Background
Telfair was born in 1735 on his family's ancestral estate in western Scotland.
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Edward Telfair
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Having received his formal education in the Kirkcudbright grammar school, he entered a commercial house, and at the age of twenty-three came to Virginia as its agent.
Career
About 1766 he settled in Georgia where, two years later, he represented St. Paul's Parish in the Commons House of the Assembly. He identified himself, thereafter, with the city of Savannah, although for a time he lived in Burke County and at "The Grove" near Augusta. In Savannah he formed numerous business partnerships, the firms becoming the principal commercial houses in colonial Georgia, dealing largely in European and East India goods, and also selling some slaves. Telfair engaged also in ship-building and accumulated large land holdings, especially after the Revolution. So successful were his businesses that when he died he left a fortune, which, with the extinction of the family in 1875, was devoted to the establishment of the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences and other benefactions in Savannah.
Though prosperous in business and honored by appointment to various commissionerships in the colony, Telfair joined the Liberty Boys, on the rise of discontent in 1774, and became one of the most prominent rebels during the next two years. He was present at the various Tondee Tavern meetings in 1774, was a member of the committee appointed to receive donations for the Boston sufferers, attended the first three provincial congresses, was a member of the original council of safety, and a leader of the mob which broke open the royal powder magazine in Savannah. He was also appointed assistant commander of the up-country militia and was a member of the committee to arm the state, yet, in June 1776, he was listed in a group described as dangerous to the liberties of America. Whether the petty spite of enemies or a temporary relapse in patriotism was responsible (William Telfair, a brother, and Basil Cowper, both business associates, remained loyal to the king), he was soon back in the rebel ranks, with patriotic fervor never again to be questioned. In 1780 and 1781, his name was in the lists attainted for high treason by the restored British authority in Savannah, and from this time forth he remained a bitter enemy of the British.
He was a member of the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1783. At various times from 1781 to 1784 he was justice and assistant justice for Burke County, and in the year 1783 he held the following positions: Indian commissioner to treat with the Creeks and Cherokees, commissioner to adjust the boundary dispute with South Carolina, and representative in the legislature from Burke County. In 1785 he was reelected to the legislature and the next year he was elected governor. During his one-year term he showed great vigor in dealing with the Indians and with South Carolina in the boundary dispute. In 1788 he was a member of the convention which ratified the federal Constitution, in 1789 he was a member of the legislature from Richmond County, and became the first governor under the new Georgia constitution of 1789. As governor he came into conflict with the United States over the Indian question precipitated by the Treaty of New York, and over the Chisholm vs. Georgia case, which he pushed forward into such a burning issue that it led to the Eleventh Amendment. He was reckless in his dealings with the state's public lands, illegally signing warrants for as much as 100, 000 acres to one person.
Achievements
Membership
He was a member of the Continental Congress.
Connections
On May 18, 1774, he was married to Sally, a daughter of William Gibbons. They had three sons and three daughters.
