La Grange Plantation, Leon County, Florida

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Leon, Florida, United States
Surname/tag: Slavery, Black_Heritage, Plantations

Index of Plantations

Contents 1 History of La Grange Plantation 2 Owners 3 Location 4 Production 5 Slaves 6 Sources

History of La Grange Plantation

Sometime after 1836, Bryan Croom purchased the 1500 acre La Grange Plantation, located in central Leon County, Florida.^[1] Croom and his brother, Hardy Bryan Croom, developed another plantation in Leon County called Goodwood. When Hardy died in a ship wreck in 1837, Bryan became entangled in a 20 year lawsuit with Hardy's mother-in-law, Henrietta Smith, to obtain the rights to Goodwood.^[2] As a result of that lawsuit, Bryan Croom had to sell all his properties, including La Grange, which he sold to Joseph John Williams.

Owners

• original owner unknown as of yet
• Bryan Croom, also an owner of Goodwood Plantation
• Joseph John Williams (abt.1832-1876), also owned Hickory Hill, Betton Hill, Claivaux, and Shiloh Plantations

Location

La Grange consisted of two tracts of land. The smaller, Western tract bordered the James Kirksey Plantation on the east and Barrow Hill Plantation on the south. The larger, Eastern portion bordered "...R. A. Whitfield's The House Place Plantation on the west, Barrow Hill Plantation's second tract of land on the east, and to the south it bordered Evergreen Hills Plantation and the Francis Eppes Plantation."^[1]

Production

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that the La Grange Plantation had the following:

• Improved Land: 3,150 acres (1,270 ha)
• Unimproved Land: 1,000 acres (400 ha)
• Cash value of plantation: $55,200
• Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $3425
• Cash value of farm animals: $13,134
• Number of persons enslaved: 232
• Bushels of corn: N/A
• Bales of cotton: N/A

Slaves

Slaves listed for J J Williams by his agents in the 1860 Slave Schedules:

WILLIAMS, J. J., by D. F. Hurger?, 48 slaves, page 269B

WILLIAMS, J. J., J. W. Akins for, 57 slaves, page 292B

WILLIAMS, J. J., R. B. Cole for, 30 slaves, page 292B

WILLIAMS, J. J., T. W. Ross for, 51 slaves, page 293

WILLIAMS, John J., by J. L.? Stroman, Agt., 46 slaves, page 271 ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Wikipedia contributors. (2022, July 4). La Grange Plantation. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:17, July 4, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=La_Grange_Plantation&oldid=1096472012,
2. ↑ Florida Supreme Court. Smith v. Croom. 1839. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/260675>, accessed 18 June 2021.
3. ↑ LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA, LARGEST SLAVEHOLDERS FROM 1860 SLAVE CENSUS SCHEDULES and SURNAME MATCHES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS ON 1870 CENSUS Transcribed by Tom Blake, May 2003 (https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ajac/genealogy/flleon.htm)

• The Red Hills of Florida, 1528-1865 by Clifton Paisley, published by The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa and London, copyright 1989, p 139.