Kingsley Family

Written by Cleve Powell
Originally published in the February 2007 edition of the OAI Newsletter

As the year 2007 rolls around our Old Arlington Group finds itself in the 14th year of operation. We have learned and documented a lot of information on the pioneers of the historic Arlington area (www.oldarlington.org) but we have only touched the surface. In our tours we have talked about the Richard family (ca. 1800) and have been fortunate to have surviving family members as guest speakers. We have also focused on the family of Anna Kingsley and as this is Black History Month, I would like to use them as an example of what we can learn through research on the computer even though Dr. Schafer has it well documented in his fine book on Anna.

With knowledge that The family of Zephaniah and Anna (Anta) lived at the Kingsley Plantation before their family expanded and moved to Arlington. You can find a lot of information on the Park Service web site: www.nps.gov/timu/historyculture/kp_family_society.htm

There you will find a brief abstract of the plantations owners and that Kinsley purchased the island from John McIntosh ca. 1814. This ownership was confirmed after Florida became a territory in 1821. This information can be found as shown on the 1833 survey found at The Bureau of Land management site www.glorecords.blm.gov/logon/logon_Form.asp? Look under “surveys” in Township 1 South, Range 29 East and “Original” survey and it will give you the image of the survey showing Kingsley’s claim of 1,059.55 acres at Fort George Island. You can also look in Township 1 South, Range 28 East and see the two parcels 95.5 and 50 acres that Kingsley owned at SaintXJohns Bluff. In addition search of the Land Patents (Homestead deeds) issued up to 1908 show two deeds to John Sammis (who married Mary Kingsley in 1830). These tracts totaled 65 acres and joined Kingsley’s land on SaintXJohns Bluff.

One method to get the genealogy of Kingsley’s family is through the Mormon Church records. These are usually fairly accurate and are free at www.familysearch.org Typing in Zephaniah Kingsley and giving his year of death of 1843 you will get a lot of information to chose from. The data that most closely matches Schafer’s book.

Name	Relation	Born	Married	Died
Zephaniah Kingsley	Husband	1765 England	1806 Caribbean*	1843 New York
Anta Majigeen Njaay	Wife	1793 Senegal, Africa	1806 Caribbean*	1870 Florida
George Kingsley	Son	1807 Caribbean*		abt 1846 Florida*
Martha Kingsley	Daughter	1809 Florida		1870*
Mary Kingsley	Daughter	1811 Florida
John Maxwell Kingsley	Son	1824 Florida

Then for Martha:

Name	Relation	Born	Married	Died
Oran Baxter	Husband	1806 Scotland	1832 Florida
Martha Kingsley	Wife	1809	1832 Florida	1870
Emma Baxter	Daughter	Florida
Julia Baxter	Daughter	Florida
Osmond Baxter	Daughter	Florida
Isabella Baxter	Daughter
Anna Baxter	Daughter	Florida

Then for Mary:

Name	Relation	Born	Married	Died
John S. Sammis	Husband	1809 Scotland	1830 Florida
Mary Kingsley	Wife	1811 Florida	1830 Florida

Kingsley’s Nephew:

Name	Relation	Born	Married	Died
Charles D. MacNeil*	Husband	1802 (S.C.)	1825 Florida	1869 Florida
Elizabeth Coffee	Wife		1825 Florida

The next place to look is in the Federal census records, which began in the United States in 1790 but did not begin in Florida until after it became a territory in 1830. These records are available on Ancestry.com but require membership. They are also available free at www.cyndislist.com/fl-local.htm at no charge. This information tells you the approximate age of the people in each household and as the census takers go more or less door to door. The 1830 census only listed Heads of the household and showed Zephaniah Kingsley age under 70, Kingsley C. Gibbs 20-30 and Charles MacNeil* 15-20 side by side Gibbs and MacNeil* being Zephaniah’s nephews.

The 1840 census showed Kingsley B. Gibbs Free white and age 15-30 and under Free colored persons 5 males under 10 and 1 female under 10 and 1 female 24-35. This would have been after Zephaniah sold his plantation at Fort George to his nephew Gibbs. Anta and her sons George and John Maxwell had gone to Haiti to establish a new plantation due to racial unrest. Martha and Mary had both married white men of some esteem and were considered safe in Florida.

The 1850 census shows Martha, Mary, and Charles MacNeil* all living in close proximity presumably in Arlington. John Sammis is listed as 43 with Mary K. 40, Egbert 4 (m), George 8 (m), Emilie 1(m), and Albert 6 (m).

Martha’s husband (Oran Baxter) was not shown. Martha is listed as head of the household 42(f), with Emma 11(f), Osmond 8, (m), Julia 6(f), Eugenia 5 (f), and Clinton 4 (m), also Mary Richard 40(f) is listed in the Baxter Household.

Charles MacNeil* is shown as 38(m), Elizabeth 32(f), John 5(m), Charles 2(m), and Joshua Coffee 55 (m) maybe Elizabeth’s father.

The 1860 census does not show John Sammis and his family who had gone to New York because of his support of the Union. It did show Martha Baxter age 50 (f) (m) but none of her children. Others in her household were Charles Blarroll 48 (m) and Anna Blarroll 24 (f), and Isabella Baxter 24(f). Anna M. Kingsley is shown as head of a household 75(f) (B) with ”Bella” (f) (M), 11 from Santo Domingo. Charles MacNeil* is also shown. This information all supports what was presented in Dr. Schafer’s book on Anna Kingsley and that Anna and her daughters at one time or another lived on plantations in the Arlington area.

All of the above families were white and black or of mixed blood and appeared to have felt safe in Arlington prior to the Civil War. This research can be performed in a similar fashion on other families such as the Christophers, Demps, Bartley’s, and McQueens. It is highly recommended that members of these and other black pioneer families of Arlington be interviewed along with the research.