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Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. (December 4, 1765 – September 14, 1843) was a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
, born in England, who moved as a child with his family to South Carolina, and became a planter,
slave trader The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of e ...
, and merchant. He built four plantations in the Spanish colony of Florida near what is now
Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...
. He served on the
Florida Territorial Council The Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, often referred to as the Florida Territorial Council or Florida Territorial Legislative Council, was the legislative body governing the American territory of Florida ( Florida Territory) before ...
after Florida was acquired by the United States in 1821.
Kingsley Plantation Kingsley Plantation (also known as the Zephaniah Kingsley Plantation Home and Buildings) is the site of a former estate in Jacksonville, Florida, that was named for its developer and most famous owner, Zephaniah Kingsley, who spent 25 years there. ...
, which he owned and where he lived for 25 years, has been preserved as part of the
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve is a U.S. National Preserve in Jacksonville, Florida. It comprises of wetlands, waterways, and other habitats in northeastern Duval County. Managed by the National Park Service in cooperation with ...
, run by the United States
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...
. Finding his large and complicated family progressively more insecure in Florida, he moved them to a vanished plantation,
Mayorasgo de Koka Mayorasgo de Koka ("Primarily Coca") was a tract of land in what was then Haiti but since 1844 is in the Dominican Republic. After renting it in 1837, Zephaniah Kingsley purchased it in 1838. As whites were barred from land ownership in Haiti it ...
, in what was then
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...
but soon became part of the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
. In his will, Kingsley called himself a planter, but he was first and foremost a slave merchant, and proud to be one. He owned and captained slave ships, and was actively involved in the
Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and ...
. A document of 1802 records his arrival at Havana as First Officer of the ''Superior'' with 250 Africans, and another of 1808, 60 slaves to a Spanish land grant. He was also pro-slavery, but by the standards of the day, he was a liberal slave owner. He has been called "a man ahead of his time." He was a relatively lenient slaveholder who respected slave families and allowed his enslaved a freedom not routine: the opportunity to hire themselves out when their work was completed, and eventually purchase their freedom. Kingsley's main business in Florida was providing a ready supply of well-trained slaves, who were smuggled by or to planters of Georgia and South Carolina. This, plus his "interracial" family, resulted in Kingsley's being deeply invested in the Spanish system of slavery and society. As in the French colonies, certain rights were provided to a class of
free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
, and children of female slaves were allowed to inherit property from their white fathers. "In the Spanish Floridas free people of color...enjoyed tremendously elevated status when compared to virtually any other person of African descent in North America." Kingsley casually changed nationalities based on which would most help his slave trading enterprises. Born British, at different moments in his life he swore allegiance to the United States, Spain (
Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...
), and Denmark. At his death his nationality was Haitian.


Early life and education

Kingsley was born in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
, England, the second of eight children, to Zephaniah Kingsley Sr., a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
from
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and Isabella Johnstone of
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. The elder Kingsley moved his family to the
Colony of South Carolina Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monar ...
in 1770. His son grew up in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, where the father became a successful merchant. At the age of 15 he was sent to London for his education, although details are lacking; Zephaniah Kingsley Sr. purchased a
rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
plantation near
Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, and several other properties throughout the colonies and Caribbean islands. In total, he owned probably around 200 slaves in all, and thousands of acres of land. Like other British Loyalists, Kingsley Sr. was forced to leave South Carolina with his family, and his properties and business were confiscated by the new government. He relocated to
New Brunswick, Canada New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, in 1782 following the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, where the Crown provided him some land in compensation for his losses, and he again became a successful merchant. His son Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. returned to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1793, swore his allegiance to the United States, and began a career as a shipping merchant. His first ventures were in
Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...
, during the
Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt began on ...
, where
coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...
was his main interest as an export crop. He lived in Haiti for a brief period while the fledgling nation was working to create a society based on former slaves transitioning into free citizens. Kingsley traveled frequently, prompted by recurring political unrest among the Caribbean islands.


