A Great Savannah Intellectual

William B. Hodgson

One of Savannah’s greatest intellectuals was William Brown Hodgson. He was born on September 1, 1801 in Washington DC. His father died when he was a little boy. After his father died he was taken under the tutorship of the Reverend James Carnahan who was to become the president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). There must have been some magic in the school because even though he would never attend college he became one of America’s leading scholars. 

The great Kentucky statesman Henry Clay would see his promise and secured for him his first prominent position in the diplomatic corps. As Secretary of State Clay assigned him to the Barbary States of northern Africa as an assistant to the consul general in Algiers, Algeria. His job was to learn the language to assist the United States in their diplomatic endeavors with Algeria.

Hodgson it was discovered had an affinity for language and learned eventually thirteen languages including Sanskrit which was considered by most normal linguist indecipherable. He would serve the US in Egypt, Peru, Tunisia, London, and Paris after his stint in Algeria. Significantly, it was on his way to Tunis he met the love of his life Margaret Telfair of the Telfairs of Savannah. The Telfair were one of America’s richest families. The patriarch Edward Telfair was a governor of Georgia and a prominent patriot during the American Revolution. Margaret who was an intellectual herself was in her forties when she met him. She had never married. Knowing the reputation of her sister Mary she probably had never been able to find a man who could keep up with her fertile mind.

They married in 1842 in London and as he had promised he gave up his Tunis assignment and returned with her to Savannah.  The newly married couple settled with her sister Mary in the Telfair Mansion that is now the home of the Telfair Academy. His heart was in the pursuits of the mind so it was no surprise to find him immediately becoming involved in the intellectual life of Savannah. His connection with the Georgia Historical Society led to him being elected its curator in 1845. A position he held for over twenty years.

Hodgson also expanded his ethnological and linguistic scholarship with the slaves of the Telfair plantations. He ran the plantations and noticed the diverse population of the slaves. He distinguish among the slaves persons from the Mandingo, Ebo, Gullah, Fula, and Guinea. Because of his time in Africa he was able to speak to the slaves in their own languages. He would write a linguistic and ethnological studies of these slaves that as a scholarly work is still valued and read today. He also would write a scholarly paper to the National Institute in Washington on the organic remains and geology of the Georgia coast. This proved his prowess in the physical sciences as well as the linguistic and ethnological studies.

During his day Hodgson was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Oriental Society. He was known throughout the world for his scholarly aptitude and was elected to membership in the ethnological societies of New York City, London, and Paris, as well as to the geographical societies of London and Paris. He was one of the first Americans to be awarded the French Legion of Honor. He even received an honorary doctor of law degree from Princeton University.

Hodgson died on a trip to New York City in June of 1871. He is buried in the Telfair family crypt at Bonaventure Cemetery. Margaret Telfair Hodgson to honor him and their marriage of thirty years gave money for the headquarters and library of the Georgia Historical Society to be built in 1873. The building today is called Hodgson Hall and maintains its original function. A portrait of Hodgson by the first Director of the Telfair Academy, Carl Brandt, hangs in the hall.

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Hodgson Hall

Margaret Telfair