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Live Oak Plantation was originally a small
Live Oak Plantation was now larger and its borders extended eastward to
cotton plantation
Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...
of , operated by captive, enslaved workers and located in central 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. It was established by John Branch
John Branch Jr. (November 4, 1782January 4, 1863) was an American politician who served as U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, the 19th Governor of the state of North Carolina, and was the sixth and last governor of the Florida Territory.
B ...
who arrived in Florida in 1832 and served as Florida Territorial Governor while living at Live Oak for 15 years.
Location
Live Oak was located in north central Leon County extending from the east shore of Lake Jackson to the western edge of Lafayette Township.
1860s
The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that Live Oak Plantation had the following: * Improved land: * Unimproved land: * Cash value of plantation: $4000 * Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $300 * Cash value of farm animals: $2390 * Number of slaves: 68 * Bushels of corn: 2000 * Bales of cotton: 731870s-1900s
On June 9, 1870 John Branch's heirs sold Live Oak, now at only , to Howard S. Case ofColumbia, Pennsylvania
Columbia, formerly Wright's Ferry, is a borough (town) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 10,222. It is southeast of Harrisburg, on the east (left) bank of the Susquehanna River, ...
. This was historically noted as the last large purchase of Leon County plantation property to a northerner.
In 1887 the Case family sold the plantation to Edmund Hugh Ronalds of Edinburgh, Scotland
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, a chemist and the eldest son of Dr Edmund Ronalds
Edmund Ronalds FCS FRSE (18 June 1819 – 9 September 1889) was an English academic and industrial chemist. He was co-author of a seminal series of books on chemical technology that helped begin university teaching of chemical applications for ...
. Ronalds wintered at Live Oak and married Lisa Williams, daughter of Joseph John Williams of La Grange Plantation on November 21, 1891. In 1892 Lisa Williams Ronalds contracted and died from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
while in Scotland. Edmund Hugh died on March 17, 1895.
Live Oak Plantation was now larger and its borders extended eastward to Lake Hall
Lake Hall is a small lake located in central Leon County, Florida, United States. It is located just north of Interstate 10 and slightly west of U.S. Highway 319 and within Tallahassee city limits.
Lake Hall forms the south, western, and part ...
, Lake Overstreet, and Lake Elizabeth.
Dr. Tennent Ronalds, a fellow of the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society, inherited Live Oak upon his brother's death. A keen sportsman, he spent his time enjoying hunting, fishing, and golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
.
By 1903 Live Oak boasted a private golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...
with a flock of sheep for maintenance of greens and fairways. Live Oak was also extended to and had the first tung tree
''Vernicia fordii'' (usually known as the tung tree (, ''tóng'') and also as the tung-oil or tungoil tree (), the kalo nut tree, and the China wood-oil tree) is a species of flowering plant in the Euphorbiaceae, spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It i ...
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...
in Florida. In 1903 an additional were leased from Ellen Call Long's Orchard Pond Plantation
Orchard Pond Plantation was a large forced-labor farm originally growing cotton on 8754 acres, ( km2) developed and owned in the 19th century by Richard Keith Call, attorney, planter and future Territorial Governor, in what is now northwester ...
for use in hunting. In 1915 and 1916 Tennent Ronalds purchased Orchard Pond from the Long and Call families. Ronalds also purchased the James Kirksey Plantation
The James A. Kirksey Plantation was a moderate forced-labor farm of located in northwestern Leon County, Florida, United States, established by James A. Kirksey. In 1847 he served as mayor of Tallahassee. He had a large number of slaves.
The Ja ...
.
Tennent Ronalds committed suicide on February 24, 1924.
In 1925, Live Oak was only . That year, it was purchased by Herman C. Fleitman of Stamford, Connecticut. In 1934, it was sold again to Leon T. Cheek of Jacksonville, Florida. Cheeks was a member of a well-to-do family from Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
owning Cheek and Neal Coffee which became Maxwell House
Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the Ma ...
.
In 1948, Live Oak was sold to A. M. Middlebrooks. The plantation is no longer, having become the neighborhoods in and around Live Oak Plantation Road and including Middlebrooks Circle.
References