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12 Facts About Eleanor Oglethorpe

1.

Eleanor Oglethorpe was a courtier in the royal household during the reigns of Charles II and James II.

2.

Eleanor Oglethorpe followed James II to France, where he was exiled after the Glorious Revolution.

3.

Eleanor and her husband Theophilus Oglethorpe returned to their estate outside London, but remained secretly and actively in the service of the House of Stuart.

4.

Eleanor Oglethorpe was the mother of James Edward Oglethorpe, the philanthropist, social reformer, politician, and soldier who founded Georgia.

5.

Eleanor Oglethorpe traced her family ancestry to Richard Seigneur de Val Dery, an associate of William the Conqueror; and she claimed kinship to nobility, including the House of Argyll, a prominent Scottish clan loyal to the House of Stuart.

6.

Eleanor Oglethorpe Wall was employed in the household of Charles II at a young age.

7.

In 1681, while holding the position of head laundress she met and soon married a young army officer, Theophilus Eleanor Oglethorpe, who was quartered on the Thames River next to the royal palace.

8.

Eleanor and Theophilus Oglethorpe remained loyal to James II and followed him to Paris.

9.

Eleanor Oglethorpe continued her efforts on behalf of James III until her death in 1732.

10.

Eleanor Oglethorpe's children were drawn into the Jacobite cause and actively supported James III.

11.

Daughter Eleanor Oglethorpe married Marquis de Mezieres, with whom she had seven children; they lived in France from 1689; descendants include members of royal families throughout Europe.

12.

In one instance, James III was rumored to be James Eleanor Oglethorpe, switched at birth when the actual Stuart heir died in 1689.