Edward Langworthy was an American teacher who was a delegate to the Continental Congress

Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

 from Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

. He signed the Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...

.

Edward was born in Savannah, Georgia

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...

 in 1738. Nothing is known of his ancestors since he was a foundling

Child abandonment

Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness. An abandoned child is called a foundling .-Causes:Poverty is often a...

. He was raised in the Bethesda Orphan House at Savannah, and educated in the school there. He later taught in that same school. Since he was born only five years after James Oglethorpe

James Oglethorpe

James Edward Oglethorpe was a British general, member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founder of the colony of Georgia...

 shipped the first colonists to Georgia, it is likely that his parents were included with those recruited from debtors' prisons or poorhouses.

Langworthy began working with Georgia's Committee of Safety, and was their secretary when they became a revolutionary Council of Safety on December 11, 1775. The Georgia assembly sent him to the Continental Congress in 1777, and he arrived just in time to sign the Articles of Confederation. He served in the Congress until 1779.

Edward moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1785. He married a young lady named Wright, and the couple had four children. He also bought a part interest in a newspaper The Maryland Journal & Baltimore Advertiser and became its editor. In 1787 he sold his interest, and became an instructor at the Baltimore Academy.

In 1795 Langworthy was made the clerk of customs for Baltimore, a post he held until his death. He died of Yellow fever

Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

on November 2, 1802 and was buried at the Old Episcopal Church. (The church was torn down in 1891, and details of any re-interment are unknown.)

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