destination, the port of Charles Town, South Carolina.⁵ The friends were “given a very discouraging Character” of Savannah, but on hearing the account several of the men went to the Georgia town to “view it.” They were told by Thomas Causton, keeper of the public stores, that he had orders not to give them anything, but he could allow them credit for twelve months’ provisions. Returning to Charles Town, the delegation made its report to the other colonists. Undeterred by the disparaging stories of the Carolinians, the Scotsmen pushed on with their remaining servants to claim their grants of land. Further disappointment awaited them. The number of servants who were young and able men, most of them trained laborers, and a few women, was reduced to fifty-two; and when they arrived in Savannah, it was with much difficulty that their employers procured from Causton credit for three months’ provisions and a few other things and not even those without paying for them.

To their consternation, the Scotsmen found that their land was not adjacent to Savannah but was situated on the Great Ogeechee River, thirty miles from its mouth. On their arrival at the appointed place they began at once to clear their acreage and placed themselves “in some posture of Defence . . . in case of an attack from the Enemy.” Their servants were put to work to build a fort. Their remoteness from Savannah made the Scotsmen dissatisfied as they were put to great inconvenience, they wrote, in obtaining food and other necessities. The settlement of the Houstoun brothers, the Bailies, the Stirlings, and Dr. Tailfer was known as Stirling Bluff.⁶ While the settlers continued in residence there they enjoyed good health and were industrious agriculturists. During their first season two hundred acres were planted in corn, peas, and turnips.⁷ In time Thomas Causton lent them “four small cannon and small arms for all their people.” The colony being seventy miles distant by water from Savannah, it was necessary for some of the men to visit the town frequently, and the comment of one of the residents of Charles Town that Scotsmen were seen on the bluff in their native dress and “laced hatts,” in all likelihood referred to the settlers from the Great Ogeechee.⁸

By the end of January, 1735, however, the Scotsmen had become more dissatisfied with their situation. They wrote to Peter Gordon, the first bailiff, on the twenty-fifth of that month that they found it a “very great inconvenience to procure from time to time such things as we stand in need of . . . and although it has been a considerable Hindrance to the Clearing of our Ground, yet we believe that proportionable to the time of our Settling there is as much ground Cleared as anywhere else in this Province.”⁹

In March, Andrew Grant, Hugh Stirling, Patrick Tailfer, and Patrick Houstoun wrote a joint letter to the Trustees in which they gave particulars of their voyage and of their settlement, apprising the Trustees that when they obtained their grants, they never doubted in the least but that they should have the same privileges and encouragement given to other people. On their arrival in Georgia, they wrote, they had expected to receive “provisions for their servants for twelve months, tools for building & clearing the land, nails for their houses & other iron work, arms and ammunition,” etc., but the results were contrary to their expectations. The distance of their settlement from Savannah obliged some of them to settle there in order to supply the others “. . .with provisions and other necessaries as well as upon the Account of our Business.” It is evident that they had not received the full allotment of acres, because they asked that the remaining part of their land be given to them next to the town “of any not yet been taken up.”

It would seem that Patrick Houstoun was one of the men who later took up his residence in Savannah, and that he desired to carry on the business in which he had been engaged in Glasgow. He had become identified with the life in Savannah and had made friends and acquaintances, among them Peter Gordon and Captain Dunbar. On the first of March, 1735, he wrote from Savannah a letter full of news and gossip to Peter Gordon who, with his wife, was in Charles Town preparatory to sailing for England. Expressing the opinion that Gordon would have been wiser to remain longer in America, Houstoun then passed on to his friend the latest gossip about the alleged relations between Mrs. Musgrove and Thomas Causton, keeper of the public stores. In Houstoun’s opinion Mrs. Musgrove’s husband was likely to kill Causton. Further, some settlers were so “disobliged at Mr. Causton they would run yet risk of sacrificing all to be avenged of him. . . .”

Concluding his resume of the Musgrove-Causton affair with a pledge to exert his influence to pacify Musgrove, Patrick Houstoun then requested Peter Gordon to use his influence with the Trustees to procure a lot near the town, and asked particularly for one in the square where the public mill stood, saying if it were given to him he would build a home upon it to beautify the town “as much as a house would do.” Enclosed in his letter to Peter Gordon, which he sent by Captain Dunbar, was a letter to “My Lord Percival . . . being I hear created ane Earl,” also a letter to Doctor Houstoun (his death was still unknown to his kinsmen) “who procured your countrymen grants which please seal & deliver he will do you & all his countrymen service if it be in his power I have wrote him no complaints for I know he is very hott & would resent our treatment in a different manner I incline for.”

