Brandon is an historic plantation located on the south shore of the James River in Prince George County, Virginia. See, Trinity River (specific place illegible, but may be Madisonville) (possibly by July 22, when he paid $28 for a ferry, according to page 5 of the journal), qq Transcribe relevant portions of Texas diary, qq Go through probate records on Ancestry. Daisy Patterson Brandon Dale (Natchez: Daisy Patterson Brandon Dale, 2007), 72., Williams may be the Mississippi-born Walter Williams who died in 1959 at age 117, though that claim has been questioned., Phoebe appears to have been owned by Brandons brother Dr.James C. Brandon. After years of trials and tribulations, a group of 300 of Ross' slaves were transported to Africa, where they founded Liberia. I need to know my history, she said, adding the site may help her prove or disprove many of the things shes heard about her familys past. Then the crops of choice became cotton and indigo. This was the most valuable property they owned, and they wanted to make sure it was recorded. Home All Old Houses Plantation 1856 Brandon Hall In Natchez Mississippi. A copy was made, 6 October 1804. If you are as captivated as I am, then spend as much time as you like, browsing through their historic beauty! Phoebe is living with a good family for her food and clothing only. Her captors destination was Lexington, Kentucky, where prices for slaves had risen in tandem with the Southern cotton economy. Brandon and Middleton travelling. All they needed was someone to do the dirty work of enslaving her again. He feels they are ungrateful even though he has done all he could to make them comfortable, I wont say satisfied. Wishes Poole had them on a place where had full work for them, could make them feel tired at night, & where others observed discipline, he might get along very well. His enslaved people have a wide freedom of movement at night, in a land where most of the people have no slaves, & have never been used to them, & where many say they want one for company. He fears how Poole will get along when I am gone. He will leave strict laws. Begins September 6 entry, awakened again at night by the cry of dogs & the yelling of men., Able reports a runaway, disputes over stolen money and trading done by Bill. Charles S. Darden Some counties mentioned in Brandons diary, cropped from Texas County Map (1860), Vicksburg veterans continue their critiques of planters who stay at home to take care of our negroes. They hoped to hear of evry planter there losing everything they had, for they had done but little to deserve success.. 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. But Wood's name never made it into the history books. Her official freedom papers, at a courthouse in Cincinnati, had been destroyed in an 1849 fire, and her kidnappers had confiscated her personal copy. It reaches across all of the slave South, Levengood said. She had not forgotten Ward and sued him the following year. Misses a dinner invitation from Graves. Mulberry Hill and White Hall Plantations, located in Bryan County, Georgia, had more than 130 slaves when Richard James Arnold took over in 1823. Swing also told the jurors to focus on Woods kidnapping in assessing the case, and the vast majority of freed people could not show, as Wood did, that they had been re-enslaved. The freedom suit had prevented Ward from selling Wood for nearly two years, but in 1855, he took her to a Kentucky slave-trading firm that did business in Natchez, Mississippi. Today, it remains virtually unknown, even as reparations for slavery are once again in the headlines. In order to identify records of interest, you must first examine the genealogy of slaveholding families. The Agricultural census of 1860 shows 250 improved acres, 450 unimproved, valued at $10,000. Wood suffered another, unexpected setback in 1874 when her lawyer was murdered by a clients husband in an unrelated divorce case. Danish West Indies, Denmark, Records of Enslaved People, 1672-1917 The plantation, however, plays a role in the darkest period of American history. 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. Eats water melons at Joness, drinks a mint julep, has dinner with good soup & a peach cobbler. On Monday (August 17?) This article is a selection from the September 2019 issue of Smithsonian magazine. See Goodspeeds entry on the Brandon family. I created this site because I have a passion for old houses! Describes the Brazos (he appears to spell as Brassos) as a little, crooked, muddy [? He then traveled on to Texas via these stops, according to a list on an unnumbered page of his journal: If he followed marked roads out of Alexandria to the Sabine River, then he would have gone through Natchitoches, but that road would have taken him to Milam, Texas, not Sabinetown. The traders put Wood up for sale at Natchez's infamous Forks of the Road slave market. 1890 ( photo) The Briars , (aka Briers), built 1814-18 possibly by John Perkins, Natchez. By the 3rd he paid $53 for a ferry at Trinity, Louisiana (likely to cross the Black River), and then paid $38 to cross Little River on the 7th. This structure still exists as the "basement" of the present house known as Brandon Hall. Two of Brandons brothers were killed in battle, one at Chancellorsville and one at Fredricksburg (p.329). I cant quite tell my age, Wood recalled in a newspaper interview in 1876, but she knew she was born enslaved to the Tousey family between 1818 and 1820. Read more Suggest edits to improve what we show. The freedom suit had prevented Ward from selling Wood for nearly two years, but in 1855, he took her to a Kentucky slave-trading firm that did business in Natchez, Mississippi. This is terrific. 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. Wood suffered another, unexpected setback in 1874, when her lawyer was murdered by a client's husband in an unrelated divorce case. 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. Then, in 1848, Jane Cirode went to a county courthouse and registered Wood as free. It wasn't until she returned to Mississippi with Brandon in 1866 that she gained her freedom; she continued to work for Brandon, now promised a salary of $10 a month, but she would say she was never paid. Researching a slaveholder's genealogy can be a time-consuming task, but fortunately, there are many genealogies for South Carolina slaveholders . The building is an example of the fast-disappearing service structures that once were a ubiquitous feature of the Southern agrarian landscape. , had a good dinner & supper, spent a pleasant evening. Asthma & cramp colic. Begins November 13th & 14th" entry, discusses hunting for deer. Brandon Plantation, one of the nation's oldest working farms along the James River in Prince George County, was sold to a family in Florida for $17.8 million. Slave traders met the demand by buying slaves in Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland and selling them in the cotton states. Hes hoping his 12 grandchildren can benefit from his work. When he returned to camp,Sanford had come up with all the negroes. The unfolding of our country's history with slavery, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and its surrounding streets, is critical for all Americans to understand. 