Person

Cesar Livingston

Cesar Livingston married Hannah Livingston. Hannah was born around 1840 in Florida. Cesar and Hannah lived in Columbia County, Florida at the time of his homestead application.

Cesar was thirty-six years old when he submitted Homestead Application #784 on December 24th, 1866 in the Land Office at Tallahassee, Florida for 39.39 acres in Columbia County, Florida.

Cesar submitted his testimony in support of his homestead application on January 1st, 1872. The witnesses were Asa A. Steward and January Robinson. Asa A. Stewart, a white man, was a Captain in the Confederate Army and later a farmer. Asa was also a homesteader and received land in 1855 and 1910. January Robinson, a black farmer, was Cesar’s neighbor. Asa and January testified that they had known Cesar for six years.

Cesar made the homestead his exclusive home and settled the land on December 24th, 1866. Cesar cultivated the land. He built a log dwelling as his house. It was comfortable and had a nail fence for thirty acres. Cesar had a well for water and three outhouses. He made improvements that are common to farm life.

He received his homestead patent certificate #9 on January 6th, 1873. Cesar signed his name with an X. Cesar’s application was unique because it listed him as a “colored” from Columbia County, Florida. This is a significant statement because there were many black homesteaders whose documents did not identify their race.

At the time of his patent, Cesar was the head of a family of nine. According to the 1870 United States Census, Cesar was a farmer. He lived on his homestead with Hannah and his children—Eliza, John, Sanders, Henrietta, Charlotte, David, and William. His personal real estate was valued at $150.

Cesar was surrounded by family and friends listed as his neighbors for several pages of the census. Cesar was the first lack homesteader out of his neighbors and relatives to apply for a homestead. The members of the community all applied for a homestead of 39.39 acres. After Cesar applied for his homestead, the following Black Homesteaders applied for the same-sized parcels of land: Anthony Flemming, George Dallas, Hartwell Pendleton, Edmund Pendleton, Sprague Flemming, Joseph Fleming, Mark Fleming, Jordan Fleming, Thomas Livingston, Gabe Gaines, and Hannah Madison.

Cesar owned the homestead for two years and moved to Newnansville, Alachua County, Florida. His neighbor, Anthony Flemming, was the next owner. He received his patent in 1875. In Alachua County, Cesar was a farmer and lived with his wife Hannah and children Charlotte, David, William, Sprigg, and Joshua. Cesar passed away between 1880 and 1910. By 1910, Hannah lived with their son William and was a widow.

Patent Details - BLM GLO Records

~ Contributed by Falan Olivia Goff
Portrait photo of woman with long black hair and a yellow hair band.
Falan Olivia Goff
Photo Credit: F. Goff

More about the contributor: Falan Olivia Goff is a genealogist/family historian. She is an active member of the Mobile Creole Cultural and Historical Preservation Society. She is a 2x graduate of Florida A&M University with her Master of Science in Agriculture.

Falan works for the United States Department of Agriculture. She has always been drawn to connecting family history, agriculture, and ancestral lands. Falan's primary goal is to continue to educate and connect families through her work with genealogy. She is vested in bridging the gap between agriculture and family history. Her primary areas of research are along the Gulf Coast from Bayou Lafourche and Orleans Parrish, La, Mobile, AL, and Apalachicola, FL.