Large Plantations of Leon County, FL 1860
First Five Plantations
Introduction
The Large Plantations of Leon County, FL by 1860 is a recreation of plantation boundaries from historical deeds, maps, and surveys. The original dataset is designed for additional analysis, mapping and educational purposes. The supplemental data has been publicly sourced to ensure viewers a wider context of the antebellum period in territorial Leon County, FL.
Table of Contents
The first five plantations of the (5 of 20) Large Plantations of Leon County by 1860 are listed below. Many of the plantation proprietors originated from Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolinas.
G.W. Holland
(Woodlawn Plantation)
The Woodlawn Plantation was a large plantation of 2500 +/- acres located in the north western portion of Leon County, FL (United States) near the Florida - Georgia boundary. The plantation was established by Dr. Griffin William Holland in 1834 during the Territorial Period of Florida, who was initially from the state of Virginia. This area was known for the long-leaf pine forest on the northern shore of Lake Iamonia.
When Edward Beadel, a New York architect acquired the property in 1895, the tenant farming system had already been established. The land-use development patterns of the time subsequently became suitable for Mr. Beadel's hunting preserve called Tall Timbers . Edward died in 1919 and the property was acquired by his nephew, Mr. Henry L. Beadel . "Henry Beadel's" interest in natural history was very much in the tradition of his fellow New Yorker and naturalist, Theodore Roosevelt."
Native County | State | Total Acres | Bushels of Corn | Bales of Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Northampton | VA | 2,503 | 7,000 | 225 |
1860 Census Agricultural Census Data of Leon County, FL
G.W. Holland (1806 - 1873)
Griffin William Holland was born in Northampton County, Virginia in 1806. Griffin Holland spent his early years on the Popular Hill Plantation that was owned by his father Nathaniel Holland.
Griffin Holland moved to Leon County, Florida in 1831 and started purchasing property in the vicinity of Lake Iamonia, near the Florida - Georgia boundary. Griffin Holland returned to Virginia circa 1871 and died in 1873. His headstone can be located in the Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.
The photograph shown on the right is announcing the wedding of Ms. Florence Holland and Mr. William Bull. Ms. Florence Holland is the daughter of Griffin William Holland and Margaret Cotten Whitaker Holland.
Frederick R. Cotten
(Burgesstown Plantation)
The combined land holdings of Frederick R. Cotten was vast. The "Burgesstown Plantation" was a large plantation of approximately 8,100 acres +/-. The land holdings primarily were located near Lake Jackson and the southern shore of Lake Iamonia. In 1860 the boundary of the "northern portion" (approximately 4,500 +/- acres) of Burgesstown extended from the southern bank of Lake Iamonia to the Ochlocknee River, containing portions of present day Killearn Lakes. The second cluster of parcels (approximately 2,500 acres +/-) was located near the north eastern boundary of Lake Jackson around present day Millers Landing.
Native County | State | Total Acres | Bushels of Corn | Bales of Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Edgecombe | NC | 6,000 | 13,000 | 825 |
1860 Census Agricultural Census Data of Leon County, FL
Frederick R. Cotten (1819 - 1878)
The combined land holdings of Frederick R. Cotten was vast. The "Burgesstown Plantation" was a large plantation of approximately 8,100 acres +/-. The land holdings primarily were located near Lake Jackson and the southern shore of Lake Iamonia. In 1860 the boundary of the "northern portion" (approximately 4,500 +/- acres) of Burgesstown extended from the southern bank of Lake Iamonia to the Ochlocknee River, containing portions of present day Killearn Lakes. The second cluster of parcels (approximately 2,500 acres +/-) was located near the north eastern boundary of Lake Jackson around present day Millers Landing.
Interestingly, the original surveyors in 1825 did not record the majority of the Millers Landing Peninsula. The error was corrected in a resurvey that happened 77 years later.
On the 1902 resurvey on the map, the following can be read:
"Note: The dotted red line represents the fictitious meander of said section by he so called "Compound Meanders"."
