1 
 
 
 I Studies in 
 
 .Early American History. 
 
 IjJf THE LEGENDS OF 
 
 JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 Ipi 
 
 mil 
 
 FRANKLIN H. HEAD. 
 
 ' wi^^^HB
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND
 
 STUDIES 
 
 IN 
 
 THE 
 
 Legends of Jekyl Island 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANKLIN H. HEAD 
 
 Ma^na cst veritas, et prevalebit. 
 
 Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again. 
 The eternal years of God are hers, 
 But Error, wounded, writhes with pain, 
 And dies amid her worshippers. 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 I'KirATELV 1'KINTED
 
 i ;F.\. I \MK.s K.
 
 TO MY VALUED FRIEND, 
 
 EDWARD G. MASON, 
 PRESIDENT OF THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 AND AUTHOR OF 
 "THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS," 
 
 NOT ALONE AS A MARK OF HIGH PERSONAL ESTEEM, BUT 
 
 IN RECOGNITION OF HIS EQUALLY PAINSTAKING AND 
 
 ACCURATE LABORS IN SIMILAR FIELDS 
 
 OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH.
 
 The Legends of Jekyl Island. 
 
 SOME years since, during the same week ; 
 I heard Jekyl Island described from two 
 po standpoints. It was soon after its purchase 
 co by an association of gentlemen forming the 
 ^ well-known Jekyl Island Club. Two of my 
 g friends gave me a glowing account of this newly 
 """ found island of Atlantis. A semi-tropical island 
 ^ off the coast of southern Georgia ; 17,000 acres 
 in of beautiful land, mostly covered with choice 
 
 CM 
 
 g timber, 1,400 deer ranging the forest, green tur- 
 tle marching in uninterrupted procession along 
 the silvery beach, a lake of 500 acres so packed 
 with terrapin as to resemble a cedar block 
 
 ; ~5 pavement, flocks of quail and partridge dark- 
 ening the air, oysters of incomparable flavor 
 
 '-z everywhere, and all purchased at an unheard of 
 
 < bargain, for the beggarly pittance of 125,000. 
 Once in every man's life comes to him his 
 opportunity, and my two friends felt and re- 
 joiced that theirs had nor passed unheeded by.
 
 S THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 for each had secured a share in this enchanted 
 island. 
 
 A few days later I met and chatted with a 
 man whom many of us in Chicago remember 
 as Jim Kelly, who was on a visit to Chicago 
 from his Florida plantation. Said Jim, " I like 
 Florida just because I'm well there and am not 
 well anywhere else. A man with an orange 
 grove can get a modest living, but when it 
 comes to doing business or making money, of 
 course the chances in any part of the South 
 are comparatively small. Still," continued Jim, 
 "sometimes a man gets struck by lightning 
 even there. I have a cousin who owned an 
 island off the Georgia coast, 17.000 acres of 
 sand and swamp. You couldn't raise anything 
 on it : there was some scattering, but utterly 
 worthless, timber. He had tried for years to 
 sell it, to trade it off, or to mortgage it, but he 
 couldn't do either. In fact," concluded Jim, 
 "the whole thing wasn't worth a damn, but 
 lately he picked up a lot of rich suckers from 
 New York, Boston and Chicago, and sold them 
 hi>Jekyl Island for Si 25,000."
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 9 
 
 I rccogni/ed with interest and delight, as 
 often before, the widely variant conclusions 
 from the points of view ; and when, in the 
 spring of 1892, my friends King and McCagg, 
 who were members of the club, invited me to 
 visit the island as their guest, I accepted with 
 delight, eager to see for myself the picture 
 which had been before me in such contrasted 
 lights. 
 
 I found the March climate of the island in- 
 vigorating and delightful ; the bridle paths and 
 roads through the forest wisely planned and 
 charming ; the drive of a dozen miles along the 
 firm and shining beach the joy of a lifetime. 
 The absence of the 1,400 deer, the quail, part- 
 ridges and terrapin was explained by the 
 statement that the committee of three who 
 visited the island prior to its purchase, had 
 eaten them, although a tradition is still current 
 that on a certain remote and possibly mythical 
 Sunday, terrapin soup was served to some of 
 the early inhabitants. 
 
