The Haddocks of Wiregrass

The Florida Territory Joins the United States

On July 17, 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the United States. General Andrew Jackson presented his documents and took possession and immediately created two counties in the new Territory of Florida—Escambia to the west of the Suwannee River and St. Johns to the east. [Source: Richard A. Martin, “City Founder Isaiah Hart Was Man of Many Contradictions,” Jacksonville Magazine.]

Americans rapidly began moving into the new territory, entering East Florida on the King’s Road.

By June 1822, residents of Cow Ford on the north bank of the St. Johns began surveying a new twenty-block town.

On June 15, 1822, sixty-one residents, including Isaiah D. Hart, signed a petition to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams requesting him to designate the new town of Jacksonville as a port of entry. Although this petition was denied, on March 31, 1831 Congress did authorize a port of entry on the St. Johns. President Jackson named it Jacksonville.

Map of the Kings Ferry, Florida area.

On June 27, 1827, Isaiah Hart noted in a deposition before Charles Downing that he had known Joseph Haddock since 1812, that he was the head of a family consisting of himself, his wife, 8-9 children, and that he had lived on and cultivated the land he was claiming since 1817.

Zachariah Haddock began cultivating lands just to the West of the ferry crossing after a grant from Governor White of September 24, 1803. He was granted some 250 acres two miles to the southeast of the river on an old road to the interior today called Middle Road. It was from here that the Haddocks grew and prospered as one of Florida’s true pioneer families.

Before the process of Spanish land grants came to an end about 1819, Zach Haddock had acquired hundreds of acres around the not yet developed Woodstock Mills and a tract of land to the west of the crossing that makes up sections 48 and 50, an area of about 52 acres.

About 1800 the original name of Mills Ferry, possibly acquired from a local family name of the 1700’s that operated or owned the trading post and ferry at one time, was changed to Drummond’s Ferry for a short period, then to Whitehouse. Eventually, the crossing became associated with the name of a prominent family that came from across the river in Georgia, the Kings. Even though they did not have the benefit of later historical and archeological information, residents of Kings Ferry knew the area had been occupied for many years.

“Kings Ferry predates 1828, as old unmarked and obliterated graves were located in front of the location of the Methodist Church and in front of the Mizell store on the river bank, some of which were found in the process of excavating for foundations and they were found to be very very old then.” [Source: Mizell, William, Jr., The Vanished Town of Kings Ferry Florida (Folkston, Georgia: 1965), p. 16.]

Thomas King had gained some prominence during his residence on the south shore of the Crooked River in Georgia prior to moving to the ferry area. He eventually was granted about 880 acres on the St. Mary’s River about a mile upstream from Orange Bluff. In years to come he established himself well as evidenced from the renaming of the ferry.

For many years there existed a general store or post at the ferry, although signs of a large-scale mill operation were still not in sight. The last Indian raid was made “from the Okeefeenokee Swamp down the St. Marys River in 1828 and the settlements along the banks of the river were burned as far down as Kings Ferry. [Source: Mizell, William, Jr., The Vanished Town of Kings Ferry Florida (Folkston, Georgia: 1965), p. 16.]

At or near a bend in the river a mile downstream from Kings Ferry was the home of the military commander of the Nassau Country militia of the 1830’s and 40’s. From his home at this Woodstock Mills location he issued orders and carried out duties relative to his command. Ironically, this same site was where the British fortification, Fort Tonyn, stood some sixty years previous.

Sometime shortly before 1844, a commissary was built, necessary to supply the needs of the lumber mill which now existed. It was at this commissary that the U.S. government established a post office in May, 1844. The postmaster was Edwin Albertie, who also operated the lumber mill, known locally as Albertie’s Mill.

The front cover of the commissary’s day ledger is titled “F.D. Whiting & Company,” reflecting the name of its proprietor, a local resident. It has also been established that this business was most probably a subsidiary of a New York-based financial firm. From all indications, the community of Woodstock grew for the next ten years to some prominence, preceding Kings Ferry with the benefit of local postal services by some 12 years.

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