Frederick R. Cotten (1819 - 1878)
Frederick R. Cotten was the son of Spencer Dew Cotton and Elizabeth W. Coffield Cotten of Edgecombe County, North Carolina.
Frederick married Elizabeth W. Coffield Cotten (pictured on the right) on September 23, 1846 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Fred and Margaret had moved to the Leon County area by 1850.
However, he was not the first of his family to arrive. His older brother, John Whitaker Cotten had founded a plantation of his own in Leon County. Frederick became co-executer of John Whitaker's estate in 1843. John's death would come only ten days ahead of the first statewide vote in Florida, May 26th 1845, where Frederick participated as one of six representatives of Leon County.
On June 5th, 1850 Deed Book K page 66, the rights to the plantation inherited by John Whitaker's heirs was sold at public auction, and Frederick had the highest bid that day at $1,682.
Frederick continued to administer the estate, crediting shipments of cotton from St Marks to New York in the estate's name until 1857.
In this transaction, John Whitaker's land known as "Cotten Land" amounted to 240 acres in a completely separate township, and was not included in the final acreage of the plantation known as 'Burgesstown'.
Frederick died in 1878 in Tallahassee, Florida and is buried in the St. John's Episcopal Cemetery .
William Lester
(Oaklawn Plantation)
County | State | Total Acres | Bushels of Corn | Bales of Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Burke | NC | 3,300 | 5,000 | 300 |
1860 Census Agricultural Census Data of Leon County, FL
William Lester (1790 - 1872)
William Lester like many other plantation owners, had plantations non-abutting land holdings scattered throughout Leon County. The northern portion of Oaklawn Plantation was located near the south eastern border of Lake Iamonia abutting the Burgesstown Plantion.
William Lester (1790 - 1872)
Captain William Humphrey Lester was born to John H Lester (1746-1830) from Leicestershire, England and Mary Marley Lester in Burke County, GA in December 24th, 1790.
From census records in Decatur county, around Bainbridge GA, James J. Lester is linked to William as a half-brother, and later becomes a planter in the area.
William H Lester came to marry Rhoda Jemison Lester in Pulaski County, GA 1804 before relocating. John and William Lester began purchasing to Leon County, FL with his father John Lester in the early 1820s, acquiring a handful of parcels in Township 2 North 1 East.
In 1830, John Lester passed away. The Lester family remained in Thomas County with the widow Mary Lester until their new home was built in Leon County in 1848. ( Pictured Right, in 1967)
William Lester (1790 - 1872)
While William Lester was being raised in Burke County GA, another family known as the Rountrees were also in the area with children of similar age to William Lester, namely James Roundtree.
James Roundtree was born in Burke County three years earlier than William in Burke County 1787, Married in Pulaski County GA 7 years after William and Rhoda. As early as 1815, James was a pioneer of Irwin County, GA being the first to build a home in the southern reaches of Irwin County, later named Lowndes County in March 6th, 1821.
Residents of southern Georgia were accustomed to traveling to the Gulf Coast for salt periodically, which made the "Southern Recorder" April 16 1834 edition even more shocking:
Mr. Rountree was murdered on March 26, 1834 on the road home from the coast between Tallahassee and Thomasville. The article claimed it happened at the hands of escaped slaves, one of which was already captured.
Standing over the grave of James Rountree, a group of citizens founded a vigilante committee known as "The Regulators". Captain William H Lester was voted as leader of the group.
James A. Kirksey
James A. Kirksey Plantation
James Kirksey served on the City council in the 1840's and as mayor in 1847. Kirksey left Tallahassee in the 1870's selling his home to C.E. Dyke
County | State | Total Acres | Bushels of Corn | Bales of Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2,550 | 6,000 | 454 |
James A. Kirksey (1804 - 1878)
James a Kirksey had primarily had two areas of land holdings with many scattered speculative purchases of real estate throughout Leon County, FL. The main locations for his plantations are shown to the right overlaid on a 2023 basemap for spatial location reference.
