Now must be introduced a gentleman whose family is truly the catalyst in uniting Hilton Head Island and Our Family Circle, his wife already twice mentioned above. History invariably refers to him as Doctor George Mosse. His 1808 Obituary states he was a graduate of the University of Dublin, although that venerable institution is presently unable to locate his records. He arrived in South Carolina from Ireland before October 1767 when he married Elizabeth Martin in the Parish of St. Thomas and St. Denis. After she died in childbirth, he moved to St. Helena's Parish and by 1771 married Dorothy Phoebe Norton whose father, Jonathon Norton, was a Vestryman of the Parish as early as 1751. With his son William, Jonathon Norton built the Chapel of Ease on St. Helena's Island, a tabby building now known as the White Church although it is in ruins, having been accidentally burned in a forest fire in 1888. Dr. Mosse practiced medicine and operated an extensive tannery and leather business. He planted grapes from which he manufactured sugar and wines, indigo, cane from which he made sugar and rum, and benne or sesame, prized for the valuable oil extracted from its seed. His bills to the Commissioners of the Treasury of the State of South Carolina for many of these items during the years 1782-1785 may still be seen in the Department of Archives in Columbia. It has been recorded that Dr. Mosse owned land on Hilton Head. Although its exact location is not now known, it is thought to have been at the south end. At any rate he knew the island well enough, having surveyed it and made a detailed map of it in 1783, dividing it into land lots for further development by Benjamin Bayley as agent for Henry Bayley, heir of Landgrave John Bayley of Ballingclough, Tipperary to whom most of the island had been granted as early as August 1698.

Dr. Mosse's knowledge of the area is illustrated by the story recorded by his granddaughter that he was made a prisoner of war by the British following Cornwallis' victory at the Battle of Camden in May 1781 where he served as a surgeon, was marched to Charleston and imprisoned there in the harbor aboard the Prison Ship Torbay . Official records indicate he was also imprisoned on the Prison Ship Pack Horse. The granddaughter's version says the prisoners were being shipped southward to St. Augustine and, having been allowed the freedom of the deck because of the heat and crowded conditions in the quarters below deck, when the ship passed Hilton Head Island Dr. Mosse dived overboard and swam ashore to freedom. Dr. Mosse and Dorothy Phoebe Norton were parents of seven children, all daughters, all of whom they raised and lived to see well-married. The first five children were all baptized in St. Helena's Church but in 1789 Dr. Mosse was talked by Rev. Joseph Cook of Euhaw into joining the Baptists, as were ultimately his brother-in-law, William Norton, and even his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Norton Graham. This wealthy and highly respected lady, known by all the Mosse sisters as "Aunt Graham", was the wife of the Rev. William Eastwick Graham who was sent by the Bishop of London in 1775 to be Rector of Prince William Parish. Following the barabarous destruction of his elegant Church at Sheldon by General Augustine Prevost in may 1779, he espoused the American cause and was frequently associated with Dr. Mosse in ventures on behalf of the patriots. He was also the owner of plantation lands on Hilton Head Island adjoining his nephew, William Pope, Sr. Shortly after 1790 Dr. Mosse moved his family to Savannah where they lived on the southeast corner of Broughton and West Broad Streets. In February 1793 his sixteen year old daughter, Elizabeth, there married James Stoney of 770-acre Otterburn (variously Otter Hall and Otter Hole) Plantation, Hilton Head Island.

Centreville, Miss., May 16, 1891 --

George Mosse was a native of Ireland, and coming to the United States a thoroghly educated gentleman, as well as physician, he settled in South Carolina on the island of St. Helena, near Mr. William Norton, a highly educated and cultivated gentleman from England, whose descendants are now numerous in Georgia and South Carolina and in other places. They were Episcopalians and Dr. Mosse, marrying the sister of Mr. Norton, they lived for a number of years on terms of intimacy and reared large families there. Dr. Mosse employed a private teacher in his family and gave to his seven daughters - of whom I spoke in my last - the best educational advantages of that time. When advanced in live he gave his daughters the advantages of a boarding school in the city of Charleston. His eldest daughter, Esther Maria, who married Captain P. McKinzie, had a piano guitar - a guitar with keys. Jane, the fourth daughter, the mother of J. S. Lawton of Atlanta, Ga., took lessons on the piano, one having been given to her by Aunt Graham, a wealthy sister of her mother.

