Page 72 - a-history-of-columbia-county-florida-(1996)-edward-f-keuchel

A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 61/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida

governor, James E. Broome, was a lawyer by profession but he
held a large plantation in Leon County as well. Madison Starke
Perry was the state’s first governor who was not from Middle
Florida, but he held a sizable plantation in Alachua County and
represented the big planter’s interests. In 1846 the five plantation
counties of Middle Florida were represented in the legislature
with sixteen of the thirty-nine seats in the house and five of the
nineteen in the senate.2
Although cotton was the dominant cash crop in Columbia
County, there was considerable diversity to its agriculture as well.
Cuban tobacco, livestock, and vegetables also played an important
part in the area’s development.3 The county had some large cotton
plantations but was not comparable to the plantation belt of
Middle Florida. Indeed, when Florida entered the Union in 1845,
169 of the 296 property owners in the county held slaves but only 13
held more than 20 slaves—the smallest number that was cus­
tomarily held for an owner to be designated as a “planter.” C. M.
Cooper owned 43 slaves in 1845 and was the county’s largest slave
owner. John J. Davis owned 40, while Lewis Mattair and William
Frink each owned 32. Jacob T. Goodbread and John W. Jones each
owned 31. For the remainder of slave owners in the county in 1845,
seven held between 21 to 30, fourteen had from 11 to 20, and
nineteen had 6 to 10. Eight owners held 5 slaves, thirteen had 4,
twenty owned 3, thirty-three held 2, while thirty-five only owned 1
slave.4 Clearly Columbia County was characterized more by small
farms than large plantations.
In 1850, of the 202 slave owners in the county, Garrett Vanzant,
William B. Ross, John Peoples, G. W. Ellis, and J. Blue joined that
club of planters with more than 20 slaves, but the largest, William

2Charleton W. Tebeau, A History of Florida (Coral Gables, 1971), pp. 181-84.
3Neal Dukes, “Agricultural History of Columbia County,” typewritten copy,
Columbia County Historical Society Collection.
4Tax Returns Columbia County 1845, Folder “The Early Years of Columbia
County,” Columbia County Historical Society Collection.
60

www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: 02905885-C4E0-4A35-9DAE-804ED8349EC9