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Soperton...The
First Settlers
The story begins with
the arrival of James Edward Oglethorpe on the coast
of what would become Georgia. Oglethorpe, an English
soldier and politician, landed north of Yamacraw Bluff
on Feb. 12, 1733, on the galley Anne . The ship carried
125 people, or 35 families. Georgia is unique in that
the colony was conceived as a philanthropic endeavor
to offer a fresh start for good people who had fallen
on hard times. Under the leadership of a group of
Trustees headed by Oglethorpe, the group settled what
became Savannah. But the settlers were not the first
to inhabit these lands.
Oglethorpe's group was
quickly--and peacefully--welcomed by Tomochichi, the
leader of the Yamacraw Indians, who immediately ceded
the site of Savannah. The Yamacraw were Creek Indians,
one of two Native American groups peopling Georgia.
And it was the Creeks who inhabited this land that
is now Treutlen County. Artifacts testifying to their
having been here are still being unearthed along the
banks of the Oconee River.
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