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John Nathaniel Partridge was born March 4, 1797, in Columbia, South Carolina. He married Eliza Lavinia Waring (1807-1891) in 1825. The couple had 13 children: John Howell I, William Waring, John Howell II, Robert Henry, Mary Hirons, Martha Grace, Eliza Weston, Sarah Ann, William Kennedy, Ellen Elizabeth, Frances Weston, Benjamin Waring, and Henry Edward. The Partridge family moved from South Carolina to Jefferson County, Florida around 1835. John served as minister of the Union Church and owned several hundred acres of land used for labor farming, recording 22 enslaved Black persons in the 1840 federal census and 13 in 1850. John died in Monticello on November 10, 1851, and his wife followed him on January 31, 1891.
Mollie, a woman enslaved by the Partridge family of Jefferson County, Florida, was originally brought to South Carolina on a slave ship from Africa. She came to Jefferson County with John and Eliza Partridge in the 1830s, and was Frances Weston Partridge's nurse.
The diary of Henry Edward Partridge (Collection M91-11 at the State Archives of Florida) contains a passage from 1873 describing Mollie: "We buried either in 57 or 58 our faithful old "Mauma" Mollie - her who had nursed nearly all of the children of the family; been a friend as well as faithful servant to my Mother; in whose cabin we had often eaten the homely meal of fried bacon & ash cake and where we always had welcome and sympathy and whom we loved as a second mother. Black of skin but pure of heart, she doubtless stands among the faithful on the right of the King."
Summary:
This collection consists of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes and albumen prints of people in Monticello, Florida, primarily members of the Partridge family. One notable image is an 1850s hand-colored daguerreotype of Mollie, an African woman kidnapped by transatlantic slave traders and sold into chattel slavery to John and Eliza Partridge in South Carolina.
Finding Aids:
Additional Physical Form:
The daguerreotype photograph of Mollie has been digitized and is available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/25855
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Associated Materials:
For more about the Partridge Family, see Collection M91-11, Henry Edward Partridge Diary, 1873-1888, 1895 (0.25 cubic foot). The diary includes reminiscences regarding family activities back to 1850, including memories of Mollie, whom Henry Partridge refers to as "Mauma Mollie."
for detailed listing.