Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The University of Georgia

October 29

1754 British naval captain John Reynolds arrived in Savannah as Georgia's first royal governor. He was enthusiastically greeted by local officials and residents, who looked forward to a period of progress and prosperity now that the colony at last had an official chief executive. While Reynolds may have been effective as a naval commander, he proved to to have little understanding of politics and public administration in the non-military world. By 1756, complaints against Reynolds' actions as governor led the Board of Trade in London to order an investigation and sent Henry Ellis to serve as royal governor while Reynolds returned to London to answer the complaints that had been raised against him. As a result of the investigation, Reynolds was forced to resign his commission, after which he returned to naval duty. Eventually, he would rise to the rank of admiral in the British Navy. A year after that promotion, he died in London on Feb. 3, 1788.

1837 African-American folk artist Harriet Powers was born in rural Georgia. Her quilts are considered among the best examples of 19th century southern quilting still in existence, and several are on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

1879 Georgia-born lawyer, politician, and Confederate general Matthew D. Ector died in Tyler, Texas. [See Feb. 28 entry for biographical information on Ector.]

1890 Tom Woolfolk was hung for murdering nine members of his family in Bibb County. See August 6, 1887 entry for details.

1919 Julia Carlisle Withers -- born in 1842 as Atlanta's first baby -- died in Atlanta. [See Aug. 17 entry for biographical information on Withers.]

1929 Wall Street crashed in a frantic day of selling, leading to the Great Depression.

1948 Two days before what would have been her 88th birthday, the U.S. Post Office Department issued a 3-cent commemorative stamp honoring Juliette Gordon Low. First day of issue ceremonies for the stamp were held in Savannah.

1971 Duane Allman, singer and guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band of Macon, Georgia, died in a motorcycle accident in Macon at age 24. Allman was born Nov. 20,1946 in Nashville, Tennessee.

1976 Jimmy Carter, campaigning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Toledo, Ohio, blamed the nation's failing economy on President Ford's republican administration. With seven of the top eleven economic indicators worsening, Carter said this "makes a mockery of all the Ford admoinistration claims about economic recovery." Meanwhile a Louis Harris nationwide poll showed Carter's lead down to one percentage point.

2007 The Atlanta Braves traded shortstop Edgar Renteria to the Detroit Tigers for two young prospects - pitcher Jair Jurrjens and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez.

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on Oct. 29:

1889 Meigs (Thomas County) and Metcalfe (Thomas County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1863 Atlanta merchant Samuel P. Richards had the unexpected pleasure of meeting Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis, who was passing through Atlanta on way to Richmond, Va. after having visited Braxton Bragg's forces at Chattanooga. As Richards recorded in his diary:

"We had a call from President Davis tonight and I had a short conversation with him, that in, he asked me if Mrs. McLean was in and I replied that she was, and forthwith took him up to her room with the aide who came with him, and they stayed an hour up there. Mrs. McLean has an extensive Military acquaintance; the President -- Gen's Polk, Hindman, Buckner and others are constant friends and visitors."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Its Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of original 1954 volume), p. 559.

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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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