LIBERTY COUNTY. 375 



rica in 1783. For ten years he conducted a school in Alex- 

 andria, of which Gen. Washington was a trustee. In 1793 he 

 came to Georgia and established himself in Sunbury, where he 

 conducted a school for several years. He then devoted him- 

 self to the improvement of the moral condition of the people 

 of Liberty, Bryan and Mcintosh counties. Although now 

 nearly 90 years of age, his intei^est in his Master's cause 

 seems undiminished, and his only regret is, that on account 

 of the infirmities of age, he is not able to do more. Dr. 

 McWhir was the founder of the first Presbyterian church or- 

 ganized in Florida. 



Mr. Audley Maxwell was a member of the fii'st General 

 Assembly in Georgia, which met in Savannah, on the 15th day 

 of January, 1751. 



Dr. J. M. B. Harden, who died about two years since, was 

 a resident of this county. He was born on the 19th day of 

 January, 1810, in Bryan county. He early discovered a love 

 of, and an aptness for learning ; and after the usual prepara- 

 tion at home, he was sent to a public school in the village of 

 Sunbury. He did not, however, remain here long. When 

 only eleven years of age, he was deprived by death of his father's 

 guardian care. By this providence, the physical, moral, and 

 intellectual care of six orphan children devolved upon his 

 mother, and under whose watchful eye her son completed 

 his scholastic studies. In the autumn of 1826, he was 

 transferred from his maternal home to the office of Dr. 

 William C. Daniell, of Savannah, there to pursue the study 

 of medicine, a profession of his own choice. Dr. Daniell 

 soon estimated his abilities, and gave him proper direc- 

 tions in his course of study. His esteem for his preceptor 

 ripened into friendship, which he cherished all his life. Hav- 

 ing pursued his medical studies with ardour and delight, till the 

 fall of 1828, his preceptor thought him qualified, and recom- 

 mended him to attend a course of medical lectures. For this 

 purpose he visited Charleston, and remained until the close of 

 the lectures in the spring of 1829. After his return home he 

 continued his studies with unabated zeal ; and in the fall of 

 that year Dr. Daniell recommended to him the propriety of ap- 

 plying at once to the Medical Board of Georgia for a license 



