Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

February 16

1736 Around 7 p.m., James Oglethorpe and a small group left Savannah aboard a 10-oar boat for St. Simons Island. At around 11 p.m., they landed on Skidaway Island, where they ate a meal and then slept on the ground in their clothes with only a single blanket for warmth.

1757 Henry Ellis arrived in Savannah to replace John Reynolds as royal governor. His predecessor had been extremely unpopular with the colonists, and Ellis inherited a lot of resentment toward the office of royal governor. Thanks to his tact and leadership, Ellis soon earned the respect and backing of most Georgians. He realized the major problems facing the colony -- need for better defense, more colonists, and better sources of wealth -- and worked diligently to address them. But despite being popular with the colonists, Ellis was not happy in Georgia -- primarily because of the suffocating heat, which often left him in poor health. Despite having visited equatorial Africa, Ellis believed the heat in Savannah to be worse than any place on earth, even publishing an article -- "An Account of the Heats and Weather in Georgia" in London Magazine. Because of his inability to abide the Georgia weather, Ellis was replaced as royal governor by James Wright in October 1760. Despite his short tenure in the colony, Ellis was a significant factor in restoring colonial support in Georgia for royal government. After leaving Georgia, Ellis traveled extensively. He died in Naples Italy on Jan. 27, 1806.

1854 Gov. Herschel Johnson signed legislation creating Clay County as Georgia's 110th county. Created from portions of Early and Randolph counties, the new county was for U.S. Sen. Henry Clay, principal author of the Compromise of 1850.

1854 Gov. Johnson signed legislation providing for the binding out of free blacks between the ages of 5 and 21 until they reach the age of 21 upon evidence from two or more "respectable persons" that such youths were not being raised "in a becoming and proper manner."

1856 Gov. Herschel Johnson signed legislation creating Terrell County as Georgia's 114th county. Created from portions of Lee and Randolph counties, the new county was named for former Georgia congressman William Terrell.

1936 Politician Joe Frank Harris was born in Cartersville, Georgia. After obtaining a BBA from the University of Georgian in 1958, Harris served in the U.S Army, both on active duty and as a reserve, through 1964. In 1965 he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives from his home district of Bartow County. In 1975, Harris became chairman of the House appropriations committee, continuing to serve in the House until Harris remained in this position until his election as governor in the fall of 1982. Harris served two terms as governor, from 1983-1991. His administration was noted promotion of economic development and passage of the Quality Basic Education Act.

1948 The U.S. Air Force officially renamed Robins Field as Robins Air Force Base.

1953 In the franchise's first year in Milwaukee, the Braves traded Rocky Bridges to the Cincinnati Reds for first baseman Joe Adcock.

1973 Weems Baskin, Wayman Creel, Howell Hollis, and John Mize were inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

1978 The "Expelled Because of Their Color" statue was unveiled on the grounds of Georgia's state capitol. The ceremony took place on the second annual Georgia Association of Black Elected Offricials Day.

1980 Tommy Aaron, Maxie Baughan, Zeke Bratkowski, Edith McGuire Duvall, John Hyder, Garland Pinholster, Boyd McWhorter, Ralph Metcalfe, and Sherrod (Sherry) Smith were inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

1985 John Donaldson, Leonidas Epps, William Goodloe, Watts Gunn, Jake Hines, Fred Hooper, Phil Niekro and Billy Shaw were inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

2002 Bodies were discovered on the grounds of the Tri-State Crematorium in Walker County, GA. As the investigation widened, hundred more bodies were found and the owner arrested. The bodies had been delivered to him for cremation, but the incinerator he used for that purpose had broken and he reportedly could not afford to fix it, but had still been taking money for cremations, and returning people dust in jars.

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated by acts approved by the governor on Feb. 16:

1854 Conyers (then Newton, now Rockdale County) and Roswell (then Cobb, now Fulton County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1797 While Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins was more accepting of Indian culture and rights than most whites, he had difficulties with the accepted role of women in Creek society -- as evidenced by his response to an elderly Indian woman's offer of her widowed daughter to him:

". . .This woman and most of these Creek women, being in the habit of assuming and exercising absolute rule, such as it was, over their children, and not attending to the advice of their white husbands, and taking part with them when they found it necessary to oppose any unjust pretentions to their families, I determined to address a note to the old woman, and to read it to her and daughter, in the Creek tongue. I wrote her this note: 'You have offered me your daughter. I take it kind of you. Your daughter looks well, is of a good family, and has some fine children, which I shant be pleased with. The ways of the white people differ much from those of the red people. We make companions of our women, the Indians make slaves of theirs. The white men govern their families and provide cloathing and food for them; the red men take little care of theirs, and the mothers have sole direction of the children. You know I am the principal agent of the four nations. I do not yet know whether I shall take one of my red women for a bedfellow or not, but if I do, if it is for a single night, and she has a child, I shall expect it will be mine, that I may cloathe it and bring it up as I please. If I take a woman who has sons or daughters, I shall look upon them as my own children. The wife must consent that I shall cloathe them, feed them and bring them up as I please, and no one of her family shall oppose my doing so. The red women should always be proud of their white husbands, should always take part with them and obey them, should make the children obey them, and they will be obedient to their parents, and make a happy family. The woman I take must beside all this be kind, cleanly and good natured, and at all times pleasing and agreeable when in company with me or with those who visit at my house. She must promise me this; her mother must promise it to me, and all her family.' When I read this note, the old woman was much pleased with the first part of it, assented to it and acquiesced, but when I read the latter part, she remained silent, and could not be prevailed on to acquiesce in the condition proposed. She would not consent that the women and children should be under the direction of the father, and the negotiation ended there."

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. IX, Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796-1806 (Savannah: Georgia Historical Society, 1916), pp. 83-85.

1861 Following secession, Atlanta briefly sought to become the capital of the new Confederacy. In support of that effort, the city's Gate City Guardian published the following reasons why Atlanta should be selected:

"This city has good railroad connections, is free from yellow fever, can supply the most wholesome foods, and as for 'goobers,' an indispensable article for a Southern Legislator, we have them all the time."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of 1954 original volume), Vol. I, p. 497.

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© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

If you have a date related to Georgia history or people that ought to be included, or if know of entries that should be corrected, send a note to Ed Jackson or Charles Pou.

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