Richard Keith Call (October 24, 1792 – September 14, 1862) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 3rd and 5th territorialgovernor of Florida. Before that, he was elected to the Florida Territorial Council and as a delegate to the U.S. Congress from Florida. In the mid-1830s, he developed two plantations in Leon County, Florida, one of which was several thousand acres in size. In 1860, Call held more than 120 people as slaves, the third-most in the county.[1] Call was a Southern Unionist who opposed Florida's declared secession during the American Civil War.[2]
Early life and education
Richard Call was born to William and Helen Meade Walker Call and was the nephew of another Richard Call, a Revolutionary War hero.[3] Call was born in Pittsfield, Prince George County, Virginia. When Call was young, his father, William, and two of his brothers died. Shortly after 1800, his widowed mother brought her four surviving children and five enslaved people across the Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky.[4] She eventually settled on land owned by her brother Senator David Walker in Russellville, Kentucky, where Call spent most of his remaining childhood. Following the death of his mother in 1810, Call settled near another uncle in Tennessee to receive a formal education. In 1813, he left college to take part in the Creek War, which occurred during the period of the War of 1812 with Great Britain. Call was the uncle of Wilkinson Call, who became a U.S. Senator.
War and politics
Richard Keith Call, miniature by unknown artist (Florida State Archives, Tallahassee via The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Volume 4)
Call was a delegate to the 1856 Know Nothing convention in Philadelphia but walked out over the North vs. South split over slavery (demanding that Section 12 in support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act be restored).[6]
Marriage and family
In 1824, Call married Mary Letitia Kirkman of Nashville. Her parents were enemies of Jackson and opposed the marriage. The young couple was married at General Jackson's home, the Hermitage. Of their several children born, two daughters, Ellen Call Long and Mary Call Brevard, survived to adulthood.[3]
Florida
Call spent the rest of his life in Florida. A friend and ally of Andrew Jackson,[7] he was appointed receiver in the land office, giving him insight into developing areas, and was considered one of the leaders of the "land-office faction," sometimes called the Nucleus, which was a force in territorial politics.[8] He was elected to the Legislative Council of the territory and served as a Delegate to the U.S. Congress. In the 1830s, he bought and developed two plantations in Leon County. One had nearly 9,000 acres, and the other, The Grove Plantation, was a square mile in northern Tallahassee. Construction on the Grove probably began in 1824, at the time of Tallahassee's founding; the mansion was considered "one of the finest examples of Georgian-Colonial architecture in the South."[7]
In the 1840 presidential campaign, Call crossed party lines to assist WhigWilliam Henry Harrison, who won and appointed him again as governor of Florida. During this second term, which began on March 19, 1841, Call moved the territory closer to statehood. He worked to minimize the financial problems that Florida suffered due to bank failures and a national business depression. He left office on August 11, 1844.
In 1845, Florida became a state, and Call sought election as governor. However, his role in supporting President Harrison's election caused him to lose.
Planter and enslaver
During the 1830s, he had developed two plantations on land that he purchased in Leon County. Orchard Pond Plantation had more than 8,000 acres and was located north of Tallahassee. The Grove Plantation was located on Tallahassee's northern outskirts, where the Governor's Mansion was later constructed. By 1860, Call enslaved more than 100 people at Orchard Pond Plantation and was the third-largest slaveholder in the county.[1] He died at The Grove on September 14, 1862.
Call Family and Brevard Family Papers, Florida Memory, State Library and Archives of Florida. This collection contains correspondence, writings, and other papers of Richard Keith Call and his family from 1788 to 1916.