Continuing his lengthy letter to Peter Gordon, Houstoun complained about the Trustees’ treatment of the colony. Unless conditions improved he threatened to settle in Port Royal and even go to England “nixt harvest and prevent any more of my friends or countrymen being deceaved as I have been. . . .” Houstoun also offered a frank defense of his violation of the Trustees’ ban on the sale of rum. Rum was the commodity which brought the “most ready money.” Because they thought it had healing properties, many people wanted it and were willing to pay a high price for it.¹⁰

Patrick Houstoun was not alone in his violation of the Trustees’ ban on the sale of rum. Peter Gordon, prior to his departure from Georgia, accused both Thomas Causton, the storekeeper, and Thomas Christie, one of the bailiffs, of infringement of the rule. Paul Amatis, the Swiss instructor in silk culture, divulged the names of others, and admitted that he was a lawbreaker himself. He wrote to the Trustees in June, 1735, that he had a small quantity of rum for “his own provisions,” but finding it was more than he could “spend,” he thought it was no crime to dispose of what he did not want, “Seeing it was publicly sold.” He was fined, but he thought partiality was shown to others “since the fine goes to the benefit of the colony.” He then mentioned those who were selling the liquor: “Mr. Edward Jenkins, Mr. John Fallowfield, Mr. Patrick Houstoun, Mr. James Gould, chief of the store, Mr. John Ambrose,” giving as their reason for not paying a fine, “because they are Intimate to Mr. Causton. I do not say because they are Free Masons.”¹¹ Although Patrick Houstoun may have escaped censure at that time, he was later to pay the penalty for his misdemeanor.

Patrick Houstoun then offered his services to Peter Gordon in endeavoring to sell his house but expressed the fear that he would not be able to find a tenant until more people arrived in the town for there were nearly twenty empty houses. He advised: “if you had ordered the house to be partitioned & a floor above & a littell kitchen built it would have answered the expense.” Peter Gordon’s house was well situated for business and had a chimney, which was considered a convenience. He had evidently left his affairs in the hands of Patrick Houstoun, who asked in his letter the number of cattle Peter Gordon had, and what brand he wished put upon them.

Continuing, Houstoun set forth what was really his ambition: “Itt will be a great encouragement to the Collony if the Trustees give power to grant lisences here for the Ingiens if they send over any goods for to furnish the traders with I should wish to be store keeper for incline to turn myself entirely in merchant business. . . .”

Patrick Houstoun concluded his long letter by offering “his Humble deuty” to Mrs. Gordon wishing them both “a good and prosperous voyage.” He asked the favor of Peter Gordon in finding for him an “honest cliver young man who writes a good hand, a master of figures and book Keeping & knows something of Merchant business to engage him for some years for me to give him what wadges you think proper . . . I would be singularly obliged to you to send him over here I do not doubt abundance such are out of business about London & would be glade of this occasion.”¹²

When Patrick Houstoun settled in Savannah the town “. . .was a buzzing community. It had its hopes and ambitions, fears and emotions, its likes and dislikes, its marriages, deaths, and births. A Mrs. Close bore the first child in Georgia, and thereby won ‘A Silver Boat and Spoon’ which a Mr. Hume of South Carolina gave her. A lad some sixteen years of age, signing himself P Thickness, and having lately arrived from England, wrote his mother in 1736 that Savannah had upwards of 300 houses not counting the huts. Although the climate was deadly to many, he seemed to thrive unusually well. He declared, ‘The Country Seems to agree with me very well, for every Coat and Wast Coat I have is much too little for me, that it will not button within 4 inches, and I am grown tall and tan’d with ye Sun, so yt nobody guesses me to be under 20 years of age.’ There was plenty of game all around and he added “You would not fear Shooting of a Deer every day if you will; Turkeys, & Wild Ducks swimming 1000s of ym, in ye River all ye Winter.’ In fact he was perfectly satisfied; Georgia was a great place in which to advance. ‘Tell George,’ he said, ‘if He & I had come, when we first talk’d of it, He had been a Justice of the Peace at least by now.’”¹³

The custom of keeping holidays was started early in Georgia. The date the colony was founded¹⁴ was a great time for celebration, and by 1736, the birthday of Oglethorpe, December 21, was likewise observed with festivity. The day “was begun by the principal inhabitants gathering at the fort where about noon, with some Bottles of Wine and some Biscuit they drank the health of the King and all his family, and then thirteen guns were fired. Then some more drinking to the health of the Trustees and of Oglethorpe; and in the evening all who could find partners brought them to the tavern where they danced and were merry.”¹⁵

