Francis Levett
Encyclopedia
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, Italy, for the Levant Company
Levant Company
The Levant Company, or Turkey Company, was an English chartered company formed in 1581, to regulate English trade with Turkey and the Levant...
until he lit out for East Florida
East Florida
East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...
in 1769 where his brother-in-law Patrick Tonyn
Patrick Tonyn
Patrick Tonyn was a British General who served as the second colonial governor of East Florida from 1775 to 1783.Tonyn was from a military background. His father, Charles Tonyn, was a Colonel in the 6th Inniskillen Dragoons...
of the British Army had been appointed Governor of the English colony. Wielding connections from a lifetime of overseas trading, as well as family connections from a powerful English mercantile family, Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
built one of the first plantations in Florida, and then forfeited his investment when the English lost their foothold in Florida, forcing him to flee to the British colony in the Bahamas. Eventually his son returned to Georgia, where he became the first to plant Sea Island cotton
Gossypium barbadense
Gossypium barbadense, also known as extra long staple cotton as it generally has a staple of at least 1 3/8" or longer, is a species of cotton plant. Some types of ELS cotton are American Pima, Egyptian Giza, Indian Suvin, Chinese Xiniang, Sudanese Barakat, and Russian Tonkovoloknistyi...
in America.
Early life
Born in Turkey, the son of Francis Levett, a tobacco merchant who as a descendant of the trading house built by two brothers, Sir Richard LevettRichard Levett
Sir Richard Levett , Sheriff, Alderman and Lord Mayor of London, was one of the first directors of the Bank of England, an adventurer with the London East India Company and the proprietor of the trading firm Sir Richard Levett & Company. He had homes at Kew and in London's Cripplegate, close by...
, Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
, and his brother Francis Levett (merchant)
Francis Levett (merchant)
Francis Levett was an early London merchant who, in partnership with his brother Sir Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London, built an early trading empire, importing and distributing tobacco and other commodities...
, planter Francis Levett was well-connected in the tight world of English trading overseas. Piggybacking on the exploding British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, these early English traders built juggernauts, trading everything from tobacco to indigo to textiles. The early Levett brothers, sons of a Puritan rector in Ashwell, Rutland
Ashwell, Rutland
Ashwell is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is located about three miles north of Oakham....
, built their empire from scratch, intermarrying with other powerful merchant families. Francis Levett followed in their footsteps.
Having established his connections with such powerful London merchants as Sir Richard Oswald
Richard Oswald 1705-1784
Richard Oswald was born in Scotland in 1705 to the Reverend George Oswald of Dunnet. He is best known as the British peace commissioner in Paris in 1782 who negotiated the Peace of Paris...
, Levett gave up his position with the Levant Company
Levant Company
The Levant Company, or Turkey Company, was an English chartered company formed in 1581, to regulate English trade with Turkey and the Levant...
and returned to London. But having spent his career abroad, Levett wasn't accustomed to the damp weather in the capitol. Having inherited a fortune from an uncle, Levett decided to move to the British colony in East Florida. Levett planned initially to import Greek laborers from Smyrna into the fledgling British colony to do the work of planting. That scheme was apparently soon abandoned.
In the meantime, Levett exploited all his connections. He was named in 1771 to a position helping oversee the Russian fur trade.
Plantation
But his connections still served him well. He secured an appointment as an agent for John Perceval, 2nd Earl of EgmontJohn Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont
John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont PC, FRS was a British politician, political pamphleteer, and genealogist...
to manage the Earl's land grants in his absence. Then Levett was tapped as a judge for the new colony and granted large tracts of land at the insistence of Oswald and his brother-in-law Tonyn. Oswald encouraged Governor James Grant
James Grant
James Grant may refer to:*James Grant , American author, journalist, and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer*James Grant , California painter and sculptor...
to set aside prime acreage for his "worthy friend" Levett, to whom Oswald said he owed "particular obligations." A recipient of the largesse of the initial old boy network, Levett built his 10000 acres (40.5 km²) Julianton Plantation on today's St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
.
The complex Levett built showed what could be done in a new colony by a powerful English merchant with money and connections. In addition to indigo fields and acres devoted to corn, potatoes and peas, the new plantation also had a network of rice fields, sliced by dams and dykes to regulate them. But the centerpiece of Levett's edifice was the domestic arrangement, which included a vineyard with 3,000 vines, two hanging gardens fronting the St. Johns River, 50 farm buildings, a network of bridges, roads and causeways built by Levett's slaves, including slave cabins, kitches, barns, poultry houses and the crowning gem: a large two-story dwelling measuring 60 feet (18.3 m)-by-36 feet (11 m) with seven rooms on each floor. The home had seven bays, a gambrel roof, which itself supported a lantern tower. On either side of the house were six separate dependency structures, three on either side of the mansion, diminishing in size as they extended outward.
