MAXWELL, LAURA ELIZABETH (1824–1903), daughter of James Audley Maxwell (1796–1828) and Susan Mary Jones Maxwell [Cumming], and sister of Charles Edward Maxwell. Her father died when she was four, and for the next ten years she and her mother and brother lived in Savannah or with relatives in Liberty County. Much time was spent in the homes of her great uncle Joseph Jones (1779–1846), her aunt Elizabeth Jones Maxwell, and her uncle Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863). When her mother married Joseph Cumming in 1838, the family resided in Savannah. When Joseph Cumming died in 1846, the family resumed the practice of moving between a residence in Savannah and the plantation homes of relatives. Some time was spent in Philadelphia when her brother was in medical school and the family of her uncle Charles Colcock Jones was resident in the city. Laura Maxwell received from her grandfather Audley Maxwell a number of slaves and inherited with her brother Social Bluff plantation on Colonel’s Island. Lambert plantation was purchased for her and her brother following her grandfather’s death in 1840. Laura Maxwell had a playful spirit and a happy and affectionate relationship with her extended family. As a young woman, she was known for her beauty and for her lively wit, which drew to her many suitors. In 1856 she married David Lyman Buttolph, the pastor of Midway Congregational Church. They made Social Bluff their home. They had five children, four of whom lived to maturity. When Federal gunships threatened the Georgia coast, they abandoned Social Bluff and moved to the interior of the county. In 1867 David Buttolph accepted a call to become pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Marietta, Georgia. Shortly after his departure, the white Midway congregation was disbanded.
MAXWELL, WILLIAM (1785–1866), planter and husband of Elizabeth Jones Maxwell. He grew up in Sunbury, where he had extended family connections both in the village and on surrounding plantations. William Maxwell’s father died when he was two, and his mother died when he was eight. In his early years he had a quick temper that could be ignited with any hint of disrespect, and he drank more whiskey than was good for him. He married Elizabeth Jones in 1811 and was deeply devoted to his “Betsy.” Childless, they helped to raise the orphaned Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) and Susan Mary Jones [Maxwell Cumming]. They moved about often, buying and selling plantations—Orange Grove, Laurel View, Lodebar, and Springfield. Maxwell was often in debt to his friend Joseph Jones (1779–1846), but he had the affection and respect of a wide circle of friends. They elected him the captain of the Liberty Independent Troop, and when he was hurting financially, they elected him the county sheriff, a position that brought a small but steady income. He was called Colonel Maxwell for his service in the War of 1812—a promotion that can be accounted for by some esoteric procedure used by a certain class of southerners. In the late 1830s he had a conversion experience and became a member of the Midway congregation. If his impulsive ways never left him, they were tempered—as was his drinking. In his later years, he became increasingly known for his kindness and his deep loyalty to family and friends. When his wife died, a new loneliness arrived, but he gave increased attention to those whom he loved. When he died, he died, as Betsy had, in the home of a friend.
MAYBANK, ANDREW (1768–1834), planter and philanthropist. He married in 1794 Elizabeth Girardeau, sister to Susannah Hyrne Girardeau Jones, the second wife of John Jones (1772–1805). His younger sister, Mary Maybank Jones (1781–1804), was the first wife of Joseph Jones (1779–1846). He willed a number of slaves to Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) and Mary Jones, as well as the plantation that came to be called Maybank. He left in his will, through the sale of slaves and land, a large endowment for Columbia Theological Seminary.
McWHIR, WILLIAM(1759–1851), Presbyterian minister and educator. Born in Ireland, he had smallpox as a child that left him pockmarked and blind in one eye. He was for many years the headmaster of Sunbury Academy, where he had Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) as a student. Well known as a progressive educator and disciplinarian, he evoked lifelong admiration and affection among many of his students. Jones called him “the most perfectly social man that I have ever known” and noted that McWhir was “warm and sincere in his attachments” and that he found “heartfelt pleasure” to be “in the society of his friends.” While “not celebrated for his beauty,” McWhir was said to be “an entertaining, instructive, and interesting companion” full of anecdotes and jokes in which he did not spare himself. He lived until he was ninety-one, when he died at South Hampton plantation surrounded by grieving friends.
