Penfield

(Georgia)

Penfield, Georgia, United States was established shortly after 1829 in Greene County, and named in honor of Josiah Penfield, a Savannah merchant and silversmith from Fairfield, Connecticut, who bequeathed $2,500.00 and a financial challenge to the Georgia Baptist Convention to match his gift for educational purposes. The convention, led by Billington Sanders, organized a manual labor school which opened in 1833 as Mercer Institute, in honor of Rev. Jesse Mercer of Greene County, a major contributor to the matching gift request.