Brigadier-General John Floyd (October 3, 1769 – June 24, 1839) was an American politician, planter and military officer who served in the 1st Brigade of the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812. One of the largest landowners and wealthiest men in Camden County, Georgia, Floyd also served in the Georgia House of Representatives, as well as the United States House of Representatives.
Early and family life
John Floyd was born October 3, 1769, at Hilton Head, South Carolina in the Beaufort District, the only child of Charles Floyd and Mary Fendin. He was reared at Walnut Hill, his father's plantation on Hilton Head.
Charles Floyd, owner and planter of Walnut Hill Plantation, had been born March 4, 1747, in Northampton County, Virginia, the son of Samuel Floyd and Susanna "Susan" Dixon. His parents both died in Northampton County when he was six. He went to live with his Dixon relatives, but three years later his uncle indentured the 9-year-old to a sea captain as a cabin boy. Charles Floyd spent fourteen years at sea, mainly on vessels in the Triangular trade, sailing to ports in Europe, Africa and elsewhere. Floyd then settled at Hilton Head, where he managed an indigo plantation. He married this Floyd's mother, Mary Fendin, in 1768 at St. Helena's Church in Beaufort District. Mary Fendin had been born April 15, 1746, in St. Helena's Parish, South Carolina, the daughter of John Fendin Jr. and Elizabeth Thomas.
The Floyds settled at Walnut Hill Plantation on the north side of Fish Haul Creek. During the American Revolutionary War in South Carolina, Charles was a member of the First Council of Safety. These men who favored independence raised a volunteer militia, the St. Helena Guards, whose hats bore a silver crescent with their motto, "Liberty or Death". In 1781, Charles Floyd, along with several others, all members of a war party called the "Bloody Legion," avenged the death of Revolutionary War hero, Charles Davant, by a Tory. Charles Davant had married Elizabeth Fendin (Bland) who was sister to Mary Fendin, so he was Charles Floyd's brother-in-law. Captain Floyd distinguished himself in forays against the British and their colonial policies. In reprisal, Tories plundered and burned the Floyd family home, but teenaged John Floyd survived, as did his mother.
When John Floyd was sixteen, he was apprenticed to a house carpenter for five years. He became so proficient at his work, he was offered an early release from the contract but refused, preferring to work the entire period. At night a distant cousin, Bernard Elliott, tutored him in a variety of subjects including higher mathematics and French. In later years, Floyd spoke this language fluently with guests who dined with him at Bellevue Plantation.
While returning home one afternoon, John Floyd met Isabella Maria Hazzard on the road as she returned from school. Their relationship flourished. However, her aunt, Mrs. Sarah Hazzard Waight, had initially objected, claiming that Isabella Maria could do much better. Isabella Maria (pronounced Mariah) Hazzard had been born January 3, 1773, in St. Marys, Camden County, Georgia, the daughter of Richard Hazzard III of Beaufort District, South Carolina and Phoebe Loftin of then-British East Florida. Some believe she was born at Loftin House, just south of the St. Marys River in Nassau County, Florida. In any event, after her mother's death, Isabella was raised, educated and groomed for society by Mrs. Waight, her father's cousin, in Beaufort, South Carolina.
John Floyd married Isabella Maria Hazzard (1773–1859) on December 12, 1793, in Beaufort District, South Carolina. They had twelve children, including U.S. Army General Charles Rinaldo Floyd (1797–1845), Confederate General Richard Ferdinand Floyd (1810-1890), and Colonel Henry Hamilton Floyd (1817–1873). Charles Rinaldo Floyd predeceased his parents, as did his brothers John (1802–1830) and Henry (1808–1811) and sister Melinda (1812–1831). His brother Samuel (1814–1878) did not fight for the Confederacy, nor did he ever formally marry, but sold the remains of Bellevue to a former slave, and lived in St. Marys with a mulatto women, with whom he had six children before he was buried in an unmarked grave in a town cemetery.
Georgia plantation career
In 1795, Charles Floyd (with his wife, Mary) and John Floyd (with his wife, Isabella Maria) moved from South Carolina to McIntosh County, Georgia. They settled on adjoining farms near Darien, Georgia, called "The Thickets". In 1797, after the Treaty of Colerain, Charles Floyd ended the family's formal South Carolina ties by selling Walnut Hill Plantation to a wealthy planter, William Pope Sr.