Yet Wood v. Ward did not set a sweeping legal precedent. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Even the judge who presided over Woods case, Phillip Swing, viewed it narrowly. She was soon sold again, to a French immigrant, William Cirode, who took her to New Orleans. Wood was never allowed to testify, however, and Ward denied her claims. The mill is out of fix, & too bad to get up a beef and all hands are on short rations. Thoughts of home. Sanford has gone to Monroe, returned about the 1st, and the authorities say I have not had any negroes in their hands. Hears that the Yankees had not molested anyone in our neighborhood, & all were getting on pretty well. Sanford saw a family wash their feet in the skillet in which they had cooked their supper! Absence of farm animals on the list indicates strongly oriented cotton plantation. Today, the opulent residence, which was . Read more Suggest edits to improve what we show. Their son Dunbar Merrill had a daughter named (Ruth Britton) Dunbar Merrill Flinn (1926-2006), whose attic contained many Brandon family papers before they were donated to the Historic Natchez Foundation.2. A record now at the National Archives in Chicago confirms that he did, in 1879. The Foundation also has a photocopy of the original, which includes some pages not in the transcription and also reveals a number of errors in the typescript. Goes Friday to see after some negroes I had hired in Falls Co. Stays with H. L. Bennett. Now, she watched nervously as the 12 jurors returned to their seats. Often there was a human connection, and they grew up with these people, and they recorded their birth dates and deaths. The ghost of a woman whose fiance died before they could be . Theyll be able to take it and grow from that.. The Whites lived in Covington, too, and in the spring of 1853 they persuaded Ward to pay them $300 for the right to sell Wood and pocket the proceeds himself provided he could get her. They note that disenfranchisement and segregation only worsened the racial wealth gap, which was established under slavery and remains today. H. Weir of Centerville, who hit me a dig.. She had not forgotten Ward and sued him the following year. "Not so many complications of a legal nature arise out of the old relations of master and slave as might have been expected," the New-York Tribune argued with barely concealed relief. Gerard Brandon, one of the largest slaveholders in the South, bought Wood and took her to his house, Brandon Hall, on the Natchez Trace. Cookie Settings, Illustration by Cliff Alejandro; Source material: W. Caleb McDaniel; NYPL (3), Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12, Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, Dried Lake Reveals New Statue on Easter Island. Slave traders met the demand by buying slaves in Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland and selling them in the cotton states. Begin August 20 entry. 2. Two days earlier, the jury had watched as Wood took the stand; her son, Arthur, who lived in Chicago, was in the courtroom. The land on which Brandon Hall now stands first passed into private ownership as a royal grant from the Spanish King Carlos III in 1788. The study found 3,777 Negro slave owners in the United States. Carter said the original documents digitized on the site will help her uncover more of her own familys history in Virginia, as well as help her students learn about the era. "Brandon was a very rich man," Wood later said. According to scarborough2003, p.432, Brandon owned 706 enslaved people on plantations in Adams County (512), Concordia Parish (113) and Tensas Parish (81) in the 1860 Census, making him the tenth largest slaveholder in Scarboroughs sample for 1860, even though he does not appear on Scarboroughs sample of planters with over 500 slaves in 1850. Mulberry Hill and White Hall Plantations, located in Bryan County, Georgia, had more than 130 slaves when Richard James Arnold took over in 1823. It once belonged to Captain Isaac Ross, who freed his slaves at the time of his death. Hes hoping his 12 grandchildren can benefit from his work. More information can also be found at brandonhallplantation.com. Begins October 21, the most melancholly day I have had in Texas. James (Jim) leaves for home & from thence to the army., Begins October 25 entry. Begins September 29 entry. Harriss said many architectural features were kept true to the original design when the house was renovated in. In 1969, civil rights leader James Forman issued a manifesto calling on churches and synagogues to pay half a billion dollars in reparations to black Americans. He helped Wood file a lawsuit in Cincinnati against Ward, now a wealthy man living in Lexington. It was four years after the Confederate surrender before Wood was able to return up the river, where she tried to locate long-lost members of her family in Kentucky. Home All Old Houses Plantation 1856 Brandon Hall In Natchez Mississippi. By the 1850s, the interstate slave trade was booming, and the Whites saw dollar signs whenever they thought of Wood. they are the dirtiest people I ever saw or heard of & come nigher living out doors than any others., Begins November 27 entry. Slavery in Virginia is not just a Virginia story. When African slavery was largely abolished in the mid-1800s, the center of plantation agriculture moved from the Americas to the Indo-Pacific region