Whitfield Treasure Found in Jefferson Alabama

C. Boaz Whitfield Treasure Found in Jefferson Alabama

Jefferson was founded in 1810, before Marengo was a county or Alabama was a state. Most of the original settlers were veterans of the American Revolution, including John Sample, John Gilmore, and Reuben Hildreth. The village was named Jefferson in 1820, after Thomas Jefferson, and that year saw the first church established. The population had reached 200 people by 1860 and the village contained two dry goods stores, one drugstore, a male and a female academy, a Masonic Lodge, a hotel, two tanneries, a wagon shop, and a blacksmith shop.

During the Civil War, C. Boaz Whitfield buried a large hoard of gold coins on his farm near Demopolis for safekeeping. The plantation was located 18 miles from Demopolis near Jefferson. He left information to this treasure among his papers, but after his death, the coins went unrecovered. In 1926, a descendant came across the papers and started a search on the Shady  Grove farm, looking for an old boundary stake. Using the information, he found a  hoard of $200,000 in $20 gold pieces dated 1850 or earlier which Boaz had buried  to prevent seizure by Union troops. There is speculation that additional cache  remain hidden on the property.