W. Caleb McDaniel His next ferry payment was to cross the Red River on July 11, likely on his way out of Alexandria. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. See Goodspeeds Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, vol. The Civil War began, followed in 1863 by the Emancipation Proclamation, but Wood's ordeal continued. PIN IT Sharing is caring! 1800 kitchen/slave house with its unusual extended cornice. On July 1, 1863, just days before the U.S. Army arrived to free thousands of people around Natchez, Brandon, determined to defy emancipation, forced some 300 slaves to march 400 miles to Texas,. Before the Civil War, large Southern rice and cotton plantations depended on enslaved African Americans to operate successfully. Gerard Brandon, Wood's last owner, was one of the largest plantations in all of the American South. She was later removed from the cotton fields and put to work in Brandons house. Cirodes daughter and son-in-law, Josephine and Robert White, still lived in Kentucky and disagreed with Jane Cirodes manumission of Wood; they viewed her as their inheritance. ] stream. Goes Friday to see after some negroes I had hired in Falls Co. Stays with H. L. Bennett. The search for enslaved ancestors requires research in the records of slaveholding families. Wood was among them. My children must thank me for the attempt to save [?] This description comes from Mortuary Customs and Beliefs of South Carolina Negroes, published in 1894 by May A. Waring in the Atlanta Constitution: CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Though a fraction of what Wood had asked for, the amount would be worth nearly $65,000 today. Thats the kind of things that owners did with slaves. Descendants of slave owners, slaves and freed slaves listen to a history of the plantation. Today, the opulent residence, which was . Brandon Plantation was situated in the area where the regularized production of bright leaf tobacco was developed in the 1820s, an industry requiring slave labor. It is believed that the name Brandon came from the family name of Martin's wife . In 1807, at the death of Benjamin Harrison III (1743-1807), his will divided the . Got me excited. It once belonged to Captain Isaac Ross, who freed his slaves at the time of his death. Starts with Sandy for Col. Robertson at Salado (see Elijah Robertson). In 1889, he was one of the first African-American graduates of what became Northwestern University's School of Law. On July 1, 1863, just days before the U.S. Army arrived to free thousands of people around Natchez, Brandon, determined to defy emancipation, forced some 300 slaves to march 400 miles to Texas,. Now she watched nervously as the 12 jurors returned to their seats. Begins September 15 entry. Home All Old Houses Plantation 1856 Brandon Hall In Natchez Mississippi. 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. Cirode's daughter and son-in-law, Josephine and Robert White, still lived in Kentucky and disagreed with Jane Cirode's manumission of Wood; they viewed her as their inheritance. Brandon kept her enslaved on a cotton plantation until well after the war. Slavery was eventually abolished at the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865. Even the judge who presided over Wood's case, Phillip Swing, viewed it narrowly. 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. 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. This article originally appeared in Smithsonian Magazine. this property for them for I have seen sights of trouble more than I can ever describe or make them sensible of. Begins August 13 entry. Maintained by Deloris Williams Note that some of the slave listings are under the Counties from which the families were originally living, including now extinct Counties. Brandon is an historic plantation located on the south shore of the James River in Prince George County, Virginia. One is hiring negroes to go 300 miles west for the government. Brandon sends 40. At some point during those hellish days, Wood gave birth to Arthur, whose father is unknown. The traders put Wood up for sale at Natchez's infamous Forks of the Road slave market. Sanford Poole & Sandy had gone to kill a deer. Middleton arrives, and he gets a package from home. Begins November 2 & 3 entry, attends a public sale of someones effects. Left for home 4th Feby 1864. On Sunday attended church in forenoon, saw a fistfight in eve, & a company pass having in charge nine deserters. His brother was Dr.James C. Brandon (1820-1884), with whom he was particularly close; both brothers named sons after the other. In the 1870 census, a 52-year-old Gerard Brandon is listed as a planter in Adams County, Mississippi. Janes husband exclaimed just as she was knocked out to his master Glory to God on high, peace and good will to men on earth and it seemed to pop from his very soul. Major Boone was a successful planter and slave owner, and his plantation . Henrietta Woods story began two centuries ago with her birth in northern Kentucky. In the eyes of Kentucky law, Wood was a slave. Begins September 28 entry. Copyright 2019 Smithsonian Institution. They note that disfranchisement and segregation only worsened the racial wealth gap, which was established under slavery and remains today. Arranges situation for Phoebe.11 Feels gloomy, homesick. Her captors' destination was Lexington, Kentucky, where prices for slaves had risen with the Southern cotton economy. Wood was never allowed to testify, however, and Ward denied her claims. Brandon Hall was formally a large working cotton plantation located on the scenic Natchez Trace. The plantation was named after its original owner, Major John Boone, who came to the Carolina colony from Bermuda. Whether she succeeded in that quest is unknownbut she did find a lawyer, Harvey Myers. Between 1820 and 1860, nearly a million people were sold "down the river.". Advertising Notice I sowed the cotton, hoed the cotton, and picked the cotton. When he died in 1951, after a long career as a lawyer, he left behind a large clan of descendants who were able to launch professional careers of their own, even as redlining and other racially discriminatory practices put a chokehold on the South Side neighborhoods where they lived. Chew constructed the first permanent dwelling consisting of a three-room brick house about twenty by sixty feet, built sometime between 1809 and 1820. "I sowed the cotton, hoed the cotton, and picked the cotton. The couple had numerous children, though only five survived into adulthood; four daughters died of natural causes during the Civil War. The house was built c. 1765 by . Brooding about home. The plantation, however, plays a role in the darkest