Person:Robert Hackley (1)

An biography by Kimberly McDaniel of Robert Jackson Hackley is on his Find-a-Grave memorial page here:http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=103705987. Permission has been granted to post the bio on this site:
"In 1800, KING FERDINAND of Spain had executed three crown land grants to favored coutiers, but President John Quincy Adams flatly refused to honor them, a fact the courtiers never knew. That confusion led to New York attorney Richard Shippey Hackley, the American consul in Madrid, to purchase approximately eleven million acres of south and western Florida from the Spanish Duke of Alagon in 1819. The duke had received a land grant from Ferdinand VII, King of Spain in February, 1818.

"Hackley then sent his son, Robert Jackson Hackley in November 1823, to Tampa to establish the family plantation. Soon, rows of orange, grapefruit and lemon trees were planted, and land was cleared for a house. At the close of 1823, Hackley set sail for a vacation in Pensacola, scarcely imagining what would greet him upon his return: the official arrival of the United States government.

"When the United States acquired Florida from Spain in February, 1821, the Adams-Onis Treaty, which transferred Florida to the United States, had nullified all Spanish grants made after January 24,1818. One of the most pressing problems facing President Andrew Jackson was the disposition of the Seminole Indians. It was a problem that became more and more complicated over the next two years, and it was directly responsible for the establishment of Fort Brooke. After much bloodshed and fighting, the Indians were relocated to reservations further south. In reports to their superiors, officers George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden were enthusiastic about the site they had selected for the fort. Gadsden reported that the "location is judicious...There is a small body of good hammock land already cleared and well adapted for gardens" Colonel Brooke explained that the choice of the site had been influenced by the quantity of cleared land. Neither man mentioned why or by whom the land had been cleared. Indeed, they chose not to report that they had evicted a man who otherwise would have been Tampa Bay's first permanent American settler.

"Thus, because of the Adams-Onis treaty, the transaction with Hackley was voided. Nevertheless, Hackley later maintained his claim was valid, as it had been made in good faith, and furthermore, the Adams-Onis Treaty was not ratified until 1821 after the senior Hackley had completed the transaction. Hackley's heirs subsequently brought suit to get back the land. In affidavits sworn in 1834, both Gadsden and Brooke admitted that they had taken over the clearing and a house built by Robert Jackson Hackley, the son. However, the courts ultimately ruled against Hackley's heirs. (1884, 1905)"

Ms McDaniel gives her sources as:
1. Family memories - not the most reliable, but initiated the search - the case was initiated in 1853 and the last ajudication was in 1905.
2. U.S. Supreme Court: 57 US 635, DOE, et al V Braden.
3. U.S. Supreme Court: 196 U.S. 100 (1905), SCOTT v. CAREW, SALLIE FIELD SCOTT, Eliza Madison Scott, Harriet B. Jones, et al., Appts., v. LIZZIE W. CAREW, W. W. Hampton, E. R. Gunby, et al, No. 52.
4. Brown, Cantor. Tampa Before the Civit War, University of Tampa, 1999 (ISBN-13:978-1879852648)

1.   Scrogham vs Early 1829, in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States. Historic Court Records.

   Mentioned as son of Richard S. Hackley in Court Case ID 257-19. See excerpt of Transcript:Jackson and Morton etc in Fredericksburg, Virginia

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Find A Grave
   Memorial# 103705987.

   http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=103705987

3.   Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States. Historic Court Records
   Scrogham vs Early 1829.

   Mentioned as son of Richard S. Hackley in Court Case ID 257-19.