Story and photos by Deborah Holmes
The Kingsley family itself has an intriguing history. Anta Majigeen Jai was purchased as a slave by Zephaniah Kingsley in 1806. She was just 13 years old. By the time she arrived in the Spanish colony that is now Florida she was pregnant with Zephaniah's child. She became known as Anna.
Kingsley never married Anna in a religious or civil ceremony recognized by either Spanish or American law, but he described her as his wife, and considered their five children his legitimate heirs. In 1811, Kingsley gave Anna and their children their freedom. Anna was also given her own plantation and owned slaves. After her plantation was destroyed by in an uprising against the Spanish, she and Zephaniah acquired St. Georges Island and the plantation house. Anna managed Kingsley Plantation for 23 years, before ultimately fleeing to Haiti when Florida was annexed to the United States. Both Zephaniah and Anna feared for her freedom and that of their children under harsh race laws imposed by the Americans.
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For the 37 years that Anna was with Zephaniah, she maintained separate quarters. Zephaniah continued to have relations with other salve women and to father their children. Anna's separate quarters are not, however, a reflection of an inferior status, but an acknowledgement of her African heritage. In Anna's tribal culture in Senegal women and men did not share living quarters.
The beginnings
The house already had a colorful history when Anna and Zephaniah settled there in 1814. The history of Kinglsey Plantation begins several years before its construction, when Florida was still a Spanish colony. Eager to encourage settlers and profits, the Spanish invited Americans to emigrate with promises of land and wealth. A bankrupt American revolution veteran, John McQueen, emigrated to Florida from South Carolina with his 300 slaves. He was rewarded with Fort George island in 1793. Five years later, McQueen had the house now known as Kingsley Plantation constructed.
The simple cracker style house would be, McQueen said, " a very comfortable habitation and in any other country a handsome situation."
McQueen was successful for a few years with a sawmill and fruit trees. His most lucrative cash crop was Sea Island cotton, a plant imported from the Bahamas. Sea Island cotton was prized for its fine, long fibers which wove into a superior cloth. But bad luck followed McQueen. In the same year that high waters destroyed his saw mill, his cotton crop was meager. Bankrupt again, McQueen sold the island and plantation home to a Georgian, John McIntosh.
McIntosh successfully revived the Sea Island cotton and other crops, becoming one of the wealthiest planters in the province. Politics brought his downfall. He participated in the Patriot Rebellion, an attempt by Americans living in East Florida to take the colony from the Spanish and turn it over to the United States. The uprising was met with stiff opposition from the Spaniards, who allied themselves with the Seminole Indians. The United States withdrew its support of the patriots. Fearing reprisals by the Spaniards, McIntosh and others fled back to Georgia.
Kingsley was in Florida at the time, but had managed to stay on more favorable terms with the Spaniards. He leased Fort George Island from McIntosh in 1814, and purchased it in 1817. Anna and Zephaniah lived on the plantation until 1837, raising their children and managing a large slave population.
Anna and the children lived in a separate dwelling, a saltbox style house connected to the main house by a walkway. "Ma'am Anna House," is built of tabby bricks, on the first floor with a wood frame above.
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After Anna and Zephaniah
Florida's annexation to United States in 1821 brought an end to the relatively liberal race policies the Spaniards had established. Interracial marriages were now illegal. The rights of free blacks to travel and own property were restricted. Kingsley opposed the harsh American racial stratification and spoke publicly against it. Finally, fearing that increasing racism endangered his family, Kingsley began a colony in Haiti. In 1837, Anna Kingsley and her sons moved to Haiti, with a number of slaves and former slaves.
When Kingsley died in 1843, the plantation home on St. George Island was not part of his estate. It had been sold to nephews four years before. By 1866 the property had passed from family hands. After the Civil War, the property was a moderately successful citrus farm until severe freezes in 1894-95 brought an end to commercial agriculture on Fort George Island.
Anna returned to Florida in 1847 to another farm she purchased. She died in 1870 at the age of 77.
Today, the National park Service maintains a portion of the original plantation as an historic site. Original structures with exhibits and ranger programs tell the stories of the island.
Getting there
Kingsley Plantation is located on the Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, Northeast of downtown Jacksonville. The plantation is located just off Route A1A north of the ferry landing. Grounds and exhibit areas are open daily 9 to 5, except Christmas day.
