William Stephens

Who was William Stephens?

William Stephens was the governor of the Province of Georgia between the years 1743-1751.

William Stephens was born on the Isle of Wight, England, where his father was lieutenant governor. He was educated at the Winchester School, and at King's College, Cambridge. He then studied law at the Middle Temple, but did not pass the bar. He married in 1696, and the following year was elected to Parliament representing Newport. Sometime after 1712 he went to the Province of Carolina.

In 1737, he was appointed secretary to the Board of Trustees of the Province of Georgia. He landed in Savannah November 1, 1737, and began to settle disputes among the colonists. He stayed several years in this capacity. Having known the spread the plague in Georgia and of writing a report about it, he was appointed governor of the colony. In the next decade, Georgia was threatened by poverty. The aging Stephens eventually turned Georgia affairs over to Henry Parker in 1750, although he continued to hold the post of president until 1751. He apparently died in 1753, although the details of death recorded by his son are, according to his biographer Julie Anne Sweet, somewhat fanciful.