Statesman; born in
Savannah, Ga., July 28, 1751.
His father,
James, who was born in
England in 1712, and died at
New Brunswick,
N. J., in 1775, accompanied
Whitefield to
Georgia in 1738, and was secretary of the province in 1754; president of the council and acting governor in 1769-72.
Joseph was a member of the first patriotic committee in
Georgia in 1774, and ever afterwards took an active part in the defence of the liberties of his country.
He helped to seize gunpowder in the arsenal
in 1775, and was a member of the council of safety.
He was one of a company who captured a government ship (July, 1775), with munitions of war, including 15,000 lbs. of gunpowder.
He led some volunteers who made the royal governor,
Wright, a prisoner (Jan. 18, 1776), and confined him to his house under a guard.
When
Savannah was taken by the
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193]
British, early in 1778, he took his family to
Virginia; but in the siege of
Savannah (1779) by
Lincoln and
D'Estaing, he held the office of colonel, which he retained till the close of the war. He was
Postmaster-General in 1795-1801, and president of the
Savannah branch of the
United States Bank from 1802 till its charter expired.
He died in
Savannah, Nov. 17, 1815.
