Burke-Statewide County GaArchives News.....Who Was William Lee? September 30, 1901 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Linda Blum-Barton http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000645 April 9, 2006, 10:05 pm The Semi-Weekly Journal, Atlanta, GA. September 30, 1901 As the colony now made liberal grants to all comers and especially encouraged the immigration of slave owners, we begin to get an insight into who the new- comers were, and when they settled. I find in 1755 William Lee came from the Barbadoes with a wife and two children and 28 negroes, and settled on the Ogeechee, near Edward Goodale. "There was a Col. William Lee during the revolution. Very probably he was the same man. Of him I regret to know nothing but his name. The Lees are not quite as numerous as the Smiths, but it is somewhat ludicrous when one knows who compose the family of which General Robert E. Lee was a part and how many other Lees there were to find so many who bear that name claiming kinship wiht the peerless Virginian - well, they are excusable - but who was Col. William Lee? There had been no courts in the colony except the justices courts, and now was established what was called a court of conscience. It was to be presided over by three free holders. After the revolution began there was a county with three judges, one was a lawyer. Some of the Immigrants. The early settelrs held their lands by squatters' rights, but now their holdings were secured to them by grant. Many had been in colony years before they received a patent -- among these I and William Davis has been in the province fourteen years. Simon Rouvier and Stephen Montford applied for land. In the will of Ruse Montford, made in 1761, she says: "I give my daughter, Ann, all my goods, movable and immovable, and disinherit my two sons, Simon and John Rouvier, so help me God. "Ann X Montford" John Edward Powell, who was of the first counsellors, and who was a loyalist, Richard Cox, Thomas Marlot and Griffeth Williams all received grants this time. James Mackay had twenty-five persons in his family on Ogeechee and had a large grant. The Butlers who became owners of such a large number of slaves -- Elisha, Shem and William, all came and settled on the Ogeechee. James Rae, a Scotch trader, had a cow-pen in Burke and was a member of the assembly from Augusta. Rae's bridge and Rae's creek are named for him. Sir Patrick Houston, a Scotch baronet and the only baronet in Georgia said he had two white servants, twenty-four negroes, a wife and four children. These children were Georgia, John, Dr. James and Sir Patrick William. Charles West Gent was one of two brothers who came into the colony and settled on the Ogeechee. He had a handsomely furnished home and was a man of independent means with eighteen slaves. James Habersham, in 1855 [sic? 1755], had a wife, three children and thirty- three negroes. Mr. Habersham was at that time secretary of the colony, a large merchant and a rice planter. He was the first man in American to employ a missionary to preach to his slaves. He was always a loyalist, but his sons, Joseph, James and John, were famous as patriots. He founded the rice shipping house of Harris & Habersham, and one of his descendants told me after the war that the Habershams had been in that one house for 150 years. The Ways came about this time from South Carolina, to which they had come from New England. The Bakers and Bacons, Stevens, Graves, Quartermans all came to what was afterward St. John's parish, all these were from Dorchester, S. C., and all brought from 6 to 20 negroes. Benjamin Andrew with a wife and three children and eight negroes and his brother James with a wife and six negroes, and his niece, Ann Andrew, with eight negroes, came near the same time. This James Andrew was the father of John Andrew and the grandfather of Bishop James O. Andrew, I think this family came originally as did the Wests and Bacons and Carrs from Virginia, but if so, they had made a settlement on first coming southward in South Carolina. These old records show us when the Virginia people first made a lodgement in Georgia and who they were. They settled along the Savannah and the Ogeechee and Briar Creek. They were the Whiteheads, John and David Emanuel, George Walker, the Reds, the Haralsons, the Hamiltons, the Lewises, Jones, the Inmans, the Andersons and one family of the Howards and others. They settled near the river and creeks and settled together. They were on the frontier although August north of them had been settled twenty years. A few settlers had gone still north of Augusta and made homes in the wilderness, what is now Lincoln county. There were two Emanuels who came to Georgia. {More of the article is missing here.......} Michael Bourkhalter says he wants all his effects sold but his wife's bed. Mary Vanderplank gives James Miller set tea cups, Mary Habersham gold wring, Elizabeth Wright her work gown. Sir Patrick Houston I, died in 1761. Andrew Moorman gives all to his wife Catasan except his rifle gun and a sow and a calf to Gideon, and a cow and a calf to Cornelius S. Andrew. Mr. Paddes gives to his son Solomon 100 akers adjoining the track he is on; his negro fello Rogger his waggin, a yoke of oken, fore cows and calves, fore sows and piggs, horse saddle, gun and wairing clothes. His wife to be prosessessed of his manner plantation. In one of the wills the party says: "Betty, the poor little gurl, is not my daughter, but as she was born under my ruffe I was always willing to do something for her so that I would not have her disgraced; she shall have 80 lbs. The will of Ino Martin Bolzens is written in GErman. He was the first German preacher in Georgia. Rev. Bartholomew Zouberhulhler gives his Swiss estate to the poor there. To Jacob Walburgher, his nephew, he gives 100 acres and four negroes. Mrs. Alther, who has palsy, is to be maintained, and have Peggy to wait on her. He gives 1,000 acres to Mr. Whitefield's college, if held to the established church. In case it did not, to be used in establishing another college. A missionary was to be employed to teach and baptise his negroes. This was the first bequest in Georgia for the support of the gospel. ____________________ gives a large estate to his children, by one to whom he was not married, with the special injunction that neither his father nor brother should have a penny. His father gives to him, who then living, six dunghill fowls for cheating him out of 6,000 lbs because he did not keep books carefully. All the rest he gave to his other children; but if they died it was to go to Lewis Johnson, so that his son, ______, should never have a penny. They both died the same year. The appraisements present us the best picture of the property of the people that we can get. Andrew Clemands, evidently an Indian trader, had in 1757: Six horses, one negro, nine cows, one bed, one bolster, two tables, one clothes prop, two pillows, a blanket, a quilt, two bedsteads, three tables, thirteen chairs, a jack, a gridiron, a spit, a frying pan, a dripping pan, tea kettles, brass kettles, trivettes, 74 pound pewter punch bowl, etc. His house had a new room, a garrett, a counting room and a kitchen. Evidently Andrew believed in good living. The Indian traders carried large stocks of goods. There were plumes, dufferts, flannels, great coats, swords, and belts, checked shirts, fustian coats, beaver hats, beaver over coats, 12,462 pounds dressed leather and 61 negroes mentioned as a part of one stock. These extracts give us a better insight into the true condition of Georgia people 150 years ago than any description. Additional Comments: This is being transcribed from an original newspaper. The first part of this article is missing but believe the information contained in this part could help someone enough to look for a microfilm of this issue in order to get the complete article. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/burke/newspapers/whowaswi1311gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.4 Kb