Foreword

THE Wormsloe Foundation is a non-profit organization chartered on December 18, 1951, by the Superior Court of Chatham County, Georgia. In the words of its charter, “The objects and purposes of this Foundation are the promotion of historical research and the publication of the results thereof; the restoration, preservation and maintenance of historical sites and documents and the conduct of an educational program in the study of history of the State of Georgia, and in states adjacent thereto.”

As its first important activity, the Foundation has begun the publication of a series of historical works under the title of “Wormsloe Foundation Publications.” They will consist of important manuscripts, reprints of rare publications, and historical narratives relating to Georgia and the South. The first volume appeared in 1955, written by E. Merton Coulter and entitled Wormsloe: Two Centuries of a Georgia Family. This volume gave the historical background of the Wormsloe estate and a history of the family which has owned it for more than two and a quarter centuries.

The second publication of the Foundation was The Journal of William Stephens, 1741–1743 and the third volume was The Journal of William Stephens, 1743–1745, which is a continuation of the journal as far as any known copy of it is extant. However, it is known that Stephens kept up his journal for some years after 1745. Both of these volumes were edited by E. Merton Coulter and were published in 1958 and 1959, respectively. The fourth publication of the Foundation was the re-publication of the unique copy of Pat. Tailfer et al., A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia … With Comments by the Earl of Egmont, in the John Carter Brown Library of Brown University. In this publication there appeared for the first time in print the comments of Egmont. With the permission of Brown University, this volume was edited by Clarence L. Ver Steeg.

The fifth volume in the series of Wormsloe Foundation Publications was the long-missing first part of Egmont’s three manuscript volumes of his journal, edited by Robert G. McPherson. This volume contains the journal from 1732 to 1738, inclusive, and is owned by the Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, who gave permission for its publication. The present volume is the journal of Peter Gordon, as is fully explained in the Introduction.

E. Merton Coulter
General Editor