 The clubhouse was well planned for its pur- 
 pose ; the company choice, intellectual and in
 
 10 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 ever}- way agreeable. All members of the club 
 worthy of their exalted heritage were busily 
 employed in doing nothing and in doing it 
 thoroughly and well. A few members who 
 were looking about for something to do, who 
 watched anxiously for the newspapers and 
 sought to adulterate the atmosphere of the 
 island with the airs and cares of the outer 
 world, were frowned upon, and their expulsion 
 would have been considered, except that the 
 consideration of even so self-evident a neces- 
 sity would have required an effort. The Vice 
 President and acting executive, of dignified and 
 stately presence, was a man of abounding en- 
 erg}- and fire, which was exercised daily and 
 hourly in the transferring until the day after 
 to-morrow of the things which should have 
 been done yesterday. In a word, the island is 
 an ideal resting pi. ice for the man of affairs. 
 The visitors during my stay were largely of 
 middle lite, upon whom ease with dignity sat 
 gracefully. Yet even there, and among them, 
 the sprightly arrow-shooting god played havoc, 
 and one of the loved and honored members, in
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 11 
 
 sequence thereof, met there smilingly his doom, 
 and now wanders, no longer alone, in far away 
 Cathay, hand in hand with his happy fate, and 
 renews under occidental skies the dreams of 
 his golden youth. 
 
 I found upon the island certain ruins, pre- 
 historic, so far as the present inhabitants were 
 informed, but concerning which sundry and 
 contradictory legends were current. The gen- 
 eral trend of the local folklore was that the 
 island had once belonged to General Ogle- 
 thorpe, the founder and governor of the Georgia 
 colony. A solitary chimney was supposed to 
 mark the site of the gubernatorial palace. Cer- 
 tain mounds and pits near the shore were, by 
 the different schools of archaeologists upon the 
 island, variously claimed to represent the work 
 of the A/.tec Mound Builders, diggings for the 
 buried treasures of Captain Kidd, and earth- 
 works erected during the late war to protect 
 blockade runners escaping to the Bermudas. 
 In view of these conflicting theories, and of the 
 lack of accurate information on the part even 
 of the members of the Jekyl Island Club,
 
 12 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 the antiquarian zeal, the fren/.y, a la Herodo- 
 tus, which, radiating from the President of the 
 Chicago Historical Society, animates all its 
 members, urged me to learn what I could of the 
 history of the island, and I place before my 
 readers the results of much painstaking research 
 in this field. 
 
 The first mention I have been able to find of 
 Jekyl Island occurs in a report made to Queen 
 Elizabeth in 1587, by Sir Francis Drake. This 
 gallant admiral had captured and mercilessly 
 plundered the Spanish towns of Saint Jago, 
 Cartagena and Saint Augustine, and after leav- 
 ing the last named point, sailed northerly along 
 the coast for some hundreds of miles. His 
 report to Queen Elizabeth runs thus: 
 
 "On the 1 7th we took an observation, and 
 found ourselves in latitude 30 deg. 30 min. N., 
 and near a large island, which we felt sure was 
 the land where we had information of a Spanish 
 settlement of magnitude. Seeing some log 
 houses, we decided to make a landing. We 
 unfurled the standard of Saint George and 
 approached the shore in great force, that we
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 13 
 
 might impress the enemy with the great puis- 
 sance of your Majesty. The accursed Span- 
 iards, concealed behind the trees, fired upon us, 
 and a sore and cruel fight seemed pendent, 
 when the enemy, stricken with fear, inconti- 
 nently fled to their homes, with their habili- 
 ments of war. One of our men was sorely 
 wounded by the Spanish Captain, whom we 
 presently made prisoner, and, having set up a 
 gallows, we there hanged him in a chain by the 
 middle, and afterwards consumed with fire, 
 gallows and all. 
 
 To us was the good God most merciful and 
 gracious, in that he permitted us to kill eight- 
 een Spaniards, bitter enemies of your sweet 
 Majesty. \Ye further wasted the country and 
 brought it to utter ruin. \Ye burned their 
 houses and killed their few horses, mules and 
 cattle, eating what we could of the fresh beef 
 and carrying the rest aboard our ships. Hav- 
 ing in mind the merciful disposition of your 
 gracious Majesty, we did not kill the women 
 and children, but having destroyed upon the 
 island all their provisions and property, and
 
 14 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 taken u\vay all their weapons, we left them to 
 starve. 
 
 In view was another considerable island, 
 fifteen miles to the northward, concerning 
 which we asked of the women if any Spaniards 
 dwelt thereon. '1 he women were most un- 
 gracious, sullen and obstinate, perchance from 
 their husbands having been killed before their 
 eyes, and wickedly refused to answer us, but 
 after we had burned a hole with a hot iron 
 through the tongue of the most venomous of 
 their number, they eftsoons told us that there 
 were no Spaniards upon the other island; that 
 it was the haunt of ;i solitary Frenchman 
 named Jacques, who claimed it as his own. and 
 that from him it was known as 'Jacques He.' 
 Fearing that the women, instigated by the 
 devil, were deceiving us, we visited the other 
 inland, with the holy determination to exter- 
 minate any enemies of your sacred Majesty 
 thereon, but found the story of the women was 
 true. The Frenchman Jacques had a hut near 
 the water, where he lived with an Indian pagan 
 as his wife. lie had a liberal store of turtle's
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 15 
 
 eggs, gathered in the sand, which we took from 
 him, as also his carbine and forty pounds of 
 ambergris, which he had collected from the 
 sea, but did him no further harm. We took 
 here another observation, finding the latitude 
 31 deg. 10 min. N." 
 
