The dead towns of GeorgiaJones, Charles C., Jr. (Charles Colcock)
History
The dead towns of Georgia
Jones, Charles C., Jr. (Charles Colcock)
Extinct cities -- Georgia; Georgia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
On the 20th of June, 1758, Mark Carr conveyed three hundred acres of this
five hundred acre tract, including that portion bordering upon Midway
river, to “James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott, Grey Elliott,
and John Stevens, of Midway, Esquires,” ... in trust that the same should
be laid out as a town by the name of _Sunbury_;—one hundred acres thereof
being dedicated as a common, for the use of the future inhabitants;—and in
further trust “that they, the said James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John
Elliott, Grey Elliott, and John Stevens and their successors, should sell
and dispose of all and singular the lots to be laid out in the said town
of Sunbury to and for the proper use and behoof of the said Mark Carr.”
Captain McCall[171] suggests that “the town was called Sunbury,—the
etymology of which is probably the _residence of the sun_,—from the entire
exposure of this place to his beams while he is above the horizon.” We
believe that this projected village was named for Sunbury, a quiet and
beautiful town in Middlesex County, on the left bank of the Thames, only
a little way above Hampton Court, and distant some eighteen miles by land
from London;—it being a pleasant custom among the colonists to perpetuate
in their new homes the memories of persons and places dear to them in the
mother country.
In ancient records, says Lysons, this place (Sunbury in England) is called
_Sunnabyri_, Sunneberie, Suneberie, &c. Sunnabyri is composed of two Saxon
words,—sunna, the sun, and _byri_, a town,—and may be supposed to denote a
place exposed to the sun, or with a southern aspect.
A name better suited to this locality could scarcely have been suggested.
It recalls the peaceful memories of one of the gentle towns of old
England, and typifies the genial influences of the “King of Day” as, from
early dawn until sunset, he irradiates with floods of light the bold bluff
“on the westermost bank of the river Midway.”
Two of the Trustees,—John Stevens and John Elliott,—were prominent members
of the Midway Congregation. James Maxwell had been for several years a
resident of St. John’s Parish. He and John Stevens were members of the
Provincial Congress which assembled at Tondee’s Long-room in Savannah on
the 4th of July, 1775.[172]
Kenneth Baillie and Grey Elliott were active and influential citizens.
The latter was subsequently selected by the General Assembly to act as an
assistant from the Colony of Georgia to Dr. Benjamin Franklin who had been
chosen by several of the Provinces,—Georgia among the number,—and sent
on a special mission to England to represent the wants and grievances of
the Colonies, remonstrate against such acts of the Crown as were deemed
oppressive, and oppose taxation without representation.[173]
All the Trustees, therefore, were men of position and character,
commanding the respect of the community. Their selection for the trust
indicated sound judgment and well-placed confidence on the part of Mark
Carr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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