Source

State Archives of Florida, Collection M84-3

Description

Journal of Kingsley Beatty Gibbs written in 1858 from his notes, which span from January 1840 to June 1843. Each page documents a month's activities at Gibbs' plantation on Fort George Island north of Jacksonville, plus observations on politics and other matters.

Date

1858

Creator

Gibbs, Kingsley Beatty, 1810-1859

Format

Diaries

Coverage

Territorial Florida (1821-1845)

Topic

Slavery And Race Relations

Subjects

Agriculture
Diaries
Plantation life
Slavery

Geographic Term

Fort George Island
Jacksonville
Nassau County
Duval County
Saint Augustine
Saint Johns County

General Note

Kingsley Beatty Gibbs was the son of George and Isabelle (Kingsley) Gibbs, and nephew of Zephaniah Kingsley, a prominent planter and territorial-era politician with an extensive plantation at Fort George Island, which he purchased from his uncle Zephaniah in March 1839. Gibbs entered public life in 1840 as a member of the House of Representatives, and in 1843 he was appointed by Governor R. K. Call as justice of the peace in Duval County. In October, 1846, he was inspector of Duval County elections at St. Johns Bar. Sometime after 1847, he moved from his plantation on Fort George Island to St. Augustine, where he built a house on the corner of Bay and Hypolita streets. In St. Augustine, Gibbs was deputy clerk of the Circuit Court under his father, George Gibbs, who was clerk, and later he became clerk of the Circuit Court. He was also the first recording secretary and librarian of the Florida Historical Society from 1856 to 1860. He died in 1859.