Button Gwinnett and Saint Catherines Island

Mary Musgrove was a half-breed Creek Indian who served as interpreter for James Edward Oglethorpe after he established Georgia in 1733. When her husband, a white trader, died in 1735, she married Jacob Matthews in 1736. He died in 1742. She then married Thomas Bosomworth, who came from England to Georgia as a clerk and soldier, became a preacher and gave up the ministry when he married Mary Musgrove Matthews.

The British crown deeded Saint Catherines Island to Mary Musgrove Matthews Bosomworth as a reward for her services as an interpreter for Oglethorpe. She and her husband built a home and established a plantation on the island. When she died he became owner of all her property. They had no chil­dren. He made his home in Savannah, Georgia, after she died.

Button Gwinnett arrived in Savannah. Georgia, from England in 1765 to pursue a career as a merchant. By 1774 he had bought Saint Catherines Island from Bosomworth, established a general store at Sunbury, brought his wife and one child from England, was residing in the Bosomworth home on Saint Catherines Island and had embarked on a political career.