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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Early Settlers of Jackson County, Florida


By Dale Cox

The smoke had barely cleared from the First Seminole War when the first settlers began to make their way back to the rich lands they had explored with Andrew Jackson in 1818. It was a risky proposition at best. The area that would become Jackson County was still Spanish territory at the time and there was the possibility of violent confrontation with Native American warriors still angered over their losses in the war.
Despite such dangers, however, several dozen frontier families made their way into the area by 1820. Their initial settlements were along Spring Creek in the Campbellton area, on the old Indian fields along Irwin’s Mill Creek and along the Apalachicola River south of the Native American towns of Tomatley and Choconicla.
Some of the names of these first settlers are recognizable in Jackson County today. The Spring Creek settlement, for example, included John Williams, James Falk, William T. Nelson, Abraham Philips, Benjamin Hamilton, Owen Williams, Micajah Cadwell, Joseph Parrot, John Ward, Nathan A. Ward, William Philips, James Ward, Andrew Farmer, Robert Thomas, John Hays, Samuel C. Fowler, Nathaniel Hudson, Wilie Blount, Moses Brantley, Robert Thompson, Guthrie Moore, Stephen Daniel, John Gwinn, John Jones, Allaway Roach, Henry Moses, Joel Porter, Simeon Cook, James C. Roach, John Smith and Presley Scurlock.
Their farms stretched from Holmes Creek on the west across the present site of Campbellton and then down Spring Creek to its junction with the headwaters of the Chipola River. To the south their lands extended about as far down as today’s Waddell’s Mill Pond, while to the north other settlements lay just across the Alabama line.
None of these farms were the large plantations for which Jackson County later became known. The largest had around 40 acres in cultivation, but the average settler farmed less than 15 acres. It was a start, though, and qualified each of them to later claim 640 acres after Florida was ceded by Spain to the United States in 1821.
The settlement at Irwin’s Mill Creek, then called “Conchatty Hatchy” or “Red Ground Creek,” included Joseph Brown, William Brown, Joseph Brooks, William Chamblis, James Irwin, Adam Kimbrough, William McDonald, William H. Pyke, George Sharp and Allis Wood.
Down on the Apalachicola, meanwhile, were Charles Barnes, Adam Hunter, John H. King and Reuben Littleton. These men all lived along the stretch of the river north Ocheesee Bluff, where Thomas and Stephen Richards had settled.
Other settlers known to have been in Jackson County prior to 1821 included James Dennard, Jonathan Hagan, John Hopson, Hugh Robertson, Joshua Scurlock and Robert Sullivan, all of whom settled along the upper Chipola east of the Spring Creek settlement, and William Pyles who staked a claim at Blue Spring.
Note: This article is excerpted from The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years. The book is available at Chipola River Book and Tea in Downtown Marianna or online at http://www.amazon.com/.

3 comments:

Maycontainwine said...

I have ordered your book. I've been trying to find my Jackson County roots for fourteen years. My fathers family, the Harrells settled there very early. The group I descend from seems to have been very isolated and they know nothing of their ancestry. I was born in Dothan and raised in Dellwood most of my life. My GGG grandfather was Henry Harrell who I believe married Mary Dennard. He had my great Grandfather William Harrell, huge mystery there. Another of his sons stayed in Jackson County. Ransom Whitfield Harrell, he married a Native American from Georgia born Awa Dabbege,later known as Martha. She was Creek and settled with him in Jackson County.He was a blacksmith and his son Isaac, who lived next door was a wheelwright. My mothers family are Baxters, Mitchells and Andrews from the area.I have DNA on ancestry and GEDmatch. I would love to talk to anyone that could help with this or even just chat about the early settlers of Jackson County.

Anonymous said...

I realize this is an old comment, but it showed up in my e-mail. My maiden name is Brandy Harrell. I also have the exact same family line. William Harrell is my great great grandfather. Several cousins have been searching for 20 plus years or more. I'm on ancestry and would love to hear from you.

Dale Cox said...

Hi, and thanks for your comment. I'm sorry that I didn't see your original comment when you posted it in 2022. Feel free to reach out to me by going to www.twoeggtv.com and at the top of the page you will see a "Contact" spot. Just click that and you can email me direct. That is our page for Two Egg TV, which we also run. You might enjoy it as well. We put lots of stories about places and history from around North Florida, Georgia, and Alabama on there. I think I can help you with some information and we would definitely like to make contact with you about your Creek ancestor!
Dale