Telfair, Edward, 1735-1807

Edward Telfair (1735 – September 17, 1807) was a Scottish-born American Founding Father and politician who served as the Governor of the state of Georgia between 1786 and 1787, and again from 1790 through 1793. He was a member of the Continental Congress, and one of the signers of the Articles of Confederation.

Born on his family's ancestral estate in western Scotland, Telfair graduated from the Kirkcudbright Grammar School before acquiring commercial training. He immigrated to America in 1758 as an agent of a commission house, settling in Virginia. Telfair subsequently moved to Halifax, North Carolina, and finally to Savannah, Georgia, where he established his own commission house. Telfair was a slave owner and a consultant on issues related to slavery. His mercantile firm dealt in slaves, among other things, and contemporary correspondence of his included discussions of such topics as: the management of slaves; the purchase and sale of slaves; runaway slaves; the mortality rate of slaves born on plantations; the difficulty of selling closely related slaves; and the relations between whites and freedmen.

Telfair was a member of a Committee of Safety from 1775 to 1776 and was a delegate to the Georgia Provincial Congress meeting at Savannah in 1776. He was also a member of the Georgia Committee of Intelligence in 1776. Telfair was elected to the Continental Congress for 1778, 1780, 1781, and 1782. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. In 1783, during the Cherokee–American wars, Telfair was commissioned to treat with the Chickamauga Cherokee Indians. Telfair was the designated agent (on behalf of Georgia) in talks aimed at settling the northern boundary dispute with North Carolina in February 1783. He served three terms as Governor of the state of Georgia. During his second term as governor, he illegally granted thousands of acres of land to speculators as part of the Yazoo land fraud. Telfair was one of only 12 men who received electoral votes during the first election for President and Vice President of the United States, receiving the vote of one unrecorded elector from his home state of Georgia.

Telfair died in Savannah in 1807, interred initially in the family vault at Sharon plantation. Later in the 19th century, his remains were moved to Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.