Georgia Historical Society

Charles Colcock Jones 

Charles Colcock Jones, a respected Georgia Presbyterian minister, held title to three plantations in Liberty County – Montevideo, Maybank, and Arcadia – and his slaves were part of the local Gullah community.  Jones felt an obligation to bring the slaves closer to God through evangelism, and he published numerous works on the subject including A Catechism for Colored Persons (1834) and The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States (1842).

C.C. Jones’s Arcadia Plantation in Liberty County Map #158 GCCL, Liberty County: Arcadia Plantation, property of C.C. Jones, D.D. by William Hughes, 7 April 1848.  Beginning with the large rectangle in the center and moving clockwise, the buildings are labeled as Dwelling (main house), Stable and Carriage House, Crib, Crib, Fodder House, Kitchen, Smoke House, Negro House, Cotton House, and Gin House.  To the left of the drive, the eight squares are labeled as Negro Houses.

Jones wrote that responsibility for the evils of the slave trade rested with Great Britain, but because the institution was then so firmly entrenched in American society, God required slave owners to fulfill their obligations as masters and “guardians” and teach the slaves the ways of the Gospel.  Much as the master and servant relationship existed between God and whites, so too did the master-servant relationship exist between whites and blacks.  It was to be a paternalistic relationship and Jones’s influence reached many plantation owners.

Teaching Tips
1. The study of building placement on plantation estates can reveal much about life in the first half of the nineteenth century. Have students study the Arcadia estate and write an essay on the functional purposes of the buildings and what the Jones family hoped to convey to others – to both free whites and their own slaves – about status and order.  See the entry about cotton below to further apply the Arcadia Plantation to historical studies.
2. Considering both the John Lambert and Charles Jones examples, open a discussion on the ways in which patriarchal societies and paternalistic intentions feed oppression and inequality.
 

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