The Early History of Clay County, a Wilderness That Could Be Tamed” by Kevin S

THE EARLY HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY A Wilderness That Could Be Tamed By Kevin S. Hooper Published by The History Press 18 Percy Street Charleston SC 29403 First Published 2006 Used here with the Permission of Kevin S. Hooper. Chapter 5 Return to Spanish Control and Unrest (1783-1821) Page 83 Arrival and Impact of Zephaniah Kingsley Sometime in 1803, Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. arrived and chose to settle in East Florida. Kingsley was born in Bristol, England, in 1765, and had immigrated to Charles Town, South Carolina, with his family just before the start of the American Revolution in 1775.During the Revolution his father tried to raise a company of soldiers who professed to be loyal to King George III. When local authorities found out about the plan the Kingsley family was promptly asked to leave. Kingsley’s father decided to move to Nova Scotia but Kingsley Jr. returned to Charles Town and then moved to the Caribbean where he worked and lived in the Danish colony of St. Thomas. During the end of the eighteenth century and until the time he arrived in East Florida, Kingsley became a profitable slave trader and merchant. The slave rebellion in Haiti, which started in 1791, forced many traders and merchants to conduct business in Havana, Cuba, and it is likely because of this that Kingsley decided to move to East Florida. After finishing business in Havana, Kingsley sailed to St. Augustine and on September 24, 1803, he swore allegiance to the Spanish crown. At the time he became a Spanish citizen, Kingsley was worth 67,160 pesos. When he arrived in St. Augustine, Kingsley began seeking land. He would eventually buy the plantation of William Pengree from his widow Rebecca, who was unable to maintain the plantation that covered twenty-six hundred acres contained in four separate tracts. Heavily laden with debt to the Panton-Leslie Company, Rebecca had been forced to sell some of her slaves, leaving her without enough field hands to work the crops. Thus she became unable to support herself and family. Her main plantation “Laurel Grove,” or “Mount Laurel,” contained 1,753 ½ acres and sat on the same site that John Perceval had chosen for James Crisp’s plantation during the British rule. The plantation was on a small bluff that ran parallel with the St. Johns River and included a variety of pine, oak, cypress and cedar. Although Pengree still attempted to work the plantation to support herself and her slaves, many of the fields that had once been cleared were now overgrown. Since her husband’s death in 1793, Rebecca had struggled to maintain the plantation but finally sold it to Zephaniah Kingsley in 1803. At the time of William Pengree’s death the plantation had thirty- eight slaves and only the Fatio Plantation, located directly east, was larger. Page 84 The second-largest tract of land that Rebecca sold contained 626 acres and was known as “Laurel Branch,” which Kingsley would later name “Spring Field.” Located along present-day Doctors Lake Drive in the housing development called The Springs, Spring Field became one of Kingsley’s busiest farming locations. The last two tracts of land that Rebecca sold were small. One was called “Buen Luceso,” or “Good Fortune,” and contained 121 acres. The smallest contained 100 acres and was called ”Cooke.” On November 26, 1803, under the watchful of Jose de’ Zubegarreta, Rebecca Pengree and her son, Eliza Leslie, signed over the deed of the 2,600 acres to Kingsley for the sum of $5,200, which Kingsley paid in cash. Over the next half year, Kingsley’s slaves cleared fields, planted crops and constructed buildings, while Kingsley himself planned for the future of his new plantation. After securing his slaves and instructing the overseer on his plans for Laurel Grove, Kingsley left his new acquisition and sailed the Atlantic to acquire additional laborers. In May 1804, Kingsley sailed his ship the Laurel up the St. Johns River, stopping at San Vicente Ferrer to register twenty-one slaves from St. Thomas. Two months later, he returned from Havana with ten more. From July 1804 through November 1806, Kingsley was primarily purchasing slaves in Mozambique and Zanzibar while making a stop at Havana on his return. When he returned to Laurel Grove after this long voyage he was accompanied by three Negro females, one named Anta Majigeen Ndiaye, who would later become his wife, better known as Anna Kingsley. When Anna arrived at Laurel Grove she had just celebrated her thirteenth birthday and was pregnant with Kingsley’s child. Where and when Zephaniah and Anna were married is not known. Page 85 Kingsley stated that he always considered Anna to be his wife and those who conducted