Is the oak tree really “The Hanging Tree?”

Lazaro Aleman & Amber Starling
ECB Publishing, Inc.

In light of the renewed interest in the oak tree in the southwest corner of the courthouse circle and whether it served as a hanging or meeting tree in the past, ECB Publishing, Inc., thought it would be timely and appropriate to rerun a story written by former staff writer Amber Houston in 2014.
Especially as the Monticello City Council is scheduled to take up a citizen's request for the removal of the tree at its next meeting on Tuesday evening, August 4.
Starling's story, which she thoroughly researched, follows per verbatim:
The oak at the southwest of the Courthouse Circle is the center of a long debate of historical proportions: was it the hanging tree or the meeting tree?
The meeting tree side is led by a group of local historians; the hanging tree side is led by professional ghost tracker, Betty Davis.
Davis asserts her argument in broad terms, writing: “According to the Florida Department of Correction, hangings took place in the yards of county courthouses. Public hangings were seen as a good moral lesson for children and townspeople. These public spectacles of death often took on a festival type atmosphere, as families attended with picnic baskets in hand, vendors sold souvenirs, and photographers took multiple photographs of the event, many of which would end up on penny postcards.”
Her argument continues to assert that the use of a gallows did not become commonplace until the 1870s. “Prior to that,” she writes, “most were hanged from the branch of a tree. More commonly the gallows was ‘a stout tree adjunct to the county court houses.’” She goes on to say that according to an unnamed document in the Jefferson County Archives, “most of these oaks ‘save one great spreading tree to the south’ were lost when the 1841 courthouse was replaced with the present-day courthouse in 1909.” Lastly, she states the dates and names of the first and last hangings in Jefferson County—Stephen Yeomans in 1846 and M.L. Thomas of 1908.
Her argument does prove that hangings did happen in Florida and in Jefferson County. Unfortunately, she offers no evidence that the particular tree that is left is indeed the hanging tree. Even if it were an oak by the courthouse, it could easily have been one of the oaks that were lost.
The worst of the historians’ arguments says that a tree was never used, only gallows. The best states that the tree no longer stands. In summary that argument is as follows: roughly where Rancho Grande stands now was the old jail. A tree had been used for public hangings, but they were not done at the courthouse—they were done close by to the jail. According to this argument, the tree stood where the cell phone tower now stands behind the Rancho Grande restaurant.
Historians scoff at the county courthouse tree being a hanging tree, because it did not happen that the accused went straight from the trials to the gallows. The assertion, they claim, is a bit of Hollywood slanting the historical perspective.
Unfortunately, both arguments lack firm documentation that is relevant to Jefferson County’s hanging tree location. However documentation may exist that historians and Ghost Trackers are not aware of.
Do any readers have an ancestor’s journal describing a hanging or other documentation that might answer this historical controversy? Send in documentation or commentary as a Letter To The Editor and weigh in.
Houston's offer still stands. If anyone has documentation that attests to the tree being either a hanging or meeting tree or can otherwise shed light, not heat, on the debate, please share the information with the News and its readers.