Pierce Butler - Legacy

Legacy

Following his wife's death in 1790, Major Pierce Butler sold off the last of their South Carolina holdings and invested in Georgia Sea Island plantations. Major Pierce Butler hired Roswell King as the manager of his two plantations on the Georgia Sea Islands. They had some conflicts as Butler wanted more moderate treatment of his slaves than was King's style. King left in 1820 to operate his own plantation near Darien. He also pursued plans in the 1830s to develop cotton mills in the Piedmont of Georgia, where he founded what became Roswell, Georgia in 1839.

Butler disinherited his only surviving son, Thomas Butler, along with his French-born wife and children. He initially planned to leave his whole fortune to Pierce Butler Mease, the eldest son of his daughter Sarah Butler Mease, the only one of his daughters to marry and have children. The boy died in 1810 at age 9. Butler told Sarah he would leave his estate in equal parts to her surviving three sons (including one born that year), provided they irrevocably adopted Butler as their surname. Two of her sons, John and Pierce Butler Mease (born 1810 and named after the grandfather and the brother who died), did change their surnames after they came of age in order to inherit portions of the estate. Until they came of age, Butler's daughters Fraunces and Eliza inherited the most productive lands.

In 1820 Major Butler hired Roswell King, Jr. as the manager of the plantations, which continued to be enormously profitable. After Butler died in 1822, King Jr. continued as manager on behalf of the estate, staying until 1838. He moved on to his own plantation in Alabama after the two Mease grandsons came of age, adopted the surname Butler, and inherited their portions.