Tomotley Plantation – Sheldon – Beaufort County

— Tomotley Plantation Entrance © Dennis Church, 2013 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Basic Information

• Location – Sheldon, Prince William Parish, Beaufort County

  Cotton Hall Road, 1½ miles northeast of US 17 (entrance on right side of Cotton Hall Road close to intersection of Old Sheldon Road)
  

• Origin of name – Grey Allred, whose grandparents are the current owners of Tomotley, shared with us, "The origin of the name seems to have come from the Cherokee language; I'm unsure of the meaning."
  

• Other names – Part of Tomotley Barony
  

• Current status – Privately owned
  

— Grand Oaks of Tomotley Plantation © Josh Whiteside, 2013 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Timeline

• May 7, 1698 – Earliest known date of existence

  Created by patent issued to Landgrave Edmund Bellinger (5, p. 583)
  

• 1706 – Landgrave Bellinger died.
  

• 1733 – Second Landgrave Edmund Bellinger, the grandson, held title to the land (5, p. 583)
  

• 1739 – Second Landgrave Edmund Bellinger died. Tomotley Barony was then divided among 14 different family members and other heirs.
  

• ? – Elizabeth Butler Bellinger, Edmund's widow, sold 904 acres to James Deveaux (5, p. 583)
  

• ? – James Deveaux's father owned adjoining Jericho Plantation which his will divided among the three sons. James received 311 acres which he made part of his plantation (5, p. 583-584).
  

• 1756 – Deveaux sold Tomotley Plantation, which was 1,215 acres, to Ralph Izard. Deveaux had moved to Georgia in 1752 (5, p. 584).
  

• 1761 – Izard passed away leaving Tomotley Plantation to his son Walter Izard (5, p. 584).
  

• 1788 – Walter Izard died without any children. His wife had died before him so he left Tomotley to his brother Ralph Izard. Walter's inventory suggests that there was no main house at Tomotley when he died, just an overseer's home (5, p. 584).
  

• Circa 1813 – Ralph Izard passed away. His daughter, Patience Wise Blackett Izard (she married Colonel Abraham Eustis in 1823) inherited Tomotley (5, p. 585).
  

• Circa 1820 – Avenue of oaks planted by Patience Wise Blackett Izard.
  

• 1860 – Patience died but it took years to settle her estate due to the Civil War and large number of heirs (5, p. 586).
  

• 1864 – James H. Baggett bought the plantation for $75,000 (5, p. 586).
  

• 1865 – Sherman's troops burned the plantation and it was confiscated by the government. Baggett was able to obtain the property back in October of the same year (5, p. 586).
  

• 1868 – The Izard heirs filled suit that the sale to Baggett should be voided since he paid with Confederate money which had no value. The case lingered on for years and was settle by the federal court declaring Tomotley Plantation was to be put up for sale (5, p. 587).
  

• 1873 – Although Baggett was eligible to purchase the plantation, the highest bidders were George G. Martin and Charles J. C. Hutson (5, p. 587).
  

• 1898 – Hutson purchased Martin's share of the plantation (5, p. 587).
  

• 1905 – William H. Brawley purchased Tomotley after Hutson's death (5, p. 587).
  

• 1907 – Brawley sold the plantation to Henry O. Havemeyer (5, p. 587).
  

• 1910 – Havemeyer died shortly after the purchase and his heirs sold it to Mary S. McCurdy. McCurdy constructed the existing house (5, p. 587).
  

• Circa 1940 – Mr. Titus was owner and employed Edgar Marvin as Tomotley's manager (6).
  

• ? – G.V. Hollins owned Tomotley (4, p. 123).
  

• 1990 – Billy and Barbara Mixon owned Tomotley.

— Tomotley Plantation Drive © Teresa Miller, 2014 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Land

• Number of acres – 1,215 in 1756; 1,400 in 1864; 1,384 in 1910
  

• Primary crop – Corn and rice (5, p. 584)
  

• The avenue of oaks was planted by Patience Wise Blackett Izard circa 1820.
  

— Tomotley Plantation Avenue of Oaks © Brandon Coffey, 2013 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

Slaves

• Number of slaves – 56 in 1761; 68 in 1788; 138 in 1860 (5)
  

Buildings

• In 2010 Grey Allred shared with us, "The current residence was built by R.H. McCurdy in 1910. There is a second home that was built in the late 1800s after the original house burned, as well as a caretaker's residence, several barns and a stable that survived Sherman's wrath and predates the Civil War."
  

— Tomotley Plantation Oaks © Michael Kaynard, 2013 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)

References & Resources

1. 30-15 Plantation File, held by the South Carolina Historical Society
   –  Research Guide
   

2. Claude Henry Neuffer, editor, Names in South Carolina, Volume I through 30 (Columbia, SC: The State Printing Company)
    Order Names in South Carolina, Volumes I-XII, 1954-1965
    Order Names in South Carolina, Index XIII-XVIII
   

3. Caption on map of plantations along the Santee River in Upper St. John's Parish, SC 1865
   

4. Robert B. Cuthbert and Stephen G. Hoffius, editors, Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches of Chlotilde R. Martin (Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press, 2009)
    Order Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches of Chlotilde R. Martin
   

5. Suzanne Cameron Linder, Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of the ACE River Basin - 1860 (Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1995)
    Order Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of the ACE River Basin - 1860
   

6. Information contributed by Warner McTeer Jones who lived at Tomotley for a year as a small child when his uncle Edgar Marvin was the plantation's manager.
   

— Tomotley Plantation, Christmas Day © Lisa & Scott Rance, 2005 —
(Do Not Use Without Written Consent)