EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE TRUSTEES.

The compiler has examined the Minutes of the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia, and made the following

extracts:

PALACE COURT, OLD PALACE YARD,
WESTMINSTER, July 20, 1732.

The LORD VISCOUNT PERCIVAL, being met by THOMAS TOWER, JAMES VERNON GEORGE HEATHCOTE, JAMES OGLETHORPE, ROBERT HUCKS, WM. BELITHA, ROBERT MORE, Esqrs., ARTHUR BEAFORD, SAMUEL SMITH, Clerks; Capt. THOMAS CORAM,. and ADAM ANDERSON, Gent., in pursuance to the following summons, issued by his lordship to them, and all other the trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America, viz:

Sir,-His Majesty having been graciously pleased by his charter bearing date 9th June, 1732, to appoint you to be one of the Common Council, and one of the trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia, in America; and by same charter I am enjoined to cause summons to be issued to the several trustees therein particularly named, to meet at such time and place as I shall appoint, to consult about and transact the business of the said corporation. In obedience to the injunction of the charter, I therefore summon you to meet the rest of the trustees, at their office in Palace Court, old PALACE YARD, at four of the Clock, in the afternoon on the 20 July, 1732, to transact the business of the said corporation. His Lordship produced the following certificate:

July 7, 1732.-These are to certify, that the right Hon. the Lord Viscount Percival, of the kingdom of Ireland, came this day before me, and took the following oath, as President of the trustees, for establishing the colony of Georgia, in America

I do swear that I will, well and truly, execute the office of President of the trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia, in America, to the best of my skill and knowledge. So help me God.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

His Lordship then proceeded to administer the said oath, the word President being only changed for that of Common Councilman, to Thomas Tower, James Vernon, George Heathcote, James Oglethorpe, Robert Hucks, Wm. Belitha, and Robert More, Esqs., being common councilmen of the said corporation.

Letters were produced to the trustees, from divers noblemen and gentlemen, and also from the corporation of Liverpool, testifying their desire to forward this design, and to accept of commissions for collecting benefactions for that purpose.

Ordered: That the thanks of the trustees be returned, and that Commissions for the said persons be prepared, in pursuance to their desire.

Wm. Purry, the Leader, and Wm. Binmong, the Minister, and others, the elders of the Swiss Congregation, intending to build a town to be called by the name of Purrisburg, on the northern side of the Savannah river, in South Carolina, came and thanked the trustees for the protection they had already afforded them, and to desire that a good correspondence and friendship might be maintained between them, and such colonies as the said trustees should settle, in the Province of Georgia.

The trustees gave them thirteen guineas, for the relief of the sick, and childbearing women in their passage, being the private benefaction of Mr. George Heathcote, and Mr. Belitha, for that purpose.

His Lordship being President, this first meeting adjourned to Thursday, July 27, 1732.

July 27-At this meeting a book of by-laws was ordered, and the Charter to be wrote in the beginning of it. Mr. Vernon reported that the petition of the trustees had been received by his Majesty, and a proposal was drawn up to transport a number of the Saltzburghers exiles.

August 3, 1732.-Gen. Oglethorpe reported the names of many persons desirous of encouraging the colony.

Aug. 10, 1732.-Committee, viz: Oglethorpe, Heathcote, Tower, More, Hucks, Laroche and Vernon, to propose laws for the regulation of the Colony.

August 31, 1732.—Jacob Winckler, Theobald Keiffer, Ludwig Roel, and other German Swiss, being laborers and vine dressers, attended and received from Lord Carpenter and Mr. Oglethorpe three guineas towards furnishing them with tools; they, with their families, being the first Germans that are to establish the town of Purrisburgh.

September 21, 1732.-Received a receipt from the bank for £252, benefaction from the Bank of England.

November, 2, 1732.-Seal fixed to a grant for erecting a Court of Judicature in Savannah.

November 8, 1732.-Benefactions acknowledged. Dr. Henry Herbert offered to go to Georgia, without any assistance, to perform all religious services.-Accepted.

