Campbellton Baptist Church, Florida's oldest Baptist church in continuous operation, dates from before the War Between the States and stands near the Spring Creek settlement site. |
The following is excerpted from my book: The History Of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.
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 had appeared in the area by 1820. Their initial settlements
were along Spring Creek in the Campbellton area, on the Ekanachatte site at Neal’s Landing and along the Apalachicola River south of the Native American towns of Tomatley and Choconicla.
Based on these locations, it appears that the
first settlers probably took advantage of fields that had already been cleared
by Native Americans. The Chacato village of San Antonio had been located in the area of the Spring
Creek settlement and its old fields had been resettled by a party of Creeks
from Pucknawhitla by 1778. These fields were undoubtedly still
clear of heavy timber in 1820 and it would have been relatively easy for the
first settlers to clear away any second growth and underbrush and begin
farming.
The same was true at the Ekanachatte site, which had been abandoned for less than
two years. Extensive fields had been cleared over the fifty year history of the
village and these were now literally “open for the taking.” In addition,
Irwin’s Mill Creek flowed year round and provided sufficient
force to turn the wheels of watermills, a fact that eventually led to its
modern name.
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.[i]
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 extended 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.[ii]
1823 map of the Jackson County area. |
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 between Tomatley and 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.[iii]
Blue Springs (or Jackson Blue Springs) was a landmark for early settlers and Native American residents alike. |
So too did Mulatto King, who assumed permanent
leadership of both Tomatley and Choconicla following the death of Yellow Hair. The villages grew
considerably following the war due to the arrival of refugees from the
destroyed town of Attapulgas in what is now Decatur County, Georgia. Mulatto King welcomed these displaced individuals and allowed
them to settle on lands adjacent to his villages.
In truth, the Native Americans living in Jackson
County between 1819 and 1821 probably lived much better than their white
counterparts. While the early white settlers were struggling to build crude log
cabins and clear fields, many of the Native Americans – particularly those of
Tomatley – enjoyed a prosperity that they had spent
years developing.
Claims later filed by many of these people indicate that they
owned cabins, houses, mills, orchards and fields. A woman named Polly Walker, for example, reported
that she owned a dwelling house, two cabins and an orchard of 32 fruit trees.
Joe Riley owned a house and improvements valued at
$1,150, a substantial amount for the time. Econchattimico reestablished himself at Tocktoethla by clearing 73 acres of land and building a
cabin, corn crib, shed, three log cabins, a summer house and two mills. His
fields were surrounded by fences built using 14,280 rails.[iv]
[i] Claims to Land in West Florida, December 10, 1824, American State Papers, Public Lands, Volume 4, pp. 61-63 (Hereafter ASP Public Lands).
[ii]
Ibid.
[iii]
Ibid.
[iv]
List of Claims of Appalachicola
Indians who have emigrated West of the Mississippi River, November 11, 1838,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, M234, Roll 290, Frame 299.
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