period of American history. Returns from Salado to reports of death, including Henrietta has just come to say Diceys little boy is dead. After moving to Ables, All at Home for the war. Description of the Able Family , and another Mississippi refugee named Williams.10 Difficulty getting a beef he had paid for. (pg 45a-46a), Adams County, Mississippi: 93 enslaved people were listed under Gerard Brandon, trustee for wife and children. (pg 46a-46b), Concordia Parish, Louisiana: 113 enslaved people are listed under G. Brandon of Canebrake (the, Tensas Parish, Louisiana: 81 enslaved people are listed under Gerard Brandon of Monclova. This is a list of plantations and/or plantation houses in the U.S. state of Virginia that are National Historic Landmarks, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, other historic registers, or are otherwise significant for their history, association with significant events or people, or their architecture and design. Brandon was originally a vast land grant to John Martin, companion of Captain John Smith, on his first voyage to America. For them, the money Henrietta Wood demanded for her enslavement made a long-lasting difference. Most slaves were by their owners design and eventually by law forbidden to learn how to read and write, so they didnt leave us material that so many figures in the past did, Levengood said. Ownership was also an investment: purchased children and adults may or may not have been . Thinks about people at home. Report of a Mrs. Stayed at a house in which the Ladies (3) of the house washed their feet (in our presence) in the common wash pan. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Sanderson to Texas.8 While at Morgans, he is introduced to Oliver Carter near Fairfield, who put him in touch with a Mr.Deming, who had a too-small place for sale, and not until January 7. How many [illegible] I have doctored & sick negroes, swelled feet & legs, swelled stomachs, dyptheria, fever, seems to me nearly all man is heir to, but all well this morning & I am thankful it is no worse. Medicine nearly out. In June 1866, The New Orleans Daily Crescent published an announcement that Gerard Brandons wife Charlotte was awarded a separation of property between her and her husband by the Court of New Orleans. Nearly every one of the negros were satisfied as they were bought by people in the country mostly, going ahead of the prices given by the traders, Cabell wrote his wife. Black men and women were first brought . A NCGenWeb Special Project Documented Slave Plantations of North Carolina is a comprehensive database of various plantations derived from a variety of information mediums. Meat at Bulls but so hard & dry no one could eat it. Meats Esquire Jones, an opponent of secession who fears the postwar. Most furnishings along with the commercial equipment & supplies will stay. Milnor worried about his stock (thieves? 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. The free, public website also provides a high-resolution copy of the antique documents that identify the slave. The value of his real estate was $18,000. Brandon and Middleton travelling. But Wood's award, however insufficient, was not ineffectual. A letter Cornelia Jane Shields to James Brandons wife states that Mr. A crowd of locals very much excited about the news and declared that the negroes . I created this site because I have a passion for old houses! 1844, d. 1900; married Aaron Tip Stanton on October 12, 1865), James C. Jim Brandon (b. W.?) Today, it remains virtually unknown, even as reparations for slavery are once again in the headlines. She would one day recall that period of her life as a sweet taste of liberty.. A second ferry location is illegible, but he also paid for ferries across Cocodrie Bayou and Cross Bayou. Documents citing slaves go back to the 1690s: Thats when slavery starts to grow fast in Virginia and other English colonies, Levengood said. They note that disenfranchisement and segregation only worsened the racial wealth gap, which was established under slavery and remains today. She was suing him for $20,000 in reparations. The $2,500 verdict, the largest ever of its kind, offers evidence of the generational impact such awards can have. In view of all this he is satisfied he brought as many slaves as he ought to have done, (for sometimes I have regreted [sic] I did not bring more) for after hiring out a good lot I have now more than I can find work for & am feeding on an expense which will in one or two years (if the war continues that long, but I sometimes wish it was over now) will make them cost very high. He goes down the Brassos on Thursday to get corn, sees some fine plantations, the people look more like home folks, but Texas shows out, viz. When he returned to camp,Sanford had come up with all the negroes. As one put it, Wood's award was "not a liberal equivalent for the loss of liberty" she had suffered, but it would "be applicable to a great many cases yet untried.". : Estate of Sara Brandon Rickey, 2000), 79, available at Historic Natchez Foundation., In 1872, Brandon was still in a legal dispute over an assumption of debt on a plantation he purchased in Tensas Parish (LA) from Hughes, who moved to Texas in 1862 or 1863. 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. Wood was never allowed to testify, however, and Ward denied her claims. Brandon Hall in Natchez, MS was built by Gerard Brandon and his wife Charlotte (Hoggatt). I am captivated by their character and charm! As one put it, Woods award was not a liberal equivalent for the loss of liberty she had suffered, but it would be applicable to a great many cases yet untried.. After her suit, she moved with her son to Chicago. Your Privacy Rights Wonderful site.. Slave traders met the demand by buying slaves in Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland and selling them in the cotton states. Discouraged by possibility of his being taken a prisoner when he tries to return. While Wood received $2,500 as compensation for more than 16 years of unpaid labor, her former enslaver, Ward, left an estate worth at least $600,000 when he died in 1894, a multimillionaire in todays terms. Horse foundered, took him to Middletons camp. Brandon strictly instructs them not to trade with anyone. All the while, however, there were people conspiring to take her freedom away. Robert Payne, who attended Saturdays workshop, said hes been researching his family for the past 15 years, but finding information about his ancestors wasnt easy. Miles west for the government divided the the racial wealth gap, which was established under slavery and remains.! 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