Georgia Pioneers
Members Library

Biographical Sketches of Colonials -A-



Abbot, William, woodcutter of Goswell Street in London, resided in Frederica with his mother, Elizabeth Badwyn, and their servant, Richard Hart. Abbot was appointed second constable to replace succeeded Thomas Hirt in 1747-8, who died.

Adams, Robert, planter, Darien, having at least twenty slaves at the time of his death (Isaac, Satyra, Emey, Quibus, Abram, Chloe, Betty, Delia, Joe, Dick, Teena, July, Katey, Phebe, Jacob, Minnerva, Mamello and Guy) were bequeathed to his children, viz: Esther Adams in South Carolina; Rachel Smith in South Carolina; and Mary Brown, the wife of William Brown. Son: Robert Adams.

Addison, Edward, farmer, miller, porter, Third Bailiff and Magistrate of Frederica. Wife, Mary. Son, Edward. Daughters: Mary and Elizabeth. He was apparently among those who ran away to Charleston in 1742 and 1743 due to hardships.

Alexander, Adam was born 13 March 1738 in Inverness, Scotland, came to America and settled at Sunbury, Georgia where he was residing at the time of the American Revolution. He served as a Surgeon in the Continental Army, Georgia Troops. His second wife of Louisa F. Schmidt (1775-1846) and had by her two Children:
  1. Adam Leopold Alexander born 29 January 1803 married Sarah Hillhouse Gilbert, the daughter of Felix Gilbert and wife, Miss Hillhouse, the granddaughter of David and Sarah (Porter) Hillhouse of Connecticut and Georgia.
  2. Louisa Alexander born 1807 married Major Anthony Porter.

Allen, William, baker. This is one of the settlers with whom Thomas Hawkins frequently argued. Allen was originally from Carew Street in London, and came over with his wife, Elizabeth. John Wesley mentioned his name in his diary as a potential laborer to do the work of the gospel. However, the squabbles with Hawkins were a source of scandal, a faction for him, and a faction against him. The allies of Hawkins took his side, but the allies of Allen (Perkins and Moore, also persecuted by Hawkins) and claimed that Allen had taken Hawkins to court to pay for some clapboards and labor. Hawkins kept the case in court for several months, finally paying a portion of it, and Allen had to remand him to court to collect the remainder. Inasmuch as the stories told by both factions are opposite, one does have to note that Hawkins refused to pay others for work and goods delivered as well. When the matter could not be adequately resolved in the courts, both parties appealed to the Trustees, who refused to hear the matter, while rebuking Moore. (as Recorder) and Perkins for bringing an insignificant matter Thus, Allen quit the colony in 1741, going to Carolina.

Anderson, David was granted 100 acres of land October 1770 in St. Andrew's Parish, adjoining the lands of Mr. Joseph Goodby, running the length of his line. He owned forty Negro slaves.

Anderson, George, Captain, Mariner, a resident of Savannah, however, while traveling from New York to Georgia to go to Great Britain, he was taken ill on board ship, and died. Anderson removed to Georgia in 1763 and in September of 1771 was granted 500 acres of land in St. Johns Parish, at the time having a wife, Deborah, and three children, also three Negro slaves. He married first, Deborah Grant (1736-1812.) His second wife was Elizabeth. (Last Will and Testament dated 9 April 1761, probated 3 November 1775, pp. 194-196, Will Book AA, Colonial Wills). Known son, George Anderson, Jr. was born in Savannah in 1767, died 1847, and was married in 1794 to Elizabeth (Clifford) Wayne.

Anderson, James was born 1710, and embarked for the Georgia Colony on October 20, 1735, arriving on January 10, 1736. He was a Joyner by trade and was granted Lot No. 235 in Savannah. He was also granted 500 acres of land southward of Thunderbolt April 18, 1743 by the Georgia Trustees. He also owned about 1000 acres of land in St. George's Parish. Wife: Mary. The family were members of the Christ Church Parish, however, resided in present-day Burke County on Rockey Creek. Early in 1742, James Anderson was appointed Co-adjutor in building of the Church for the Orphanage which Rev. Mr. Whitefield founded at Bethsaida, near Savannah. At the time of his death, Capt. Anderson was a skilled carpenter. He left his sons, William, David and James, each 300 acres on Rocky Creek in St. George's Parish. William, son, was to be bound out at the age of fifteen, for five years, in the trade of his choice. Children:
  1. David Anderson
  2. James Anderson, carpenter, born in the Colony. In 1756, he hired two men and horses to chase several felons who had escaped from the prison in Savannah, about 120 miles out of Town. In 1797, he married Miss Martha Jones and they resided in Augusta, where he died November 14, 1802.
  3. William Anderson, born about 1749, to be bound out in a trade
  4. Mary Anderson
  5. Tabitha Anderson.
  6. Cynthia Anderson.
  7. Ann Anderson.
  8. Elizabeth Anderson.
Anderson, John, Esquire, a brother to James Anderson, Esquire, who came to America in 1736 with his brother.

