Habersham, James

Habersham, James (hă'burshum) [key], 1713–75, colonial statesman, acting governor of Georgia (1771–73), b. Beverley, Yorkshire, England. He came to Georgia (1738) and was associated with George Whitefield and the Bethesda Orphanage until he became (1744) a merchant. He favored the introduction of slavery into the colony and played an important role in the colonial politics after Georgia became a royal province. Unlike his son Joseph, he was a strong Loyalist, and he dissolved (1773) the assembly for its radical actions in the unrest preceding the American Revolution.