Croom v. Bryan Litigation

Rogers, William Warren; Clark, Erica R.

The Croom Family and Goodwood Plantation: Land, Litigation, and Southern Lives [Tallahassee, Florida]

Athens; Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1999. First Edition, First Printing. .
A meticulously researched micro-history of one of Florida’s most significant architectural and agricultural landmarks. Rogers and Clark reconstruct the rise of the Croom family, North Carolina migrants who established a 4,000-acre empire in Tallahassee during the 1820s. 

The narrative centers on the catastrophic shipwreck that claimed Hardy Croom and his immediate heirs, sparking a landmark twenty-year legal battle over survivorship and residency that eventually reached the Supreme Court. It remains a definitive study of the intersection between Southern jurisprudence, plantation management, and the social volatility of the antebellum frontier.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL FEATURES
+++ The Scholarship: Drawing extensively on family correspondence and complex nineteenth-century court records.
+++ Content: Includes detailed accounts of plantation economics, architectural development, and the labor of nearly 200 enslaved persons.
+++ Documentation: Features comprehensive Chapter Notes, a Bibliography, and a detailed Index.
+++ Visuals: Illustrated with archival photographs and maps relevant to the Tallahassee region.
+++ Specs: 290 pages.

CONDITION: Very Good / Fine. The book is structurally sound with a tight, square binding and sharp corners. The dust jacket is crisp and vibrant with no significant wear. Condition Note: There is intermittent underlining in the first 50 pages and a gift inscription on the front paste-down; otherwise, the volume is clean and presents as gift-quality on the shelf.

HISTORICAL SUMMARY: THE CROOM LEGACY & GOODWOOD --
The Goodwood Plantation serves as a primary lens through which to view the "Cotton Kingdom" expansion into the Florida Territory. Founded by Hardy Bryan Croom—a noted botanist who discovered the Torreya taxifolia—the estate was designed to be a pinnacle of Southern aristocratic life.

The historical weight of the text lies in its examination of the Croom v. Bryan litigation. After Hardy Croom, his wife, and children perished in the 1837 wreck of the steamship Home, the ensuing legal struggle over the estate became a foundational case in American survivorship law. Rogers and Clark use this case to expose the selfishness and greed of the era while providing concrete data on the demographic shifts in Tallahassee. By 1830, Leon County had become the wealthiest and most populous in Florida, with enslaved persons making up nearly 70% of the population—a statistic central to the management of the 4,000-acre Croom holdings.

Item #21671
ISBN: 0820320692

Price: $45.00