In February, 1734, before Patrick Houstoun arrived in Georgia, James Edward Oglethorpe, who was a member of a “military lodge” in England, had formed a lodge of Free Masons, but the lodge did not receive its charter from London until 1735.¹⁶

Houstoun joined Solomon’s Lodge in October, 1734. A page in some recovered minutes shows that he was initiated and entered as an “apprentice” on the ninth of that month. The entries of his and other names were made in 1756, five years after Patrick fell heir to the Houstoun baronetcy. On the first page of the minutes recording those who had attained by 1756 the degree of master mason, his name appears sixth in the roster of members:

Sir Pat Houstoun in Geo^ia Octob. 9 . . 1734 E. P.¹⁷

Patrick Houstoun must have been granted the lot he wanted for a store, for he remained in Savannah to trade with the Indians. At the same time he became a planter. In 1736 he received a grant of five hundred acres from the Trustees, and it seems probable that he spent part of his time there engaging in the required pursuit of agriculture. His second grant was twelve miles from the town, on a neck of land between the Vernon and the Little Ogeechee Rivers. A creek connects the two streams, and facing that creek, where the sea breezes swept over the marsh land, Patrick Houstoun built his home and gave his plantation the name of Rosdue.¹⁸ John Wesley mentioned in his Journal, on December 19, 1737, describing various places in the colony, that “Mr. Houstoun’s” plantation was twelve miles from Savannah, and Stirling’s farther up the Ogeechee.¹⁹ That entry was made six months after the marriage of William Williamson to Sophy Hopkey, the great divine’s first love, and just two months before the sorrowing clergyman left Georgia.

While conducting his business in Savannah, Patrick Houstoun was much concerned because the Indian trade of Georgia was diverted to Charles Town. Savannah did not keep enough “goods”; that is, pots, pans, kettles, drygoods, etc., which were the articles the Indians wanted in exchange for their hides, furs, and pelts. Houstoun, nevertheless, was not unsuccessful in his enterprise, for in July, 1735, Elisha Dobre, a colonist, in writing to the Trustees mentioned that the traders “took to the value of ab^t 3000 currency of Goods from Mr. Houston here.”²⁰ In the same month Houstoun himself wrote to the authorities in London, enclosing two petitions for lots in Savannah. One of the petitions had been drawn by a group of traders who were doing business with the Creek and Chickasaw Indians. Repeating the economic threat of Charles Town, a familiar theme with him, Houstoun urged favorable action on that petition. The other petition was that of Andrew Bell, a former servant, who had just completed his indenture. Described as a competent blacksmith who “has had very great offers made him to go to Port Royal,” the writer continued by expressing the hope that the Trustees would give suitable encouragement to Bell.

Controversy regarding rules for the traders in the Provinces of Geoigia and South Carolina continued for some time. The Savannah River was admitted to be the boundary line. Oglethorpe tried to be fair and just to his Indian neighbors, and Tomo-chi-chi, Mico of the Yamacraws, whose tribe had given the land for Savannah, was in London in 1734. While there Tomo-chi-chi asked particularly that certain stipulations be made regarding the accuracy, quantity, quality, and prices of goods and the accuracy of weights and measures in determining the articles offered in purchase of the Indians’ buffalo hides, deer skins, and pelts. The Trustees established regulations satisfactory to the Indians, but they involved the matter of licenses to those who did the trading. That was not agreeable to the Carolina traders, and because they would not apply to Oglethorpe for licenses, they were not allowed to traffic in Georgia. They carried their complaints to the Provincial Assembly of South Carolina, and a conference of committees from the two Provinces was held in Savannah, August 2, 1736. Oglethorpe answered the allegations of the South Carolina committee in regard to Georgia’s regulations that he had refused no trader who had agreed to comply with the rules and that he would instruct his Georgia traders to yield to those issued in the Province of South Carolina, stating that both provinces should communicate their regulations to each other. He asserted further that he would direct all of his traders to make no distinction between the two provinces but to speak in behalf of His Majesty’s subjects. The commissioners were satisfield with the result of the meeting, although they still objected to the requirement of permits.

