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- Seth and his brother John were members of the Provincial Congress of 1775. In 1776 Seth enlisted in the Georgia Regiment, Revolutionary Army in which he served as a Colonel and Revenue Officer. He is listed in the Georgia Disqualifying Act 6 JUL 1780 as a Rebel Major. He served as President of the Supreme Executive Council of Georgia (Governor) in 1779 and Georgia's State Treasurer 1784-1786. He was also Secretary of the Council of Safety, and Acting Governor of Georgia, among other positions of public office.
Seth married firstly in 1777 to Catherine Eustace or Blair. There are no known children from this marriage. She is recorded as having died in 1788. Seth married secondly in 1785 to Mary Clay, with whom he had two known sons. However his second marriage pre-dates the death of his first wife by three years. There's no indication that Seth divorced his first wife, nor that he was a bigamist, so there may be an error in the dates shown here.
Seth John Cuthbert is referred to as the son of John Cuthbert in a public dispute between Seth John and Major William McIntosh Jr in 1788. The dispute arose out of an earlier dispute between their respective fathers, General William McIntosh Sr and John Cuthbert Sr. The dispute resulted in a threat to a public duel which never took place. (The full text follows below.)
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In June, 1788, came the falling out between Maj. William McIntosh, Jr., and Col. Seth John Cuthbert, both men of local prominence, and both with war records that proved they were men of personal bravery. This affair grew out of a court trial in which McIntosh's father, General McIntosh, was making a defence in an action brought against him by John Cuthbert, Sr. Maj. McIntosh claimed that Col. Cuthbert "acted in a most unjustifiable manner, interrupting the general at a very inappropriate time, and declaring the general's assertions to be 'infamous falsehoods.'" The general, he pointed out, was referring to things that had occurred before Seth John Cuthbert was born, and of the truth of which he could not know. Gen. McIntosh had referred to the senior Cuthbert's "attempt to learn the cooper's trade, without possessing either industry, frugality or temper." Either the allusion to his father having been a cooper, or the accompanying remarks in derogation of his efforts to learn that trade, grievously wounded the younger Cuthbert.
When called on, Cuthbert promptly admitted what he had said in the court room. "The words were forced from him," he said, "by the most illiberal and personal reflections on myself and my nearest connections that I have ever experienced."
The offending words having been admitted, and no apology forthcoming, McIntosh sent a challenge at once: "I demand satisfaction at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning at the Fort, where I shall attend with a gentleman."
The "Fort" was old Fort Wayne, at the foot of the Bay, where the gas works now stand. It was a favorite resort for the duellists of that day.
The challenge was not accepted. Seth John Cuthbert felt himself bound "in reason and honor to answer no person but your father in any personal dispute between him and myself." He declined the challenge but stood ready to accept one from Gen. McIntosh. "There is a much greater similarity in his situation in life and my own. than there is betwixt yours and mine," said he to Maj. McIntosh, "and it is unreasonable to accept your challenge because, on the same principle that you demand satisfaction, it might be demanded by every member of your family in succession."
McIntosh repeated the challenge. The next morning Mr. Clay, Jr., acting as the friend of Cuthbert, waited on Mr. Gibbons and informed him that Col. Cuthbert wished to refer the question of acceptance of Maj. McIntosh's challenge to two persons, and mentioned Mr. Gibbons and Dr. MacLeod as proper persons. Maj. McIntosh finally agreed and accepted Mr. MacQueen to represent him. MacQueen unexpectedly left the city and the board gave no decision. Then McIntosh published the correspondence and added that he had posted Col. Cuthbert, under the vendue house on Sunday afternoon, in the following words: "I do declare Seth John Cuthbert to be a coward. My reasons shall be made known in the publick Gazette. WM. McINTOSH, Jun."
Was there a hostile meeting between the two? It would seem almost inevitable that the former patriot officers should have met at ten paces at Fort Wayne after this public posting. Seth John Cuthbert died a few months later, in November, the "Gazette" states, "after a tedious and painful illness", which leads one to infer he may have been an ill man at the time of the trouble with Maj. McIntosh. The "Gazette" said he "was among the first who stood in the cause of their country. In 1776 he was appointed major of the Second Continental Battalion." He also represented Chatham in the legislature and served acceptably as State Treasurer in 1784. The "Gazette" speaks of his "amiable qualities and brilliant abilities."
http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chatham/history/other/gms410savannah.txt
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1741 - 1788 (47 years)
