John Armfield

[2] In 1828, Armfield and his uncle by marriage, Isaac Franklin, formed the partnership of Franklin & Armfield to buy slaves in the Upper South: the mid-Atlantic states (Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia), where agriculture was changing and many planters had surplus slaves, and sell them in the newly opened territories of the Deep South.

[3] Having gained enormous wealth, the two men dissolved the partnership in 1835 and sold the business to one of their agents, George Kephart.

[4] In 1855, he developed the resort of Beersheba Springs in Grundy County, Tennessee, which attracted wealthy patrons.

[2] Armfield joined the Episcopal Church, and his wife converted from the Presbyterian faith and became an Episcopalian for him.

[2] The family attended Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee, as did Bishop Leonidas Polk, with whom Armfield was a close friend.