Burke County's 8 Governors
Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Burke County's 8 Governors. Historic Burke County, formerly St. George's Parish, claims 8 Ga. Governors by birth, residence or marriage. JOHN HOUSTOUN (1744-1796), Rev. patriot, member of Continental Congress, Gov. 1778-1779 & 1784-1785, was born near present Waynesboro. LYMAN HALL (1724-1790), Ga. signer of the Declaration of Independence, Gov. 1783-1874, died at his plantation home, Shell Bluff, in Burke Co. EDWARD TELFAIR (1735-1807), member of Continental Congress, signer of Articles of Confederation, Gov. 1785-1787 & 1789-1793, owned and operated large plantations in this county. JARED IRWIN (1750-1818), distinguished Rev. soldier and Indian fighter, Gov. 1796-1798 and 1806-1809, lived in the county for 30 years. DAVID EMANUEL (1744-1810) gallant Rev. soldier, Gov. 1801, was a resident and is believed to be buried in Burke County. WILLIAM SCHLEY (1786-1858), Judge, Congressman, Gov. 1835-1837, married Elizabeth, daughter of Brig. Gen. Abraham Jackson, of this county. HERSCHEL V. JOHNSON (1812-1880), Sen., Judge, candidate for Vice-President with Douglas, member of Conf. Senate, Gov. 1853-1857, was born and grew up in Burke County. HOKE SMITH (1855-1931), lawyer, editor, Sec. of Interior, Sen., Gov. 1907-1909 & 1911, was principal of Waynesboro Academy for several years. 017-8 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1956
Erected by Georgia Historical Commission
The Story
Historic Burke County, the former St. George's Parish, claims eight Georgia governors by birth, residence, or marriage. Among them were Revolutionary figures like John Houstoun, Declaration signer Lyman Hall, and Edward Telfair, along with later leaders including Herschel V. Johnson—Stephen Douglas's 1860 running mate—and Progressive-era senator and governor Hoke Smith. Together their careers span more than a century of the state's political life.
Why it matters
Few rural counties shaped a state's leadership so heavily, making Burke a touchstone for Georgia governance from the Revolution into the 20th century.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Some places produce a single notable leader; this county, by its own account, produced eight governors, spread across more than a century of Georgia's political life. That span alone sets the backdrop: this marker doesn't belong to one era but reaches from the Revolution, through the early republic and the antebellum decades, into the Progressive era of the early twentieth century.
The county's older identity as a colonial parish, St. George's, hints at how deep its roots run. By the time the United States was young, this was already established, settled country with a landed, politically active class—the kind of soil that grows public men. Plantations, courts, and academies here trained and connected the ambitious.
To read the governors' dates in order is to watch Georgia itself change: from a Revolutionary state fighting for existence, to a growing antebellum power, through the wrenching Civil War era, and on into the modern age of senators and cabinet officers. One rural county's roster becomes a timeline of the whole state's story.
People & events
The earliest names carry the Revolution itself. John Houstoun, born near present-day Waynesboro, was a patriot and member of the Continental Congress who served as governor in the war years. Lyman Hall was even more distinguished—one of Georgia's signers of the Declaration of Independence—who later governed the state and died at his plantation in the county. Edward Telfair, another member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Articles of Confederation, held large plantations here and served multiple terms as governor.
The next names bridge the young republic. Jared Irwin, a Revolutionary soldier who lived in the county for decades, and David Emanuel, another Revolutionary veteran believed to be buried here, each reached the governor's chair around the turn of the nineteenth century—men whose military service in the founding struggle shaped their public standing for the rest of their lives.
Then come the leaders of a more divided age. William Schley, a judge and congressman turned governor in the 1830s, was tied to the county by marriage. Herschel V. Johnson, born and raised here, rose to be a judge, U.S. senator, and, most famously, the vice-presidential running mate on Stephen Douglas's 1860 ticket—before serving in the Confederate Senate during the Civil War. Finally, Hoke Smith, who once ran the Waynesboro Academy, went on to a national career as Secretary of the Interior, U.S. senator, and Progressive-era governor in the early 1900s, carrying the county's political lineage into modern times.
Its place in the American story
It is genuinely striking for a single rural county to claim eight of a state's governors, and the roster reads like a core sample of American political history. In these names you can trace the arc from the Revolution—complete with a Declaration signer—through the sectional crisis, embodied by a man who ran for national office in 1860 and then joined the Confederacy, into the Progressive era of federal cabinet posts and reform.
That concentration says something about how leadership worked in early America. Political influence clustered in particular families, plantations, and communities, where connections, land, and local institutions could launch a young man toward the statehouse and beyond. Burke County was one such nursery of leaders, and its output shaped Georgia far out of proportion to its size.
Taken together, the eight careers turn a county-line marker into a lesson about continuity and change in American governance. The same soil that sent Revolutionary veterans to the governor's chair later sent a man to Washington's cabinet—proof of how long a single community can stay woven into the national story.
If you visit
This landmark marker is really eight short biographies stacked into one, so give it time. Read down the list in order and watch the calendar turn—Revolutionary patriots at the top, a Declaration signer among them, then figures from the antebellum and Civil War years, and finally a Progressive-era national leader at the bottom. The chronology is the whole experience.
As you read, notice the different ways a person could be claimed by a place: by birth, by making a home here, or by marriage into a local family. The variety is a reminder of how tightly community, land, and kinship bound public life together in this era.
Use it as an anchor for exploring Waynesboro and the surrounding county, letting the names on the sign point you toward the plantations, cemeteries, and old academies where these lives actually unfolded. Don't rush past it as a roadside curiosity—few places anywhere can line up this many of a state's leaders on a single marker, and it deserves a real pause.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · John Houstoun
- · Lyman Hall
- · Edward Telfair
- · Jared Irwin
- · David Emanuel
- · William Schley
- · Herschel V. Johnson
- · Hoke Smith
Themes & tags
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