Georgia Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

 

Colonial settlers of [[Georgia Genealogy (state)|Georgia]] generally came from the Carolinas, from [[Virginia, United States Genealogy|Virginia]], or directly from [[England Genealogy|England]] and [[Scotland Genealogy|Scotland]]. The first large group of immigrants came from the British Isles to the Savannah area with James Oglethorpe in 1733. Though it was designed to be a penal colony, most English convicts were transported to [[Virginia, United States Genealogy|Virginia]] and [[Maryland, United States Genealogy|Maryland]], rather than Georgia.<ref>Peter Wilson Coldham, ''British Emigrants in Bondage;'' E. Roger Ekirch, ''Bound for America.''</ref>  

 

The total non-native population of Georgia in 1752 has been estimated at 5,000. Small groups of Protestants from [[France Genealogy|France]], [[Switzerland Genealogy|Switzerland]], and what is now [[Germany Genealogy|Germany]]. Religious groups included Moravians. The most important of these groups were the 1,500 Salzburgers who had settled at Ebenezer in present-day [[Effingham County, Georgia Genealogy|Effingham County]] beginning in 1734.  

 

An important group of 350 Puritans from [[South Carolina, United States Genealogy|South Carolina]], accompanied by 1,500 blacks, arrived in Georgia beginning in 1752. They first settled in the Midway District. Their ancestors had previously settled the towns of Dorchester in both [[Massachusetts|Massachusetts]] and South Carolina. In 1758 these Puritans established the seacoast town of Sunbury.  

 

Between 1802 and 1820 thousands of Americans moved to Georgia seeking free or inexpensive land. The Creek and Cherokee Indians were removed from the state before 1840.