Kingsley and Blacks

Kingsley was free of prejudice against "the colored race". He ridiculed racism, observing that "color ought not to be the base of degradation." In Kingsley's opinion, "the colored race" was "superior to us, physically and morally. They are more healthy, have more graceful forms, softer skin, and sweeter voices. They are more docile and affectionate, more faithful in their attachments, and less prone to mischief, than the white race. If it were not so, they could not have been kept in slavery." When Kingsley was in command of a slaving ship, his crew were all Black. His sailors were slaves. His farm at Laurel Grove, staffed by Africans without white people present, has been called "a transplanted African village". He supported following African customs. He was in favor of "interracial" marriage, called "amalgamation" at the time, which produced, he explained in a pamphlet ''Treatise'', healthy, beautiful children. He followed his own advice, and took four enslaved African women as concubines or common-law wives, practicing polygamy, as was common in the culture they came from, and eventually manumitting all of them. He claimed to have married one of them, and the marital status of the others does not seem to have ever been an issue. (Kingsley was not alone in this, as several prominent Florida men had Black mistresses/common-law wives, during the second Spanish period.) Certainly they could not marry under Territorial Florida law, but since the women were enslaved, what Kingsley did with them did not concern anyone else. He had nine mixed-race children with these wives, and no white children. He educated his children to high standards and worked to ensure he could settle his estate on them and his wives. He encouraged his children to marry whites, his daughters to marry wealthy white men from the East. His first wife,
Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, born Anta Madjiguène Ndiaye (18 June 1793 – April or May 1870), also known as Anta Majigeen Njaay or Anna Madgigine Jai, was a West African from present-day Senegal, who was enslaved and sold in Cuba, probably via t ...
, was 13 years old when Kingsley purchased her in Havana in 1806; he remarked on the convenience of buying a wife. He said that he had married her, which he never said of his three other concubines or common-law wives: "celebrated and solemnized by her native African customs altho' never celebrated according to the forms of Christian usage". (Another source says that Kingsley married Anna in Africa, before she was sent or taken to Havana, and that his false testimony of having purchased her in Havana was part of a strategy to make Anna definitively free; he first had to demonstrate that she had been enslaved, before he could free her.) He emancipated Anna Jai when she turned 18, and trusted her with running his plantation when he was away on business. His children with Anna were his favorites; they were brought up in luxury, in his own home, and received excellent European educations.  154  The instability affected his business interests. Development of new cotton plantations in the
Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...
in the United States, especially after
Indian Removal Indian removal was the United States government policy of forced displacement of self-governing tribes of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi Riverspecifically, to a ...
, sharply increased the domestic demand for slaves. By 1801 Kingsley was involved in the slave trade. Kingsley began to travel to West Africa to purchase Africans to be traded as slaves between America,
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, and the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
. In 1798 he became a Danish citizen, in the
Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...
. He continued to make his living trading slaves and shipping other goods into the 19th century, although the US prohibited the African slave trade in 1807, effective in 1808. Kingsley became a citizen of
Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...
in 1803, and many African slaves were smuggled into the U.S. via Florida.Stowell, p. 2.


