General Samuel Elbert, born in 1740, was an outstanding military leader in the Revolutionary War and a distinguished Governor of Georgia in 1785-86. Orphaned at an early age, he achieved notable success in mercantile pursuits and as an Indian trader, and eventually filled every political office Georgia had to offer. He married Elizabeth Rae of Savannah, and they had six children. He had a lifelong interest in Masonry and was Grand Master of Georgia Masons. He died in 1788 and was buried on an Indian Mound near the Savannah River. In time the burial place was forgotten, but his remains were discovered after desecration of the mound, and in 1924 were reinterred with full military honors in Colonial Park Cemetery at Savannah. When a new county was formed in 1790 at the confluence of the Broad and Savannah Rivers, the Georgia Legislature honored the recently deceased Revolutionary patriot and popular governor by naming it Elbert County. The county seat, created in 1803, was named Elberton, further perpetuating his memory.