Nov. 16, 1732.-On board the frigate Ann, Capt. Thomas, mustered the passen gers on board; and computed the freight of them to 91 heads.

Nov. 23, 1732.-Read copies of letters from Horatio Walpole, Esq., to his depu ties; from the Duke of Newcastle, to the Governors of South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New-York, New-England, Barbadoes, &c., for their assistance to Mr. Oglethorpe, on his voyage. A common seal to be affixed to a power of attorney, to James Oglethorpe, to appoint such commander or other officer or officers, as he may think proper, to train and exercise the militia in Georgia.

Dec. 14, 1732.-Names of persons to be sent to Georgia, to be printed in one of the public papers, once a fortnight, before their embarkation.

Dec. 21, 1732.-Mr. Quincy attended, with a recommendation to go over as a missionary to Georgia.

Jan. 10, 1732-3.—Mr. Abercrombie, Attorney-General of South Carolina, delivered in claims of people in South Carolina, to lands said to be run out by them on the south side of the Savannah River. He is informed that trustees were disposed to act justly to all persons, but that this affair could not receive immediate attention.

Jan. 17, 1732-3.-A letter to be wrote to Sir Thomas Lambe, desiring his opinion of raising silk in Georgia.

February 21, 1732-3.-Received from Lady Osborn, £50 towards building a church in Georgia.

February 28, 1732-3.-A letter read from Mr. Oglethorpe, giving an account of his safe arrival at Charlestown, and the health of the colony, having lost in the passage but one person, a child aged eight months.

April 11, 1733.-Names of all those who go to Georgia paying their own expenses, shall be published in one of the newspapers.

April 18, 1733.-Received by the hands of the Rev. Mr. Samuel Wesley, a silver chalice and patine for the use of the first church in Savannah, the gift of an unknown benefactor.

April 30, 1733.—A petition to the House of Commons for a supply was read, and approved of.

August 11, 1733.-Read a letter of attorney for receiving of the treasury £10,000 granted by Parliament.

Read a letter from Mr. Oglethorpe, with an account of the death of several persons in Georgia, which he imputed to the drinking of rum. Resolved, that the drinking of rum in Georgia be absolutely prohibited, and that all which shall be brought there be staved.

July 17, 1734.-Wrote a letter to Sir Robert Walpole to know when the Indians may be introduced to his Majesty, and to desire him to obtain an order for the King's coaches for them, and a sentry to preserve them from the insults of the mob.

August 14, 1734.-Mr. John Tuckwell promised to give a clock to the first church in Savannah. A scheme for raising a large sum of money for settling Georgia was received from Mr. Thomas Lowndes, and referred.

Oct. 16, 1734.-Read an indenture for binding William Ewen* as servant to the trustees for two years. That 50 acres of land be given to the said William Ewen when his time is out.

Jan. 15. 1735.-Read a letter from Mr. Joseph Richardson, with an offer of a couple of Swans for the Indians, and a couple of drums for the use of the Regi

ment.

March 26, 1735.-Received a large Church Clock and Dyal plate for Savannah, the gift of Mr. Tuckwell.

May 5, 1735.—One thousand ewt. of copper farthings to be sent to Georgia. July 2, 1735.-Received from the Bank a receipt for £20,000, granted by Parliament.

Sept. 24, 1735.-Read an appointment of Charles Wesley, A. M., to be Secretary for the Indian affairs in Georgia.

Sept. 26, 1735.-A new town in Georgia to be laid out, to be called Frederica. Octo. 10, 1735.-John Wesley appointed Missionary at Savannah.

Dec. 10, 1735.-Plato's works, Greek and Latin, and his Republique, (French,) to be bought for the use of the mission in Georgia.

April 4, 1737.-A law was read against the use of gold and silver, in apparel and furniture, in Georgia, and for preventing extravagance and luxury.