Laurel Grove

Spain was offering land to settlers in order to populate Florida, so Kingsley petitioned the governor for land but was turned down. After waiting, he decided to purchase a farm for $5,300 (). It was named Laurel Grove, and its main entrance was a dock on Doctors Lake. Enlarged several times, it occupied two miles along the river and lake, in its entirety where the city of Orange Park is today. (Kingsley eventually owned some in Florida, and was one of the wealthiest men in the Territory.) Kingsley arrived with 10 slaves and began to cultivate the property immediately. Another source stated he received a substantial land grant because he brought 74 slaves to Florida; the Spaniards distributed land according to the number of slaves brought to work it. The plantation grew
orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...
s,
sea island cotton ''Gossypium barbadense'' (''gos-SIP-pee-um bar-ba-DEN-see'') is one of several species of cotton. It is in the mallow family. It has been cultivated since antiquity, but has been especially prized since a form with particularly long fibers was ...
, corn, potatoes, and peas. Kingsley's first slaves were brought from his family's plantation in South Carolina. By 1811, he had acquired a total of 100 slaves at Laurel Grove, obtained from Africa via
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
, as Spain continued with the slave trade in its colonies. Kingsley trained the slaves at Laurel Grove in agricultural vocations to prepare them for future sale; he provided slave buyers from Georgia with skilled artisans, which allowed him to charge 50 percent more than the usual market price per slave. At Laurel Grove, there was a blacksmith shop and a carpenter's shop. Slaves were trained in blacksmithing, carpentry, and
cotton ginning A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...
, as well as field work. Many of Kingsley's slaves were sold to Georgians and other planters in the Southeast; they took their purchases with them, illegally, back to the U.S., where importation of slaves was forbidden as of 1808. Kingsley opposed allowing the enslaved to participate in Christian religious worship. "All the late insurrections of slaves, he claimed, are to be traced to influential preachers of the gospel." In 1806, Kingsley, called "one of Florida's most flamboyent slaveholders", took a trip to Cuba, where he purchased Anna Madgigine Jai (born as ''Anta Majigeen Ndiaye''), a 13-year-old Wolof girl from what is now
Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
. He married her, he said (there is no documentation), in an African ceremony in
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
soon after purchasing her.. It certainly was not a Catholic marriage, and it was not legally recognized by Spanish Florida or the United States during their lives.Stowell, p. 4. In another statement Kingsley says he met Anna in Africa while on a slave purchasing trip. Kingsley returned with Anna to Laurel Grove and gradually depended on her to run the plantation in his absence. although Mark Fleszar writes that interpretation of how much Anna managed Laurel Grove "deserves caution". It comes from a remark of Kingsley to abolitionist
Lydia Maria Child Lydia Maria Child ( Francis; February 11, 1802October 20, 1880) was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction an ...
, but other details of his life he gave her are questionable. In 1811, Kingsley petitioned the colonial Spanish government to free Anna and their three
mixed-race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...
children, and the request was granted. The Laurel Grove plantation during one year earned $10,000 (), which was an extraordinary amount for Florida. With his earnings, Kingsley purchased several locations on the opposite side of the St. Johns River, including St. Johns Bluff, San Jose, and Beauclerc in what is now Jacksonville, and
Drayton Island Drayton Island is a privately owned heavily wooded island at the northern end of Lake George on the west side of the Saint Johns River's main channel in Putnam County, Florida, United States. Drayton Island, during the steamboat period on the ...
farther south near Lake George. After gaining freedom, Anna Kingsley was awarded five acres in Florida in a land grant by the Spanish government. She purchased slaves to help farm it. Zephaniah Kingsley became involved in the shipping industry, including the
coastwise trade The modern terms short-sea shipping (sometimes unhyphenated), marine highway, and motorways of the sea, and the more historical terms coastal trade, coastal shipping, coasting trade, and coastwise trade, all encompass the movement of cargo and pass ...
, related to his large-scale domestic slave trading, which continued in the US after the Atlantic trade was prohibited. While at Laurel Grove, Kingsley was attempting to smuggle in 350 slaves (the international slave trade was abolished in 1808) when the ship was captured by the U.S. Coast Guard. Not knowing what to do with so many indigent people, the Coast Guard turned them over to Kingsley, who was the only person in the area who could care for such a number. During an
insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...
that became known as the Patriot Rebellion, in an attempt to annex Florida to the United States, American forces, American-supplied Creek, and renegades from Georgia crossed the border into the Spanish colony and began raiding the few settlements in northeast Florida. They enslaved the black people they captured. In 1813, the Americans captured Kingsley and forced him to sign an endorsement of the rebellion. John McIntosh, owner of the Fort George Plantation before Kingsley, accused him in 1826 of financially supporting the war. The accusation was likely politically motivated, as Kingsley suddenly resigned his position on the Territorial Council, and McIntosh was angry about the public treatment he had received since the war for his role in it. The insurgents occupied Laurel Grove, using it as a base to raid other plantations and nearby towns. Kingsley left the area. After assuring her safety with the Spanish forces, Anna Jai burned the plantation down so the rebels could not use it; she took her children and a dozen slaves aboard a Spanish gunboat to escape the conflict. For her loyalty, Anna Jai was rewarded with a grant of from the Spanish colonial government.