 The latitude mentioned by Drake indicates 
 that he visited first what is now known as 
 Cumberland Island, and later, Jekyl Island, 
 the name by which the latter island is known 
 being evidently a corruption of its early cog- 
 nomen, the transition from Jacques lie to Jekyl 
 being easy and natural. 
 
 The next mention I find relative to Jekyl 
 Island occurs in a volume published by \Vm. 
 Dampier, in 1/29, entitled, "Two Voyages 
 to the Bay of Campeachy." This eminent 
 navigator, author and pirate, set out from Vir- 
 ginia in 1684, on a buccaneering expedition 
 against the Spanish settlements. He says: 
 
 " The next morning, being now nearly 
 arrived at the Florida coast, we landed upon 
 an island in latitude 31 dcg. 12 min. X. fora 
 supply of fresh water."
 
 1C THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 The latitude indicates the location of Jekyl 
 Island. Dumpier continues: 
 
 " Near the spot where we Landed we found 
 a:i abundance of fresh water and also a few 
 huts, which were inhabited by peaceable sava- 
 ges. .Much surprised were we to find that they 
 spoke a lan^ua^e in which were found occu- 
 sionallv French words. \Ve soon learned that 
 the}' were largely the descendants of a French- 
 man who had lon^ before lived upon the island 
 and married many Indian wives. From him 
 the place was called 'lacques Island.' The 
 natural depravity of the pagans appeared, as 
 \\ e noticed that the French words were few in 
 their usual conversation, but that they had 
 hoarded many French curses and bitter pro- 
 fanities, which the}' heaped upon us us we left 
 tlie island, for no other reason, as we could 
 conjecture, except that we had taken with us 
 their cuttle, weapons, furs, provisions and other 
 articles which mi;.Mit be useful to us thereafter." 
 
 Alter thi-. landing ot Dampicr, I find scanty 
 mention of lekyl I>land prior to tile- founding 
 of the < ieor.Mu colon}- under (ieilerul las. F.
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKVL ISLAND. 17 
 
 Oglcthorpe, in 1735. The first settlement was 
 at the present site of the city of Savannah, but 
 later, General Oglcthorpe determined upon 
 Saint Simon's Island as the most advantageous 
 location fora colony. There are three large isl- 
 ands oil the Georgia coast : Cumberland, already 
 mentioned as the landing place of Sir Francis 
 Drake, is the most southerly; north of this is 
 Jekyl Island, and still further north is the 
 Island of Saint Simons. Both the other islands 
 are plainly visible from Jekyl. To be near his 
 settlement of a large colony on Saint Simon's 
 Island, and still to have the isolation and dig- 
 nity proper to the gubernatorial state, ()gle- 
 thorpe selected Jekyl as his own residence, and 
 built there a commodious mansion of logs. 
 Lad\' Oglethorpe, in one of her letters, speaks 
 of having brought from the mainland and 
 planted near the family mansion some roots of 
 vellow |essumine, not indigenous to the island. 
 
 is still growing near the solitary chimney 
 ,dread\' mentioned, although not lound else- 
 where upon the island, is confirmatory <>t the
 
 18 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 legend that this chimney marks the spot where 
 stood the baronial log castle of the Ogle- 
 thorpes. 
 
 General Oglethorpe was a soldier of tried 
 and unquestioned valor, an educated and accom- 
 plished gentleman of great ability and pleasing 
 address, to whose manly and martial figure 
 scant justice is done in the otherwise admirable 
 statue belonging to the Century Club of Xew 
 York. 
 
 Prior to the founding of the Georgia colony 
 the island appears to have been only occasion- 
 ally visited by hunters or fishermen, and after 
 this date the change of the original name, 
 "Jacques Isle," to Jekyl, seems to have become 
 generally recognized, the island being always 
 spoken of as Jekyl in the correspondence and 
 documents of Governor Oglethorpe. 
 
 .After the founding of the Georgia colony, 
 the records of the island are for some time 
 reasonably complete. For the data to which 
 I will have time to refer at present, I am 
 almost entirely indebted to the courtesy of 
 Colonel Jefferson Davis Twiggs, the Secretary
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 19 
 
 of the Georgia Historical Society, and a son 
 of the General Twiggs, whose gallantry and 
 bravery were conspicuous in the war with 
 Mexico. The collection of manuscripts and 
 public documents relative to the early settle- 
 ment of the State is large, and fortunately 
 escaped the destruction which befell so many 
 similar collections during the civil war. 
 