Anderson, Richard was granted a Lot in Augusta on March 1763, it being 50 acres adjoining the land he had already purchased, and 500 acres ordered for Mr. John F. Williams.

Anderson, William was born in Dumfries, Scotland, and married Elizabeth. He lived in St. Johns Parish, Liberty Co., planter. His brother was Robert Anderson, a blockmaker, "who served his time in Liverpool" in London.

Andrew, James, planter, died in 5 December 1770, buried Midway Cemetery. James Andrew was a member of the Puritan Dorchester settlement in Georgia who removed as a body from Massachusetts to South Carolina, and then to Georgia. He was a resident of the Midway community, and attended the Midway Church where, as was custom, the family owned their own pew. This pew was left to his wife, Esther. He also owned Lot No. 239 in Sunbury, which lot was deeded him on 2 January 1759 by Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott and Grey Elliott, the Trustees at Sunbury. Also, he owned a Lot at Newport Landing, which he bequeathed to his son, Thomas. His sons, John and Thomas equally divided his homeplace of 171-1/2 acres. Children:
  1. John Andrew, born at Midway, Georgia in 1758, died 10 March 1830, was the first itinerant Methodist preacher in Georgia. He was left an orphan when young, and was raised in the home of the Pastor of Midway Church, Rev. Mr. Osgood. Served as a Private under General Samuel Elbert, Georgia Troops, during the Revolutionary War. He married 1st, in South Carolina, 10 February 1779, Ann Lambright and had a daughter, Ann, born 20 January 1780 who married Abram J. Roberts. He married the 2nd time on Colonels Island in Georgia, 20 September 1785, Mary Buer Andrews and had by her: Mary Buer Andrew b. 1786 married 1807 Samuel LeSeuer and Matilda Hull Andrew born 1792 married in 1809 George C. Spencer. He married the third time in Elbert County on 11 December 1791 to Mary Overton Cosby and had Children:
    James Osgood Andrew, Charles Godfrey Andrew, Lucy Garland Andrew, Betsey Sidnor Andrew, Scynthia Fletcher Andrew, Caroline Wesley Andrew, Patsey Evelina Andrew, Judy Harvey Andrew, Hardy H. Andrew and William Harvie Andrew.
  2. Thomas Andrew
Arnsdorf, Johann Peter, shoemaker, living 13 March 1738/9, Saltzburgher. Children:
1. Dorothea Arnsdorf born 8 October 1757

2. John George Arnsdorf born 26 February 1759

3. Jonathan Arnsdorf born 6 April 1761, married Christiana Elizabeth, widow of Solomon Schrimph (died 1 November 1780) and daughter of John Cronberger and wife Lucia
Arven, Francis, a Savannah merchant, originally from Spital Fields, Middlesex County (England). Wife: Hannah. At the time of his estate, Grey Elliott of Savannah was to act as trustee for his daughter, Mary Arven, of Middlesex.

Ash, Theodore died 17 February 1770, aged 17 years, was buried in the Colonial Cemetery in Savannah.

Auspourger, Samuel, a native of Berne, Switzerland, was born about 1699, became the surveyor of Frederica starting in October of 1738. He received 3 shillings per day for laying out the streets in Frederica and town lots. In 1739 Augspourger took a parcel of raw silk to London and exhibited it at the office of the Trustees, where silk-weavers of England viewed it and declared it to be "as fine as any Italian silk, and worth at least twenty shillings a pound." Left Georgia to go to London and Berne in July of 1739, and was still there in May of 1741.

Austin, Davis of the Town of Sunbury purchased a Lot for 5 pds., being the 2nd Plan of the Town of Sunbury from Joseph Way of Sunbury. (Liberty Co. Deed Book B, p. 14). Davis Austin died 1788 in Liberty Co. His wife, Mary Ann, was made administratrix of his estate, which appraised at $391.15. By 1797, Mary Ann, the widow of Davis, had fallen to poor fortune, for the Sunbury lot was sold at public auction. At her death, Mary Ann Austin bequeathed $500 to the Midway Church.