business with Kingsley knew this to be true. Kingsley recalled that their “connubial relations took place in a Foreign land” where the marriage was “celebrated and solemonised [sic] by her native African customs.” Toward the end of his life Kingsley still considered Anna his wife, although it was “never celebrated to the forms of Christian usage.” He described her as a “fine, tall figure, black as jet, but very handsome….very capable, and could carry on all the affairs of the plantation in my absence, as well as I could myself. She was affectionate and faithful, and I could trust her.” An English-speaking visitor to Kingsley’s Laurel Grove would have found it difficult to understand the many languages they heard. The different dialects that the slaves spoke would have been heard through the fields and in the various shops that dotted Laurel Grove. Kingsley’s slaves were from the Eabo, Calabari, Badie, Soo Soo, and Zinguebari tribes of Africa. Kingsley used the topography and natural resources at Laurel Grove to his advantage. He divided his land into four distinct operations: Laurel Grove, Shipyard, Spring Field and the newly acquired Cane Field. His house of residence was situated near the St. Johns River on a small bluff among the hardwood trees that remained at Laurel Grove. His first home, the old Pengree house, was a story and a half with a single brick fireplace and two Piazzas. After his marriage to Anna, Kingsley built a larger and finer house that was framed. Measuring thirty by thirty-five feet, it had double piazzas, two brick chimneys-one on each end of the house, each with a double fireplace—and a kitchen. It soon became on of the nicest houses on the St. Johns. Nearby was a storehouse that measured twenty-six by thirty feet, used primarily to store bulky items such as Page 86 bushels of salt, barrels of “Jamaica spirits” and gunpowder. Later Kingsley built a larger frame house measuring thirty-six by forty feet, two stories high with a brick chimney. The roof was covered “with the best cedar shingles.” The merchandise housed in his store was not just for the daily use of his plantation. He routinely stocked it with merchandise that other inhabitants needed and requested. At the time of its destruction during the Patriot Rebellion its contents were valued at $2,684.50. Also on Laurel Grove were a barn (twenty-five by forty feet), a frame cotton house (thirty by forty feet), a frame carpenter’s shop (thirty by forty feet), a blacksmith’s shop, cart house, fodder house and twelve Negro houses. Surrounding Laurel Grove was a three-rail fence that stretched for two and a half miles. The fence ran from the river, “about a mile from the point of Laurel Grove to two miles up Doctors Lake” and according to one inhabitant was “uncommonly high.” Drinking water was obtained from a well that was located near the house and lined with cypress boards. Though cotton was the primary cash crop grown at Laurel Grove, Kingsley expanded the orange grove to nine acres containing 750 mandarin orange trees. The shipyard was located on the north bank of Doctors Lake just west of its mouth. Here, Kingsley built small vessels that could ply along the coast transporting merchandise from Savannah, Charleston or Havana. The workshop was an inexpensive building that was made of poles placed in the ground with the sides boarded. A large steaming stove and blacksmith’s shop were also located upon the premises, as were nine Negro houses. John Haydn performed the task of carpenter at the shipyard. Spring Field was the primary farming community and was located just west of Laurel Grove, along present-day Doctors Lake Drive in Orange Park It was here that Kingsley grew sea-island cotton, corn, peas and potatoes and raised livestock including cattle, hogs and poultry. The natural spring provided a source of power for a mill. The spring, surrounded by small sloping hills, was dammed, creating a small pond. When the water spilled over the dam it fell with enough force to turn a wheel for the mill. Also at Spring Field were a large corn house and fifteen Negro houses. Because of Spring Field’s distance from Laurel Grove, a slave named Peter managed the fifty slaves who worked there. Unlike other slaves who worked there, Peter was not new to Florida, as he had been a manager on the Sanchez plantation and it was there that he had learned the skill that made him a valuable asset to Kingsley. Laurel Grove, unlike many other plantations in the area, had Negro managers. Lands farther west along Doctors Lake and those around present- day Kingsley’s Lake were also purchased by Kingsley. These lands were used to supply lumber for his shipbuilding and sawmill and it was a place for his cattle to roam and graze.

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