John Floyd (Georgia politician)

Brigadier-General John Floyd (October 3, 1769 – June 24, 1839) was an American politician, planter and military officer who served in the 1st Brigade of the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812. One of the largest landowners and wealthiest men in Camden County, Georgia, Floyd also served in the Georgia House of Representatives, as well as the United States House of Representatives. John Floyd was born October 3, 1769, at Hilton Head, South Carolina in the Beaufort District, the only child of Charles Floyd and Mary Fendin. He was reared at Walnut Hill, his father's plantation on Hilton Head. Charles Floyd, owner and planter of Walnut Hill Plantation, had been born March 4, 1747, in Northampton County, Virginia, the son of Samuel Floyd and Susanna "Susan" Dixon. His parents both died in Northampton County when he was six. He went to live with his Dixon relatives, but three years later his uncle indentured the 9-year-old to a sea captain as a cabin boy. Charles Floyd spent fourteen years at sea, mainly on vessels in the Triangular trade, sailing to ports in Europe, Africa and elsewhere. Floyd then settled at Hilton Head, where he managed an indigo plantation. He married this Floyd's mother, Mary Fendin, in 1768 at St. Helena's Church in Beaufort District. Mary Fendin had been born April 15, 1746, in St. Helena's Parish, South Carolina, the daughter of John Fendin Jr. and Elizabeth Thomas. The Floyds settled at Walnut Hill Plantation on the north side of Fish Haul Creek. During the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, Charles was a member of the First Council of Safety. These men who favored independence raised a volunteer militia, the St. Helena Guards, whose hats bore a silver crescent with their motto, "Liberty or Death". In 1781, Charles Floyd, along with several others, all members of a war party called the "Bloody Legion," avenged the death of Revolutionary War hero, Charles Davant, by a Tory. Charles Davant had married Elizabeth Fendin (Bland) who was sister to Mary Fendin, so he was Charles Floyd's brother-in-law.