Belle Grove Plantation

[Dave Taylor]

It looks like Champe Thornton was the owner of the ferry. Per Oldroyd:

"I returned to Port Royal in time to dine at a new boarding-house, politely presided over by Mrs. Arthur L. Garrett—not any way related to the family of the same name which I had just visited. Here I met Dr. Robert S. Holloway, a physician of many years' practice, and Mr. Champ Thompson (sic), owner of the ferry. He is eighty years of age, and has always lived in Port Royal. In 1852 he purchased the ferry for two thousand dollars, and it was a fine investment, paying six per cent.
Mr. Thompson let his son run the ferry for several years, making" all out of it that he could. He hired a colored man, James Thornton, to run it, giving him half the proceeds. I was informed that the colored ferryman was still living in the place, so I looked him up."