September 15, 1744

1744 James Oglethorpe and Elizabeth Wright were married in Westminster Abbey in London. After the ceremony, they left for Westbrook Manor, the Oglethorpe family home in Godalming, a small Surrey County town about 35 miles southwest of London.

September 15, 1824

1824 A hurricane drowned 83 people on St. Simons Island on the Georgia coast.

September 15, 1831

1831 Dr. Elizur Butler and Dr. Samuel Worcester -- missionaries to the Cherokees -- were tried in state court in Lawrenceville after having been arrested on July 7 for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to Georgia and its policy of disfranchising Cherokees. Butler and Worcester were sentenced to four years of hard labor in the state penitentiary in Milledgeville. Subsequently, Gov. George Gilmer offered a pardon if they would leave Georgia -- but they refused. The case of Worcester v. Georgia went to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Chief Justice John Marshall ruled against Georgia. Butler and Worcester were released from prison and returned to their work. However, Cherokee removal from Georgia forced them to continue their missionary work with the Cherokees in the west.

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September 15, 1834

1834 Lawyer and politician William H. Crawford died at age 62 near Elberton, Georgia. Born in Virginia on Feb. 24, 1772, he and his family moved to the area north of Augusta in 1783. He was admitted to the bar in 1799 and moved to Oglethorpe County, where he built a plantation just west of Lexington. In 1803, Crawford was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, where he served until the General Assembly elected him to the U.S. Senate in 1807. In 1813, Crawford was named U.S. Ambassador to France, and two years later was named U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. By the 1820s, Crawford was believed to be the strongest candidate to succeed James Madison as U.S. president. However, what may have been strokes in the fall of 1823 and the spring of 1824 seriously hurt his chances, and John Quincy Adams won the presidency. Adams asked Crawford to continue as Treasury Secretary, but Crawford declined and returned to Georgia. In recognition of Crawford, the General Assembly named a new county in his honor in 1822. In 1827, Crawford was named a superior court judge in Georgia, a post he held until his death in 1834.

September 15, 1883

Georgia cities and towns incorporated by acts approved on Sept. 15: 1883 Abbeville (Wilcox County)

September 15, 1887

Georgia cities and towns incorporated by acts approved on Sept. 15: 1887 Rising Fawn (Dade County)

September 15, 1891

Georgia cities and towns incorporated by acts approved on Sept. 15: 1891 Leary (Calhoun County)

September 15, 1895

1895 Glenn "Pop" Warner arrived in Athens, Georgia, as the University of Georgia’s new head (and only) football coach. Warner came to Georgia at a salary of $340 for ten weeks. As Warner recounted later, he arrived homesick and discouraged to find that Georgia had no athletic facilities. The only place for playing football or any other sport was a bare field behind New College where rocks stuck out of the red clay. The University of Georgia’s entire student body in 1895 consisted of just 248 students, and only 13 of those showed up to play football. As a result,Warner’s first team--the 1895 squad--had 3 wins against 4 loses. Warner was rehired for the 1896 season at a salary of $40 per week. The 1896 squad--Warner’s last Georgia team----went 4-0, giving the University of Georgia its first undefeated season.

September 15, 1926

1926 Florida Airways began U.S. airmail service between Atlanta, Macon, Jacksonville, Tampa, Fort Myers, and Miami. This route was discontinued on the following Dec. 31 because of limited use. This was because the airports involved were not equipped with lights for night landing--and overnight train service got there just as quickly.

September 15, 1933

1933 Symptomatic of many businesses during the Great Depression, Southern Bell Telephone Company reported to the Georgia Public Service Commission that its gross operating revenues were $1,718,535 lower in 1932 than they had been in 1929, but during that time operating expenses could only be cut $800,359.

September 15, 1945

1945 Noted American opera singer Jessye Norman was born in Augusta, Georgia.

September 15, 1981

1981 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin arrived at Robins AFB on his way to Plains, Georgia, to visit former President Jimmy Carter. Egyptian President Anwar El-Sadat and his wife had also passed through Robins on their way to Plains on August 9, 1981.