where the indigenous people . The first part is an inventory of stores taken on the first day on which Forster Clarke entered on the management of the Estate (11 July 1803). Fortunately for this country the institution of slavery has passed away, he had instructed the jurors, and we should not bring our particular ideas of the legality or morality of an institution of that character into Court or the jury-box. He had cautioned the jurors against an excessive award, claimingfalselythat many former slaveholders already regretted slavery. Even Juneteenth, the day in June 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Texas to enforce emancipation, did not liberate Wood. On the page opposite the list of deaths, there are also notations about Middletons expenses. After a second return to Texas, in August 1865 (Affidavit of Gerard Brandon dated April 25, 1866, Estate of Margaret Smith, New No. Eats well on the road. The Agricultural census of 1860 shows 250 improved acres, 450 unimproved, valued at $10,000. Wards lawyers stalled, claiming that her failed antebellum suit for freedom proved his innocence. It went through a number of owners before becoming an inn and event venue. 1845, d. 1909), Charlotte Lottie Brandon (b. Harrisonburg by the 16th, butcould not pass the pickets" and found that all the Ferries on Ouachita & Tensas were destroyed or strictly guarded. Backtracks to Alexandria. Updated ADAMS Formed in 1799 from Natchez District Anchorage Plantation North - Griffith Auburn Plantation - Duncan Avalange Plantation - Harper Poole gone to the field. Homesick thoughts, trying to read his Bible. I whippped him a little. Anthony has the money. On April 17, 1878, 12 white jurors entered a federal courtroom in Cincinnati to deliver the verdict in a now-forgotten lawsuit about American slavery. Friends visit from Waco. When she died in 1912, her suit was already forgotten by all except her son. It was four years after the Confederate surrender before Wood was able to return up the river, where she tried to locate long-lost members of her family in Kentucky. Mailing Address: Brandon Hall Plantation 1213 Hwy 61 North Natchez, MS 39120 "And I know some people might think that's strange," says Belton, 76.. Notations on page 5 of his pocketbook indicate that on July 1, he first paid $140 for a ferry at Quitmans (a reference to a contemporary place in Adams County known as Quitmans Landing and referred to in papers and military records of that time; it was north of Natchez). See Goodspeeds entry on the Brandon family. The traders put Wood up for sale at Natchez's infamous Forks of the Road slave market. Betsy brought $1400. The family plans to occupy the. 1872 - The plantation was sold to Henry Horlbeck's two sons, Frederick Henry Horlbeck and John S. Horlbeck ( 7 ). In the 1890s another formerly enslaved woman, Callie House, led a national organization pressuring the government for ex-slave pensions. But Wood's name never made it into the history books. Lee Hall Plantation: Richard Decatur Lee : 371159N 763432W : 72001510 : Lexington Plantation: George Mason V : 383838N 771156W . Often they appeared in the records of the owners who owned slaves as human property, which to us sounds so obscene and alien, said Levengood, whos also a historian. Im going to use this not only personally, but professionally, she said. At San Agustine by 11th. herculoids gloop and gleep sounds After 1815, as white settlers rushed into the lower Mississippi River Valley, many looked to purchase slaves to cultivate the region's most profitable crop. His brother was Dr.James C. Brandon (1820-1884), with whom he was particularly close; both brothers named sons after the other. According to scarborough2003, p. 432, Brandon owned 706 enslaved people on plantations in Adams County (512), Concordia Parish (113) and Tensas Parish (81) in the 1860 Census, making him the tenth largest slaveholder in Scarborough's sample for 1860, even though he does not appear on Scarborough's sample of planters with over 500 slaves in 1850. See Gerard Brandon, The Brandon Family, ed. The Prospect Hill Plantation is without a doubt one of the most historically significant sites in the state. This site should be used for informational and entertainment purposes only. In the eyes of Kentucky law, Wood was a slave. Brandon kept her enslaved on a cotton plantation until well after the war. Most rural enslaved people were owned by masters who had 10-20 enslaved people, who often were housed in closer proximity to masters, perhaps sharing housing, and perhaps having access to closer relations with their masters than plantation slaves had. Because the award was small, procedural rules prevented Ward from appealing to higher courts where the verdict might have been more widely noticed. Then, in 1878, jurors ruled that Ward should pay Wood for her enslavement. Her captors' destination was Lexington, Kentucky, where prices for slaves had risen with the Southern cotton economy. When she died in 1912, her suit was already forgotten by all except her son. Charles S. Darden Brandon was also required to pay his wife $127,436 with legal interest and costs of suit. Arranges situation for Phoebe.11 Feels gloomy, homesick. They lived in this original dwelling until 1853, when they began construction of Brandon Hall which was completed in 1856. Begins August 24 entry: no beef as yet now for four days. Slaves dissatisfied. Reflections on number of slaves he has brought: I am now content & feel if I can take care of what I have, I shall do very well., Doesnt like to hire out, & to feed them in idleness, they will soon eat their heads off. Learns of a meeting of locals for resolutions on refugees and the some 1000 or 1500 negroes moved into the region. Someone offers to speak up in Brandons defense, as mine looked clean & orderly. Williams has sent a ham, bucket of butter, & three water mellons. Begins August 29 entry: demands from persons wanting to hire negroes.. Then, in 1878, jurors ruled that Ward should pay Wood for her enslavement. