Before the Civil War, large Southern rice and cotton plantations depended on enslaved African Americans to operate successfully. Wood was never allowed to testify, however, and Ward denied her claims. In 1809 the property was sold at public auction to William Lock Chew for the sum of $7,000. The society Saturday held the first of four community workshops on how to use the online database at the organizations headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. 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. 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. When she died in 1912, her suit was already forgotten by all except her son. By 1878, white Northerners were retreating from Reconstruction. She had not forgotten Ward and sued him the following year. Poole gone to the field. Homesick thoughts, trying to read his Bible. 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, far beyond the reach of federal soldiers. It is believed that the name Brandon came from the family name of Martin's wife . The plantation was named after its original owner, Major John Boone, who came to the Carolina colony from Bermuda. Article. Anyone who knows me well knows that my imaginary dream house is a Spanish villa or a Colonial period house. Wood was an early contributor to a long tradition of formerly enslaved people and their descendants demanding redress. Learns that some have been plotting to start off for Miss. ( photo) Brandon House , ca. One Sunday afternoon in April 1853, Boyd tricked Wood into taking a carriage ride across the river. 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. Reprinted with permission from Smithsonian Enterprises. See scarborough2003, p.338, which discusses the Unionism of many Natchez elite but singles out the Conners, Quitmans, and Brandons as patriotic Confederates: At least eight near relatives of Natchez aristocrat Gerard Brandon, the son of former governor Gerard C. Brandon, served in the military. Brandon was originally a vast land grant to John Martin, companion of Captain John Smith, on his first voyage to America. Brandon married Charlotte Smith Hoggatt in 1840 in Adams County, Mississippi. 1845, d. 1909), Charlotte Lottie Brandon (b. Gerard Brandon, one of the largest slaveholders in the South, bought Wood and took her to his house, Brandon Hall, on the Natchez Trace. A native Kentuckian who had recently moved to Covington, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ward became a deputy sheriff in 1853. | READ MORE. While the online website is intuitive on how to use, the workshops are being held for users who need more guidance, Levengood said. the joint wedding of Hoster's daughter Catelyn to Brandon Stark, eldest son and heir of Lord Rickard of Winterfell, and Lord Rickard's daughter Lyanna to Robert Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Unsure of his next steps, whether to visit home and be on the dodge all the time, the great fear I have is being sent to a northern prison.. Wood was an early contributor to a long tradition of formerly enslaved people and their descendants demanding redress. Woods victory briefly made her lawsuit national news. Dudley I think will die. Arrival of Mrs Spark and her son, other Mississippi refugees, who had found and brought Jack Lancaster. The couple had numerous children, though only five survived into adulthood; four daughters died of natural causes during the Civil War. Enough to make a man gloomy. Reads Ellas letter. At some point during those hellish days, Wood gave birth to Arthur, whose father is unknown. 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 postwar constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and extended national citizenship to ex-slaves enabled Wood to pursue Ward in federal court. 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.". The postwar constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and extended national citizenship to ex-slaves enabled Wood to pursue Ward in federal court. 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. Drayton Hall's African American history interpretation began with Richmond Bowens, who was descended from enslaved African Americans at Drayton Hall. 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 $10 a month, but she would say she was never paid. When he died in 1951, after a long career as a lawyer, he left behind a large clan of descendants who were able to launch professional careers of their own, even as redlining and other racially discriminatory practices put a chokehold on the South Side neighborhoods where they lived. The New York Times observed, Files of newspapers of the five years following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law are filled with stories of the kidnapping of free men in free States. (In fact, free black Northerners had been kidnapped for years before the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.) Headed back to TX today using same route Brandon took with slaves, including Wood, in 1863. At San Agustine by 11th. Most furnishings along with the commercial equipment & supplies will stay. In the eyes of Kentucky law, Wood was a slave. 1864/1865, d. 1935), Adams County, Mississippi: 154 enslaved people are listed under Gerard Brandon. But Woods name never made it into the history books. Grain and food were raised for local use. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. In 1987 the home was completely renovated and restored, perfectly duplicating the original construction. Wipple preach. He was sent a bottle of wine, jelly cake, & pies. The corn we sold yesterday brought 3.15$ per barrel. Gangs worked throughout the antebellum period to capture free black men, women and children and smuggle them into the South, under the cover of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which required the return of runaway slaves. On November 15** went ot hear a Mr. If you are interested in a house, all information, including: price, status, neighborhood, condition, etc., must be independently verified. Went to pay for some corn. Descendants identify the man in this photograph, found on Ancestry.com, as Brandon. In the first half of the 19th century, there were as many as 85 slaves working at the plantation. 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. Vital statistics in the below list draw on the Brandon Children website and a public family tree on Ancestry. The building is an example of the fast-disappearing service structures that once were a ubiquitous feature of the Southern agrarian landscape. CNNs Athena Jones reported from Richmond, Virginia and Michael Martinez contributed from Los Angeles. After her suit, she moved with her son to Chicago. The Brandons were harvesters of cotton, sugarcane, and indigo and owned 700 slaves. . Brandon Hall Plantation, west side. Wonderful site.. Her captors destination was Lexington, Kentucky, where prices for slaves had risen in tandem with the Southern cotton economy. A crowd of locals very much excited about the news and declared that the negroes . The case was eventually dismissed. Celebrates Christmas with Graves and Dr. 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. The search for enslaved ancestors requires research in the records of slaveholding families. Ward began to plot with a group of these notorious slave catchers. The gang located Woods employer in Cincinnati, a boardinghouse keeper named Rebecca Boyd, and paid her to join their scheme. I wanted to really know. The house was built c. 1765 by . This is terrific. Goes hunting for deer. After her suit, she moved with her son to Chicago. Ward began to plot with a group of these notorious "slave catchers." Negro slave owners were listed in 29 Kentucky counties (see below). Wood was among them. They led me to archives in nine states in search of her story, which I tell in full for the first time in my new book, Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America. You can explore lives and stories of these slaves at the 9 slave cabins in the plantation where the Black History in America Exhibit is displayed. In 2009 the owners of the house, Edward L. and James R. Diefenthal of New Orleans, Louisiana, donated the house to the Historic Natchez Foundation.[2]. Today, the opulent residence, which was . He says he has made some rough notes of incidents to share with her and intended to send them with Jim (his son) but cannot well do without the book., Based on his diary of the trip, Brandon left in early summer 1863. 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. She was later removed from the cotton fields and put to work in Brandon's house. She finally returned to Cincinnati in 1869, a free woman. Inside, behind the handsomely recessed main entrance, were parlor rugs from the Orient, services of English silver, mantels of the finest Italian marble and great pier mirrors from France., Since the 1860 slave schedule was not searchable at the time, the page numbers are provided for the Mississippi and Louisiana slave schedules., The affidavit says that on the 1st of July, 1863, the pending war, and the exigencies of the times compelled his hasty departure from this state for the state of Texas, where he was detained until February 1864. 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." Historic house in Mississippi, United States, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places listings in Adams County, Mississippi, The Clarion-Ledger: Historic house donated to Natchez foundation, Official website for Brandon Hall Plantation, History of the National Register of Historic Places, List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state, List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places, University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places portal, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brandon_Hall_(Washington,_Mississippi)&oldid=1090743436, Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi, National Register of Historic Places in Adams County, Mississippi, Articles using NRISref without a reference number, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 31 May 2022, at 03:54. ), so Poole (overseer) left, presumably with slaves. 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