 The Georgia colony was originally organized 
 as a home for unfortunate but industrious and 
 worthy people. The first prospectus stated 
 that, as colonists, all idle and vicious people 
 would be excluded, as also all married men dis- 
 posed to leave their families behind. Slavery 
 was forbidden. Among the people afterward 
 notable, connected with the early settlement, 
 were Charles and John Wesley and George 
 Whitefield. Charles Wesley was sent as secre- 
 tary to General Oglethorpe and John as a mis- 
 sionary to the Indians. On the return of John 
 to England, in 1737, Whitefield was sent by the 
 trustees to take his place. 
 
 When General Oglethorpe established him- 
 self on Jekyl Island with his family, secretary
 
 20 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 and servants, the island became virtually the 
 capital of the Georgia colony. Both General 
 and Lady Oglethorpe and the secretary often 
 visited Savannah, which, with the country 
 about it, continued to be the principal center 
 of population as long as Oglethorpe remained 
 in America, which was for a period of ten years. 
 This period, from 1733 to 1743, is the romantic 
 and picturesque period in the history of the 
 island, as the plan of General Oglethorpe to 
 make Saint Simon's Island the principal settle- 
 ment, and Jekyl Island the government head- 
 quarters, was not carried out, and Jekyl Island, 
 after his return to England, seems to have 
 been substantially abandoned. Nearly all evi- 
 dences of the occupation of the island were 
 dissipated by time, and the island itself was 
 practically deserted for the greater part of a 
 century. 
 
 Among the manuscripts preserved in the 
 archives of the Georgia Historical Society are 
 various regulations prescribed by General Ogle- 
 thorpe for the government of the colony, and 
 considerable correspondence passing between
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAXD. 21 
 
 himself, his secretaries and Lady Oglethorpe, 
 which are of interest as illustrating the experi- 
 ences and hardships connected with the period 
 of this first occupation of Jekyl Island. 
 
 In 1734 Lady Oglethorpe writes to her hus- 
 band, then absent at Savannah. She says: 
 
 "Since your departure, my clearest husband, 
 all the pigs have escaped into the dreadful 
 wilderness about us, and we fear daily that 
 they will be captured and eaten by the savages. 
 The Chief, Altamaha, and his band, are still 
 upon the island, and yesterday he came and 
 begged tobacco and sugar, and also demanded 
 of me our maid servant Lli/abeth as his wife, 
 much to her astonishment and terror. lie was 
 dressed in all his barbaric finery, painted and 
 bedaubed in as many colors as the coat <>l 
 Joseph, and decorated with feathers, bears' 
 claws and bright colored shells, as befitted 
 a man equipped for female conquest. The 
 wretched pagan has already three wives, whom 
 he treats worse than beasts of burden, and I 
 think this somewhat influenced Lli/abcth. as. 
 had he been unmarried, the prospect of being
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 a queen, even of the wild and savage Tusca- 
 roras, might have moved her. These Indians 
 are soon to return northward, as the Choctaws 
 claim the country hereabout, and the Tusca- 
 roras, while boasting to fear nothing, yet love 
 their own scalps to remain where the good God 
 placed them. 
 
 During your absence I have again been 
 troubled by a slight but authentic attack of the 
 gout, and long unceasingly for your return." 
 
 In 173^, when Lady Oglethorpe was in Savan- 
 nah, Charles \Yeslcy writes her from Jekyl 
 Island thus: 
 
 " I have but this da}- returned from the trip 
 to the Ogeechee River, where I suffered many 
 hardships and privations from the inhospitable 
 weather. With my brother John, I preached 
 to the Indians, whenever we could find them in 
 any considerable numbers, although I fear but 
 little impression was made upon them. Their 
 simple and untutored minds find difficulty in 
 comprehending the beautiful doctrine of the 
 Trinity, or in reali/.ing the sublimity of a pure 
 and sinless Saviour suffering untold asjonies
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 23 
 
 for the crimes of wicked men. One of these 
 pagans, whose mind had been heretofore in 
 total darkness, when urged to become a Chris- 
 tian, retorted that Christians lied and cheated 
 when buying furs and were drunkards, and said 
 that, as these men were Christians, he would 
 none of it. so hardened by the wiles of Satan 
 are these unbelievers against the truths of the 
 gospel. 
 
 "Last evening I wandered to the north end of 
 the island and stood upon the narrow point, 
 which your ladyship will recall as there pro- 
 jecting into the ocean. The vastness of the 
 watery waste, as compared with my standing 
 place, called to mind the briefness of human 
 life, and the immensity of its consequences, 
 and my surroundings inspired me to write a 
 hymn, commencing: 
 
 Lo ! on a narrow neck of land, 
 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand, 
 
 which I trust may pleasure your ladyship, weak 
 and feeble as it is when compared with the 
 songs of the sweet psalmist of Israel. I feel 
 that here, like Moses, I am a stranger in a
 
 24 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAXD. 
 
 strange land, and I pray hourly that when the . 
 night cometh, and when deep sleep falleth upon 
 me, I may not be found without a wedding 
 garment." 
 