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. On April 17, 1878, twelve white jurors entered a federal courtroom in Cincinnati, Ohio, to deliver the verdict in a now-forgotten lawsuit about American slavery. As laid out in McDaniel's book, in 1840, Mississippi accounted for nearly a quarter of all. 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. When she died in 1912, her suit was already forgotten by all except her son. Chilly weather. . Few white Americans wished to dwell on those evils. Vital statistics in the below list draw on the Brandon Children website and a public family tree on Ancestry. Wipple preach. He was sent a bottle of wine, jelly cake, & pies. The "finest" house at the Brandon Hall Plantation, for example, was built by the enslaved. "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." All the while, however, there were people conspiring to take her freedom away. 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. The New York Times observed, "Files of newspapers of the five years following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law are filled with stories of the kidnapping of free men in free States." From 1914 until the present, Brandon Hall Plantation has had ten owners. List of troubles: screw wormshow many of them there are. The postwar constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and extended national citizenship to ex-slaves enabled Wood to pursue Ward in federal court. This page also contains the line: Henrietta conducts herself well, as did some other enslaved people mentioned by name.9 But Brandon says I am really tired, sick of them and being with them, a perfect dogs life, & will disgust anyone with the . whole race. All the while, however, there were people conspiring to take her freedom away. Went to pay for some corn. W.?) Dudley I think will die. Arrival of Mrs Spark and her son, other Mississippi refugees, who had found and brought Jack Lancaster. 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.. The trial began only after eight years of litigation, leaving Wood to wonder if she would ever get justice. The value of his real estate was $170,000 and his personal estate was $400,000. Terms of Use Nothing on my great grandfather and great grandmother who lived in Manquin, VA. Old Mr. S. Turner bought Jane and children. In 1889, he was one of the first African-American graduates of what became Northwestern Universitys School of Law. Begins September 29 entry. Begins August 3 entry at came near Dr.Milners Spring. But Wood's award, however insufficient, was not ineffectual. 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. Discouraged by possibility of his being taken a prisoner when he tries to return. You have to read between the lines: Oh, they mention Amy in a letter, and then you have to read another letter in the collection to realize that Amy is a slave and not a family member, Levengood said. 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. When the United States banned the importation of slaves after 1807, Virginia became the largest provider in the nations internal slave trade, Levengood said. 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. Harriss said many architectural features were kept true to the original design when the house was renovated in. This property has much more to offer. Mailing Address: Brandon Hall Plantation 1213 Hwy 61 North Natchez, MS 39120 Prince George County: Brandon. The whole country bleeds and is in mourning. 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. Zebulon Ward was their man. Louisiana, U.S., Slave Manumission Records, 1719-1820. 73 Natchez Trace Pkwy,Natchez, Mississippi, 39120, 7 beds 8 baths 10,768 sqft 45 acres, Jackie Smith PAUL GREEN REALTORS 601-442-2768. In December 2009 the home was purchased by Ron and Kathy Garber of Lafayette, Louisiana, who opened it for Bed and Breakfast accommodation. For centuries, a story of a haunted tree has been attached to Comingtee. 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! Report of a Mrs. Sanderson hung back in Natchez. Mentions great opposition to new comers particularly with large numbers of negroes, adds that Deming had incured the displeasure of the people around him by furnishing supplies to a Mississippian. Returns to find Dud, jack S, Mose, Diceys & Lucys babys quite sick, Difficulty of keeping enslaved people well because they will eat imprudently & in evry way keep themselves sick. Wards lawyers stalled, claiming that her failed antebellum suit for freedom proved his innocence. In 1987 the home was completely renovated and restored, perfectly duplicating the original construction. They and their heirs farmed it successfully until 1720 when it was sold to Nathaniel Harrison. and Mimy and three children $2505. Visit our corporate site at https://futureplc.comThe Week is a registered trade mark. Future US LLC, 10th floor, 1100 13th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. "My mistress gave me my freedom," Wood later said, "and my papers were recorded." (That route is supported by a notation on page 5 of his journal showing that he paid a toll at Neches on July 21.). A second ferry location is illegible, but he also paid for ferries across Cocodrie Bayou and Cross Bayou. It would have bought 20,000 in Confederate money at that time. A typed transcription made by Helen Rayne in 1999 (with parenthetical comments by Rayne throughout) was donated to the Dolph Briscoe Center by the Historic Natchez Foundation in 2001. But Woods name never made it into the history books. II, p. 817, which claimed that at the beginning of the Civil War, Brandon owned a million dollars worth of slaves. Set in 19th century Louisiana, Smith portrays a runaway slave who embarks on a treacherous journey to Baton Rouge while thwarting off violent plantation owners. The other refers to Sandys desire, like his, to hear from home. The ghost of a woman whose fiance died before they could be . In 1889, he was one of the first African-American graduates of what became Northwestern University's School of Law. Wood was among them. Often there was a human connection, and they grew up with these people, and they recorded their birth dates and deaths. 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brandon hall plantation slaves