Robert Zeigler is not my ancestor, but was found on a collateral line I enjoy researching. This week’s challenge is First. Robert Zeigler is the first former slave in my tree that I believe I have located on a slave schedule before his freedom in 1865.
Robert Zeigler was born in Florida, pre-Civil War. According to Robert’s age on censuses in Gadsden County, Florida, he would have been born about 1835.
To locate more information on the life of Robert, I first searched the slave schedules in Florida for anyone with the surname Zeigler. Luckily, there was only one slaveholder in Florida with the surname Zeigler. His name was Nathaniel Daniel Zeigler and his plantation was in Quincy, Gadsden County. Quincy was where Robert resided with his wife and children in 1870 according to the data in the 1870 census. Other data gleaned from that census was that he was working as a carpenter.
The photo below is one of the images of slaveholder Nathaniel Daniel Zeigler* from Ancestry.com.
In 1850, Nathaniel Zeigler owned 55 slaves, one of which was a 15 year old male, the correct age for it to be Robert.** According to the 1860 slave schedule, Nathaniel Zeigler owned a 25 year old male. I believe that both of those males were Robert Zeigler.
Then, the first record that I found containing Robert after the abolition of slavery was dated April 18, 1866 in Gadsden County where he married Chelsey Stephens.
Chelsey bears the surname of Nathaniel Zeigler’s neighbor and second wife, Sarah Stephens. Sarah’s father was Samuel B. Stephens, an attorney.
Robert and Chelsey had 8 children – two of which were born prior to their marriage. She would also have been expecting a third child at the time of their marriage in April 1866. Since Robert raised them all as his children, they all may have been his children – and there is no evidence right now to suggest they weren’t.
According to the 1880 census, Robert still worked as a carpenter.
As of today, I have been unable to locate a date of death for Robert or Chelsey.
By the 1900 Census, Chelsey was widowed, was living as a head of household with her children, son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. She was working as a nurse. I believe she passed away before 1910 because I cannot locate her on a census.
Robert’s and Chelsea’s granddaughter Amy Zeigler Robinson, died in Tyrone, Pennsylvania in 1955.
*Nathaniel Daniel Zeigler was born in Barnwell County, South Carolina in 1807 to Jacob Zeigler and Mary Ann Pendarvis. There are also images of his mother on genealogy websites. Mary Ann Pendarvis was the great granddaughter of slaveholder Joseph Pendarvis (a possible South Carolina landgrave) and a Freedwoman named Parthena. You may Google Joseph Pendarvis, or if interested, this link will take you to a PBS article.
**This Florida Plantations website counts Nathaniel having 11 less slaves than I did in 1850. I counted 55 on the slave schedule at Ancestry.com.
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