Richard Keith Call
14 October 1792- 14 September 1862
Richard Keith Call was born on October 24, 1792 in Virginia to William and Helen Walker Call. He had lived in both Kentucky and Tennessee before joining the army as a volunteer. During this time, he became a protégée of then General Andrew Jackson. Call served with Jackson during the First Seminole War, where they fought indigenous populations to take their land. By 1814, his military endeavors brought him to territorial Pensacola and moved to the area under Jackson’s instruction. In 1824, he married Mary Letitia Kirkman and in the following year they moved to Tallahassee[1]
Richard Keith Call was involved in numerous industries that contributed to the development of Tallahassee, all of which depended on the exploitation of enslaved labor. Richard Keith Call and his wife Mary Kirkman Call had eight children together, six of whom died before reaching adulthood due to the tough living conditions on the Florida frontier. Call continued to serve President Andrew Jackson following the passage of the Indian Removal Act and in the Second Seminole War. In 1836, Call’s wife Mary fell seriously ill and died.[3] Following Mary’s death, President Jackson appointed Call territorial governor of Florida. Call served as governor into his 50s and is credited for his dedication to making the city of Tallahassee an economic and political center of Florida. In 1851, he deeded The Grove property to his eldest daughter, Ellen Call Long, and lived at Orchard Pond, his plantation by Lake Jackson north of town. Though a slave owner, Call was openly opposed to secession at the start of the Civil War but still offered his service to the Confederacy and encouraged his grandson Richard Call Long and son-in-law Theodore Washington Brevard Jr. to join as well.[4] He died at The Grove on September 14, 1862.