 Extracts from a letter from John \Yesley to 
 General Oglethorpe illustrate some of the early 
 experiences of this noted evangelist. Me says: 
 
 "After leaving Jekyl Island came a most 
 wearisome journey of five days through swamps 
 and forests, when we reached the place for the 
 annual council of the Choctaws, and found the 
 savages gathered in great numbers. As I ga/.ed 
 upon the multitude of idolaters, to whom I would 
 fain be the messenger bearing the good tidings 
 of great joy. I was filled with a deep pity for 
 their unhappy state, and, as a hen gathereth her 
 chickens under her wings, felt to gladly labor 
 until i enter the house appointed for all the 
 living, to bring them within the fold purchased 
 for a sin-laden world. I had with me as in- 
 terpreter the half-breed, Mary Musgrove, and 
 daily had meetings for instruction and prayer. 
 and tru-t that the future may show that some 
 of the seed thus sown has fallen upon good
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 25 
 
 ground. One woman was baptized. She was 
 of those which conic out of great tribulation, 
 her husband and all her three children having 
 been drowned four days before in crossing the 
 Ogeechee River, and her happiness in the gos- 
 pel caused me to feel that, like Job, the Master 
 had caused the widow's heart to sing for j<>y. 
 She was again married the day following her 
 baptism, and when I suggested longer days of 
 mourning, she only replied that her first hus- 
 band was surely dead, and that his successor 
 was of much substance, having a cornfield and 
 a gun. I have acquired sundry words of the 
 language of the Choctaws, and long to be able 
 to speak to them in their mother tongue. I 
 doubt the interpreter, Mary Musgrove, who is 
 yet in the valley and shadow of darkness. To 
 speak to the idolatrous Choctaws in the Kng- 
 lish language is as the crackling of thorns under a 
 pot: is as one who would essay to draw out the 
 leviathan with a hook: who should seek" to bind 
 the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose 
 the bands of ( )rion. 
 
 Vcrilv the flesh is weak, for I cannot but
 
 26 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 long for the clay when again I may visit you 
 and enjoy the flesh-pots of Jekyl Island. I 
 can with difficulty eat the food of the savages. 
 Insects bite and destroy my sleep. I am as a 
 skeleton, and the evil one continually suggests 
 that I murmur at my lot, and seek an easier 
 way in which to serve the Lord." 
 
 In 1736 came to John Wesley the experience 
 of an earthly love, but the woman who was its 
 object married another, and this disappoint- 
 ment caused the great evangelist to free his 
 mind as to the woman and her husband in such 
 language that he was indicted for libel, and 
 tied to England to escape imprisonment, where- 
 upon George Whitefield was chosen by the 
 trustees as his successor, and arrived at Jekyl 
 Island iii 1737. 
 
 In further illustration of early life upon the 
 island, I copy one of the letters of Lady Oglc- 
 thorpe to Sir Theophilus, the father of her hus- 
 band. 
 
 " IH.AK AM) IIONOKF.D PAKE.VI : 
 
 I take my pen in hand to inform you that 
 mv dear husband ami mvself are well and I
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 27 
 
 hope these few lines may find you in the enjoy- 
 ment of the same great blessing. We are now 
 established in our new home on Jekyl Island, 
 and I would fain give you a picture of this 
 abode of the Governor of this promising colony. 
 The mansion is built of pine logs, plastered, 
 where plastered at all, with clay, and sur- 
 rounded by a dense forest. The house is very 
 large and commodious, but lacking many of the 
 conveniences of our pleasant home in Surrey. 
 We sleep on beds made of pine leaves, which 
 are most comfortable and exhale a balsamic 
 fragrance supposed to be conducive to health. 
 Our floors are of split pine logs, and about the 
 walls are wooden pegs upon which to hang our 
 srowns. Much of our china was broken on our 
 
 o 
 
 journey hither, and we use instead the pewter 
 mugs and plates brought for our servants. A 
 few red savages are near us, living in wigwams, 
 who beg often for tobacco, but bring us in re- 
 turn an abundance of venison and fish. The 
 secretary of the colony, Charles Wesley, dwells 
 with us upon the island, and is zealous to save 
 the souls of the Indians who come hither to
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 hunt and to fish. lie baptized a week since 
 one Indian and made him a part of Christian- 
 it}-, but later, for what reasons we cannot divine, 
 though certainly through evil temptations of 
 the father of idolatry, the devil, he suddenly 
 cast off the Christian religion and abandoned 
 the true, divine worship. Mr. Wesley has also 
 the gift of verse, and has written many sweet 
 hymns, which we sing in our family worship. 
 Last week came several cloud}- and dismal 
 days, which he reported to us had inspired him 
 to write a hymn contrasting the shadowed life 
 here with the brightness of that which is to 
 come. It begins thus : 
 
 Xo need of the sun in that day 
 
 Which never is followed by ni,<;ht, 
 Where Jesus's beauties display 
 
 A pure and a permanent lis^ht. 
 
