 Known
as Georgia’s Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Spalding was born at Frederica
(on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia) on March 25, 1774. His ancestors were
from the Highlands of Scotland, and were among the band of hardy warriors
which Oglethorpe brought to Georgia to form a bulwark for the New Colony
against the Spaniards in Florida. His great-grandfather was John Mohr
McIntosh, leader of the clan which settled Darien.
His service to agriculture was almost
limitless. It has been said that the Experiment Stations of ante-bellum
days were the plantations of Thomas Spalding and a neighbor, James
Hamilton Couper.
Spalding was a member of the Constitutional
Convention of 1798, and, in 1850, was a member of the Great Convention at
Milledgeville. He was the only man to serve in both of these distinguished
gatherings, and was elected Chairman of the 1850 Convention. This
gathering, largely through Spalding’s guidance, produced the Georgia
Platform, which meant that Georgia would accept the Compromise of 1850.
Other Southern States fell into line, and the Secession of the South was
postponed another decade. This was Spalding’s last service to his state
and country. On his homeward journey, he reached the home of his son,
Charles, at Darien, in sight of his beautiful Sapelo Island, and passed
away January 4, 1851. He was interred in St. Andrew’s Cemetery at
Darien.
Thomas and Sara Spalding had sixteen
children, only five of whom survived. There are close ties between the
Spalding Family and our County. The Kell’s at Sunnyside, Georgia were
his cousins: Captain Kell and Thomas Spalding both being descendants of
John Mohr McIntosh, the highlander who settled McIntosh County. Captain
Kell’s sister, Evelyn, married Charles, a son of Thomas Spalding. For
many years, Evelyn & Charles Spalding lived in Sunnyside, Georgia. |
