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Dissertation Information for Doris Behrman Fisher

NAME:
- Doris Behrman Fisher

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1990)

ADVISORS:
- John T. Juricek

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: Mary Musgrove: Creek Englishwoman

Abstract: Mary Musgrove (ca. 1700-1765) was one of the most influential and colorful figures in colonial Georgia. The daughter of a white trader and a Creek Indian woman, she was related to the most powerful family in the Lower Creek nation. At a very young age, Mary was sent to live with her father's people in South Carolina and these formative years among the whites later colored all her actions. Throughout her life, Mary Musgrove had a dual allegiance to the English and the Creeks.

When James Oglethorpe and the first settlers of Georgia arrived in 1733, Mary and her first husband, John Musgrove, were on hand to welcome them. Mary acted as Oglethorpe's interpreter and liaison to the Creeks during his ten-year stay in the colony. She supplied meat for the colonists and warriors for Oglethorpe's regular forays against the Spanish in Florida. Her life would have followed a relatively uneventful course had she not become the center of a divisive land controversy involving English territorial sovereignty in America.

In 1738 Mary received an Indian grant for a tract of land next to Savannah. She spent the next twenty-three years attempting to gain English confirmation of her grant and in the interim also received grants for the sea islands of St. Catherines, Ossabaw, and Sapelo. When her claims were finally resolved in 1761, Mary became the largest landowner in Georgia.

This biography of Mary Musgrove emphasizes the importance of her mixed heritage and divided allegiance, and examines the significance of the bitter land controversy which she provoked.

MPACT Scores for Doris Behrman Fisher

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-01 12:12:59

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Students under Doris Behrman Fisher

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None