Fort George Island

In 1814, Kingsley and Anna moved to a plantation on
Fort George Island A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
at the mouth of the St. Johns River; they lived there for 25 years. Anna and Kingsley's fourth and last child was born on Fort George Island in 1824. Kingsley took three much younger enslaved women as common-law wives (or concubines) and fathered children with at least two of them, totaling nine children in all. Munsila was purchased during an African trip and, like Anna before her, shared Kingsley's cabin during the trip. Flora, 20 when her relationship with Kingsley began, was the daughter of a lifelong friend. Sophy was the only other person at Laurel Grove who was from Jolof, like Anna, and only the two spoke the Jolof language. Anna and Sophy were shipmates on the trip from Africa. Kingsley's relationships with the women have been called "complex at best". He eventually freed each of the slave women: they were named Flora Kingsley, Sarah Kingsley, who brought her son Micanopy; and Munsilna McGundo, who brought her daughter Fatima. In his will, the only woman Kingsley named as his wife was Anna. Primary documentation by Kingsley is scarce, but historians consider Flora, Sarah, and Munsila as "lesser wives", or "co-wives" with Anna. Stowell suggests "
concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...
" is a more accurate description of their status. Kingsley lavished all his children with affection, attention, and luxury. They were educated with the best European tutors he could find. When he entertained visitors at his Fort George plantation, Anna sat "at the head of the table"; they were "surrounded by healthy and handsome children" in a parlor decorated with portraits of African women. The plantation featured a main house and a two-story structure called the "Ma'am Anna House". It had the main kitchen on the ground floor and living quarters on the second. Anna lived there with her children, as was the custom among the Wolof people. This also protected Kingsley from the charge of cohabitation with a Black. Kingsley was rich. (After his death in 1843, his estate was valued at $77,300, .) His plantation was a great success; during one year alone it produced crops worth $10,000 (). The plantation produced oranges, sea island long-staple cotton,
indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...
,
okra Okra or Okro (, ), ''Abelmoschus esculentus'', known in many English-speaking countries as ladies' fingers or ochro, is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It has edible green seed pods. The geographical origin of okra is disputed, with su ...
, and other vegetables. Approximately 60 slaves were managed under the task system: each slave had a quota of work to do per day. When they were finished, they were allowed to do what they wished.Labor
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, National Park Service (July 6, 2006). Retrieved on July 10, 2009.
Some slaves had personal gardens which they were allowed to cultivate, and from which they sold vegetables. Thirty-two cabins were constructed for and by the slaves, made from
tabby A tabby is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a distinctive 'M'-shaped marking on its forehead; stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail; and (differing by tabby type), characteristic striped, d ...
, which made them durable, insulated, and inexpensive, although labor-intensive. The cabins were located about a quarter of a mile (400 m) from the main house. Slaves were allowed to padlock their cabins and build porches that faced away from the main house. Both of these features were unusual for slave quarters in the
antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...
South. Kingsley was a lenient slave owner: "A patriarchal feeling of affection is due to every slave from his owner, who should consider the slave as a member of his family," wrote Kingsley.


Restrictions under a new government

Following the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States in 1821, Florida's Territorial Council (the Territory's governing body) began to establish an American government. The Council focused primarily on allowing immigrants to Florida access to the ceded by Spain, and removing the
Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
to
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
in keeping with the extinguishing of Indian land claims in other parts of the Southeast in this period. Americans settled in the central portion of north Florida and built productive plantations worked by slaves. The Americans imposed the binary "racial" caste system that they had developed throughout the Southeastern U.S. This system contrasted with the standing practice in which Kingsley was invested, which, based on Spanish law as implemented in Florida, supported three social tiers: whites,
free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
, and slaves. The Spanish government recognized "interracial" marriages and allowed mixed-race children to inherit property. Territorial Governor
William P. Duval William Pope Duval (September 4, 1784 – March 19, 1854) was the first civilian governor of the Florida Territory, succeeding Andrew Jackson, who had been a military governor. In his twelve-year governorship, from 1822 to 1834, he divided Florid ...
recommended to
President Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
in 1822 that Kingsley be appointed to the new Council, but Monroe did not appoint him until the following year, when he was described as an "enlightened and valuable citizen of Florida" in the first book on the new Territory. He was also recommended by
Joseph Marion Hernandez Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...
, Florida's nonvoting delegate to Congress before the territory was admitted as a state. On June 2, now a member of the Territorial Council, Kingsley was appointed to a three-person committee "to consider the duties of masters of slaves and the duties of slaves and free persons of color, and the regulations necessary for their government". On June 19 Kingsley reported that the committee could not agree and asked that it be discharged. Kingsley's position was that Florida should be receptive, like Spain, to
free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
, that they should have some rights, even though less than those of whites. As he stated in a published Address to the Council, "I consider that our personal safety as well as the permanent condition of our Slave property is intimately connected with and depends much on our good policy in making it the interest of our free colored population to be attached to good order and have a friendly feeling towards the white population." When it became apparent to Kingsley that the Council would not agree to rights for free Blacks and mixed-race people, he resigned his position. In 1824 he was no longer a member. Through the 1820s the Council began to enact strict laws separating the races, and Kingsley became worried about his future and the rights of his family to inherit from him. ( Like other Southern states, Florida by 1860 abhorred free Blacks, viewing them as a threat to slavery, made their lives difficult, and encouraged them to leave the state.) In the early 1830's Kingsley circulated a petition to President Andrew Jackson, asking him not to reappoint Duval as Territorial Governor.


