John Armfield


John Armfield was an American slave trader. He was the co-founder of Franklin & Armfield, "the largest slave trading firm" in the United States. He was also the developer of Beersheba Springs, and a co-founder of.

Early life

John Armfield was born in 1797 in North Carolina to Quaker parents. He was of English descent.
in Alexandria, Virginia.

Career

Armfield took up slave trading in the 1820s. For example, he sold a slave in Natchez, Mississippi in 1827. In 1828, Armfield and his uncle by marriage, Isaac Franklin, formed the partnership of Franklin & Armfield to buy slaves in the mid-Atlantic states and re-sell them in the newly opened territories of the Deep South. They dissolved the partnership in 1835 and sold the business to one of their agents, George Kephart. Armfield retired to Central Tennessee in 1835.
Armfield settled Gruetli, a Swiss settlement in Grundy County, Tennessee. He also developed the resort of Beersheba Springs in Grundy County, Tennessee in 1855. Additionally, he was involved in the founding of.

Personal life and death

Armfield married Martha Franklin, Isaac Franklin's niece, in 1831. Armfield joined the Episcopal Church, and his wife converted from the Presbyterian faith to Episcopalianism for him. The family attended Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee, as did Bishop Leonidas Polk, with whom Armfield was a close friend. Another one of Armfield's close friends was John M. Bass, the mayor of Nashville.
Armfield died on September 20, 1871 in Beersheba Springs.