Complex sentence: In the early 1800's Thomas Spalding, a future Georgia Senator and U.S. Representative, bought the island and developed it into a plantation, selling live oak for shipbuilding, introduced irrigation ditches, and cultivated Sea Island Cotton, corn, and sugar cane.
Split into simpler sentences: In the early 1800's Thomas Spalding bought the island and developed it into a plantation. Spalding sold live oak for shipbuilding, introduced irrigation ditches, and cultivated sea island cotton, corn, and sugar cane.