 A few days later he wrote another, after a 
 most brilliant sunset, which we had all sur- 
 veyed with delight : 
 
 With glorious clouds encompassed round. 
 
 Whom angels dimly see, 
 Will the unsearchable be found, 
 
 Or God appear to me.
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 29 
 
 From these lines you will see his readiness to 
 draw instructive lessons from all the incidents of 
 daily life, although, as you will see later, some- 
 times his hymns come near to involve him in 
 trouble. 
 
 He is of much self-denial and oftentimes of 
 almost ascetic life, as appears from one of his 
 hymns commencing, 
 
 I do suspect some danger nigh 
 When I do feel delight. 
 
 From what I have written, you must not 
 infer that we live altogether a lonely and quiet 
 life. We have twice visited Charleston, the 
 principal city of South Carolina, where we have 
 been sumptuously entertained by the governor 
 and principal citizens, whom we have, of course, 
 invited to visit us in return. Recently we re- 
 ceived word that our invitations would be ac- 
 cepted. \Ye had informed them of our primi- 
 tive mode of life, which they fully realized, 
 having been in similar conditions themselves. 
 Last Wednesday we were startled by a long 
 blast from a conch shell, and on going to the 
 beach saw a large party approaching in a flat
 
 30 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 boat, men, women, negroes, horses and dogs. 
 The}- were soon disembarked and at the house. 
 where General Oglethorpe made them welcome 
 with an abundance of rum made by the Puri- 
 tans in that part of .America called New Eng- 
 land. They then told us that not to overtax our 
 hospitalities, they had brought with them an 
 abundance of food and servants, and proposed 
 to goat once to some suitable place upon the 
 shore and roast oysters. \Ve set out for a cove 
 about a mile distant from our home. The 
 progress towards it was a striking and curious 
 pageant. First, marched as trumpeter, a stal- 
 wart negro, blowing a conch shell and produc- 
 ng a dismal and incessant blare. Then Gen- 
 eral Oglethorpe on horseback, with myself be- 
 hind him on a pillion, and a negro on a mule. 
 carrying my best hat in a box. lest it be de- 
 stroyed by the trees and bushes. Then our 
 family coach, with one wheel missing from an 
 encounter with a stump, the axle being held up 
 by a pole, and within the family of Governor 
 Pickens, his wife, sister and a niece, Miss Mercy 
 Pickens. Then t\vo open wagons with the
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. .'51 
 
 other ladies of the party, and some jugs of rum 
 and boxes of food. About these rode the 
 gentlemen on horses and mules, among them 
 Mr. George Moultrie, a gallant young man who 
 is soon to wed Miss Mercy before named. 
 Around the cavalcade swarmed the negroes, 
 shouting and laughing, rolling their white eyes, 
 and showing their white teeth in contrast to 
 their shining black skins, and singing songs full 
 of melody and pathos. They seemed to bear 
 the names of all the heathen divinities and 
 historic heroes. I recall Diana, Mora, Phyllis, 
 C;esar, Pompey, Hannibal, Jupiter, and many 
 more. 
 
 The road to the beach, while rude and rough 
 for vehicles by reason of roots and stumps, 
 is of wonderful beauty, bordered with great 
 growths of evergreen oaks and magnolias, with 
 thickets of myrtle and bay, and a carpet of 
 dwarf palmetto, all of most lustrous green, and 
 the trees often festooned or bound together 
 with trailing garlands of pale, gray moss. 1 lie- 
 most perfect art could devise nothing more 
 beautiful than the tropical glories of this forest
 
 32 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 drive. When \ve reached the cove the negroes 
 waded into the water and brought ashore great 
 baskets of oysters, which the}" roasted in a fire 
 kindled from branches of the fragrant pine. 
 General Oglethorpe brewed a large tub of rum 
 punch, while I made a bowl of delicious sanga- 
 ree with wine from your own cellar, which has 
 been with us from the time of our leaving dear 
 old England. No one neglected these bever- 
 ages, and with the oysters, the cheese and other 
 viands with which we were provided, a royal 
 banquet was enjoyed. Many of the gentlemen 
 were nearly overcome with the rum punch, 
 although insisting that it was the roasted oys- 
 ters which made their legs unsteady, and this 
 had nearly led Mr. Wesley into serious trouble 
 with Mr. Moult rie, whose almost maudlin at- 
 tentions to his sweetheart. Miss Merc}', were 
 constant and even annoying to her. 
 
