On February 7th, RCSE took our meeting on the road and visited The Learning Center for a presentation by Roger Smith titled "The Curious Case of Oglethorpe's Grave." Before Roger began, President Mark Sprosty reminded members of the Annual RCSE Oyster Roast on Saturday, February 22 and then he inducted two new members. Welcome to the club Michele Parthum and Michelle Stenson!
Roger began his presentation with a history of James Oglethorpe. Both Oglethorpe and his wife were buried under the chancel in a church in Cranham, England. In 1922, Dr. Jacobs, who was President of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, decided that he wanted to exhume James Oglethorpe's remains and bring them back to Atlanta to rest at the university which bore his name. When he arrived in England, the rector of the church rejected the request to exhume. A new church had been built on top of the old church and the rector was concerned it wasn't built in the same configuration. Dr. Jacob's conducted a research project and confirmed the new church was built on the exact same site. In 1923, they found his remains! There was a lot of press in England and Georgia about this discovery which proved to be fateful for bringing Oglethorpe back to Georgia. Savannah wanted his remains to come here since he was the founder of our city and Dr. Jacobs wanted the remains to go to Oglethorpe University. In the end, Dr. Jacob's withdrew his request because of the arguing about where to move James Oglethorpe.
Roger said that the church in England is happy to have kept James Oglethorpe's remains and has plaques in his honor. He then recommended some books on James Oglethorpe if anyone was interested in reading more about his life.