Kingley's ''Treatise''

To address these issues, in 1828 Kingsley published a pamphlet, titled ''A Treatise on the Patriarchal, or Co-operative System of Society, A Treatise on the Patriarchal or Co-operative System of Society as it Exists in some Governments and Colonies in America, and in the United States, under the Name of Slavery, with its Necessity and Advantages''. The first edition was published without his name, signed simply "An inhabitant of Florida". His name was added in the 2nd edition, with the note that he is a "slave owner", who has lived "by planting in Florida for the last twenty-five years, disavow ngall other motives but that of increasing the value of his property." The pamphlet had a second edition in 1829 and was reprinted again in 1833 and 1834, showing significant readership. In it, he wrote:
Slavery is a necessary state of control from which no condition of society can be perfectly free. The term is applicable to and fits all grades and conditions in almost every point of view, whether moral, physical, or political.
Kingsley asserted that when slavery is associated with cruelty it is an abomination; when it is joined with benevolence and justice, it "easily amalgamates with the ordinary conditions of life". He wrote that Africans were better suited than Europeans for labor in hot climates (a shared
stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...
), and that their happiness was maximized when they were rigidly controlled; their contentment was greater than whites of a similar class. He asserted that people of mixed race were healthier and more beautiful than either Africans or Europeans, and considered mixed-race children, such as his own, a step against an impending race war. Although his pamphlet was published four times, all at his own expense, reception to it was mixed. While some Southerners used it to defend the institution of slavery, others believed that Kingsley's support of a free class of blacks was a prelude to abolition of slavery.
Abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...
considered Kingsley's arguments for slavery weak and wrote that logically, the planter should conclude that slavery must be eradicated.
Lydia Child Lydia Maria Child ( Francis; February 11, 1802October 20, 1880) was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction an ...
, a New York-based abolitionist, included Kingsley in 1836 on a list of people perpetuating the "evils of slavery". Although Kingsley was wealthy, learned, and powerful, the treatise is believed to have contributed to the decline of his reputation in Florida. He became embroiled in a political scandal with Florida's first governor, William DuVal. The governor was quoted in newspapers making scathingly critical remarks about Kingsley's motives and his mixed-race family after the planter petitioned to have DuVal removed from his office for corruption. He petitioned President Andrew Jackson not to reappoint Duval as Territorial Governor. Florida's congressional delegate,
Joseph M. White Joseph M. White (May 10, 1781 – October 19, 1839) was a Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Florida Territory. Born in Franklin County, Kentucky; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar and ...
, called Kingsley a "respectful gentleman" and a "classical scholar", "who would consider it a degradation to be put on a footing with Governor Duval in point of intellect, or education."


