Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 175
these Puritans were rice planters. Having employed white labor with
disastrous results, they found negro labor a source of profit, and they
' became in time the largest slaveholders in the state.
To find the historical genesis of this devout community on the
Georgia coast, we must go back to the ancestral seats, beyond the water,
in England. On March 30, 1630, there gathered upon the docks of
Plymouth, to. embark for the New World, a band of Puritans. They
came together from the neighboring counties; and, after a day spent in
worship, took passage on the Mary and John, a small vessel of 400 tons,
commanded by Captain Squeb. Entering the harbor of Nantucket, on
the coast of Massachusetts, they settled in the tide-water region near-by,
calling the place Dorchester, in honor of the old home in England from
which many of them came. There were 140 members' in this pioneer
flock. At the expiration of five years, becoming dissatisfied, they re
moved to the present site of Windsor, Connecticut. In 1695, some
of • these same Puritans, migrating southward, planted a settlement
on the Ashley River, in South Carolina, which they likewise called
Dorchester; and when, in 1751, the restrictions upon slave labor
and land tenure in Georgia were removed by the trustees, these enter
prising planters sent representatives into the adjoining province to
reconnoiter. At last they decided to locate upon the fertile bottoms of
the Midway district. According to the records, the first settlers were
beset on the journey by the most violent storms ever known on the
Georgia coast; but they were not to be deterred. They proceeded into
the interior some ten miles, and selecting a locality which seemed to
meet the requirements, they called it Dorchester, thus memorializing
for the third time this prime favorite among the English towns.
On December 5, 1752, the advance guard arrived at the place of
settlement, Benjamin Baker and Samuel Bacon, each accompanied by
his family; but the death of Mrs. Baker, on the day following, cast a
gloom of sadness over the little camp. In the spring of the next year,
Parmenas Way, with his family, arrived; and during the year 1754
there came seventeen families, including the pastor's, Rev. John Osgood,
and two single men, John Quarterman, Jr., and Moses Way. Those hav
ing families were: Rev. John Osgood, Richard Spencer, John Stevens,
Richard Baker, Josiah Osgood, Samuel Way, John Quarterman, Sr.,
Sarah Mitchell, John. Mitehell, Samuel Burnley, Edward Way, Edward
Sumner, William Baker, John Shave, Nathaniel Way, and Benjamin
Andrews. Three of these were from Pon Pon, a settlement on the lower
Edisto River, viz.: Sarah Mitchell, John Mitchell, and Benjamin An
drew. In 1755 there arrived six families and two single men. The
heads of families were: John Gorton, John Winn, John Lupton, Joseph
Bacon, Andrew Way, Isaac Girardeau, The two single men were:
Thomas Peacock, of Charleston, and Joseph Massey, of Pon Pon. Five
families came in 1756, those of William Graves, John Stewart, Sr,,
John Stewart, Jr., John Graves, and Daniel Dunnom. The next year
came the family of Richard Girardeau; and in 1758 Samuel Jeans and
family, James Andrew and family, and Mrs. Lydia Saunders. Then
came,an interval of several years until 1771, when three families came,
those of Jonathan Bacon, William Norman and Isham Andrews, mak
ing a total of thirty-eight families, in addition to five single persons.