James A. Kirksey (1804 - 1878)
James A Kirksey's plantation did not have the breadth of portfolio as many other large planters. He was involved in politics as early as 1845, when he was one of three election inspectors overseeing the State of Florida's first state wide election.
Pursuant to an act of the Florida legislature approved on November 30, 1860, Governor Madison S. Perry issued a proclamation calling an election on Saturday, December 22, 1860, for delegates to a convention to address the issue of whether Florida had a right to withdraw from the Union.
The Secession Convention met in Tallahassee on January 3, 1861, and passed, on January 10, the Ordinance of Secession. The ordinance declared Florida to be "a sovereign and independent nation." On April 13, the convention ratified the constitution adopted by the Confederate States of America. The convention adjourned on April 27, 1861.
The Bowen House
325 N. Calhoun St. in Tallahassee, Florida.
Accompanying note: "The Bowen House is one of the oldest prefabricated houses in the country. It was built in the late 1830s for James Kirksey [a merchant + mayor of Tallahassee]. The lumber, New England white pine, was framed in New York and shipped in standard sections to Saint Marks [via New Orleans], then hauled to Tallahassee on the old Saint Marks-Tallahassee railroad. The whole house is mortised and held together by long wooden pegs. The charming addition at the south end of the house was made in the same style several years after the original house was completed, while the back addition is of a much later date. It was the home of Charles E. Dyke , editor of The Floridian, which was Florida's most influential newspaper of the 19th century."
Charles E. Dyke later sold the newspaper and the house to Newton M. Bowen in 1885. His daughter Clare Bowen willed it to Jean Rich who restored it.
Bowen House (Built for James A. Kirksey 1841) The Calhoun Historic District Tallahassee, FL (Image Source: TLCGIS 9/21/2023)
Joel C. and Susan Blake
The Blakely Plantation
The Blakely and Ingleside Plantations were abutting homesteads by family members near Lake Miccosukee in north eastern Leon County, FL. Miles (1785 - 1840) married Susan (1809 - 1868) (born Parish) in 1827. Miles and Susan both were from the state of North Carolina and moved to Leon County circa 1827. The Blakely Plantation consisted of 500 improved and 400 unimproved acres +/- of land. The Blakely Plantation was located on the western boundary of the Ingleside Plantation.
Native County | Native State | Total Acres | Bushels of Corn | Bales of Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bladen | NC | 900 | 3,000 | 40 |
1860 Census Agricultural Census Data of Leon County, FL
The Ingleside Plantation
Joel Clifton Blake was the son of Miles and Susan Blake. Joel was the proprietor of the Ingleside Plantation which was abutting his parents plantation eastern boundary. Blake joined the Confederacy and was killed on July 2, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg serving the confederate army.
Native County | Native State | Total Acres | Bushels of Corn | Bales of Cotton |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Leon | FL | 2,620 | 7,000 | 181 |
1860 Census Agricultural Census Data of Leon County, FL
Joel Clifton Blake (1831 - 1863)
Joel Clifton Blake was born in 1831 at "Blakely", the family plantation. His father had come to Florida from the Carolinas in 1824 and had settled near Miccosukee. Like the Lloyds, the Blakes probably bought the property as a summer residence, but Blake had no sooner bought the house than he was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg the next month. His widow, Laura, retained the house, paying taxes on it in 1866. She was twice widowed and twice remarried; her second marriage was to Walter R. Blake , Joel's brother, on December 10, 1871.
Walter Raleigh Blake (1836-1910)
Walter Raleigh Blake pictured below, was one of seven children of Miles and Susan, and the brother of Joel Clifton Blake.
Walter Blake circa 1890 (Image Source: Florida Memory Collection)
Large Plantations of Leon County, FL in 1860
Riley Museum Comprehensive Plantations Map of Leon County FL
In the news
Web links are provide below from various entities apologizing for the history of slavery and racism in the State of Florida, Leon County, and the City of Tallahassee. An additional apology was provided from a local church.
