Around 1784, Bibb Sr. moved with his family south to Georgia with a large number of Virginians who accompanied General George Mathews, hero of the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. Most of the general's followers were also veterans and with their families took advantage of the new nation's offer of land bounties in lieu of pay for former soldiers. They established tobacco farms on the rich lands around the confluence of the Broad and Savannah Rivers in the newly-developing northeastern Georgia. The Bibbs are recorded as one of the earliest pioneer families in Elbert County.