The opulent home, said to be the finest in British East Florida, had an 180 feet (54.9 m) wharf for the docking of ships. Stallions, breeding mares and goats grazed nearby on the rich pastures surrounding the home. It was an extraordinary gesture to import the luxuries of the life of a wealthy English gentleman to a fledgling, mosquito-infested colony in the Americas. In addition to his inherited income, Levett relied on fees paid him by absentee English landlords to manage their plantations as well.
Hostility towards Levett
But despite his connections in the new colony, which included not only his brother-in-law the Governor, but also his son-in-law Dr. David Yeats, a physician and Secretary of the Colony who had married Levett's daughter, Francis Levett apparently got into financial trouble. He was accused in a whisper campaign of embezzling funds by purchasing slaves for one of his absentee clients, Thomas Ashby, and then absorbing them into his plantation workforce. Rev. John ForbesJohn Forbes (clergyman)
John Forbes was a clergyman and magistrate in East Florida. He was born in Strathdon, Scotland, the son of Archibald Forbes of Deskrie, Scotland ....
, a Scottish immigrant and ancestor of the Forbes family
Forbes family
The Forbes family is a wealthy extended American family originating in Boston. The family's fortune originates from trading between North America and China in the 19th century plus other investments in the same period. The name descends from Scottish immigrants, and can be traced back to Sir John...
in America, accused Levett of blatant theft.
In several letters written to Governor Grant, Forbes said Levett had diverted the resources of his absentee landlords. The English planter was "charged with purchasing Negroes on Ashby's account and claiming them as his own, with employing Ashby's Negroes at his (own) work, with carrying boatloads of corn from Ashby's place to his (Julianton) settlement without giving credit for them, and with many such extraordinary and unjust transactions," Forbes wrote.
The wronged Thomas Ashley sent a relative to Florida to investigate the charges of malfeasance. Levett was said to be so upset by the allegations that he went to Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
to escape the controversy. In the meantime, his son-in-law Yeats stood bail for him. By 1774, Levett returned to East Florida and subsequently resigned from the Royal Council after discovering that the controversy had rendered him ineffective: no members would sit with him.
Patrick Tonyn
Patrick Tonyn was a British General who served as the second colonial governor of East Florida from 1775 to 1783.Tonyn was from a military background. His father, Charles Tonyn, was a Colonel in the 6th Inniskillen Dragoons...
was named the colony's second Governor, and he presided over a rehabilitation of his brother-in-law. Levett was allowed to make restitution and died shortly afterwards. Management of his Julianton plantation fell to his son Francis Levett Jr., who was apparently a better businessman than his father. The Levett plantation thrived during the Revolutionary War, thanks to the need for Florida turpentine.
At the end of the War, some 13,000 Loyalists fled the new American nation for East Florida, which was still under British control. But their haven didn't last long: in 1784 the English decided to cede their Florida colony back to Spain. The English planters like Francis Levett Jr. were forced to pack up everything and leave hurriedly. Their mood was bleak. "I am totally ruined and see nothing but want and misery before me," wrote Francis Levett's son-in-law Yeats to his good friend James Grant
James Grant
James Grant may refer to:*James Grant , American author, journalist, and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer*James Grant , California painter and sculptor...
.
The retreat from Florida and later years
Following the signing of the Treaty of ParisTreaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
in 1783, Francis Levett Jr. was forced to transport all his goods, including 100 slaves and house frames and household silver, to the Bahamas on short notice. Much of Levett's loot was left behind on the docks when Levett's newly-purchased schooner was found inadequate to handle the family's accumulated riches.
The family was never able to sell its East Florida properties. The elaborate English manor house and farms were abandoned. Francis Levett's attempts to establish himself as a planter in the Bahamas failed, and the heir was forced to return to London. But he and his wife Charlotte Box had apparently gotten a taste for life in America. They later returned to the state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, where the English planter, thanks to his father's old friend Henry Laurens
Henry Laurens
Henry Laurens was an American merchant and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laurens succeeded John Hancock as President of the Congress...
, established himself at a new plantation on the Harris Neck peninsula overlooking Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island is a state-protected island located in McIntosh County, Georgia. The island is reachable only by airplane or boat, with the primary ferry coming from the Sapelo Island Visitors Center in McIntosh County, Georgia, a seven mile , twenty-minute trip.Approximately 97 percent of the...
in McIntosh County, Georgia
McIntosh County, Georgia
McIntosh County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Brunswick, Georgia, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of McIntosh, Glynn, and Brantley counties. As of 2010, the population is 14,333. The county seat is Darien.-History:McIntosh County was split...
. He named the new plantation Julianton, in honor of his father's abandoned Florida plantation and his mother Julia.
After becoming the first planter in America to sow Sea Island cotton, Francis Levett Jr. died in 1802. He left the newly-christened Julianton Plantation to his wife.