Edward Telfair (1735 – September 17, 1807) was a Scottish-born American Founding Father, politician and slave trader who served as the

governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's Georgia National Guard, National Guard, when not in federal service, and Georgia State Defense Force, State Defense Fo ...

from 1786 to 1787 and again from 1790 to 1793. He was a member of the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

and one of the signers of the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

Early life

Telfair was born in 1735 at Townhead, his family's farm near Kirkcudbright in Galloway, Scotland. He graduated from the Kirkcudbright Grammar School before acquiring commercial training. He immigrated to

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in 1758 as an agent of a commission house, settling in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Telfair subsequently moved to Halifax, North Carolina, and finally to

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, where he established his own commission house. He arrived in Georgia in 1766, joining his brother, William, who had emigrated earlier. Together with Basil Cowper, Telfair built the commission house, and it was an overnight success. Telfair married 16-year-old Sarah Gibbons in 1774 at her mother's Sharon Plantation just west of Savannah. Telfair was an enslaver and a consultant on issues related to slavery. His mercantile firm dealt in enslaved people, among other things, and contemporary correspondence of his included discussions of such topics as the management of enslaved people, the purchase and sale of enslaved people, runaway slaves, the mortality rate of enslaved people born on plantations, the difficulty of selling closely related enslaved people, and the relations between whites and freedmen.

Revolutionary period

Telfair was a member of a Committee of Safety (1775–1776) and was a delegate to the Georgia Provincial Congress meeting at Savannah in 1776. He was also a member of the Georgia Committee of Intelligence in 1776. Telfair was elected to the Continental Congress for 1778, 1780, 1781, and 1782. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. In 1783, during the Cherokee–American wars, Telfair was commissioned to treat with the Chickamauga Cherokee Indians. Telfair was the designated agent (on behalf of Georgia) in talks aimed at settling the northern boundary dispute with

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in February 1783. The land in question was generally regarded as Creek land, so the Cherokees readily signed the treaty. The Creeks refused. Although the citizens of Franklin County begged him to retaliate, Secretary of War Henry Knox instructed Governor Telfair not to retaliate against the Creek Indians. Telfair served three terms as governor of Georgia. During his second term as governor, he illegally granted thousands of acres of land to speculators as part of the Yazoo land scandal. Telfair was one of only 12 men who received electoral votes during the first election for President and

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of the United States, receiving the vote of one unrecorded elector from his home state of Georgia. Telfair was a candidate in the 1794 United States Senate election in Georgia, finishing a distant second to incumbent

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Death and legacy

Telfair died in Savannah in 1807, interred initially in the family vault at Sharon Plantation. Later in the 19th century, his remains were moved to Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah. Three months after Telfair died, Georgia named Telfair County after the former governor. Later in the 19th century, Savannah's St. James Square was renamed Telfair Square to honor the family. Telfair Academy

One of Telfair's sons, Thomas Telfair, represented Georgia in the U.S. Congress. The eldest of the Telfair daughters, Mary Telfair, outlived her siblings and became the benefactor of the first public art museum in the American South, now a complex of three buildings called the Telfair Museums. After she died in 1875, her will also provided for the founding of the Telfair Hospital for Females. Today, it is known as Mary Telfair Women's Hospital.History of St. Joseph's/Candler
at hospital website.

References

External links

Edward Telfair
in the '' New Georgia Encyclopedia'' *
Ga. Governor Edward Telfair
at

National Governors Association The National Governors Association (NGA) is an American Politics of the United States, political organization founded in 1908. The association's members are the governors of the 55 U.S. state, states, Territories of the United States, territories ...

site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Telfair, Edward 1735 births 1807 deaths British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies American Protestants Continental Congressmen from Georgia (U.S. state) Signers of the Articles of Confederation Governors of Georgia (U.S. state) Candidates in the 1788–1789 United States presidential election Georgia (U.S. state) Democratic-Republicans Independent state governors of the United States Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States Georgia (U.S. state) independents American slave owners 18th-century American slave traders Politicians from Savannah, Georgia Founding Fathers of the United States Burials at Bonaventure Cemetery Candidates in the 1794 United States elections

Early life

Revolutionary period

Death and legacy

See also

References

External links