Waverly Plantation was a large
cotton-growing slave plantation
A slave plantation is an agricultural farm that uses enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century.
Slavery
Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...
of unknown size, located in southern
Leon County,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, owned by
George Taliaferro Ward.
Location
Waverly Plantation bordered the
Southwood Plantation on the west.
Multiple plantation statistics
The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that Southwood Plantation had the following:
Besides Waverly, Ward also maintained his plantations of
Clifford Place and
Southwood. Including Waverly, his holdings totaled of which were improved. Combined, Ward held 160 persons enslaved, produced 7500 bushels of corn and 500 bales of cotton.
Owner
George Taliafero Ward
George Taliaferro Ward (1810 – May 5, 1862) was a major cotton Plantations in the American South, planter and politician from Leon County, Florida. He served in the Confederate Army as a colonel during the American Civil War, dying near William ...
was born in
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
in 1810 and moved to Tallahassee in 1825. In that same year Ward became Register of the Land Office, succeeding Samuel R. Overton. From 1838 to 1839 Ward served on the Legislative Council from Leon County and attended the Constitutional Convention.
George T. Ward inherited the land now known as Southwood from his father, George W. Ward.
In 1844 Ward married Sarah Jane Chaires of the wealthy
Benjamin Chaires family of eastern Leon County and had at least three daughters, Georgima, Anna, and Mattie as well as brothers. Sarah Jane would inherit other properties that were later incorporated into Southwood.
The original mansion built in 1865 at Southwood was destroyed by fire. In 1939, George Henderson, grandson of Colonel John and Mattie Henderson, moved the family home from downtown Tallahassee to the old foundation of the original Southwood house.
References
*Special Collections, Robert Manning Strozier Library, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
Rootsweb Plantations1845 voters list
*Paisley, Clifton; ''From Cotton To Quail'', University of Florida Press, c1968.
*Florida Memory Project
FSU thesis
{{Coord, 30.3874, -84.2187, display=title
Plantations in Leon County, Florida
Cotton plantations in Florida
Burned houses in the United States