George Rockingham Gilmer
Representative
from Georgia; born near Lexington, Wilkes (now Oglethorpe) County,
Ga., April 11, 1790; attended a classical school and an academy
at Abbeville, S.C.; taught a private school while studying law;
served as first lieutenant in the Forty-third Regiment, United States
Infantry, from 1813 to 1815 in the campaign against the Creek Indians
and built a fort on the Chattahoochie River near the present city
of Atlanta; resumed the study of law and began practice in Lexington
in 1818; member of the State house of representatives in 1818, 1819,
and 1824; elected to the Seventeenth Congress (March 4, 1821-March
3, 1823); resumed the practice of law; trustee of the University
of Georgia at Athens 1826-1857; elected to the Twentieth Congress
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Edward F. Tatnall
and served from October 1, 1827, to March 3, 1829; reelected to
the Twenty-first Congress, but failing to signify his acceptance,
the Governor announced a vacancy and ordered a new election; Governor
of Georgia 1829-1831; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third
Congress (March 4, 1833-March 3, 1835); chairman, Committee on Indian
Affairs (Twenty-third Congress); presidential elector in 1836 and
voted for White and Tyler; again Governor of Georgia 1837-1839;
presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840; author and historian;
died in Lexington, Ga., November 16, 1859; interment in Presbyterian
cemetery. Gilmer County, Ga. is named for him.