 As Mr. Wesley drank no punch, they insisted 
 he should sing, and he commenced one of his 
 hymns which is a favorite with us: 
 
 " Depth of mercy, can there be 
 Mercy still reserved for me ? "-
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. J5IJ 
 
 " Hold," shouted Mr. Moultrie, "none of your 
 damned presumption. Mercy is not reserved 
 for you or any of your kind. She is mine and 
 mine alone." General Oglethorpe interfered 
 and endeavored to explain, but Mr. Moultrie 
 would listen to nothing, and proposed to give 
 the Secretary a drubbing on the spot. I suc- 
 ceeded in quieting him, and asked Mr. Wesley 
 to substitute another hymn, whereupon he com- 
 menced : 
 
 "The day of jubilee is come, 
 Return ye ransomed sinners home." 
 
 " What ! " shouted my husband, " are you 
 ordering away my guests on their very arrival .' 
 None of your foolishness." '' Sir," said Mr. 
 Wesley, " I was not addressing your guests. I 
 do not consider them as ransomed sinners." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" said Governor Pick- 
 ens; "go, and drum your nonsense into the 
 woolly head of the negroes." 
 
 The riot was presently at an end, Mr. Wesley 
 returning to the house, and was forgotten utter 
 the gentlemen had slept off their potations. 
 
 The party remained with us for three days,
 
 34 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 and until the rum \vas exhausted, the gentle- 
 men hunting daily and the ladies riding about 
 the island and telling us all the gossip and 
 scandals of Charleston. The hunters brought 
 in an abundance of game, and this was cooked 
 and served by the negro servants brought with 
 our visitors, whose skill made us almost regret 
 General Oglethorpc's determination that no 
 slaves shall be held in the Georgia colony. 
 Xo more at present from your dutiful 
 
 daughter, 
 
 DOK< >TIIY O<,LKTH< RPK." 
 
 I will conclude with extracts from two letters 
 of George \Yhitefield to General Oglethorpe, 
 written with an interval of about thirty years 
 between, which illustrate a curious phase in 
 the life of this famous preacher. Whitefield, 
 soon after his arrival in Georgia, built what he 
 called an Orphanage, an institution where poor 
 and neglected children could be cared for, 
 educated and fitted for useful lives. During 
 his subsequent years this institution was his 
 constant care; he solicited money for it in all 
 his fields of labor. In 1739 he writes to Gen-
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. :r> 
 
 oral Oglethorpe thus, lie being at tliat time in 
 Savannah : 
 
 ''I have just this day reached Jekyl Island, 
 after an absence of three weeks, the most of 
 \vhich time was spent at the Orphanage and in 
 its vicinity. The dear children are well and 
 happy. Last February I decided to plant a 
 farm, with the view of using the gain there- 
 from to carry forward the work of the Orphan- 
 age. I am more than ever convinced of the 
 wisdom of excluding slavery from the Georgia 
 colony. Slavery is the sum of all villainies 
 and abominations, and could I secure money 
 in other ways, I would never touch again the 
 contributions from the Carolina* and Virginia, 
 made by the slave owners, whose wealth is 
 gained from the unpaid labor of wretched 
 negroes or by the infamous traffic in human 
 flesh. Scarcel\- shall such men inherit eternal 
 life. The gates of the celestial city shall rarely 
 open to those who traffic in the bodies and 
 souls of men. They have made a covenant 
 with death and with hell they are at agreement. 
 
 1 hired several people who had no homes or
 
 36 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 employment to cultivate the plantation, and 
 now that the crops are gathered, I am in 
 despair to find that there is no gain, but a loss. 
 The Master hath said, the laborer is worthy of 
 his hire, but the wages of the workman absorb 
 the value of the harvest and more. I entered 
 upon the work with lofty hopes, but pride 
 goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit 
 before a fall. Let not him that girdeth on his 
 harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. " 
 
 Nearly thirty years after the writing of this 
 letter, and near the close of Whitefield's life, 
 I find another letter from him to General Ogle- 
 thorpe. The General had long before returned 
 to England. \Yhitefield had spent the inter- 
 vening years in public work, having seven times 
 crossed the Atlantic, preaching with wonderful 
 effect in all parts of the New World, but having 
 always in mind his Orphanage, for which he 
 constantly labored and solicited aid. The letter 
 runs thus : 
 Mv DEAR AND HONORED FRIEND: 
 
 I am but now returned from a trip through 
 Virginia and the Carolinas, during \vhich I
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JKKYL ISLAND. :J7 
 
 made a short visit to the Orphanage, which is 
 as ever dear to my heart. The recollection of 
 your encouragement and help in this valiant 
 work: of the pleasant years when I was often 
 with you at Jekyl Island, cheered bv your wise 
 and helpful counsel, have minded me to again 
 write you something of myself and my labors. 
 I am come to the time in life when the grass- 
 hopper is a burden; my strength is weakness, 
 my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. 
 As William Shakespeare a man given over- 
 much to vain imaginings, vet whose lips oft- 
 times are touched with celestial tire, as he has 
 said : 
 
 Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore. 
 So do our minutes hasten to their end. 
 I trust that my labors in the Master's work 
 have not been in vain, vet, as I consider my 
 days and their approaching end, chiefly do I 
 value mvself upon the many children \\hom 
 the dear Orphanage has transformed from im- 
 pendinglives of vice and sin to faithful servants 
 of the Master. Three years since a Carolinian,
 