Patrick Houstoun, however, desired to remedy the situation in Savannah by procuring a loan from the Trustees and on July 3, 1736, he addressed his request to Oglethorpe who was then in Savannah. Informing Oglethorpe that Indian traders who had come to the Georgia town for their licenses had during “this Year” brought “Leather to the value of £ 14 or £ 15,000,” Houstoun explained that the traders were compelled to carry their leather to Charles Town because Savannah lacked a sufficient supply of goods to take care of their needs. To prevent a recurrence of such an economic disaster the Savannah merchant had a plan. He would provide the goods for future traders’ wants, if the Trustees “will be pleased to give me Credite for one year for £ 1,000 of the Public Money.” Outlining a plan of security, Houstoun requested the loan be repaid in Savannah instead of London to save the expense of “Commission and Exchange” which would have to be paid for remitting money by way of the Carolina town. As a part of his program for enticing traders away from Carolina, Houstoun further suggested that the Trustees assist with a plan to provide “a number of Men and horses upon Call,” explaining that once the traders were assured of goods and services in Savannah they would do business there. Concluding, the Georgia merchant requested Oglethorpe to instruct the Trustees, in case they granted him a loan, to pay the money to Peter Symonds, a London merchant, to whom Houstoun had sent “the Invoice & orders to buy the Goods.”²¹

Oglethorpe thought well of most of Houstoun’s proposition. In writing to the Trustees the day after he received the Georgia merchant’s letter, Oglethorpe endorsed Houstoun’s plan of remitting money without losing the exchange. “I have,” he wrote, “a good opinion of it, since it will save Commission and Exchanges, which I find very difficult now for they will not take the Georgia Bills in Carolina unless I give them below the Exchange. Wherefore I have rather chose to draw upon you.”²²

Two references are sufficient to show that the Trustees approved of the proposal to lend Patrick Houstoun the money and ordered it to be carried out. A resolution to that effect was passed at a meeting of the Common Council held on September 10, 1736: “A Bill of Exchange for forty Pounds drawn by M^r Oglethorpe July 3, 1736, to Patrick Houston or Order for Value received on Account of the Colony was presented Sept^r 10 by M^r Sheafe, Ordrd.”²³ and a second resolution was read at a meeting of the same council held on November 10: “Bill of Exchange drawn by M^r Oglethorpe, July, payable to Patrick Houston or Order for Sixty Pounds Value received in Account for the use of the Colony, was presented Oct^r 26.” At the end of a number of similar entries it was ordered that the secretary sign the said instructions.

There was no interchangeable currency between the Provinces of Georgia and South Carolina, and the Georgia Bills mentioned in Oglethorpe’s letter referred to the sola bills issued solely for use in the colony. The only real currency in Georgia was a few copper coins and a Spanish milled dollar;²⁴ so for a medium of exchange for the colony the Trustees sent over, previous to the date of Oglethorpe’s letter, one thousand six hundred and fifty pounds in what were called sola bills. They were “in themselves only Bills of Parcels for Goods sold and deliver’d to be paid for in England or Georgia as the Trustees shall think proper.”²⁵ The bills were in denominations of from one to twenty pounds, and Oglethorpe was given the right to issue them in paying the debts of the Trustees. When Georgia became a Royal Province, all sola bills which had not been paid were recalled.²⁶

Although Patrick Houstoun endeavored to comply with the requirements of the Trustees that those colonists who came to Georgia on their own account and with a grant for five hundred acres must bring ten servants with them, some of his servants must have been among those who deserted the Scotsmen when they were forced, in 1734, to put in at Portsmouth for repairs to their ship. Two years later Patrick Houstoun was in need of more hands on his plantation, and on August 3, 1736, he wrote to the Trustees requesting that they instruct Captain Dunbar or any other man who might be sent to North Britain to bring him ten men-servants and two women-servants. Upon their arrival he agreed to pay the prevailing market price. To Archibald Mackbane, who was paid by the Trustees to hire servants in North Britain, Houstoun had sent a note describing the sort of servants he wanted.²⁷

From an extract of a letter of Thomas Hawkins, of Frederica, to Benjamin Martyn in London, secretary to the Trustees, the name of another of Patrick Houstoun’s servants has come down in history. Hawkins wrote, November 28, 1737: “Of Building— I am sorry I cannot give a Better account than that one Sinclare, formerly a Servant of M^r Houston at Savannah has Built a small Timber house of Saw’s work.”²⁸

1. Colonial Records of Georgia, I, 132. The grant read:

An indenture of Grant and Enfeofment dated the first of August 1722 to Patrick Houstoun of Glasgow merchant of 500d Acres of Land in Georgia to hold to him and the Heirs male of his Body under the yearly Rent of 5^d the first payment of the 1^st. day of the 11^th. Year from 9 June 1732 Conditions are to go with ten men Servants in a year and abide 3 Years to clear 200^d Acres in ten years & Plant 2000^d White Mulberry Trees & 1000^d White Mulberry Trees and Every 100^d Acres of the other 300^d Acres as clear’d which is to be in 18 Years from the date, or such part thereof of unclear’d to Revert, with Covenant from the Trustees to Grant 20 Acres to each of such men Servants when requested by the Grantees, as by a counterpart thereof remaining with the said Trustees more fully appears. Unpublished Colonial Records of Georgia, XXXII, 147.

