The dead towns of Georgia

by Jr. Charles C. Jones

On the only plan of Sunbury the writer has been able to procure, and in some of the early records, this river is written Medway. It may be fairly stated, however, that while by some the river may have been called Medway, the district was universally known as Midway. The time-honored church, which still stands, and its predecessor which so long stood near the intersection of the Savannah and Darien, and the Sunbury roads, are both remembered as the Midway and not Medway congregational meeting houses. We are persuaded that the river as well as the district were both named Midway;—the former being called for the latter.

By an act dividing the several districts and divisions of the Province of Georgia into Parishes, passed the 15th day of March, 1758,[175] it was provided that “the town of Hardwick and district of Ogechee, on the south side of the river Great Ogechee, extending northwest up the said river so far as the Lower Indian trading path leading from Mount Pleasant, and southward from the town of Hardwick as far as the swamp of James Dunham, including the settlements on the north side of the north branches of the river Midway, with the islands of Ossabaw, and from the head of the said Dunham’s Swamp in a north-west line, shall be and forever constitute a parish by the name of ‘The Parish of St. Philip’: from Sunbury in the district of Midway and Newport from the southern bounds of the parish of St. Philip, extending southward as far as the north line of Samuel Hastings, and from thence southeast to the south branch of Newport, including the islands of St. Katharine and Bermuda, and from the north line of the said Samuel Hastings northwest, shall be and forever continue a parish by the name of ‘The Parish of St. John’: the town and district of Darien, extending from the south boundary of the parish of St. John to the river Alatamaha, including the islands of Sapelo and Eastwood, and the sea islands to the north of Egg island northwest up the river Alatamaha to the forks of the said river, shall be and forever continue a parish by the name of ‘The Parish of St. Andrew:’ and the town and district of Frederica, including the islands of Great and Little St. Simons, and the adjacent islands shall be and forever continue a parish by the name of ‘The Parish of St. James.’”

Such were the territorial limits of the four southern parishes of the province, approved by Governor Ellis, and designed to promote the establishment of religious worship according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England.[176]

As the early population of Sunbury was largely drawn from the members of the Midway congregation,—the most pronounced society existing within the limits of St. John’s parish at the time of its formation,—a brief sketch of that congregation and its establishment in Georgia, may not be deemed irrelevant.

Early in 1697 a body of Puritans from the Towns of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Milton, in Massachusetts, taking with them their pastor,—the Reverend Joseph Lord,—and proclaiming as a leading object the encouragement of churches and the promotion of religion in the Southern plantations, removed with their families and personal effects and formed a new home at Dorchester, in the province of South Carolina. The church which they there established was the first Congregational or Independent Church within the confines of that Colony. All the other religious societies belonged to the established Church of England.

After a residence of more than fifty years, finding their lands impoverished and insufficient for the rising generation,—Dorchester and Beach-Hill proving very unhealthy,—the good reports of the lands in Georgia having been confirmed upon the personal inspection of certain members of the Society who had been sent for that purpose, and a grant of 22,400 acres of land having been secured from the authorities in Georgia,—which grant was subsequently enlarged by the addition of 9,950 acres,—the members of the Dorchester Society commenced moving in 1752 into what is now the swamp region of Liberty County. The settlement lay between Mount Hope Swamp,—the head of Midway river,—on the North, and Bull-Town Swamp on the South. At first, however, it was not so comprehensive. It extended neither to the pine barrens on the West, nor to the salt water on the East. This immigration, begun in 1752, was continued until 1771, when it ceased.[177] According to the records of the Society, there were forty-four removals in all, of which one family came from Charlestown, four from Pon-Pon, and the remaining thirty-nine from Dorchester and Beach-Hill. These removals were most numerous during the years 1754, 1755, and 1756. These immigrants brought their negroes with them, and it appears probable, from the best lights before us, that the population of this colony, after its full establishment, consisted of about 350 whites, and 1500 negro slaves.

The region into which the Dorchester Congregation immigrated was already known as the Midway District. To the General Assembly which convened in Savannah in 1751, Audley Maxwell, Esquire, was sent as a delegate;—its population then entitling it to such representation. It would appear that a number of families residing in the Midway District previous to the arrival of the Dorchester Congregation, united with that Society after it was regularly domiciled in its new home. The Dorchester Colony did not immigrate, in its entirety, to Georgia. Some families continued to dwell at Dorchester and Beach-Hill, where their descendants may yet be found. Others removed elsewhere. With the formation of the new settlement in St. John’s parish, however, the old Dorchester colony in South Carolina lost its integrity and distinctive characteristics.

In locating their plantations amid the swamps of St. John’s parish, the following plan was adopted: After laying by their crops in Carolina in the fall of the year, the planters came with able-bodied hands, and, during the winter, cleared land and built houses. In a season or two having thus sufficiently prepared the way, they brought their families and servants in the early spring, and at once entered upon the cultivation of the soil. Thus was the removal rendered as safe and comfortable as the nature of the case permitted.

Strange to say, their dwellings and plantation quarters were invariably located on the edges of the swamps, in utter disregard of the manifest laws of health. In such malarial situations was the entire year passed. Their houses at first were built of wood, one story high, with dormer windows in the roofs, small in size, without lights, with no inside linings, and with chimneys of clay. The negro-houses were made either of clay or poles. For market, rice was the only article cultivated. While corn was planted on the upland, chief attention was bestowed upon the clearing, ditching, and drainage of the swamps. A miasmatic soil was thus exposed to the action of the sun, at their very doors. The consequence of such injudicious location, and of a general inattention to domestic comfort, was violent sickness and considerable mortality. So frequent were the deaths among children that they seldom arrived at puberty. Those who attained the age of manhood and womanhood possessed feeble constitutions. According to the register kept by the Society, from 1752 to 1772,—the period during which this settlement was being formed,—193 births and 134 deaths occurred. The mortality was greatest during the months of September, October, and November. April, May, June, and August appear to have been the healthiest months:—June particularly so. Bilious fevers in the fall, and pleurisies in the winter and spring, were the diseases which proved most fatal. It used to be said of such as survived a severe attack of bilious fever in the fall, that they would certainly die of pleurisy in the winter or spring.