December 22, 1696

James Edward Oglethorpe born to Eleanor and Theophilus.

July 1714

admitted to Corpus Christi at Oxford University

1716-1718

serves as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene of Savoy during the Austro-Turkish War.

1722

elected to Parliament

1728

published “The Sailors Advocate”

Oglethorpe’s friend Robert Castell dies at Corbett’s spunging-house, a prison for debtors, on December 12.

becomes chairman of the committee to inquire into the State of Goals.

September 17, 1730

Petition for a charter to establish a new colony between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers brought before the Privy Council by Oglethorpe and his friends in the Associates of Dr. Bray.

April 21, 1732

King George II signs charter establishing the colony of Georgia and its governing body, the Georgia Trustees.

November 17, 1732

Oglethorpe and approximately 114 passengers left Gravesend, England, for Georgia on the frigate Anne.

February 12, 1733

The first Georgia colonists arrive at Yamacraw Bluff. James Edward Oglethorpe selected the location days earlier while colonists stayed at Port Royal, South Carolina.

July 11, 1733

goes against official Trustee policy and allows a shipload of forty-two Jewish Immigrants from Europe to settle in Savannah.

April 1734

Tomochichi and a delegation of Yamacraw Indians leave with James Edward Oglethorpe to visit England. The party arrived back in Savannah without Oglethorpe on December 27, 1734.

October 14, 1735

sets sail from England back to Georgia with new colonists and ministers John and Charles Wesley.

November 23, 1736

returns to England on the request of the other Trustees to report on the colony’s progress. While there, Oglethorpe lobbies for more money and troops to defend against the Spanish. He returns to Georgia with a new title: “Colonel of the Regiment of Foot for the Defense of His Majesty’s Plantations in America.”

August 21, 1739

meets with Creek chiefs and signs the Treaty of Coweta Town.

October 05, 1739

Tomochichi dies and is buried in Wright Square (formerly Percival Square) on the orders of James Edward Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe acted as a pallbearer at the funeral.

1740

organizes an unsuccessful siege of the Spanish fortress at St. Augustine in present-day Florida. Oglethorpe returns to St. Simons Island.

July 07, 1742

Spanish forces launch an invasion of Georgia on the south end of St. Simons Island. Oglethorpe’s forces successfully turn back the Spanish forces in the Battle of Gully Hole Creek and the Battle of Bloody Marsh.

July 23, 1743

leaves Georgia for England and never returns.

September 1744

marries Elizabeth Wright, heiress to Cranham Hall.

December 1745

commanded 600 men in England’s fight against a Jacobite uprising. The Duke of Cumberland brings charges against Oglethorpe for failing to capture a group of rebels at Shap. Oglethorpe acquitted of all charges during a court martial the following year.

March 16, 1749

attends his last meeting of the Georgia Trustees. The Trustees surrender the charter in 1753 making Georgia a royal colony.

1754

loses his seat in Parliament.

1756

secretly fights for Prussia with his friend Field Marshal James Keith during the Seven Years War. Oglethorpe uses the name pseudo name John Tebay. Oglethorpe returns to England around October 1760.

June 30, 1785

James Edward Oglethorpe dies. His wife buries him at the Parish Church of All Saints adjacent to Cranham Hall.