July 6th, 1737.-Received a Receipt from the Bank of England, for twenty thousand pounds, received by the Accountant at the Exchequer, (being so much granted the last session of Parliament, for the further securing and settling the colony of Georgia,) and paid in by him this day to the Bank.

July 27, 1737.-Received a benefaction of a person who desired to be unknown, of a Seal for the Town Court of Savannah, with an Engine or press, &c., value £2 5s. Town Courts of Savannah and Frederica to be courts of law for trying offences against the act for preventing the importation and use of rum.

Nov. 9, 1737.-Received from Major William Cook 16 different sorts of vine cuttings from France, for the use of the Colony.

Dec. 7, 1737.-Several letters were read from Mr. Williamson at Savannah, complaining of the Rev. John Wesley having refused the Sacrament to his wife, Mrs. Sophia Williamson, with affidavit of latter thereupon, and two presentments of the Grand Jury of the Rev. John Wesley for said refusal, and for several other facts laid to his charge.

* This gentleman afterwards became Governor of Georgia.

Ordered: That copies of said letters and affidavit be sent over to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, desiring him to return his answers to the same as soon as possible; and that a letter be sent to Mr. Williamson to acquaint him of said copies being sent to Mr. Wesley, and that, if he has anything new to lay before the Trustees, he should show it first to Mr. Wesley, and then send it over to them; and that the Trustees think he should not have made his application to the world, by advertising his complaints, before he had acquainted the Trustees with them.

Dec. 21, 1737.-Read an instruction from the King, appointing that in the morning and evening prayers in the Litany, as well as in the occasional offices, in the Book of Common Prayer, where the Royal Family is appointed to be particularly prayed for, the following Form and Order: "Their Royal Highnesses Frederic Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, the Duke, the Princess, and all the Royal Family," be forthwith published in all the parish churches and other places of Divine worship in the Colony of Georgia, and that obedience be paid thereto accordingly.

Ordered: That a License be made out for the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield to perform Ecclesiastical offices in Georgia, as a deacon in the Church of England.

Feb. 22, 1737-8.-Rev. John Wesley delivered a narrative relating to the complaints of Mrs. Williamson and three certificates signed by three persons.

April 26, 1738.-Rev. John Wesley left the appointment of him by Trustees to perform religious services in Georgia. The authority granted him ordered to be revoked.

May 3, 1738.-Committee of Correspondence ordered to prepare an act to enable the Trustees to appoint Commissioners for the more effectual execution in a summary way, of the act to prevent the importation and use of rum and brandies in Georgia.

May 19, 1738.-The seal of the Corporation, in pursuance of the orders of the Common Council, was affixed to the following deeds and papers, viz.:

A Lease and Release, dated May 16 and 17, 1738, for three thousand acres of land, to the Bailiffs in Frederica, in trust for granting five acres to each soldier and non-commissioned officer of Col. Oglethorpe's Regiment.

Another, for three thousand acres to the Bailiffs in Savannah, in trust for granting fifty acre lots to men being Protestants of twenty-one years of age and upwards, who shall arrive in Georgia within three years from the date.

Jany. 24, 1738-9.-Several letters read from Gen. Oglethorpe and Thomas Jones relating to matters in Georgia. A petition read from the old freeholders in Frederica, asking for a supply, by way of loan, of bread kind, provisions and seeds.

March 15, 1738-9.—A committee appointed to prepare a law of entail for Georgia. May 16, 1739.-Received a bottle of Salitrum seeds, being a remedy for the bloody flux, for the use of the Colony. Read a commission to the Rev. George Whitefield to perform all religious and ecclesiastical offices at Savannah, in Georgia.

June 2, 1739.-Sealed a grant of five hundred acres of land to the Rev. George Whitefield, in trust for the use of the house to be erected and maintained for the receiving such children as now are, and shall hereafter be, left orphans in the colony of Georgia, in pursuance of the direction of the Common Council held the 30th of last month.

June 27, 1739.-That the seal of the corporation be affixed to the trustees' answer to the Representation from Savannah, of the 9th of December, 1738, for altering the Tenure of Lands, and introducing Negroes in Georgia.

