John Armfield

John Armfield (1797-1871) was an American slave trader. He was the co-founder of Franklin & Armfield, "the largest slave trading firm" in the United States.[1] He was also the developer of Beersheba Springs, and a co-founder of Sewanee: The University of the South.

John Armfield
Born1797
DiedSeptember 20, 1871(1871-09-20) (aged 73–74)
OccupationSlave trader
Spouse(s)
Martha Franklin
(m. 1831)

Early life

John Armfield was born in 1797 in North Carolina to Quaker parents.[2] He was of English descent.[2]

The Franklin and Armfield Office in Alexandria, Virginia.

Career

Armfield took up slave trading in the 1820s. For example, he sold a slave in Natchez, Mississippi in 1827.[2] In 1828, Armfield and his uncle by marriage, Isaac Franklin, formed the partnership of Franklin & Armfield to buy slaves in the mid-Atlantic states (Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware) and re-sell them in the newly opened territories of the Deep South.[1] They dissolved the partnership in 1835 and sold the business to one of their agents, George Kephart. Armfield retired to Central Tennessee in 1835.

Armfield settled Gruetli, a Swiss settlement in Grundy County, Tennessee.[3] He also developed the resort of Beersheba Springs in Grundy County, Tennessee in 1855.[3] Additionally, he was involved in the founding of Sewanee: The University of the South.[2][3]

Personal life and death

Armfield married Martha Franklin, Isaac Franklin's niece, in 1831.[2] Armfield joined the Episcopal Church, and his wife converted from the Presbyterian faith to Episcopalianism for him.[2] The family attended Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee, as did Bishop Leonidas Polk, with whom Armfield was a close friend.[2] Another one of Armfield's close friends was John M. Bass, the mayor of Nashville.[2]

Armfield died on September 20, 1871 in Beersheba Springs.[3]

See also

References

  1. Gudmestad, Robert H. (Fall 2003). "The Troubled Legacy of Isaac Franklin: The Enterprise of Slave Trading". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 62 (3): 193–217. JSTOR 42627764.
  2. Howell, Isabel (March 1943). "John Armfield, Slave-trader". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 2 (1): 3–29. JSTOR 42620772.
  3. "The Late Colonel John Armfield". The Tennessean. October 13, 1871. p. 3. Retrieved November 3, 2017 via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

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