1734 Salzburgers were persecuted German Protestants forced to flee their home in Salzburg, an independent church-state governed by a Catholic archbishop located in what today is Austria. Georgia’s Trustees had agreed to send a group of the Salzburgers to Georgia, and Baron Philipp Georg Friedrich von Reck personally escorted the first transport of Lutheran emigrants. On March 7, they had arrived in Charles Town, S.C., where they were met by James Oglethorpe. They sailed south on March 9 and reached the mouth of the Savannah River on March 10.
1735 In the House of Commons, James Oglethorpe presented the Trustees’ petition for Parliamentary funding of Georgia. Oglethorpe, who still held his Haslemere seat in Commons, had returned from Georgia to help marshall financial support for the colony, which had quickly evolved from a humanitarian enterprise to a military buffer to protect England’s southern colonies from Spanish, French, and Indian attack. On the floor of the House of Commons, the Trustees’ petition was seconded and then sent to committee.
1866 Gov. Charles Jenkins signed legislation making it lawful for married women to maintain bank accounts independent of their husbands so long as the total balance was less than $2,000. This act doubled the amount a wife could maintain separately -- first set at a limit of under $1,000 by an act of 1861.
1920 Kenneth Burns was born in north Georgia, though at age three his family moved to Knoxville, Tenn. An accomplished musician, some of his peers called him the greatest mandolin player in the world. Yet, Burns is best remembered not for not his musical abilities so much as his humorous persona during the 39 years he teamed with Henry "Homer" Haynes as part of the comic duo of "Homer and Jethro." He died on Feb. 4, 1989.
1924 Lawyer and politician Tom Murphy was born in Bremen, Ga. Murphy graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1949, after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He began his political career on the Bremen Board of Education, befor being elected as a state representative in 1961. On December 19, 1973 he became Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, a post he held through the 2002 legilative session. Murphy became one of the most powerful men in Georgia politics through his many years of service, and his twenty-eight years as Speaker marks the longest tenure of any such state office in the country. Murphy passed away at his home in Bremen on December 17, 2007.
1969 In a Memphis court, James Earl Ray pled guilty to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray later recanted his guilty plea, unsuccessfully attempting to obtain a new trial.
1733 Georgia’s male colonists assembled with their muskets for their first military formation. James Oglethorpe then divided them into four tithings, each consisting of ten men. Nightly guard duty would … read more
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