Chatham County GaArchives History - Books .....Abercorn 1878 ************************************************ 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: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 3, 2007, 11:57 pm Book Title: Dead Towns Of Georgia III ABERCORN. On a creek or branch of the Savannah, distant some three miles from its confluence with that river, and about fifteen miles above the town of Savannah, the village of Abercorn was located in 1733. Its original settlement consisted of ten families. The plan of the town embraced twelve lots, with two trust lots in addition,- one on either extremity. Old Ebenezer was ten miles to the west; and four miles below the mouth of Abercorn creek, was Joseph's Town, where two Scotch gentlemen had selected plantations on the right bank of the Savannah. Journeying towards Savannah, in the early days of the Colony, the visitor would encounter successively Sir Francis Bathurst's plantation, Walter Augustin's settlement, Captain Williams' plantation, Mrs. Matthews' place, the Indian School-house Irene, the Horse Quarter, and the Indian lands reserved just outside the limits of Yamacraw. A strange fatality attended all these early attempts at colonization. Born of the subjugation of the forests, were malarial fevers and fluxes which engendered lassitude and death. Short lived were these little settlements, and it was only upon the introduction of slave labor that these plantations bordering upon the Savannah became permanent and productive. The white men who strove to bring them into a state of cultivation failed in the effort and quickly passed away. Others, who endeavored to complete their labors, encountered similar misfortune and disappointment. The ten families who were assigned to Abercorn in 1733 were all gone in 1737. That year Mr. John Brodie, with twelve servants, occupied the settlement; but, after three years, he abandoned the place, leaving its improvements to ruin and decay. Most of the thirty servants who cultivated the lands of the Scotch gentlemen at Joseph's Town died, and that plantation lapsed into neglect. The Saltzburgers who came to Georgia under the conduct of Baron Von Reck and the Rev'd Mr. Bolzius, in passing from Savannah to Old Ebenezer, were sheltered and refreshed at Abercorn. To that place their baggage was brought by water, and for some time all their supplies were delivered at that point whence they were carried, at much pains, up Ebenezer creek and through the woods. Before long, however, a road was cut from Abercorn to Old Ebenezer which facilitated the transportation. While at Abercorn the Saltzburgers suffered much from affections of the bowels. Various efforts were made by the Trustees to increase the population and ensure the prosperity of Abercorn,- which was regarded as a convenient point for communicating with the Carolina settlements on the Savannah river;-but they all eventuated in disappointment. Such of the colonists as were sent there from time to time grew sick and tired of the abode, took no interest in its advancement, and abandoned it upon the earliest opportunity. The little life which this small place enjoyed was insignificant and without moment in the history of the Colony. In December, 1739, Mr. Stephens visited the town in company with Mr. Jones, to inspect a large ferry-boat which, in obedience to General Oglethorpe's orders, had been there constructed by one Bunyon,-a boat-builder by trade, and an inhabitant of the town. This boat was capable of transporting nine or ten horses at a time, and was intended to ply between Abercorn and Palachocolas. In perpetuating his impressions of the place Mr. Stephens says: "As there was no Place in the whole Province, of the like Allotment of fifty acres each, which in my eye seemed so desirable, being a most pleasant Situation on the Banks of such a River, with as good Land belonging to each Lot, as is readily to be found in most Parts of the Province; I never saw it but with Regret, that there never yet had been a number of Settlers there deserving it; but generally they happened to be loose, idle People, who after some short Abode, wandered elsewhere and left it: * * * and there are at present five Families only remaining there, nor has there often been more at one Time. As the Trust-Lands seem to be now in some better way of cultivating by their own Servants, than hitherto; I proposed it to Mr. Jones to send down a few German families to work on the Trust-Lots there; which, by helping to fill the Place, very probably might induce others the sooner to occupy Lands there also: He agreed with me in Opinion, and said he would write of it to the General." [1] It is very questionable whether this opinion of Mr. Stephens,-formed during the winter,-of the desirableness of this locality, would have been confirmed by a residence there amid the heats and miasmatic influences of the summer and fall. Some Germans did settle in the neighborhood and cultivate the soil, but all efforts to promote the prosperity of the village and elevate it into the dignity of a town utterly failed. Like Joseph's Town and Westbrook, Abercorn is little more than a name in the history of the Colony. In the end it passed into the hands of two, English gentlemen who converted the village into a plantation cultivated with slave labor. So it continued under various owners until, by the result of the civil war, the negro has been liberated, and the fortunes of this region have become more unpromising than ever before. After the capture of Savannah in December, 1778, Colonel Campbell advanced a strong force to this place as a convenient base for future operations against the interior of the State; and hence, in 1779, did a British detachment move, crossing over to Purysburg and attempting to surprise General Moultrie at Black-swamp. The town had so entirely faded from the face of the earth that its location is not indicated on that admirable map of South Carolina and Georgia, published by William Faden at Charing Cross in 1780:-and the only mention made by White is as follows: "Abercorn, sixteen miles from Savannah, was a noted place in the early settlement of Georgia. No memorial of its former condition can now be seen." Savannah, increasing her borders, practically claims as part of herself the Indian lands opposite the northern end of Hutchinson island. Of the Horse Quarter nothing remains. Joseph's Town long ago lost its identity; and Abercorn, New Ebenezer, Purisburg, and Palachocolas, have, within the recollection of more than one generation, been known simply as boat-landings on the water-highway between Savannah and Augusta. [2] ENDNOTES [1] A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, &c., vol. II, pp. 215, 216. London, 1742. [2] For notices of Abercorn, see- "An Extract of the Journals of Mr. Commissary Von Beck, &c., and of the Reverend Mr. Bolzius," pp. 18, 20, 54, 66, 69. London, 1734. "An Account Shewing the Progress of the Colony of Georgia, in America," &c., p. 35. London, 1741. Stephens' "Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia," &c., vol. I, p. 230. Vol. II, pp. 215, 216. London, 1742. "An Extract of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley's Journal," &c. p. 60. Bristol, n. d. "A State of the Province of Georgia, attested upon oath," &c., p. 5. London, 1742. " A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia," &c., by Tailfer, Anderson, and Douglas, p. 108. Charles-Town, 1741. Additional Comments: Extracted from: THE DEAD TOWNS OF GEORGIA; BY CHARLES C. JONES, JR. FOR HERE WE HAVE NO CONTINUING CITY. Heb.: xiii. 14 SAVANNAH: MORNING NEWS STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 1878. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chatham/history/1878/deadtown/abercorn696gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 7.2 Kb