Dr. George Mosse in process of time became a Baptist. As there was no church there he went to the main and became a member of the Euhano church and was baptised by Rev. Joseph Cook. Soon his wife and her brother, William Norton, followed, and in a while they constituted a church and built a meetinghouse at St. Helena. Dr. Mosse, besides his profession of medicine, carried on a tannery and kept a large store for the benefit of the community generally. Three of his seven daughters married on St. Helena, and he then removed to Savannah, Ga., where he was port physician and a deacon of the First Baptist church. After six or seven years (1806) he moved to Blackswamp, S. C., and bought a large quantity of land from some of the families who emigrated to Mississippi in 1806 - Peter Robert, Rev. Alex Scott, John Grimball, and Cheney, and others. He was useful in the church at Robertville as deacon, but only lived to make one crop, when he died in 1807 and was buried on his own plantation, hoping to make a graveyard there. His wife followed him in seven weeks and was buried by his side. In process of time Professor Terrence Hughes, the second husband of Aunt Betty M. Hughes, died and was buried by them and so these graves were alone in an old field and now are not known to any living person. Dr. George Mosse was a good and great man - useful in his day and time, and his numerous descendants will be glad to have these reliable data concerning him. These have been prepared by the assistance of Mrs. Martha Norton Buckner, now of Waycross, Ga.

    W.H. Robert, One of Them.

...[Dr. George Mosse] was a notable character in the coast country of South Carolina and in Savannah. He was born, reared and educated for the medical profession in the University of Dublin, Ireland. Soon after his graduation he came as a physician to America and settled on the Island of St. Helena, where he subsequently became the owner of a large amount of landed property. In addition to this professional practice he was a large planter and a manufacturer of leather. He became in time a man of considerable wealth, and of prominence in this section of the country. Both the Nortons and the Mosses were originally members of the Protestant Episcopal church, but after coming to America they became devoted members of the Baptist church. Dr. George Mosse, at his own expense, built a house of worship on the Island of St. Helena. The advantages for education on the island were extremely meagre, so in order to better educate his younger children, in about 1799 or 1800, he removed his family to Savannah. He had a large family and one of his daughters, Martha, became the wife of Col. Alexander Lawton. They were the parents of Gen. A.R. Lawton, now deceased, who was one of the most distinguished lawyers in Savannah, a brigadier general in the Confederate army, and for a long time the general attorney of the Central of Georgia Railroad. Members of the Norton family lived on the Island of St. Helena for over a hundred years and have been closely identified with the history of that island, as well as with the near-by towns of South Carolina; Beaufort, Bluffton, Robertville and Black Swamp, and with Savannah.

Full Source Text

One of the best known men in the medical profession in Savannah, is Dr. George Mosse Norton. His father and other members of his family were of the medical profession, and his ability in this line may be credited somewhat to inheritance. Born of one of the oldest southern families, he has lived up to the reputation for wit, and brilliancy and strength of character which had belonged to his ancestors for generations. Although one of the younger physicians in the city he has attained a success that an older practitioner might envy.

Dr. Norton was born in Savannah, Georgia, on the 29th of November, 1873, the son of Dr. Robert Godfrey Norton and Martha Jane (Edwards) Norton. He is descended from Jonathon Norton, a native of England, who early in life came to America and settled on the Island of St. Helena, off the coast of South Carolina. He was bon in 1705 and died in 1774, his wife being Mary Ann Chaplin. One of his daughters, dorothy Phoebe, became the wife of Dr. George Mosse. The latter was a notable character in the coast country of South Carolina and in Savannah. He was born, reared and educated for the medical profession in the University of Dublin, Ireland. Soon after his graduation he came as a physician to America and settled on the Island of St. Helena, where he subsequently became the owner of a large amount of landed property. In addition to this professional practice he was a large planter and a manufacturer of leather. He became in time a man of considerable wealth, and of prominence in this section of the country. Both the Nortons and the Mosses were originally members of the Protestant Episcopal church, but after coming to America they became devoted members of the Baptist church. Dr. George Mosse, at his own expense, built a house of worship on the Island of St. Helena. The advantages for education on the island were extremely meagre, so in order to better educate his younger children, in about 1799 or 1800, he removed his family to Savannah. He had a large family and one of his daughters, Martha, became the wife of Col. Alexander Lawton. They were the parents of Gen. A.R. Lawton, now deceased, who was one of the most distinguished lawyers in Savannah, a brigadier general in the Confederate army, and for a long time the general attorney of the Central of Georgia Railroad. Members of the Norton family lived on the Island of St. Helena for over a hundred years and have been closely identified with the history of that island, as well as with the near-by towns of South Carolina; Beaufort, Bluffton, Robertville and Black Swamp, and with Savannah.