RAHN, IRWIN (1806–1891), farmer, craftsman, and plantation overseer, he managed Arcadia plantation for Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) from 1848 through 1853. He was known locally for his skills as a carpenter, but he was rather indifferent in his care for and management of slaves.
ROBARTS, ELIZA GREENE LOW (1785–1868), daughter of Philip Low (1735–1785) and his second wife, Mary Sharpe (1753–1793), widow of John Jones (1749–1779). She was a half-sister to John Jones (1772–1805) and Joseph Jones (1779–1846) and was consequently an aunt to both Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) and Mary Jones. Married and widowed three times before her twenty-eight birthday, she had three children: Mary Eliza Robarts (1805–1878), Joseph William Robarts (1811–1863), and Louisa Jane Robarts (1813–1897). After her last husband’s death, she and her family moved between Joseph Jones’s home, the Retreat, and her summer home at Sunbury. In 1849 she and her daughters, together with the four motherless children of her son Joseph, moved to Marietta, Georgia, where they had a large and comfortable home. She left a number of her slaves in the low country, where they were rented to various family members. Throughout this narrative, she is frequently called Aunt Eliza. She evoked deep affection and intense loyalty not only from her children but also from her nieces and nephews.
SHARPE, MARY. See Jones, Mary Sharpe.
SHEPARD, THOMAS (1803–1873), farmer and plantation overseer, he managed Montevideo for Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) and White Oak for Susan Mary Jones Maxwell Cumming from 1848 through 1852. While Charles Jones was not always satisfied with the results of Shepard’s management, Shepard was a careful and honest overseer of the plantations and their slave populations.
SISTER SUSAN. See Cumming, Susan Mary Jones Maxwell.
SMITH, JAMES (1766–1854), planter, a wealthy neighbor and hunting companion of John Jones (1772–1805), and the maternal grandfather of Jane Adaline Dunwody (1820–1884), wife of John Jones (1815–1893). James Smith owned plantations in Liberty County and in neighboring McIntosh County. In 1793 raids by the Creeks carried off a number of his slaves. In 1837 he joined the little exodus of low-country families moving to the former Cherokee country. Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) and Mary Jones often visited in his home Welham, near Marietta, which was described as “a quiet, delightful home; its inmates kind, cheerful, and affectionate. The mansion is the perfection of cottage beauty, and the outer buildings admirably correspond. The whole presents the appearance of order, neatness, and comfort.” James Smith maintained his low-country plantations Hope Still and Sidon, where his family often spent winters. At his death, his will stipulated that his estate was to be held together in perpetuity because no one heir would be able to buy out the others, and because Smith abhorred splitting up slave families. According to his will, slaves born after his death had at the age of eighteen the possibility of being freed and sent to Liberia. The court annulled the will.
SMYTH, THOMAS (1808–1873), Presbyterian minister and pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston. In 1832 he married Margaret Milligan Adger, the daughter of James Adger. A prolific writer, Smyth published more than thirty volumes on theological matters and contemporary social and cultural issues. A substantial part of his personal library of twenty thousand volumes was sold to Columbia Theological Seminary. He was a strong ally with Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) in advocating religious instruction of slaves.
STEWART, DANIEL (1761–1829), army officer, planter, and close friend of John Jones (1772–1805). He joined the colonies’ ar
my during the Revolution when he was fifteen and fought under General Francis Marion in South Carolina. He distinguished himself in the “Indian wars” after the Revolution, especially against the Creeks in Georgia, and again in the War of 1812. He was promoted to brigadier general. He served in the Georgia legislature for a number of years. His sister Elizabeth was the first wife of John Jones and the mother of Elizabeth Jones Maxwell. General Stewart was thus the uncle of “Betsy” Maxwell and was regarded by her half-brother Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) as his uncle as well. Fort Stewart, Georgia, is named after Daniel Stewart.
