page_title: Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America
section_title: List of Georgia Trustees
hierarchical_section_title: Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America / List of Georgia Trustees
caption_attribution_description: An eighteenth-century oil painting owned by the Winterthur Museum claims to depict James Oglethorpe presenting the Yamacraw Indians to the Georgia Trustees, an event on July 3, 1734, one year after Oglethorpe landed to start the new colony. The 25 bewigged and befrocked Englishmen have been identified. Oglethorpe is standing in the center, receiving an Indian boy by the hand. This suggests the Christianization of Indians, one of the chartered purposes of the philanthropic Georgia colony. The boy is dressed in English style, while the Indian men are in native dress. The Savannah trader John Musgrove (d. 1735) mediates as interpreter. Oglethorpe had boasted that the Lower Creek Nation "is within half a mile of us and has concluded a peace with us giving up their right to all this part of the country… The king comes regularly to church and is desirous to be instructed in the Christian religion and has given to me his nephew, a boy who is his next heir, to educate." The one Indian woman in the painting, also portrayed in English dress, is Tomochichi’s wife Senawchi. The other Indians are usually identified simply as "Indians," though sometimes they are called Creek or "Yamacraw."
context_page_description: The Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America, or simply the Georgia Trustees, was organized by James Edward Oglethorpe and associates following Parliamentary investigations into prison conditions in Britain. The organization petitioned for a royal charter in July, 1731, which was signed by George II in April, 1732. After passing through government ministries, the charter reached the Trustees in June, 1732. Oglethorpe personally led the first group of colonist to the New World colony, departing England on November, 1732 and arriving at the site of present-day Savannah, Georgia on February 12, 1733 O.S. The founding of Georgia is celebrated on February 1, 1733 N.S., the date corresponding to the modern Gregorian calendar adopted after the establishment of the colony.
caption: James Oglethorpe presenting the Yamacraw Indians to the Georgia Trustees on July 3, 1734 by William Verelst
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