Haiti

After trying to persuade the new government of Florida to provide for rights for free people of color, including the right of mixed-race children to inherit property from their fathers, Kingsley began to think that the independent republic of
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...
was more conducive to what he wanted to achieve. Haiti's government was actively recruiting free Blacks from across the Americas to settle the island, offering them land and citizenship. Kingsley highlighted its successes as a nation of free Blacks in his treatise, writing
der a just and prudent system of management, negroes are safe, permanent, productive and growing property, and easily governed; that they are not naturally desirous of changes, but are sober, discreet, honest and obliging, are less troublesome, and possess a much better moral character than the ordinary class of corrupted whites of a similar condition.
Kingsley's praise of Haiti's new system—which outlawed slavery—combined with his defense of slavery, is notable to historian Mark Fleszar. He says that the paradox in Kingsley's thinking indicated a "disordered worldview". Kingsley was determined to create the society he had written about and defended. By 1835 Kingsley realized that his marriage to Anna might not be recognized in the United States, and, in the event of his death, holdings in the name of his concubines Anna, Flora, Sarah, McGundo, and their mixed-race children might be confiscated. Kingsley's son George and six of his slaves traveled to Haiti to scout for land. He found a suitable location on the northeastern shore of the island, in what is today the
Puerto Plata Province Puerto Plata (, ''Silver Port'') is one of the northern provinces of the Dominican Republic. The area has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction since the late 1990s mainly due to its fine beaches. It borders the Septentrional mounta ...
of the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
. He bought a plantation named
Mayorasgo de Koka Mayorasgo de Koka ("Primarily Coca") was a tract of land in what was then Haiti but since 1844 is in the Dominican Republic. After renting it in 1837, Zephaniah Kingsley purchased it in 1838. As whites were barred from land ownership in Haiti it ...
, which was worked by more than 50 former slaves transplanted from the Fort George Island plantation. In Haiti, the workers were contracted to work as
indentured servant Indentured servitude is a form of Work (human activity), labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensa ...
s, who would earn full freedom after nine years of labor. Over the next two years, Kingsley relocated to Haiti with most of his extensive and complicated family. Two of his daughters stayed in Florida, as they had married local white planters. Because of Haitian law at the time, which prohibited non-citizen whites from owning land, Zephaniah held Mayorasgo de Koka in the name of his mixed-race eldest son George Kingsley.


Death and property disputes

After visiting his family in Haiti in 1843, Kingsley boarded a ship going to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to conduct business there. His death on the ship of pulmonary disease at 78 years old was recorded after arrival in New York City, where Kingsley was buried in a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
cemetery, although in his will he asked to be buried "without any Religious ceremony whatsoever." He left much of his land to his wives and children, a bequest which was immediately contested on racial grounds by his white relatives. Kingsley's niece, Anna McNeill (''
Whistler's Mother ''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler in 1871. ...
''; she married George Whistler, and their son
James Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
became a noted artist) was among the family members who tried to have all of Kingsley's family of African descent excluded from his heirs. Kingsley's will stipulated that no remaining slaves should be separated from their families, and that they should be given the opportunity to purchase their freedom at half their market price. Anna Madgigine Jai, who kept her African name through the marriage, returned to Florida in 1846 to oppose Kingsley's white relatives in court in Duval County. Arguing her case within the dictates of the
Adams–Onís Treaty The Adams–Onís Treaty () of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty,Weeks, p.168. was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and define ...
, she was successful; it was an extraordinary achievement in light of the state and local policy that was hostile toward freed slaves or blacks of any status. The records of the proceedings are virtually the only information we have on Kingsley's life in Florida. After a brief period in Florida during the
U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
(1861–1865), Anna Jai fled to New York, as she supported the Union. After the war, she returned to Florida. Anna Madgigine Jai died in April or May 1870 on a farm in the Arlington neighborhood of
Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
. She was buried there in an unmarked grave.


Post-Civil War

The Fort George plantation was sold soon after Kingsley's death. After the Civil War, the
Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...
controlled the island until 1869, when it was purchased by another planter. The island changed hands under private ownership until 1955, when it was acquired by the Florida Park Service. Kingsley's house, "the oldest standing
plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...
in Florida", Ma'am Anna House, and the barn survived the years relatively intact. Most of the slave quarters did as well. The National Park Service established the
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve is a U.S. National Preserve in Jacksonville, Florida. It comprises of wetlands, waterways, and other habitats in northeastern Duval County. Managed by the National Park Service in cooperation with ...
in 1988 and acquired of land surrounding the Kingsley Plantation buildings in 1991.


Writings of Zephaniah Kingsley

Kingsley's writings were on the topic of slavery: its inevitability; how it should be governed; and how free Blacks, in his view, made a country more secure. They have been collected, edited, and thoroughly annotated by Daniel W. Stowell in ''Balancing Evils Judiciously: The Proslavery Writings of Zephaniah Kingsley'' (University Press of Florida, 2000), a volume called "deeply researched" and "gracefully presented" in a review.


