Biographical Memorials of James Oglethorpe | Page 2

very difficult
undertaking; the materials for composing it, excepting what relates to
the settlement of Georgia, were to be sought after in the periodicals of
the day, or discovered by references to him in the writings or memoirs
of his contemporaries. I have searched all the sources of information to
which I could have access, with the aim to collect what had been
scattered; to point out what had been overlooked; and, from the
oblivion into which they had fallen, to rescue the notices of some
striking incidents and occurrences in the life of Oglethorpe, in order to
give consistency and completeness to a narrative of the little that had
been preserved and was generally known.
[Footnote 1: Gulian Veerplanck, Esq. Anniversary Discourse before the
New York Historical Society, December 7, 1818, page 33.]
To use the words of one who had experience in a similar undertaking:
"The biographer of our day is too often perplexed in the toil of his
researches after adequate information for composing the history of men
who were an honor to their age, and of whom posterity is anxious to
know whatever may be added to increase the need of that veneration,
which, from deficient knowledge, they can but imperfectly bestow."
My collected notices I have arranged so as to form a continuous
narrative, though with some wide interruptions. The statements of the
most important transactions have generally been made in the terms of
original documents, or the publications of the day; as I deemed it more
just and proper so to do, than to give them my own coloring. And I
must apprize the reader, that instead of aiming to express the recital in
the fluency of rhetorical diction, or of aspiring to decorate my style of
composition with studied embellishments, MY PURPOSE HAS
SIMPLY AND UNIFORMLY BEEN TO RELATE FACTS IN THE
MOST PLAIN AND ARTLESS MANNER; and I trust that my
description of scenes and occurrences will be admitted to be natural
and free from affectation; and my inferences, to be pertinent, impartial,
and illustrative. I hope, too, that it will not be thought that the detail of
circumstances is needlessly particular, and the relation of incidents too
minute. For, these, though seemingly inconsiderable, are not
unimportant; and, though among the minor operations of active life,
serve to indicate the state of existing opinions and prevailing motives,

and to exhibit the real aspect of the times. They also have, more or less,
relation to forth-coming events. They are foot-prints in the onward
march to "enterprises of great pith and moment;" and hence should be
carefully traced and inspected. Though my authorities are duly noted, I
have not been so particular as to distinguish every passage which I had
transcribed by marks of quotation; and, therefore, being willing that
this work should be considered as mainly a compilation, with
unassuming pretensions, entitle it BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIALS.
After the lapse of more than a century since Oglethorpe entered on the
stage of action, it cannot be expected that the varied incidents of so
busy, eventful, and long protracted a life as was his, can be brought out
and fully described; or that the prominent personal qualities of so
singular a character can be delineated, for the first time, with vivid
exactness and just expression. Not having presumed to do this, I have
attempted nothing more than a general outline or profile.
Such as I have been able to make the work, I present it to the public.
Whatever may be the reception which it may meet, I shall never think
the moments misspent, which were devoted to the purpose of reviving
the memory of Oglethorpe, and of perpetuating his fame by a more full
recital of his deeds than had been heretofore made.
BOSTON, _July 7th_, 1838.
* * * * *
Since the preceding preface was written, the Reverend Charles Wallace
Howard, who had been commissioned by the Legislature of Georgia to
procure from the public offices in London, a copy of the records of the
Trustees for the settlement of the Province, and of other colonial
documents, has returned, having successfully accomplished the object
of his mission. It may be thought that these are of such importance that
all which I have done must be defective indeed, unless I avail myself of
them; and so, perhaps, it may prove. But my advanced old age, my
feeble state of health, and other circumstances, prevent my doing so. I
console myself, however, with the consideration that as they consist of
particulars relative to the settlement and early support of Georgia, to
which Oglethorpe devoted not quite eleven years of a life extended to
nearly a hundred, they would only contribute to render more distinct
the bright and glorious meridian of his protracted day,--while I aimed
to