 38 THE LEGENDS OF JEKVL ISLAND. 
 
 who at one of our meetings had found the pearl 
 of great price, gave me three healthy negroes, 
 told me of the great gain in the cultivation of 
 tobacco, and that a tobacco plantation would of 
 itself nearlv maintain the Orphanage. I took 
 the monev which had been contributed for the 
 good work, bought a small plantation in South 
 Carolina, as slavery was forbidden in Georgia, 
 bought also nine other strong negro men and 
 women, and planted tobacco. Mv agent has 
 each year secured bountiful crops. The Lord 
 lias abundantly blessed our labors. The ne- 
 groes work from sunrise to sunset in the fields, 
 and bv moonlight cultivate the mai/e, which is 
 their food. The clothing for all costs scarcely 
 a pound in the vear, and having to pav them 
 no wages nor to buv them food, the results are 
 most hopeful. Daily and nightly do I praise 
 the Lord for these bountiful harvests, and prav 
 that lie whose mercv endureth forever mav 
 continue to bless our fields, and to cause the 
 labor of these negro slaves to bear abundant 
 fruit in the salvation of the many little ones
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. P/J 
 
 who arc ready to perish. Yerilv the word 
 fitly spoken by my adviser of the tobacco 
 plantation has been as apples of gold in pict- 
 ures of silver. 
 
 But, my friend, long and dearly loved, I 
 must come to an end. 1'erchance no more 
 shall I ga/e into thy eyes and grasp thy hand 
 upon this earth ; with me the fashion of this 
 world passeth away, but the love which is 
 stronger than death is my stay and my comfort 
 forever." 
 
 It has been with me a labor of love to rescue 
 from undeserved oblivion some few of the inci- 
 dents in what may be termed the halcyon clays 
 of Jckyl Island. During my stay at the Club 
 House, and since, in conversation with the 
 members, I have found no one who had searched 
 out, or was in any way familiar with, the period 
 of its occupation by Oglcthorpc. F.ven the 
 vague tradition that it had been thus occupied 
 was often questioned. But even the meagre 
 glimpse \vhich I have been able to afford of 
 these picturesque ten years gives to the spot a 
 much needed historic interest. Instead of be-
 
 40 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 
 
 ing, as generally believed, an island, dull and 
 uninviting, where a few negroes had cultivated 
 and then abandoned small cotton fields, and 
 where a pleasant winter climate was its sole 
 excuse for being, it is seen to be linked with 
 events romantic and far reaching in our national 
 life. We may in imagination picture General 
 Oglethorpe and his lovely wife entertaining 
 with royal hospitality the thirsty governors of 
 North Carolina and South Carolina, with their 
 escort of fair women and brave men. Through 
 the majestic groves of pine, oak and magnolia, 
 and across the broad savannas, we may see 
 the brilliant array of huntsmen gaily capari- 
 soned, following their hounds, while the cheer- 
 ing bugle blasts echo far and away through the 
 forest. We see the huntsmen returning home 
 with brush and game, welcomed by the courtly 
 dames as became a gallant and victorious 
 band of warriors; and as the sun goes down 
 we may see the powdered heroes leading 
 through the mazes of the stately minuet, on the 
 floor of logs, the ladies, brave in ruff, brocade 
 and farthingale.
 
 THE LEGENDS OF JEKYL ISLAND. 41 
 
 Under the fragrant pines we may see the 
 council of war, as General Oglethorpe with 
 his subordinates plans the brilliant though un- 
 successful campaign against the Spanish citv 
 of St. Augustine. Here, too, we see the 
 youthful Wesley, the founder of Methodism, 
 scarcely yet conscious of his mission and des- 
 tinv as he wanders dreamily along the shores 
 of the sounding sea, brooding the problems of 
 profoundest moment, or shaping the sacred 
 hymns, which have since, in all climes and 
 tongues, been the consolation of humanity. 
 And here, too, we see George Whitetield, the 
 most entrancing pulpit orator of the last two 
 centuries, seeking often, after his conflict with 
 tlie hosts of sin, rest for bodv and mind in the 
 forests of Jekyl Island: and, among the same 
 wide-spreading evergreen oaks, gray with their 
 trailing garlands of moss, under which we mav 
 wander to-dav, nursing for the lite-long battle 
 his fascinating and magical eloquence. Surely, 
 Prosper*), waving anew his magic wand, could 
 never summon from the vasty deep an island 
 more historically picturesque.
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 This book is 1)1 "E on the last date stamped below 
 
 JUL 
 
 Itl/U 
 
 UU* 
 
 Lu-ua 
 
 D 1974 
 
 uc'u co-4 
 
 
 AMGELES 
 
 r.TDD A Dir