Francis Plantation, Davisboro Georgia

Date added: July 18, 2023

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Front view of Francis Plantation looking east (1974)

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The Francis Plantation has remained untouched by the 20^th century and its great significance lies in this fact. This plantation illustrates the way of life as it existed on an antebellum cotton plantation in the mid-19^th century and it is unique to Georgia in its remarkable state of preservation. As far as the eye can see from the plantation structures there are no intrusions, and in all directions fields planted in cotton can still be seen because the descendants of Cordall Francis, (1765-1840) the original landowner, still farm the land. This Southern tradition of the land's supremacy along with the remote location of the plantation are the main reasons that the Francis Plantation has survived intact for over one hundred years.

Cordall N. Francis, the first known owner of the Francis Plantation land, was originally from Virginia. His marriage to Letitia Hailey in 1796, his first wife, is recorded in Greensville County, Virginia. Francis must have moved to Georgia sometime between 1796 and 1820 when he appears in the Georgia Census of 1820 as the head of his family. Cordall Francis also appears in the 1825 Tax Digest where his Washington County land, adjoining Williamson Swamp Creek, is recorded, as is some additional land in Henry County. He died in 1840 leaving his son James C. Francis as his heir. James is known to have owned three plantations, a swamp plantation, a mill plantation, and a river plantation, but it is not clear if one of these is the present Francis Plantation. It is certain that James lived at the Shepherd Plantation (originally a Francis Plantation) in Jefferson County and this is where his son William Benjamin Francis (1842-1916) grew up. James C. Francis died in 1843, leaving his one-year-old son William as heir to his plantations. Exactly when the present Francis Plantation was built is not certain, but it is thought to have been built by William B. Francis about the time of his marriage to his first wife, c.1858. William B. Francis lived on the plantation from c.1858 until his death in 1916. During this time he served in the Georgia House of Representatives in a special session 1888-1889. His daughter by his second wife, Mrs. Sudie Francis Josey is still alive and lives with her daughter Mrs. Wiley E. Evans, Sr. in Bartow, Georgia.

The 1860 Agricultural Census for Washington County, Georgia shows W. B. Francis as the owner of 500 improved acres and 1200 unimproved acres. Seven percent of Georgia's farms were of 500 acres and over, placing the Francis Plantation in the upper seven percent in size. On a larger scale, Georgia was the second-ranked of 34 states (behind Virginia) with farms of 500 to 1,000 acres. In terms of cotton production, Francis produced 50 bales of cotton (at 400 pounds a bale) in 1860. Not all of his acreage was devoted to cotton (i.e. 1,350 bushels of Indian corn, peas, beans, sweet potatoes combined, five tons of hay) but not much land could be spared for the growing of vegetables because of the low productivity of slave labor. Slavery prevented significant technological progress that could have raised productivity substantially Because slaves were hard on equipment and needed constant supervision, the general inefficiency of the slaves thwarted most attempts for improvement of agricultural methods. As a result, agricultural methods necessary for slavery greatly depleted the soil. (The Political Economy of Slavery by Eugene D. Genovese) Reliance on slave labor, rather than improving equipment and technology, had a significant detrimental effect on the success of the plantation. W. B. Francis produced ten bales of cotton per acre in 1860, compared with 1.3 bales per acre produced in 1974 by his descendants (a good bale now being 550 pounds compared to 400 pounds in 1860). Even with variables considered, this makes obvious the fact that Georgia's soil had worn out by that time. The 1860 Agricultural Census also shows the value of W. B. Francis' farm implements as $350, the median for Georgia cotton producers and another indication that Francis was sparing no money for extra tools to cultivate crops other than cotton.

On November 24^th, 1864, the 14^th and 20^th Union Army Corps left Milledgeville Georgia continuing their devastating march to the sea. The 20^th Army Corps, with General W. T. Sherman, took the direct road to Sandersville, while the 14^th Army Corps moved parallel, both arriving in Sandersville on the 26^th of November, From there the Corps marched to Tenille station, Davisboro and Louisville, the 17^th Army Corps following a parallel road south of the route taken by the 14^th and 20^th Army Corps. The Francis Plantation was caught between the parallel movements of Sherman's troops. On the 28^th of November, the 7^th Army Corps passed in front of the Josey Church, originally on Francis Plantation property, but the plantation miraculously escaped destruction. Sandersville had been completely sacked by the Yankees, and the Inman Place, the home of W. B. Francis' second wife and only two miles down the road from Francis Plantation, lost all of its surrounding outbuildings, crops, and is still treeless. Francis Plantation, according to tradition, was spared because General Sherman was so taken by the resemblance of Eliza Mitchell Francis, William B. Francis' first wife, to Sherman's sister. Sherman either ate lunch and spent the night at the Plantation, and the dining room table where he ate is presently in the home of Mrs. W. C. Evans, the granddaughter of William B. Francis. It has not been possible to document this story but it serves as a good explanation for the survival of the Francis Plantation when the surrounding area underwent wholesale destruction.

