Edward Telfair was the Governor of the state of 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...

 in 1786, and from 1790 through 1793. He was a member of 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....

, and a signer of 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...

.

Early Life

Telfair was born in 1735 in Town Head, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, graduated from the Kirkcudbright Grammar School, and then acquired commercial training. He immigrated to America

Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...

 in 1758 as agent of a commercial house, settling in Virginia. Telfair subsequently moved to Halifax, North Carolina

Halifax, North Carolina

Halifax is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 344 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Halifax County...

, and finally 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...

, where he established a commission house

Commission (remuneration)

The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold...

 in 1766.

Slave owner

Telfair was a slave owner and consultant on slavery issues. His mercantile firm dealt in slaves, among other things, and existing correspondence include discussions of the management of slaves, purchase and sale of slaves, runaway slaves, the mortality rate of slaves born on a plantation, the difficulty of selling closely related slaves, and the relations between whites and free blacks.

Revolutionary period

Telfair was a member of the council of safety

Committee of Safety (American Revolution)

Many Committees of Safety were established throughout Colonial America at the start of the American Revolution. These committees started to appear in the 1760s as means to discuss the concerns of the time, and often consisted of every male adult in the community...

 (1775-1776), and was a delegate to the Provincial Congress

Provincial Congress

"Provincial Congress" can refer to one of several extra-legal legislative bodies established in some of the Thirteen Colonies early in the American Revolution...

 meeting at Savannah (1776). Telfair 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 of the Articles of Confederation. In 1783, during the Chickamauga Wars, Telfair was commissioned to treat

Treaty

A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...

 with the Chickamauga-Cherokee

Chickamauga Indian

The Chickamauga or Lower Cherokee, were a band of Cherokee who supported Great Britain at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. They were followers of the Cherokee chief Dragging Canoe...

 Indians. Telfair was the designated agent (on the part of Georgia) settling the northern boundary dispute with North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 in February 1783. He eventually became Governor of the state of Georgia.

Later Life

Telfair was one of only 10 men who received electoral votes during the first election for President and Vice President of the United States, receiving the vote of an unrecorded elector from his home state of Georgia.

Telfair died in Savannah, and was buried in Bonaventure Cemetery

Bonaventure Cemetery

Bonaventure Cemetery is a public cemetery located on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River, east of Savannah, Georgia. The cemetery became famous when it was featured in the 1994 novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, and in the movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, based on...

there.

External links