Pamphlets of Kingsley

* *


Archival material

* The
State Library and Archives of Florida The State Library and Archives of Florida is the central repository for the archives of state government for the state of Florida. It is located at the R.A. Gray Building on 500 South Bronough Street in Tallahassee, Florida, Florida's capital. ...
has set up a Kingsley portal to access its collection of Kingsley-related documents and photographs, centered on his will and his Spanish land grants. It notes: "The few other records concerning Kingsley that survive are scattered across many archives and private collections including the Duval County Courthouse, the East Florida Papers and other related collections at the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History (University of Florida), the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library, and St. Johns County Courthouse (St. Augustine, Florida)." * A number of documents are held in the
Duval County Courthouse The Duval County Courthouse is the local courthouse for Duval County, Florida. It houses courtrooms and judges from the Duval County and Fourth Judicial Circuit Courts. The new facility is located Downtown Jacksonville, Florida; it was built start ...
. * In the
George A. Smathers Libraries The George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida constitute one of the largest university library systems in the United States. The system includes eight of the nine libraries of the University of Florida and provides primary support ...
,
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
,
Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...
, is a collection of materials and documents on Kingley collected by Philip S. May. The material is dated 1812 to 1946; most is between 1812 and 1843. According to the Smathers Libraries web site, Philip S. May, the compiler of the Zephaniah Kingsley Collection, was a prominent Florida lawyer and president of the Florida Historical Society in the 1940s who had a particular interest in Kingsley. During his research he managed to accumulate a large number of documents regarding Kingsley, his family, his plantation, and
Fort George Island A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
. He also wrote several biographical articles concerning Kingsley, including "A Discredited Prophet" and "Zephaniah Kingsley, Nonconformist." * Unpublished letters from 1801 to 1812 to James Hamilton (1763–1829) are found among Hamilton's papers in the
Duke University Library Duke University Libraries is the library system of Duke University, serving the university's students and faculty. The Libraries collectively hold some 6 million volumes. The collection contains 17.7 million manuscripts, 1.2 million public docu ...
.


See also

*
Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, born Anta Madjiguène Ndiaye (18 June 1793 – April or May 1870), also known as Anta Majigeen Njaay or Anna Madgigine Jai, was a West African from present-day Senegal, who was enslaved and sold in Cuba, probably via t ...
*
Cabarete Cabarete is a town in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic, noted for its tourism and beaches. It is located on Camino Cinco approximately from the airport of Puerto Plata (POP). History Cabarete was founded in 1835 by the merc ...
*
Doctors Lake (Florida) Doctors Lake is a body of water located off the St. Johns River in Clay County, Florida. Despite its name, it is not a true lake, as it is actually an inlet, openly connected to the St. Johns. Because of the estuarine nature of the St. Johns, D ...
*
Kingsley Plantation Kingsley Plantation (also known as the Zephaniah Kingsley Plantation Home and Buildings) is the site of a former estate in Jacksonville, Florida, that was named for its developer and most famous owner, Zephaniah Kingsley, who spent 25 years there. ...
*
Mayorasgo de Koka Mayorasgo de Koka ("Primarily Coca") was a tract of land in what was then Haiti but since 1844 is in the Dominican Republic. After renting it in 1837, Zephaniah Kingsley purchased it in 1838. As whites were barred from land ownership in Haiti it ...
* '' A Treatise on the Patriarchal, or Co-operative System of Society''


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Kingsley Plantation
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

and the University of Florida
Kingsley's ''Treatise'', 2nd ed., 1829
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsley, Zephaniah 1765 births 1843 deaths American expatriates in Haiti American planters American proslavery activists American slave owners American slave traders American people of Scottish descent Deaths from pulmonary embolism British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Politicians from Jacksonville, Florida Members of the Florida Territorial Legislature 19th-century American politicians Polygamy in the United States Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina Polygyny Danish slave traders American Quakers 19th-century Quakers Multiracial affairs in the Caribbean People of Spanish Florida English emigrants South Carolina colonial people People from Clay County, Florida Spanish slave owners 18th-century American businesspeople Interracial marriage in the United States Common-law marriage Florida Territory American expatriates in the Dominican Republic Quaker slave owners Danish expatriates in Haiti Danish slave owners Zephaniah Kingsley American expatriates in Spanish Florida History of slavery in Florida