Abstract
The writer of the above letter was Marcus Cicero Stephens of Newbern, North Carolina. During the early years of territorial Florida, many settlers came to the region from the Carolinas and Virginia, due, partly, to the desire to establish pioneer plantations as speculative ventures and, partly, to the need of expansion to take care of the surplus slave property. Stephens was apparently a member of this group. His family was well connected, as his mother was the niece of Commodore James Barron of the “Chesapeake” fame. The plantation which was being established was located near Quincy, Florida ; and here the group, consisting of father, mother, and eight children, took its part in the development of the new state. One of the sons, Samuel Barron Stephens, was a lieutenant of a Florida company during the War for Southern Independence and fought at the Battle of the Old Men at Natural Bridge. The original letter is in the possession of Mrs. Caroline Stephens Scott of Tallahassee, to whom acknowledgment is made. To Dr. Kathryn T. Abbey, of Florida State College for Women, is due the suggestion of its publication, its transcribing, and this note.
Recommended Citation
Stephens, Marcus Cicero
(1929)
"Letter of Marcus C. Stephens (Quincy, Florida, 1835),"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 8:
No.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol8/iss2/6
