Francis R. Goulding

The Young Marooners on the Florida Coast Francis R. Goulding

Francis Robert Goulding (1810-1881) was born in the Midway Community of Liberty County, Georgia. At nineteen, he graduated from the University of Georgia and at twenty-two received his degree from the Columbia (South Carolina) Theological Seminary and ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1833. His pastorates included Greensboro, Washington, Eatonton, Bath and Darien. In 1842, while serving a pastorate in Eatonton, Georgia, Goulding developed a sewing machine four years before Howe's patent, but did not apply for a patent himself. He operated schools in Kingston and in Macon. In 1852, Goulding published the work on which his fame rests. THE YOUNG MAROONERS ON THE FLORIDA COAST. This story proved immensely popular going through over ten editions in America and England, as well as being translated into several foreign languages. MAROONER'S ISLAND was published in 1867.