New Georgia Encyclopedia: William Few Jr. (1748-1828)

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William Few Jr. (1748-1828)

Patriot, legislator, pioneer, and financier, William Few Jr. was born in Maryland in 1748, to Mary Wheeler and William Few Sr.

William Few Jr.

For some years the family lived in North Carolina, where Few's brother James was hanged for his part in the Regulator Insurrection, an uprising against what many citizens viewed as unfair taxation practices by royal government. Embroiled in political difficulties in North Carolina, the family moved to upper Richmond County, Georgia, in the mid-1770s. During the American Revolution, Few fought in the Battle of Burke County Jail, served in the state legislative sessions, and took part in the 1777 constitutional convention. In 1780 he was elected to the Continental Congress. In the decade following the war, he, more than anyone, lobbied for the upper part of Richmond County to become a new county, a dream realized when Columbia County was created in 1790.

In 1786 Few was appointed to Congress by the state legislature; the next year he represented Georgia in the constitutional convention in Philadelphia that drafted the U.S. Constitution. His signature is on that document, along with that of Abraham Baldwin. He later served four years as a U.S. senator, one term as a state representative, and three years as judge of the Second Judicial District in Georgia. He was an outspoken opponent of the infamous Yazoo land fraud, though his political enemies tried to implicate him in this scam.

In 1799 he moved to New York City, where he served as a member of the New York legislature for four years. He became an officer in the Manhattan Bank and president of City Bank. He and his wife, Catherine Nicholson, had three daughters. Few died on July 16, 1828. During the nation's Bicentennial in 1976, his remains were moved from New York to St. Paul's Cemetery in Augusta.

Suggested Reading

Charles C. Jones Jr., "William Few, Lieutenant-Colonel Georgia Militia in the Revolutionary Service," [with an] "Autobiography of Colonel Few of Georgia," Magazine of American History, November 1881, 340-58.

Gerald J. Smith, To Seek a Newer World: A History of Columbia County, Georgia (Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Southern Heritage Press, 2001).

Gerald J. Smith Sr., Evans

Published 12/9/2003

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