THORNWELL, JAMES HENLEY (1812–1862), Presbyterian minister, theologian, and educator. He was professor of logic and belles lettres at South Carolina College during Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863)’s first term as a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary (1837–1838) and was professor of sacred literature and evidence of Christianity at South Carolina College during Jones’s second term as a professor at Columbia (1848–1850). A brilliant theologian, Thornwell sought a middle way on the question of slavery between extreme proslavery advocates and those calling for the immediate abolition of slavery. He served a term as a popular president of South Carolina College before accepting a call as a professor of theology at Columbia Theological Seminary. While he and Jones were friends and he was a strong supporter of Jones’s work for the religious instruction of slaves, Thornwell was much more the sophisticated theologian, while Jones was more the practicing missionary pastor among the Gullah people.
WELLS, MARY ELIZABETH KING(1827–1871), daughter of Roswell King and Julia Rebecca Maxwell King. She was noted for her lively and winsome ways as a young woman. Elizabeth Jones Maxwell described her as “gay as a lark and at the head of all mischief and fun.” In 1845 she broke her engagement to James Newton Jones, which seemed scandalous to many friends and relatives. In 1849 she married Dr. Charlton Henry Wells (1822–1854), a young and promising physician. After his death from yellow fever, she was devastated, “having loved him with the most uncontrolled affection,” and began to suffer severe headaches. Travel to hot springs and the North occasionally helped with her headaches, but they disappeared only after the Civil War, when it was reported that she “works hard, sleeps well, has no headaches now and God blesses her with a grateful, cheerful spirit.”
GENEALOGICAL CHARTS
Jupiter and Silvey
Robin and Lizzy West
Lizzy and Robinson
Flora
Prime and Fanny Stevens
Rosetta and Sam Roberts
Andrew and Mary Ann Lawson
Ancestry for Tenah’s “pretty little girl named Lucy”
John and Mary Jones
PLANTATIONS
ARCADIA—Plantation home of John Dunwody until his move to Roswell in 1838. It contained approximately 2,000 acres used for raising inland swamp rice and Sea Island cotton. Charles Colcock and Mary Jones purchased Arcadia in 1845. People from Maybank and Montevideo were moved into its settlement where Stepney [West] was the driver. The Jones family used Arcadia as a regular residence only during the Civil War.
BONAVENTURE—A Sea Island cotton plantation of some 2,800 acres purchased by the Reverend John Jones in 1845. Jones never lived at Bonaventure, but he moved a number of his slaves to the plantation shortly after its purchase. Jones’s son, Dunwody Jones, tried unsuccessfully to plant there after the Civil War.
CARLAWTER—See Montevideo
LAMBERT—A rice and Sea Island cotton plantation owned in the eighteenth century by John Lambert. At Lambert’s death in 1786, he left the plantation and thirty-one slaves in trust for philanthropic purposes. The plantation became the center of the Gullah community in Liberty County and was home of a number of early slave preachers. In 1839 the trustees of the estate sold the Lambert slaves and invested the funds in railroad and other stock. Lambert plantation was purchased in 1846 by Susan Jones Maxwell Cumming for her children Laura and Charles Edward. Thirty-eight slaves were moved to Lambert from White Oak plantation shortly after its purchase.
LAUREL VIEW—A 2,500-acre Sea Island cotton plantation owned by Joseph Jones (1779–1846) and located near Dorchester. Its lands reached to the Medway River. Andrew May-bank Jones inherited the plantation in 1846. People from the Retreat settlement were the primary laborers at Laurel View.
LIBERTY HALL—A rice and Sea Island cotton plantation located near Riceboro and owned by John Jones (1772–1805). Jupiter (1740?-1812?) was the longtime driver on the plantation. Elizabeth (Betsy) Jones Maxwell, Susan Jones Maxwell Cumming, and Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) were all born at Liberty Hall. After the death of Susannah Hyrne Girardeau Jones in 1810, the plantation was sold, its slaves were moved to the Retreat, and the plantation passed into the hands of Nathaniel Varnedoe.
LODEBAR—A Sea Island cotton plantation located near Dorchester. It was the home in the 1830s of William and Betsy Maxwell. Joseph Jones (1779–1846) purchased the plantation from the Maxwells in the 1840s and gave it to his son Henry Hart Jones. A number of slaves were moved from the Retreat settlement to Lodebar when it was purchased by Jones. Henry Hart Jones sold the plantation in 1856. After the Civil War a freedman’s school was established at the plantation.
