I am seeking info on my 3rd great grandfather, Billington Ragan b. 1835 and who was listed as an overseer on the Wm. G. Ponder plantation north of Tallahassee in Leon County, FL in 1860. At the time he was married to Zilpha Emily Braswell.

I have seen a couple of unsourced reports claiming that he was murdered by a slave and there was a post back in 1997 with a notation from a family Bible showing a date of death of 25 Dec 1860.

As of time of the 1870 census, his daughter, Caroline Ragan, was residing with her maternal grandparents in Thomas County, Georgia, which is adjacent to Leon County, Florida. I presume from this that both of her parents had died at some point subsequent to the 1860 census; nevertheless there are other posted trees showing a subsequent marriage by a Billington Ragan to Nancy Ann Varnadoe in 1866 and this marriage produced three children. There are also Civil War records showing a Billington Ragan in a Georgia unit who apparently survived the war.

Either the Billington Ragan who married Zilpha Emily Braswell lost his life subsequent to the 1860 census, either by murder or otherwise, or else he survived past that time and allowed his only daughter to reside with his in-laws for some reason even after his re-marriage to another woman, with whom he had three other children.

I am also wondering whether anyone has any information as to the death of Zilpha Emily Braswell subsequent to the 1860 census.

Any information that anyone has will be greatly appreciated!