Finding Emigrants to Savannah

The Savannah harbor was accessed almost from the beginning of Oglethorpe's selection of a place to settle. The first ship to arrive was anchored at Port Royal, South Carolina, and the captain refused to go further south in uncharted waters. The settlers walked through the woods and arrived at a spot selected by Oglethorpe. It was near a friendly Indian village under the command of Chief Tomochichi.

As other ships arrived, one group of Germans originated in Austria. This group selected the site of Ebenezer to build their church. They spoke the German language, and thus, the parish registers were written.

Not long afterward, a vessel crashed into the shoreline, having a cargo of Irish people, many of whom were dead. The vessel had encountered a stormy sea, and gone off course. Some of Oglethorpe's people supposed that the vessel carried Irish prisoners. This analysis seemed to be true of the rowdy sort, and Oglethorpe sent them to live among the hard-working and reliable Germans. Soon after that, two of the Irish murdered one of Oglethorpe's settlers. One of the murders was a woman. The culprits were locked in a wooden jail in Savannah. Justice was swift. The two prisoners were hanged in trees across from the jail. The woman was hanged from the highest limb so as not to attract onlookers.

Savannah quickly became an active harbor for trade, commerce, and European settlers. During the Revolutionary War, during the Northern Campaign, when the British Army needed food, three ships were sent to steal food from the rice crops. Rice boats lay in the harbor when the British vessels arrived, and a battle began. Other noteworthy remarks of those times included an arriving vessel of passengers sorely suffering from smallpox. They were from Maryland. The names of these passengers are impossible to find, except for some minute entries of Marylanders in the colony.

Chatham County records survived and offer a plethora of information!
https://georgiapioneers.com/countries/chatham/