Penfield, Georgia, in the United States was established shortly after 1829 in Greene County, Georgia, and named in honor of Josiah Penfield (c.1785 - 1828), a Savannah merchant and silversmith, who bequeathed $2,500.00 and a financial challenge to the Georgia Baptist Convention to match his gift for educational purposes. The Convention organized a manual labor school which opened in 1833 as Mercer Institute (renamed Mercer University in 1837), in honor of Rev.