In 1737, Englishman William Stephens (1671--1753) sailed to Georgia to serve as colonial secretary to its British Board of Trustees. His lucid reports on the condition of Georgia deeply impressed the board, which eventually appointed him president of the troubled colony. The elderly Stephens adroitly shepherded the fledgling settlement over the following decade through a precarious and tumultuous period. Though Stephens's actions proved critical to the survival of colonial Georgia, historians have largely overlooked his life story.

In William Stephens: Georgia's Forgotten Founder, Julie...