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much An 1858 runaway slave ad for Elijah, who said Gerard Brandon was his owner, is in the Runaway Slaves in Mississippi project, edited by Douglas Chambers and Max Grivno, on p.536. She was later removed from the cotton fields and put to work in Brandons house. Brandons family was one of the staunchest supporters of the Confederacy in the area. By suing Ward for the wages she had lost while owned by Brandon, her lawyers made clear that a verdict for Wood was an acknowledgment of the evils of slavery itself. With help from his mother's court-ordered compensation, Arthur bought a house, started a family, and paid for his own schooling. The plantation, founded in 1681, is one of the oldest working plantations in the US. Then the crops of choice became cotton and indigo. She finally returned to Cincinnati in 1869, a free woman. But Woods name never made it into the history books. Unfortunately Charlotte Brandon Stanton Merrill had little time to enjoy her undivided ownership of Brandon Hall because on January 27, 1914 the plantation, house and land, was sold at auction to one George Hightower as a result of default on promissory notes held by the First Natchez Bank. The trial began only after eight years of litigation, leaving Wood to wonder if she would ever get justice. The search for enslaved ancestors requires research in the records of slaveholding families. Terms of Use The private, nonprofit historical society, the fourth-oldest in the nation, is assembling a growing roster of slaves names and other information, such as the slaves occupations, locations and plantation owners names, said Levengood. This list is by no means complete. 163, Probate Court, Adams County, Miss.) Brandon Hall Plantation. Some newspapers even predicted that lawsuits like hers would proliferate. 468 Filed Under: Mississippi Natchez Natchez The case was eventually dismissed. Hover over the town names to trace her tortuous path from slavery to freedomand back. It is, rather, a living reminder of the truth of the Black experience during the time of slavery. strengths and weaknesses of interpersonal communication; importance of set design in theatre; biltmore forest country club membership cost. He would charge $5 an acre for cleared land & let me pay for it by picking cotton at $1 per 100 pounds. For more on Able, see Able Family. With numerous slaves and landholdings in Mississippi and Louisiana, Brandon was one of the wealthiest planters in Natchez when the Civil War began. Whether she succeeded in that quest is unknown but she did find a lawyer, Harvey Myers. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[1]. did desi arnaz jr have a stroke; moose tracks vs cow tracks ice cream This was good for me, however. This article originally appeared in Smithsonian Magazine. Thats when you have to be creative.. In 1833 Chew sold the property to Nathaniel Hoggatt, a successful planter whose daughter Charlotte inherited the land after his death. erath county rant and rave; springfield, mo jail inmates; essex county hospital center jobs; blanching vs non blanching erythema; star trek next generation cast salaries Descendants identify the man in this photograph, found on Ancestry.com, as Brandon. Sanford Poole & Sandy had gone to kill a deer. Middleton arrives, and he gets a package from home. Robertson offers him use of land, offers to put the deal in writing in Belton. This structure still exists as the "basement" of the present house known as Brandon Hall. In the first half of the 19th century, there were as many as 85 slaves working at the plantation. Chilly weather. She was later removed from the cotton fields and put to work in Brandon's house. When the Horlbeck family bought the plantation in 1817, they opened up a brickyard and began producing bricks using the clay from the nearby Wampacheone Creek. Over 700 Black men and women were enslaved on this plantation. Brandon Hall is a beautifully restored plantation home that dates back to 1856. These 81 years extended from Mississippi's frontier days during the period of grace and plenty before the Civil War, and through the South's darkest hours after the war. Able. He strikes new deal with Able to settle on his land: he could let me heave as much land as Col. R. had offered, with 300 acres in cultivation, 2 cabins, & corn in the ground at $1 per barrel, and let me have the use of a mill , would charge $5 an acre for the cleared land & let me pay for it by picking cotton at $1 per 100 pounds. Brandon agrees. Jurors returned to Cincinnati in 1869, a free woman slave owners in the United.. George Mason V: 383838N 771156W put to work in Brandon 's house suit was forgotten... 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