2. The name of the wife of the first baronet’s son Patrick has not been found.

3. From a letter to the author from the Secretary of the Glasgow University Court, Mr. John Spencer Muirhead., D.S.O., M.C., L.L.B., October 6, 1934.

4. lbid. “In the eighteenth century, 15 or even earlier was a normal age for attending a Scottish University.”

5. A fruitless effort was made to identify the ship. In the issue of The South Carolina Gazette, May 11, 1734, there is a notice of the arrival of the Snow Hope, Co. ship, Greig, from Leith, Scotland, which might have been the Scotsmen’s ship, but there was no mention of the passengers. There are no maritime records in South Carolina.

6. The site is now (1948) one mile down the Ogeechee River from Richmond Hill Plantation, home of the late Henry Ford, in Bryan County, Ga.

7. Unpublished Colonial Records of Georgia, XX, Pt. 2, 576.

8. Ibid., 241. Letter from Samuel Eveleigh of Charles Town to Colonel Oglethorpe.

9. Unpublished Colonial Records of Georgia, XX, 495, 496.

10. Ibid., 592-598.

11. Ibid., 472.

12. Ibid., 592-598.

13. E. Merton Coulter, “When John Wesley Preached in Georgia,” in The Georgia Historical Quarterly, IX, No. 4 (December, 1925), 323. (Citations from Colonial Records of Georgia). (Hereafter cited “When John Wesley Preached in Georgia.”)

14. February 1, Old Style; February 12, New Style Calendar.

15. Coulter, “When John Wesley Preached in Georgia,” 324.

16. William Bordley Clarke, Early and Historic Freemasonry in Georgia. 1733-34-1800 (Savannah, Georgia, 1925), 31, 32. Fragments of the minutes were discovered by Mr. Clarke, then Grand Master of Georgia, in the Library of Congress, and identified by him because of his familarity with Georgia names. At the instigation of Mr. Clarke, and through the efforts of the late Charles G. Edwards, Congressman, and Senator Walter F. George of Georgia the papers were presented to Solomon’s Lodge by an Act of Congress. A copy of the Act is in the files of Solomon’s Lodge.

17. Ibid., 30.

18. In old deeds in the Chatham County Court House the name is spelled Rose Dew and Rosedhu. The spelling of the name in this history is taken from a letter written by Sir Patrick Houstoun in 1754. Through the courtesy of the late Judge Raiford Falligant of Savannah*, I visited the site of Rosdue plantation, which was then owned by the estate of the late Louis A. Falligant. In 1849, when the place was owned by another Patrick Houstoun, grandson of the fifth baronet, George Jones Kollock wrote his wife: “Here I am luxuriating in the hospitable Halls of Sir Patrick of Rosedew. . . .” The letter, owned by Miss Susan M. Kollock of Atlanta, a lineal descendant of Sir Patrick Houstoun, seems to verify the fact that the original house was standing in 1849. The property changed hands several times, and in 1874 was owned by Edward Houstoun (younger brother of the above Patrick) whose daughter Eliza McQueen Houstoun was married in the original house to Raymond McAllister Demeré in that year. All the buildings were burned after 1876.

19. Nehemiah Curnock, ed., Journal of the Rev. John Wesley (London, 1909), I, 406. The name “Mr. Houstoun” is included among those owning prominent plantations on the Little Ogeechee at an early date. Charles C. Jones, Jr. “Dead Towns of Georgia,” (1878), The Georgia Historical Collections, IV, 250.

20. Unpublished Colonial Records of Georgia, XX, 377-379.

21. Colonial Records of Georgia, XXI, 186, Original Papers Correspondence . . . 1735-1737.

22. Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, III, “Letters from General Oglethorpe,” 37, 38.

23. Colonial Records of Georgia, II, 169.

24. E. M. Coulter, A Short History of Georgia (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1933), 60 (Hereafter cited Coulter, History of Georgia).

25. Colonial Records of Georgia, II, 223.

26. Coulter, History of Georgia, 60.

27. Colonial Records of Georgia, II, 180; XXI, 201.

28. Ibid., XXII, Pt. 1, 16.

For an authentic account of the early settlers of Georgia, see Albert B. Saye, New Viewpoints in Georgia History (The University of Georgia Press, Athens, 1943), 3-50.