by Sam Moss, Assistant Curator
August 28, 2025 – In Savannah, we’ve all driven down Habersham Street, walked past Habersham Hall, maybe even visited Habersham County. But do we all know the man who lent his name to so many places in the Lowcountry?
James Habersham, who died on this day in 1775 at the age of 63, emigrated to the young colony of Georgia in 1738 alongside his lifelong friend Reverend George Whitfield.
The pair established the orphanage at Bethesda and Habersham taught at the school. He’d go on to establish himself as a successful businessman and merchant, and serve in various political appointments, including Royal Secretary of Georgia, President of the General Assembly’s Upper House, and Lieutenant Governor.
James Habersham remained loyal to his home country and his King until his death in 1775. However, his three sons, James Jr., Joseph, and John, were all patriotic supporters of the American Revolution.
This familial divide wasn’t unusual during a conflict that many historians have referred to as the first American Civil War.
James Habersham was sympathetic to the plight of the Americans. He wrote about the unfairness of taxation without representation and the financial burden placed on the newly established colonial industries. However, he never wavered from his belief in the undying fealty owed by a Christian subject to his God, his King, and his country.
Habersham also never, that we know of, pressured his sons to follow in his footsteps. He wrote to Joseph, who was abroad at the time, “I do not know that ever I told you my Sentiments of the present unhappy differences in Great Britain and in America, and Perhaps I may not ‘till I think you have deliberately formed your own because I would have you do it from your own convictions, or free from parental inference.”
Joseph Habersham would indeed come to hold strong convictions, and they would be nothing like his father’s.
Despite their widely differing views on statehood, monarchy, and the American question, James Habersham is buried together with all three of his sons. James Jr., Joseph, and John Habersham were all supporters of the colonist’s cause, giving money, joining the Continental Army, and working in the infant government.
Joseph Habersham (1751-1815) was perhaps the most zealous of the Habersham brothers. He was an active member of the Liberty Boys, the rabble rousing group of patriots who disrupted royal rule and led the early calls for revolution.
Joseph himself led the mob that arrested Royal Governor James Wright–a close friend of his father’s–in January of 1776. He was an active member of the Council of Safety and the Georgia Provincial Council. He was a colonel in the Continental Army before until he was forced to resign after serving as Lachlan McIntosh’s second in the duel that resulted in the death of former Georgia President Button Gwinnett.
He’d continue to participate in the Patriot cause as a civilian throughout the war. Once independence and a new country had been established, he continued to serve. He was the mayor of Savannah and was later named Postmaster General by President George Washington himself.
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