A son, Joseph Austin, was born ca 1776 and married Sarah Ann Hinson on 15 October 1795. Joseph and Sarah Austin were both listed on the 1806 Liberty County Tax Digests, and again in 1815, in the district of Paul L. Wilkins. Sarah died in 1803, and Joseph died in 1830. After the death of Sarah, Joseph married Mary Soulegree on 18 September 1816 in Liberty County. Each wife made a Last Will and Testament, each mentioning a nephew, B. (Bartholomew) A. Busby. The plantation was apparently near the Midway Church. They owned a good number of slaves, as Sarah Ann (Hinson) was invested in her own right of 23 negro slaves at the time of their marriage. There was a considerable estate left by Joseph Austin and his wife, Mary Ann in Liberty County, which included a large number of Negro slaves. The Last Will and Testament of Joseph Austin left his son, Joseph, "my young horse, Liverpool, dwelling house, etc. which was to be shared by his wife and her sister, Fanny Valley. " My wife has been amply provided " for by a marriage settlement between myself and herself. He bequeathed a number of Negro slaves to Abiel Winn, the son of Peter Farley Winn. To nephew, Bartholomew A. Busby, he left 105 acres, being part of an original tract of the estate of John Elliott, formerly owned by Robert Iverson. To daughter, Abigail King, wife of Reuben King, he bequeathed negro slaves.

Axon, Samuel Jacob was born 1751 in South Carolina, and came to Midway, Georgia. Died in Liberty County 1827. During the Revolutionary War he served as a Surgeon in the 1st South Carolina Regiment. He married 1st, Mary Ann Giradeau at Midway Church by whom he had three daughters. She died in 1799. He married 2nd, Ann Lambright Dicks in 1806 and had Saccharissa Axon who married Moses Jones.

Aycock, James, migrated from Virginia prior to 1773 when he was listed as a settler on the ceded lands in Wilkes County. His plantation consisted of some 600 acres which was divided between his sons at his death, as well as a number of Negro slaves. The land must have been located on the southside of the Broad River. In the inventory of his estate dated January 1778 (Wilkes County), listed due from John Bradford to William Aycock, about the year of 1745, one horse "lent in Virginia&qot;, and due from Henry Pope to William Aycock, about 1757, for a "Marche in Virginia". Children:
  1. Agnes Pace Aycock Married Jarrad Groce of Lincoln County, having issue: Shepherd, Edmund Jarred, Lucy, Sally, Polly, Betsy, Patsy.
  2. William Aycock born 1757 in Virginia
  3. Richard Aycock was Sheriff of Wilkes County in 1785. A petition dated 13 April 1793 in Wilkes County of Jesse Cox and his wife, Mary, administrators of the Estate of Richard Aycock, to be granted permission to sell 350 acres on Indian Creek. Issue: Burwell, Joel, Rebecca, Winney, Henry and Richard, Jr. James Aycock; John Aycock; Sherod Aycock.
  4. Ayres, Thomas was from Southampton County, Virginia, but he and his wife, Mary, owned a plantation of 500 acres of land in South Carolina. When he died, Thomas specified that the land be sold and the proceeds used to school his children. He received a land grant of 250 acres (Columbia County) which he bequeathed to his son, Abraham. This tract was part of 500 acres whereon he lived.
Children:
  1. Abraham Ayres. His heirs lived in Washington Co.
  2. Thomas Ayres was a resident of Greene County in 1794, but died in Baldwin County. He was married to Sarah (The City Gazette dated 27 March 1816, "Died 15th inst., Mrs. Sarah Ayres, wife of Thomas Ayres of Baldwin County, in her 56th year"
  3. William Ayres was one of the appraisers of the estate of Daniel Payne, 1782, in Wilkes County. His widow, Frances, drew in the 1805 Land Lottery while a resident of Columbia County. Children: Mary McQuarters; Bridget Holliday; Elizabeth Booth; Thomas Ayres who Married Nancy Wade 23 July 1815 Wilkes County; Sarah Ayres; and Abraham Ayres who married Elizabeth Mills, the daughter of Alexander Mills of Newford Creek (Lincoln County).
  4. Benjamin Ayres
  5. Samuel Ayres fought in the Revolutionary War
  6. Joshua Ayres
  7. Bridget Ayres married James Danielly, according to various Columbia County deeds