Sunbury: Home of Many Famous Persons

Many famous persons lived in the town of Sunbury. Among them was Dr. Lyman Hall, signer of the Declaration of Independence. It was also the home of Richard Howley and Nathan Brownson, later governors of Georgia; of John Elliott and Alfred Cuthbert, United States Senators; of Major John Jones and Major Lachlan McIntosh. Button Gwinnett, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, spent much time here as a Justice of St. John's Parish, and Georgia's third signer, George Walton, was among those held in Sunbury as a prisoner of the British during the Revolution. Maria J. McIntosh, noted authoress and her brother, Commodore James McKay McIntosh, hero of the Mexican War, were born in Sunbury. The Hon. John E. Ward, first United States Minister to China, and the Hon. William Law, noted Jurist, were also natives of Sunbury.