July 11, 1739.—Received a receipt from the Bank, for £20,000, paid in by the accomptant, being so much received by him at the Exchequer the 9th inst., out of the supplies for the year 1739.

Jany. 16, 1739-40.-Lieut. Delegal, Capt. Dymond, and Mr. Aspourger, asked

by the trustees their opinion about the climate of Georgia,-declared they thought it very healthy, and that in the hottest weather, there are fine breezes in the middle of the day. As to the goodness of the soil, "there was a great quantity of good land, called mixt land." Lieut. Delegal said, that the white Mulberry tree grows wild, as well as the black. Capt. Dymond said, that no vegetable thrives faster in any part of the world, than the Mulberry tree in Georgia. Mr. Aspourger said, that he had seen the family of Camuse winding silk. Captain Dempsey said, that the wild vines grow abundantly in Georgia; that the grapes are very sweet; and that these vines are capable of great improvement by engraftment. Mr. Robert Millar, botanist, said that he believed Indigo would grow very well in Georgia, and that it may be sown and raised in four months in Georgia, whereas in most other places the climates are not proper for it above three months.

Capt. Dymond being questioned about Cotton, declared that it thrives very well in Georgia; that he has brought home with him very good pods of it; and that it was planted on the Island of St. Simon, by Mr. Horton.

Capt. Dymond, Lieut. Delegal, and Mr. Aspourger, declared that they had all seen the prickly pear shrub in Georgia, and the Cochineal Fly upon it,-That there are great numbers of those trees, which grow wild in the southern part of the Province; and that the islands are full of them.-That they have taken the fly between their fingers, and though green upon the tree, it dyes the fingers, (if squeezed,) with a deep red colour. Lieut. Delegal said, the dye of it could not easily be washed off with soap.

Capt. Dymond being asked by the trustees about the timber in the Province, said that he had seen very good and fit for masts, and that Captain Gascoigne's carpenter told him there was timber fit for masts for the largest men-of-war.That the timber grows very high at some distance up in the country. That the trees grow very near rivers, which are navigable, and down which they may be floated. Lieut. Delegal said, that the trees for masts are very tall, twenty miles up in the country from St. Simons. Capt. Shubrick said, that he had seen very fine knee timber growing near the sea. Capts. Dymond and Shubrick declared that the sea coast of Georgia is capable and secure for navigation, as any coast in the world.

Capt. Mapey told the trustees, that since the establishment of Georgia, the price of lands has been greatly raised in Carolina, and the plantations there increased. That Georgia is a fine barrier for the Northern Provinces, and especially for Carolina; and is also a great security against the running away of Negroes from Carolina to Augustine; because every negro, at his first appearance in Georgia, must be immediately known to be a runaway, since there are no Negroes in Georgia.

April 15, 1741.-Each County in Georgia to be under one President and four assistants. Thomas Stephens appointed President over the County of Savannah.

March 3, 1741-2.-Received from the Custom House, a chest of silk, imported from Georgia, with the following attestation: We whose names are underwritten, do hereby attest and certify, that the raw silk, contained in the chest herewith sent, was in our presence put into the same chest, by Mary, wife of Lewis Camuse, after having been first weighed, which amounted to 45 pounds, two ounces, avoirdupois weight; that is to say, eight pounds, part thereof, had been manufactered and wound off by her in the town of Savannah, in the year 1740; and 37 pounds, two ounces, the remaining part thereof, had been in like manner wound off by her the present year, 1741. And we do further attest and certify, that 220 pounds, 14 ounces weight of Cocoons or silk balls were raised in Savannah, in Georgia, (the silk worms being fed with the Mulberry leaves growing in said county,) and had been delivered to Mrs. Camuse, since April last, in order to enable her to carry on the said manufacture, as she has done, this present year, Dated at Savannah, in Georgia, this the 10th day of Sept. 1741.

WILLIAM STEPHENS, Secr.
THOMAS JONES,

Bailiff of Savannah.