Georgia Map

Future Location of Chatham County, 1735

The area enclosed in red represents the future boundaries of Chatham County. The above map shows what is labeled the "County of Savannah" and is commonly attributed to having been prepared in 1740 in conjunction with the Trustees creating the "County of Savannah" in 1741. However, stronger evidence suggests that the map was based on a sketch James Oglethorpe carried to England in 1734 and was subsequently published in a 1735 report on Georgia's Salzburger immigrants.

Why this map is entitled the "County of Savannah" is not known, though it may have been based on the assumption that the English system of counties would be applied in Georgia. The Trustees had debated a new plan for administering the colony of Georgia for some time, and in April 1741 they divided Georgia into two counties named Savannah and Frederica. The County of Savannah included settlements on both banks of the Ogeechee River, plus all lands northward to the Savannah River.

Source: T.F. Lotter, "A Map of the County of Savannah," 1735

Francis Moore

A Voyage to Georgia Begun in the Year 1735 by Francis Moore was published in 1744. The full title is "A Voyage to Georgia Begun in the Year 1735. Containing An Account of the Settling the Town of Frederica, in the Southern part of the Province and a description of the Soil, Air, Birds, Beasts, Trees, Rivers, Islands, &c. With The Rules and Orders made by the Honorable the Trustees for that Settlement, including the Allowance of Provisons, Clothing and other Necessaries to the Families and Servants which went thiter. Also A Description of the Town and County of Savannah, in the Northern Part of the Province; the manner of dividing and granting the Lands and the Improvements there: With an Account of the Air, Soil, Rivers and Islands in that Part. By Francis Moore, Author of Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa. London, 1744". It has been reprinted in modern times and is of antiquarian interest.

It contains the most detailed account of the establishment of Frederica, at that time the southernmost English fort in America. The majority of the settlers were England's "worthy poor", that had been carefully selected by the Trustees, but there were also persecuted German protestants. Moore served at Frederica as Keeper of the King's Stores and as Oglethorpe's Secretary. But conflicts arose between them and Moore returned to England in 1743.

The Wesleys, etc

The Renewed Moravian Church consecrates its first bishop in the person of David Nitschmann (1695-1772), restoring its own ministry separate from that of Nikolaus, graf von Zinzendorf. Zinzendorf sends missionaries to Britain's Georgia colony, where they will have little or no success.

John Wesley and his brother Charles lose their father (April 25) and embark in October for the Georgia colony with two other Methodists, a party of German Moravians sent by Zinzendorf and James E Oglethorpe (1696-1785), who had returned to England in 1734 and would not remain long at Savannah. The Simmonds encounters storms en route and John Wesley finds his fears greater than his faith. He later provoked criticism at Savannah but began the first Methodist society, and although his brother Charles soon returned to England, John remained for nearly two years.

Meanwhile in Swaffham, Norfolk, Robert Robinson (1735-1790), author of "Come Thou Fount of every blessing" and "Mighty God, while angels bless Thee", a Methodist and later Strict Baptist minister was born, on September 27.