levi jordan plantation

SANKOFA'S SLAVERY DATA COLLECTION

Levi Jordan Plantation

Location: Brazoria Co.
Constructed: 1848

History: Levi Jordan and twelve slaves arrived in Brazoria County, Texas in 1848, from Union County, Arkansas, in an attempt to establish a new plantation. According to the family’s oral history, Jordan was attempting to obtain land that would "outlive" him. In 1848, Jordan purchased 2,222 acres of land from Samuel M. Williams for $4.00 an acre. Shortly after this land purchase, Jordan returned to Arkansas, and adjacent Louisiana (where his daughter, Emily, her husband, James McNeill, and their children resided), to sell their plantations and move to Texas. The twelve slaves remained behind to begin the development of what would become one of the largest sugar and cotton producing plantations in Texas.

The primary cash crops produced during the antebellum period were sugar and cotton. Jordan built the largest sugar factory/mill in the county to process the cane from his farm and several neighboring plantations. Black researchers with roots in this area are likely to find connections to the Jordan plantation since, based upon a variety of historical records, Jordan raised and imported slaves for trade. Following the Civil War, the importance of his sugar production declined. After 1865, emancipation had nearly eliminated the work force and sugar was produced in very small quantities. However, sharecropping fostered the subsequent increase in cotton production. Staple food was produced on the plantation in large quantities throughout both periods. Thus, after 1865 Jordan shifted to a farming system which employed many of his former slaves and their descendants in a system of sharecropping and tenancy.

Associated Surnames: Bowers, Boxley, Caster, Davis, Green, Grice, Grimes, Hendricks, Holmes, Johnson, Jones, Jordan, Lemmons, Mack, Martin, McNeal, McNeill, McPherson, Silbey, Williams, Wright


Associated Free White Names

Associated Black (Slave) Names

1848 - 1886: Enslaved people, Freedpersons, Tenants and Sharecroppers
From Names of Enslaved people, Freedpersons, Tenants and Sharecroppers who lived on the Jordan plantation, 1848-1886
: http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/afamres.htm Listed by last name.

Agriculture

Description of Associated Architecture

Slave and Tenant Quarters: The quarters were occupied by slaves from 1848 until 1865, and by sharecroppers and tenant farmers (many of whom were the same people and their children) until about 1888-1892

Landmarks


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