Francis W. Eppes
Francis W. Eppes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Intendant of Tallahassee, Florida | |
| In office 1841–1844 | |
| Preceded by | Leslie A. Thompson |
| Succeeded by | James A. Berthelot |
| In office 1856–1857 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Hayward |
| Succeeded by | D. P. Hogue |
| In office 1866–1866 | |
| Preceded by | P. T. Pearce |
| Succeeded by | D. P. Hogue |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 20, 1801 Monticello, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | May 30, 1881 (aged 79) Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| Spouses | Mary Elizabeth Cleland Randolph
(m. 1822; died 1835)Susan Margaret Ware Crouch
(m. 1837; died 1881) |
| Children | 13 |
| Parent(s) | John Wayles Eppes Mary Jefferson Eppes |
| Occupation | Politician |
Francis Wayles Eppes (September 20, 1801 – May 30, 1881) was a planter and slave owner from
Early and family life
Francis Wayles Eppes was born in 1801, the second child of
His mother died in 1804 when he was three, soon after the birth of her third child. Eppes was the only one of her three children to reach adulthood. Eppes' father soon moved his household and slaves from Mont Blanco, to another of his plantations, Millbrook, in
Eppes studied law, but never completed his legal studies.
Marriage and family
After reaching the legal age of 21, on November 28, 1822, Francis married a distant cousin, Mary Elizabeth Cleland Randolph (January 16, 1801 – April 15, 1835), the daughter of Thomas Eston Randolph and his wife, Jane Cary (Randolph) Randolph.[3] As discussed below, they initially lived at Jefferson's Poplar Forest plantation in Bedford County, Virginia. By 1828, when they moved to Florida, the couple had buried three children at the Jefferson family cemetery at Monticello, and both Jefferson and Eppes' father had died. Mary Randolph Eppes died in 1835, of complications following the birth of their sixth child.
Two years later, Eppes married Susan Margaret Ware Crouch (February 14, 1815 – September 1, 1887), the widowed daughter of U.S. Senator Nicholas Ware of Georgia.[4][5] They had seven children together. With his two wives, Eppes was father to a total of thirteen children, but at least three died in childhood in Virginia.
Career
Initially, Eppes operated the
Florida, then a territory, was being rapidly developed for cotton production. In 1829, Eppes moved with his family from Poplar Forest to Leon County, Florida, settling just east of Tallahassee. Such moves broke up both planters' and slaves' families. The Eppes took numerous slaves with them, among them grown descendants of Betsy Hemmings, who his father had given to Francis as a wedding present.[6] He established the Francis Eppes Plantation in Leon County, Florida, raising cotton as a commodity crop by the use of extensive slave labor. In the antebellum period, cotton prices were high and there was extensive trade with England.
In Tallahassee, Eppes began 35 years of distinguished service to his new community. In 1833, Eppes was appointed one of fourteen justices of the peace for Leon County. Eppes first served as intendant (mayor) of Tallahassee from 1841 to 1844 and then again from 1856 to 1857. He first won election as the community grew concerned about lawlessness, particularly duels among leading men in territorial Florida. Florida Militia Brigadier General Leigh Read had recently been killed by Willis Alston, in a case attracting much attention. Read had earlier killed Willis' brother Augustus Alston in a duel.[7][8][9] Eppes appointed six officers, who are considered the beginning of the Tallahassee Police Department.
Eppes also took an active interest in educational issues. He became a founding member of the Episcopal Church there. In 1838 Eppes was elected to serve as a Deputy to the Episcopal Church's General Convention, held that year in Philadelphia. Among its actions, the Convention officially admitted the Diocese of Florida. In 1851, the Florida Legislature authorized two seminaries of higher learning in Florida. One seminary was to be located west of the Suwannee River and one to the east of the river. In 1854, Eppes tried to gain approval for the western seminary to be located in Tallahassee, but was rejected.
In 1856, Eppes initiated the proposal again and offered to fund an initial endowment of $10,000, plus a $2,000 per year stipend and a new building. The legislature accepted the proposal. That year, the existing Florida Institute in Tallahassee was designated as the State Seminary West of the Suwannee River. Classes began in 1857. Eppes served on the seminary's board of trustees for eleven years; for the last eight of those years, he served as president of the board. The seminary later developed as Florida State University.
Death, legacy and recent controversy
Eppes died on May 30, 1881, in Orlando, Florida, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery. Three of his children by his first wife had died earlier in Virginia. They were buried at the Jefferson family cemetery at Monticello, as were Francis' Jefferson grandparents and mother, Maria. Later, at least three of his grandchildren were also buried there. Since the late 19th century, the cemetery has been owned and operated by the Monticello Association, a private lineage society of descendants of Jefferson and Martha Wayles. (This property is separate from the Monticello plantation, which is owned and operated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.)
In 1995, Florida State University established the
See also
- List of mayors of Tallahassee, Florida
- Plantations of Leon County, Florida
References
- ^ Napton, WB, Phillips, C & Pendleton, JL 2005, The Union on Trial: The Political Lournals of Judge William Barclay Napton, 1829–1883, University of Missouri Press
- ^ a b "Critta Hemings Bowles", Plantation and Slavery, Monticello, accessed 21 March 2011
- ^ [1] Shackelford, George Green, ed. Collected Papers to Commemorate Fifty Years of the Monticello Association of the Descendants of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville: Monticello Association, 1965. 2 vols.
- JSTOR 30149650.
- ISBN 978-0-7385-2371-2.
- ^ "Betsy Hemmings: Loved by a Family, but What of Her Own?", Plantation & Slavery/Life after Monticello, Monticello, 14 February 2011
- ^ Pamela Chase Hain, Murder in the State Capitol: The Biography of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Augustus Alston (1832–1879), Mercer University Press, 2013, p. 12
- ^ "George T. Ward Secession Broadside," Special Collection, Robert Manning Strozier Library, Florida State University Archived 2008-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Baptist, Edward E., Creating an Old South Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, University of North Carolina Press, 2002, p. 197
- ^ Andrew Waber, "Eppes statue", Public History project: Exploring FSU's Past, Florida State University
- ^ lDobson, Byron, "FSU panel votes to remove campus honors for B.K. Roberts, Francis Eppes,", Tallahassee Democrat, 4 May 2018.]
- ^ https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/07/20/eppes-statue-quietly-removed-thursday-night-westcott-plaza/805452002/ Dobson, Bryon, "Francis Epps statue quietly removed Thursday morning from Westcott Plaza."
- ^ https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/05/13/francis-eppes-statue-finds-news-home-north-westcott-building/1187335001/ Dobson, Bryon, "Mixture of surprise and anger as controversial Eppes statue returns to FSU."
- ^ https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2020/07/23/florida-state-university-president-thrasher-eppes-statue-mounment-removed-campus-fsu-black/5492886002/ Dobson, Bryon, "Eppes statue removed from FSU as Thrasher announces anti-racism task force"
- ^ "Criminology and Criminal Justice Building Timeline". criminology.fsu.edu. Florida State University. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
