James Kirksey Plantation

The James A. Kirksey Plantation was a moderate plantation of 2600 acres (10½ km²) located in northwestern Leon County, Florida, United States, established by James A. Kirksey.

The James Kirksey plantation house was prefabricated in New York and built on the site in 1832. It is a 2 story home 55 feet across the front and 33 feet wide with porches on both floors wrapping from side to front to side. The house is supported with 16 fluted Doric columns (8 per floor). It is located at 325 N. Calhoun Street in Tallahassee. [http://www.fsu.edu/~speccoll/bowen/bowecoll.htm] [http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?pp/hh:@field(TITLE+@od1(James+Kirksey+House,+325+North+Calhoun+Street,+Tallahassee,+Leon+County,+FL))]

Location

The Kirksey Plantation was bordered on the north by Frederick R. Cotten's Burgesstown Plantation and on the east by the William A. Carr Plantation. Today the 1st section of 950 acres would be on the west side of N. Meridian Road at Orchard Pond Road including Buck Pond. The 2nd section was 3 miles north of Tallahassee on 1280 acres.

1860 plantation specifics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that the James A. Kirksey Plantation had the following:
*Improved Land: 1320 acres (5 km²)
*Unimproved Land: 1280 acres (5 km²)
*Cash value of plantation: $33,000
*Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $500
*Cash value of farm animals: $3,405
*Number of slaves: 180
*Bushels of corn: 6000
*Bales of cotton: 454

Though the plantation was not extremely large, it was the 4th largest in the county.

The owners

The plantation was owned by James A. Kirksey who was born in 1804 and died in 1878. Though not a large plantation owner, James Kirksey was involved in state politics as an election inspector in 1845. [http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/fl/leon/xmisc/1845votr.txt] and also a delegate to the Florida Secession Convention on January 10, 1861.

Around 1915 or 1916 the James Kirksey Plantation was purchased by Dr. Tennent Ronalds of Edinburgh, Scotland, who also owned Live Oak Plantation and Orchard Pond Plantation, a total personal estate of 6437 acres.

References

* [http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/fl/leon/census/1860agri.txt Rootsweb Plantations]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ajac/flleon.htm Largest Slaveholders from 1860 Slave Census Sschedules]
*Paisley, Clifton; "From Cotton To Quail", University of Florida Press, c1968.

External links

* [http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?pp/hh:@field(TITLE+@od1(James+Kirksey+House,+325+North+Calhoun+Street,+Tallahassee,+Leon+County,+FL)) Photos of home in 1962]