Historians In Awe Over Discovery At Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Property

William Aiken Jr., One Of South Carolina’s Wealthiest

William Aiken Jr. Aiken was the 61st governor of South Carolina. He was also one of the state’s wealthiest men, which seems to be quite a common factor in politics. His plantation, Jehossee Island, was the largest rice plantation in the state. Aiken enslaved 700 enslaved black human beings who were forced to work on his expansive 1,500-acre plantation.

His first cousin D. Wyatt Aiken was a Confederate Army officer and Congressman. There are still descendants of the Aiken family today. The Maybanks side still owns part of Jehossee Island although they apparently sold part of in the 1990s to the United States government, where it is now used as a wildlife refuge. The remainder was sold in 1992 to the U.S. as part of the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge.