• Foremost, they desired to aid the poor.  As the idea of the Colony evolved and began to take shape, the definition of “the poor” was expanded to include “unfortunate Englishmen or non Englishmen”.  Originally, the idea may have been to assist those imprisoned as debtors. Faced with a flood of applicants, most of whom were merely “unfortunate” and not debtors, the Trustees selected those they felt most likely to succeed in the new Colony.  Between 1733 and 1742, twenty-eight hundred persons crossed the Atlantic to join the new Colony; of these, over one thousand paid their own way.  Even among those sent at the expense of the Trustees, released debtors were rare and numbered fewer than one dozen.
• The second goal for Georgia was to provide England with goods for trade and commerce and, according to the Charter, increase the wealth of the realm.  The Trustees may have been well meaning, but perhaps not the most practical of men.  They envisioned Georgia supplying silk and wine. It seems they considered all land able to grow anything equally well, and all men, intrinsically knowing how to farm.  Of the first group of settlers only three had any type of farming experience.  John Penrose was a husbandman, Joseph Fitzwalter, a gardener, and John Gready was the only one actually listed as a farmer.
• Lastly, Georgia was intended to fortify England's claim to the Southern territory.  She would provide a buffer between South Carolina and the Spanish at St. Augustine and defend against Indian attacks.

So, just who were those folks who crossed an ocean in hopes of a better life?  By 1743 over two thousand persons had made the journey.  The first group of settlers to reach Georgia arrived in early 1733 on the frigate Anne.  James Edward Oglethorpe, the only Trustee ever to visit Georgia, accompanied this group of one hundred and fourteen.  While one can only imagine the difficulty of crossing the Atlantic in the dead of winter, they weathered the voyage in relatively good health.  During the crossing there were only two deaths:  James Cannon, 7 months old, and nine month old James Clark.  Both children were said to be sickly before the voyage even began.

Rumor has it that attorneys were banned from the Colony. Not true.  There were two among those early colonists – Will. Aglionby and Will Williamson, neither of whom endeared themselves to their fellow colonists.  Aglionby was described as a mischief maker in the Earl of Egmont’s Journal. 

Mostly, the colonists were ordinary people -- blacksmiths, apothecaries, apprentices, bookkeepers, carpenters, locksmiths, masons, ministers, schoolmasters, tanners and the like.  The first English child born in Georgia was named Georgia.  The daughter of Henry and Hannah Close, Georgia was born on born 17 March 1733.  For being the first child born in the Colony, she was presented with a silver boat and spoon from James Hume of South Carolina.

The first year proved exceedingly difficult for the Colonists.  Twenty-nine, or roughly 25% of the one hundred and fourteen died within that first year.

Back in England, the Trustees continued to make rules for the Colony. Sale and/or consumption of rum was prohibited. English beer was acceptable and plenty had been provided for the colonists.  Slavery was prohibited – not for moral reasons, but because the Trustees felt it was not practical for Georgia.  Yet, when the city of Savannah was being laid out, South Carolina slaves were hired to fell trees.

By far, the majority of Colonists were from England.  A few came from Northern Italy, Switzerland and Wales.  A group of English Jews came in 1733 at their own expense. Non English settlers included the Salzburgers (German Protestants), who arrived in March of 1734 and settled at Ebenezer. The language barrier kept them from interacting much with the other colonists. Another group of German Protestants, the Moravians, arrived between 1735 and 1738.  They soon migrated to Pennsylvania as they found their religious beliefs, which prohibited fighting, to be in conflict with the defensive objectives of the Colony.  In 1735, the Scots Highlanders, who had no such qualms about fighting, settled at Darien.

Despite setbacks and hardships, the Colony thrived. By 1755, land was granted in fee simple rather than through the restrictive tail male system imposed by the Trustees.  The Trustees charter expired and Georgia became a royal colony.