Page 61 - Pilgrims in Georgia

R Contributing to American Independence

When the time came for the people of Midway and
the surrounding parish / county to decided upon

independence from Great Britain or remaining in the
Empire it could be expected that independence
would be the understandable decision. So, before
the rest of the Georgia colony’s sentiments were in
favor of breaking with Britain the descendants of the
Puritans were already contributing to the cause. Dr.
Lyman Hall who was a leader in the first Continental
meetings in Georgia was subsequently elected as a
delegate from St. Johns and three other Parishes to
attend the First and Second Continental Congress in
Philadelphia though Georgia officially did not send
any delegates to either Congress. When Sir James Wright the royal governor, learned that an agreement to adopt the

resolutions and association of the Continental Congress by the citizens of St. John's Parish had been initiated, he declared
that "these rebel measures had resulted from the influence of the descendants of the people of New England of the
Puritan Independent sect.“ Once Georgia had decided organize it’s own Provincial Congress in favor of independence in
January, 1776, Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett who were both from St. Johns Parish and members of the Midway Society
along with Savannah Lawyer George Walton, were appointed
delegates to the Continental Congress from Georgia and
signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.
Two generals in the subsequent Revolutionary War also came
from the Parish, Generals James Screven and Daniel Stewart.
And as a result of the contribution to the cause of liberty by

the peoples of the Parish, the name of the Parish would be
changed to Liberty County and five other counties named in
honor of their citizens who were distinguished for their role in
the war effort.

Signing of the Declaration of Independence