This site first appears in Georgia's history in 1734 as a Savannah outpost. An original settler was Thomas Mouse, remembered for his description of the early hardships there, and an evangelical visitor in 1736 was John Wesley. By 1740 the settlement was abandoned. The island revived when the Georgia Trusteeship ended in 1753 and colonial government was established. An early grantee was John Milledge, whose plantation at this site was called Modena. He was the orphaned son of one of the First Hundred, the youthful protégé of Oglethorpe, a Captain of Rangers, and a member of the first Commons House of Assembly. His son and successor, John Jr., became a leader in the American Revolution. Still in uniform, he was appointed state attorney general at age 23, and later served as a U.S. Representative, Governor, and U.S. Senator. As Governor he helped found the University of Georgia, originally Franklin College. Modena remained an active plantation until the mid-nineteenth century. Its name is thought to come from Modena, the Italian seat of silk culture, an industry envisioned for early Georgia but one that did not flourish.