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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 177
Besides the above named settlers, there were some from other locali
ties; and the fact must not be overlooked that several families were
established in the district before the Dorchester colonists arrived. The
journal of the first General Assembly of the Province in Savannah, in
1751, shows that the community was represented by Audley Maxwell,
whose family was probably the oldest one in this section of Georgia.
Vast changes have taken place since 1752; but the names of the old
settlers are still preserved by descendants in the immediate neighbor
hood. The sturdy John Quarterman, from whose loins have come
twenty-three ministers of the gospel, seven foreign missionaries, and
eight distinguished educators, is not without witnesses in the old settle
ment to testify to his manifold virtues. The Ways have also replenished
a large part of the earth, nor is the1 name likely to become extinct in
Liberty for some time to come, for here it still flourishes amid the de
serted fields in which other stalks have withered. Relationships have
been greatly mixed by intermarriage between the various families. Says
Doctor Stacy •. '' The case is very aptly put in the following couplet of
names, formed, it is said, by Dr. W. P. McConnell, in 1843, a year gen
erally known as one of exceeding scarcity and hardness, which I give
both as a specimen, of Liberty County wit and as an illustration of the
point. Said he:
" 'We have Hams and Dun-hams, Bacons and Greens,
Manns and Quartermans, a Plenty of Ways, but no
Means.'"
But we have gone too far afield. Georgia's charter had been granted
to the trustees for a period of twenty-one years. On June 9, 1753, this
time limit was due to expire; nor was the corporation desirous of its
extension. With only a few exceptions, the trustees of Georgia had been
true to the trust imposed upon them by the Crown of England; but to
a man they wished to be relieved of a burden which had grown too
onerous. These trustees had served without recompense, some of them
at great pecuniary sacrifice; nor will Georgia soon forget the English
gentlemen who were her earliest sponsors and who, though wedded to
ideas more visionary than real, were humanitarians all.
During the life of the trust Georgia's spiritual interests had not been
neglected. To the rule of religious tolerance there was only one excep
tion—the Roman Catholic Church. All other religious creeds were
welcomed; and while the Church of England was regarded with special
favor and nurtured with peculiar care, the colony's population embraced
Presbyterians, Lutherans, Moravians, Methodists, Anabaptists and
Hebrews. Rev. Henry Herbert was the colony's first spiritual shepherd.
Then came Rev. Samuel Quincy, who for two years was the only clergy
man in Savannah. Next we find the Wesleys preaching in Georgia; but
John was the accredited missionary. To succeed him the trust sent over
Rev. George Whitefield, who built the famous orphanage and made the
continent of North America rock with his eloquence. Next came William
Norris, who baptized 142 persons, seventy-one of whom were soldiers,
but he left under a cloud. Following him we find Rev. Christopher
Orton, whom death, however, soon removed. Rev. Thomas Bosomworth
Vol. 1—12