Frank Nelson

Quick Facts

Significance:

Florida Homesteader

Place of Birth:

Florida

Date of Birth:

1844

Place of Death:

Gadsden County

Date of Death:

1922

Frank Nelson married Susanna Durr on July 27th, 1865. Susanna was born in 1848 in South Carolina. The Nelsons lived in Gadsden County at the time of his homestead application.

Frank was twenty-two years old when he submitted his homestead application #7 at the Tallahassee, Florida Land Office on September 1st, 1866, for 80 acres in Gadsden County, Florida.

Frank submitted his testimony in support of his homestead application on November 27th, 1871. The witnesses were Richard Nelson and Sherrod McCall. Richard was Frank's relative. Richard and Sherrod applied jointly with Frank for the homestead. Richard and Sherrod testified that they had known Frank for 20 years.

Frank settled on the homestead on December 28th, 1866. He built a house made of logs at 18’ x 20’. The house had a shed attached. He cultivated about thirty acres of land and made improvements by building a corn crib, a cotton house, and stables.

He received his homestead patent certificate #6 on January 6th, 1873, and signed his document with an X as his name.

At the time of his patent, Frank was head of his family which consisted of his wife and three children. The 1870 census revealed that Susanna, son Thomas (7), and daughters Genet (4), and Caroline (1) lived on the homestead with Frank. His real estate value at $160 in the 1870 census.

As Frank continued to farm his homestead, between 1880 and 1885, Frank and Susanna's family expanded. Their children—Genet, Caroline, Winnie, Frank, Lena, Ward, Cornelius, Dick, and Tom—lived with them on the homestead.

The 1900 census revealed that Frank and Susanna had fourteen children, with ten of them still living. That year, Ward, Cornelius, Dick, Cash, Mary, and Martha lived with them. Before his 1922 passing, in Gadsden County, the 1920 census still listed Frank as the owner and farmer of his homestead.

Throughout the years, the Nelson and McCall families lived on the homestead and were neighbors. The families rented some parcels but lived on and maintained ownership of the land. Frank and Richard Nelson were African American homesteaders, while Sherrod McCall was a White homesteader who owned several homesteads across Gadsden County. 

Patent Details - BLM GLO Records

~ Contributed by Falan Olivia Goff

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.