Elisha Worthington
Elisha Worthington was an American planter and large slaveholder in the Antebellum South. He was the owner of the Sunnyside Plantation in Chicot County, Arkansas.
Elisha Worthington | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1873 |
| Occupation | Planter |
| Children | James W. Mason Fannie Mason |
Career
He acquired the Sunnyside Plantation in Chicot County from Abner Johnson in 1840.[1][2] He also owned the Redleaf Plantation, the Meanie Plantation (a.k.a. the So So Plantation or the Rose Plantation), and the Eminence Plantation.[2] By 1860, he owned 543 African slaves and 12,000 acres of land in Chicot County.[1][2]
In 1862, in the midst of the American Civil War, Worthington moved his slaves and livestock to Texas.[2] He returned to Chicot County at the end of the war, in 1865.[2] He was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson on January 31, 1866.[2]
In 1866, Worthington sold his Sunnyside plantation to Robert P. Pepper of Kentucky.[2] With the proceeds of the sale, he paid back loans he had taken from Wade Hampton and Abraham Van Buren.[2] Meanwhile, he moved into his Redleaf Plantation with his daughter Martha.[2]
Personal life
Elisha Worthington had two children, son James W Mason (aka James Mason Worthington) and daughter Martha W Mason. Their mother was a slave. Worthington sent both James and Martha to Oberlin College preparatory school in Ohio. James was a student at Oberlin from 1855 to 1858. Martha was a student there from 1860 to 1861.[3]
Death
He died in 1873.[2]
References
- Marc R. Matrana, Lost Plantations of the South, Oxford, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2009, pp. 40-43
- Gatewood, Willard B Jr. (Spring 1991). "Sunnyside: The Evolution of an Arkansas Plantation, 1840-1945". The Arkansas Historical Quarterly. 50 (1): 5–29. JSTOR 40022326.
- The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture James W. Mason (1841–1874) aka: James Mason Worthington