was a few years older than my grandmother,” said Dorsey.
“By the time they met, she was a student at Duke, and he
was already a leading tobacco warehouseman He worked
for awhile in the tobacco market in Rocky Mount, North
Carolina, and they met through a mutual friend there.”
Even though Margaret was already engaged to someone
else at the time, it didn’t stop Jack. In fact, Dorsey smiled
as she said, “He loved to tell how he paid off a fortune
teller to predict that it wasn’t going to work out for my
grandmother and the guy she was engaged to.” It turned
out that the fortune teller was right. Margaret and Jack got
married on December 31, 1941, at the First Baptist Church
in Vidalia.
After Margaret’s father M. F. Brice died in March of
1960, she and Jack, along with their two sons, John E.
Ladson III (Dorsey’s father), and Brice Ladson, moved
to Vidalia. Jack took over the Dixie Oil Company which
would later become Brilad Oil Company. Margaret
60 TOOMBS COUNTY MAGAZINE
1 Having a
passion for
architecture
and antiquities,
the Ladsons
explored the
southeast for
inspiration to
build their new
house. First,
they discovered
the Croft-Brooks
House, which
they purchased,
dismantled and
moved to be
used for the
construction of
Tranquilla.
2 Then they
found Labatut
Plantation and
determined
that it was the
ideal exterior
design for
them.
3 Close friend
and renowned
architect
Edward Vason
Jones designed
the original
renderings for
Tranquilla.
4 Construction
began on
Tranquilla in
1966.
assumed responsibility for many of Mr. Brice’s
commercial properties.
Initially, the family lived in a small house
on the Brice estate. That home was previously
occupied by Dr. John Carter Brewton, the cofounder of
Brewton-Parker College, who was married to Margaret’s
step grandmother. Around 1962, Jack and Margaret
purchased 53 acres of land in Vidalia from Mr. Bragg
Thompson, upon which they would build Tranquilla. “It
had been a chicken farm,” said Dorsey. “You can still see
some of the cement slabs where Mr. Thompson used to
keep the chickens.”
Jack and Margaret explored the Southeast in search
of inspiration for their new home. “Genealogy was more
my grandfather’s passion,” said Dorsey. “But architecture
and antiques were passions both my grandparents shared.”
One day, while traveling through South Carolina on their
way back to Georgia with friends, Edward Vason Jones, a
defining Tranquilla
1 2
3 4