MALLARD PLACE—A Sea Island cotton and rice plantation located east of the Midway Congregation Church. Thomas Mallard owned the plantation for more than forty years, until his death in 1861. The Reverend Robert Quarterman Mallard spent the winter and spring months of his youth at the plantation. A large slave community lived in its settlement, including the driver Pompey and the carpenter and healer Dr. Harry Stevens.
MAYBANK—A 700-acre Sea Island cotton plantation and summer home located on Colonel’s Island and overlooking the Medway marshes. Andrew Maybank in his will left the plantation to Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) and Mary Jones in 1834 with fifteen slaves. Andrew [Lawson] was the driver at Maybank for more than thirty years. The Jones family used the plantation as their summer home, staying there from early June until the first frost in the fall. Marauders burned the plantation house shortly after the end of the Civil War.
MONTEVIDEO—A 936-acre rice and Sea Island cotton plantation located on the North Newport River near Riceboro. Originally composed of three tracts, the plantation was a gift to Charles Colcock Jones (1804–1863) and Mary Jones from Joseph Jones (1779–1846). In 1839 a southern section of the plantation, some 400 acres, was broken off to form White Oak plantation, owned by Susan Jones Maxwell Cumming. Additional land was purchased to enlarge the plantation to approximately 900 acres. Montevideo was the primary residence and home of the Jones family. The section of Montevideo on which its slave settlement was located was known as Carlawter. Jack Anderson was the butler at Montevideo; Lizzy Jones and Patience [Way] were the primary cooks; Phoebe [Anderson Jones] was the seamstress; and Cato [Holmes] was the driver.
RETREAT—A rice and Sea Island cotton plantation located near Riceboro that eventually came to include more than 4,000 acres. The Retreat had originally been a part of Rice Hope plantation developed by John Jones (1749–1779), but Joseph Jones (1779–1846) greatly expanded its size and the production of its crops. Pulaski (1779–1852) was the driver at the Retreat for more than sixty years. During Joseph Jones’s lifetime, the plantation was the center of the extended Jones family and the place of residence for many. After Joseph Jones’s death, the plantation was managed by his son James Newton Jones, then purchased in 1856 by James Newton’s brother Henry Hart Jones. The Retreat was sold out of the Jones family in the early 1860s. The Retreat house was burned shortly after the Civil War.
SOCIAL BLUFF—A Sea Island cotton plantation located on Colonel’s Island overlooking the mouth of the North Newport River. The plantation had long been in the Maxwell family when Audley Maxwell left it to his grandchildren Laura and Charles Edwards Maxwell. The plantation was sometimes known as Point Maxwell or Point Prospect. When Laura Maxwell married the Reverend David Buttolph, Social Bluff became their home. Joefinny was the butler f
or the Buttolphs. Marauders burned the plantation house shortly after the end of the Civil War.
SOUTH HAMPTON—A rice and Sea Island cotton plantation of approximately 1,950 acres located on the North Newport River east of Montevideo. Barrington King developed the plantation from 1822 to 1838, when he sold South Hampton to his brother Roswell King. Paris was the longtime driver at the plantation. After Roswell King’s death in 1854, the plantation was managed by his son James Audley King.
SPRINGFIELD—A plantation on the mainland overlooking the Medway marshes with a view of Colonel’s Island. The Reverend William McWhir owned Springfield in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Later it was the plantation home of William Maxwell, who lived there until he was driven from it by Federal troops when they entered Liberty County in December 1864.
WHITE OAK—Originally a part of Montevideo plantation known as the Cooper tract, White Oak was formed as a distinct plantation of some 400 acres in 1839, when it became the sole property of Susan Jones Maxwell Cumming. There was no plantation house at White Oak, but an important slave settlement was located on the property. Prince was the driver at White Oak from 1839 until the removal of the people to southwest Georgia during the Civil War. After the war a number of the former slaves who had lived at White Oak returned to its settlement and rented the land from their former owner.
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