Edward Telfair | |
|---|---|
| Governor of Georgia | |
| In office January 9, 1786 – January 9, 1787 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel Elbert |
| Succeeded by | George Mathews |
| In office November 11, 1789 – November 7, 1793 | |
| Preceded by | George Walton |
| Succeeded by | George Mathews |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1735 (1735) Scotland |
| Died | (aged 71–72) Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
| Signature | .png) |
Edward Telfair (1735 – September 17, 1807) was a Scottish-born AmericanFounding Father, politician and slave trader who served as thegovernor of Georgia from 1786 to 1787 and again from 1790 to 1793. He was a member of theContinental Congress and one of the signers of theArticles of Confederation.[1]
Telfair was born in 1735 at Townhead,[2] his family's farm near Kirkcudbright in Galloway, Scotland.[3] He graduated from theKirkcudbright Grammar School before acquiring commercial training. He immigrated toAmerica in 1758 as an agent of acommission house, settling inVirginia. Telfair subsequently moved toHalifax, North Carolina, and finally toSavannah, Georgia, where he established his own commission house.[4] He arrived in Georgia in 1766, joining his brother, William, who had emigrated earlier.[5] Together with Basil Cowper, Telfair built the commission house, and it was an overnight success.[6] Telfair married 16-year-old Sarah Gibbons in 1774 at her mother'sSharon Plantation just west of Savannah.[7]
Telfair was anenslaver 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 onplantations, the difficulty of selling closely related enslaved people, and the relations betweenwhites andfreedmen.[8]
Telfair was a member of aCommittee of Safety (1775–1776) and was a delegate to the GeorgiaProvincial Congress meeting at Savannah in 1776. He was also a member of the GeorgiaCommittee of Intelligence in 1776.[9] 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 theCherokee–American wars, Telfair was commissioned totreat with theChickamauga Cherokee Indians. Telfair was the designated agent (on behalf of Georgia) in talks aimed at settling the northern boundary dispute withNorth Carolina in February 1783. The land in question was generally regarded asCreek land, so the Cherokees readily signed the treaty. The Creeks refused.[10] Although the citizens of Franklin County begged him to retaliate,[11] Secretary of WarHenry Knox instructed Governor Telfair not to retaliate against the Creek Indians.[12]
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 theYazoo land scandal. Telfair was one of only 12 men who receivedelectoral votes during the first election forPresident andVice President of the United States,[13] receiving the vote of one unrecorded elector from his home state of Georgia. Telfair was a candidate in the1794 United States Senate election in Georgia, finishing a distant second to incumbentJames Gunn.[14]
Telfair died in Savannah in 1807, interred initially in the family vault at Sharon Plantation. Later in the 19th century, his remains were moved toBonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.[15] Three months after Telfair died, Georgia namedTelfair County after the former governor.[16] Later in the 19th century, Savannah'sSt. James Square was renamed Telfair Square to honor the family.
One of Telfair's sons,Thomas Telfair, represented Georgia in theU.S. Congress.[17] The eldest of the Telfair daughters,Mary Telfair, outlived her siblings and became the benefactor of the first public art museum in theAmerican South, now a complex of three buildings called theTelfair 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.[18][19]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of Georgia 1786–1787 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Georgia 1789–1793 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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