The great-great-grandfather of Dr. George Mosse Norton was William Norton, son of the original Jonathon Norton. William Norton married Mary Godfrey, and like Dr. Mosse, removed in later life from the Island of St. Helena, to Savannah. One of his sons, the great-grandfather of the present Dr. Norton, was Robert Godfrey Norton, who was a soldier of the Continental line during the Revolutionary war. Robert Godfrey Norton married his cousin, Sarah Mosse, and most of his life was spent at Robertville, South Carolina. One of their sons was Dr. Alexander Norton, grandfather of Dr. George Mosse Norton. For a number of years Dr. Alexander Norton practiced medicine in the city and was the first official port physician of Savannah. He married Miss Julia Green, and after living for a number of years in Robertville, after the close of the Civil war, he again returned to Savannah and died here in 1869.

Dr. Robert Godfrey Norton was born in Robertville, South Carolina, on the 17th of March, 1841, and died in Savannah in 1900. He was a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, and also of the Charleston Medical college, and was one of the leading physicians in Savannah for many years. He was married in 1861 to Martha Jane Edwards, of Effingham county, Georgia, and they became the parents of the following children: Fannie Cone, who is now the wife of Gordan L. Grover, of Savannah; Robert G.; William Edwards; George Mosse, and Walter Abell. The latter is a physician and is practicing medicine in Savannah. Dr William Edwards Norton, who was also a physician of Savannah, died in this city in March, 1911. Dr. George Mosse Norton was reared in Savannah and was educated in the public schools of his home city and in the University of Georgia, at Athens. He studied medicine in the Southern Medical College at Atlanta Georgia, from which he was graduated in the class of 1898. Two years later he went to New York City, where he took post-graduate work in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. He then began his practice in Savannah and soon became one of the successful members of his profession in the city. He has continued to build up a large general practice, but of late years he has turned his attention more directly to surgery. He is a member of the Georgia and the American Meical Associations, and is a member of the staff of Park View Sanatarium. In his fraternal relations he is a member of the Masons and the Elks. For several years he was an active member of the Georgia Hussars, in which he was surgeon with the rank of lieutenant. He was awarded a medal for horsemanship by the Hussars in 1899.

The city of Savannah is noted for its historic old mansions, and the home of Dr. Norton is one of the most notable. It was originally built by Joseph Waldburg as a home for his family, and after his death it was occupied for many years by his son-in-law, Colonel Clinch, a native of South Carolina. The house is an example of that substantial style of architecture used by men of wealth in a former age, when timber was plentiful, and veneer was unknown. The walls of the house are more than two feet thick, and the brick of which it is built is all rosined as are the hardwood floors. The ceilings, walls, partitions and other inside wood work are all of the costliest and most durable materials. The interior furnishings, decorations and the wonderful chandeliers were all imported from Europe and most of these still remain to add to the artistic beauty of the house itself. A delightful garden on the Barnard street side of the house is in keeping with the rest, and on the west side is another garden which affords a charming playground for the children. The property has one hundred and twenty feet of frontage on Oglethorpe avenue, and from a financial standpoint is one of the most valuable in the city. The house is built with two stories and a basement, containing many rooms of the generous proportions that our ancestors enjoyed. It cost $55,000 and required three years and a half in building.

Doctor Norton was married in Savannah, October 6, 1902 to Miss Leila Exley, daughter of Marquis D. and Emma N. (Grovenstein) Exley. They have four children; Elizabeth Emma, Leila Lucile, Angela Willie, and George Mosse, Jr.

To the Printers of the Savannah Museum

Gentlemen,
Observing in your paper of the 20th inst. an indirect attack on my integrity, by Mr. Richard Bland, I have to remark that he has no occasion to trouble the public with his caution; the most advisable way for him to have proceeded would have been to have paid the balance due to me, as per accompt current, lately delivered to him in which all his credits with the Note he refers to, are stated, and which Note, from his refusing to leave a matter in dispute between us to arbitration, is held as a collateral security for the balance due me. That I would further observe that Mr. Bland has no receipt which does not specify either at bottom, or on the back of it, that I have yet an open accompt against him.

Aug. 27     GEORGE MOSSE