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
- (1848 - 1873) Levi Jordan: Jordan purchased land from Samuel M. Williams;
establised the plantation
- (1873) James C., Charles P., and William A.C. McNeill
- plantation divided among Levi Jordan's three grandsons in his will
- (1876) William A.C. McNeil - inherits northern half of original plantation
- Mrs. Sarah Jordan: Levi Jordan's wife; W.A.C. McNeil accidentally
shot himself while cleaning a shotgun, and died shortly after taking control
of his inheritance. Mrs. Sarah Jordan resumed ownership of the northern half
of the plantation.
- (1882) Emily (Jordan) McNeil: Mrs. W.A.C. McNeil's mother; took over
W.A.C. McNeil's inheritance after her mother Mrs. Sarah Jordan died in 1882
- (1882) Martin: shortly after her mother’s death in 1882, Emily sold
the northern half of the plantation to the "Martin Boys"
- After 1885, when the northern half of the plantation became the sole property
of the Martins, until 1892, the tenant population continued to remain on the
plantation and live within the old slave quarters.
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.
- Bowers Emeline
- Bowers George
- Daniel Boxley
- Easter Boxley
- Charles Caster
- Jeff Davis
- Laura Davis
- Francis Green
- George Green
- John Green
- Sarah Green
- Aaron Grice
- Hannah Grice
- Caroline Grimes
- Fannie Grimes
- George Grimes
- Anthony Hendricks
- Becky Hendricks
- Doc Hendricks
- Bobby Holmes
- Clayborn Holmes: descendants
- Clayborn Holmes Jr.
- George Holmes: descendants
and historical records
- Hannah Holmes
- Isaac Holmes: descendants
and historical records
- Moscow Holmes
- Margaret Holmes
- Sarah (Grice) Holmes
- Sophia Holmes
- Ellen Johnson
- David Jones
- Docia Jones
- Edward Jones
- George Jones
- Louisa Jones
- Nathan Jones
- Ely Lemmons
- Lilon Lemmons
- Jefferson Mack: descendants
and historical records
- Julia Mack
- Lewis Mack
- Narcissa Mack
- Patsy (Taylor) Mack
- Rebecca McNeal
- Abner McNeill
- Fannie (Grimes) McNeill
- John McNeill
- Promise McNeill
- Manuel McPherson
- Mariah McPherson
- Effy Silbey
- Henry Silbey
- William Williams
- Robert Wright
Agriculture
- Sugar was the primary product of the Levi Jordan plantation during
the antebellum (pre-Civil War) period.
- Cotton - Contrary to the popular notion that antebellum plantations
thrived first and foremost from cotton production, this crop was not the focus
at Levi Jordan until after the Civil War. During the post-bellum period,
former slaves and their descendants remained at the plantation as sharecroppers
to farm cotton and raise staple food crops.
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
- Political Leader's Cabin: "It contained a number of carved bone
artifacts which, taken together with other indications of status, seem to indicate
that the person who occupied this cabin functioned as an internal "political leader"
for the other residents of the quarters." (from http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/politica.htm)
- The Curer's Cabin: "The archaeological remains indicate that someone
was living on this plantation practiced healing techniques that were very closely
tied to African beliefs for curing, conjuring, and medicine. This person could
have been a doctor for the people living there, or a healer, or a midwife – or
all of those things. Therefore, the area this person lived in is now referred
to as the 'curer's cabin'." (from http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/curer.htm)
- The Shell and Bone Carver's Cabin: "The items found in this cabin
constitute a large percentage of all of the carved bone found on African-American
sites across the entire south. They are remarkable not only because, simply, they
exist, but also because some of them are beautiful and, even more importantly,
they illustrate the ways that Africans, later African Americans, found to "connect"
to the homes they were forced to leave. According to census records, several people
living on the plantation came directly from Africa – these objects were expressions
of the power of the African religions they and their ancestors practiced."
(from http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/boneand.htm)
- The Munitions Maker/Blacksmith's Cabin: home of the slaves(s) who
served as metal-worker(s). (see photos of artifacts here: http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/munition.htm)
Landmarks
- Juden Cemetery: "was in active use during the time of slavery,
through emancipation, and into recent decades ... The symbolic attributes of these
artifacts were hidden from Anglo-European surveillance through the re-use of material
from the plantation landscape. Further, there is provocative evidence that the
cognitive framework surrounding some of the symbolic forms found at the Jordan
Plantation and the Juden Cemetery have been adapted from Kongo cosmological attributes."
(read more from Hidden
Power: Burial Practices from an African-American Slave and Tenant Community
by David Bruner)
Other People Researching This
Plantation
RESOURCES
- The Levi Jordan Home Page: http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/.
Very comprehensive site with links to families researching Levi Plantation slave
genealogy; features extensive work done on archealogical studies of the slave
cabins and black plantation life
- Names of Enslaved people, Freedpersons, Tenants and Sharecroppers who
lived on the Jordan plantation, 1848-1886: http://www.webarchaeology.com/html/afamres.htm