Site Description

The Francis Plantation was built in east Washington County, between Davisboro and Bartow, Georgia. In addition to the classical-style plantation house, fifteen outbuildings still exist.

The main house is basically of the four-room central hall plan with a fifth room added on the back left side. The house is constructed of weatherboards and the exterior has never been painted.

This one-story hip-roofed dwelling is elevated about four feet on pilings of mud and rock which are enclosed by some remaining latticework. The front porch has been replaced with concrete, but the Greek portico entranceway is still supported by one square column, the second column fallen to the side of the porch. The double front doors with their polygonal designs appear to be an early version of the Victorian style. Framing pilasters support a high entablature over the trabeated doorway which has a Florentine design etched in the glass. Pilasters also define all corners of the house and mark the division between the front and back rooms on both sides of the house.

The central hall is very wide and reputedly forty-five feet long with remnants of a center medallion on the ceiling. The doorway at the end of the hall is identical to the one at the front entrance. The four doorways off of the central hall have wide entablatures supported by pilasters and the paneled doors in these rooms still show wood-graining designs. Facing the house, the front left room was the formal parlor. Slightly dog-eared entablatures over the windows are complemented by the paneled squares below each of the four parlor windows. The original mantelpiece has a wide beaded frieze supported by beaded pilasters, but it has been moved to the living room of Mrs. Evans' Bartow Georgia home. (Mrs. Evans was born on the plantation).

The remaining three rooms off the central hall were used as bedrooms, the two rooms on the right side of the house for the ladies, and the room behind the parlor for the gentlemen. All of the bedrooms have slightly pedimented window entablatures and wood-grained mantel pieces with pilasters supporting simple friezes with small mantel shelves. The two back bedrooms each have two large closets, one on either side of the center fireplace, and these were early alterations if not part of the original construction. The fifth room of the house was used as a dining room and it also has two large closets with built-in shelves. The only addition to the main house since it was built is some electrical wiring which has caused the plaster to crack in many places. Behind the dining room, a kitchen was added to the main house via a porch and it consists of two rooms, one used for cooking and one used as a storage room.

Originally, a wide walkway ran from the semi-circular driveway to the front door, and on both sides of the walkway and house were large squares and rectangles of English and American boxwoods. All six boxwood gardens were once filled with any kind of flower imaginable, including hyacinths, daffodils, and camellias. The main house and gardens and closest outbuildings were enclosed by a picket fence at that time.

The original kitchen, a milk, well, and commissary building, a smokehouse, pigeon houses, a chicken house, two privies, a grape arbor, scuppernon arbor and a grove of fruit trees were also in the area surrounded by the picket fence. The 2-room original kitchen was once connected to the main house by a covered walkway. A churn, a hanging stick for sausage, and several barrels for grain are still in the old kitchen, as is a huge brick fireplace, the bricks of its hearth originally covering one-quarter of the room from the front to the back wall. The second room of the kitchen was used for storage and an old loom was found stored in the rafters. Behind the kitchen is a small, unique pigeon house with pigeon holes directly under the eaves of the roof. A chicken house and a three-hole privy for the men used to be on either side of the pigeon house but they were torn down by destructive tenants some time after 1930. The ladies' privy, still standing, has four holes and plastered walls. The milk, well, and commissary building is similar to a dog trot plan. The left side of the building was used for milking, the milk being placed in the well to keep it cool, and the room on the right side was used as a commissary to distribute plantation products to the farm workers. The log smokehouse is constructed with dovetail corners and Mrs. Josey, an occupant of the farm from 1896 to c.1915, remembered seeing 100 hogs processed there at one time.

Outside of the original picket fence area are other outbuildings of the Francis Plantation, including four slave cabins, a corn crib, a gear and tool shelter, a cotton gin building (now on property owned by a cousin and the gin is missing), and a cow and mule barn that has been moved from its original site. A fire, c.1906, destroyed a carriage house, two cow stalls, two corn cribs, chicken house, wagon shelter, and a windmill and water tank. There was also a blacksmith shop that has since been torn down. The Georgia Power Company has placed power lines parallel to where these buildings once stood and this represents the only intrusion on the plantation.

Down the dirt road in front of the plantation (Ga. Hwy. 2189), is the family cemetery where Cordall Francis is buried. This beautiful stretch of road, lined by moss-covered oak trees, runs past the old Inman house, the home place of William B. Francis' second wife. Williamson Swamp Creek, the original boundary of Cordall Francis' land, lies between the Francis Plantation and the old Inman house.