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Homewood Plantation

Page history last edited by Andy McMillion 9 years, 8 months ago


 

Overview

 

Location

(County and State where the plantation/workspace was located.  Information to help others locate the plantation is optional.) 

 

 

Date Constructed/ Founded

(Year the plantation/ workplace was established and/ or built.)

 

  • 1850.  The land is known to have been owned by Robert Dunbar (who owned neighboring Ivy Place - later renamed Lansdowne) and then passed down through his descendants to Catherine Hunt.  Thus, the land was surely part of plantations with other names that were owned by Catherine's ancestors since the 1790s.

 

Associated Surnames

(List of surnames associated with this workplace.)

 

  • Minor, Dunbar, Ferguson, Hunt, Balfour

 

Historical notes

(Historical summary of the workplace)

 

  • Size and General Description of the work done on Homewood  
    • The plantation was 600 acres in size.  From the late 1700s to 1850, the land was a probably primarily a cotton plantation.  Beginning in 1850 the plantation was named Homewood and became part suburban Natchez estate and part cotton plantation when it was a wedding gift to Catherine (Hunt) and William S. Balfour from Catherine's father - David Hunt.  It was given so that the Balfours could build a residence on the plantation which would be close to Natchez.  William S. and Catherine soon built one of the largest mansions in the Natchez area there. 
    • Though cotton would have been the cash crop and corn would have been grown to feed the people and livestock, the small cotton operation on Homewood probably wasn't very important to the Balfours.  Both sides of the family set the Balfours up with other plantation(s) and possibly investments too which were far more profitable than Homewood.  Probably 20 to 25 of the larger total number of possibly 40 slaves on the plantation would have worked to support the mansion (a butler, a cook, house maid, nurse for the children, someone to wash the clothes, someone to care for the yard and garden, etc).
  • Photos of Homewood (probably all taken after the Balfours sold the plantation in the early 1900s)
  • Floor plans for the Homewood Mansion.
  • Description of the "big house" on Homewood.  It was destroyed by fire in 1940, but either the carriage house or the kitchen building is in use today as a private residence.
    • Homewood Plantation/Estate had one of the largest and most elaborate antebellum suburban Natchez mansions on it. The mansion was built on a rise in a park-like setting of live oaks. It had a two-story brick carriage house out back (a luxury that was not that common outside places like Natchez) and a two-story brick kitchen at a rear corner facing a brick courtyard with two large cisterns. Travelling by carriage was about equivalent to travelling in a high-end luxury car today. Most of the work on the mansion with its expansive lawns was done with slave labor. A few specialists were hired as well, such as a faux painter (to make the baseboards look like marble, etc.) and a plasterer to hand make the ceiling medallions above the chandlers.
    • The interiors of the mansion were probably very similar to the interiors of neighboring Lansdowne owned by Catherine's sister Charlotte.  The interior photos of Homewood at the links above were taken in about the 1940's and not the antebellum period.  Thus, they don't show the interiors when the Balfours lived on Homewood Plantation
    • A photo and description of the mansion is at the following website. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~msissaq2/balfour.html
    • It probably took about 20 slaves to run the estate part of Homewood (the mansion and lawns) and maybe 10 or 20 more to do the work on the plantation part (caring for the livestock and fields of crops). Melrose was a nearby estate that was very similar to the estate part of Homewood Plantation. The following links are about Melrose. 
      • The following link has a clickable map of part of the Melrose estate that tells what slave life there was like http://206.137.17.63/melrose/melrose.htm
      • The mansion on Melrose Estate in Natchez looks a lot like the Homewood mansion did. The following link shows the parlor at Melrose (probably similar to the one at Homewood). http://www.uwec.edu/geography/Ivogeler/w188/south/urbslv.htm . The link also shows the Presbyterian Church in Natchez. The Hunt's were Presbyterian, so maybe Catherine (Hunt) Balfour and her husband attended this church - probably the closest Presbyterian Church to Homewood at the time.
    • Description of the floor plan of Homewood Mansion.  It had five floors, the basement (which had several rooms with fireplaces), the first floor, the second floor, the attic (which had storage rooms) and the top widow's walk/observatory.
      • The basement/ground floor had full sized rooms with fireplaces that were probably where the slaves worked and where some possibly slept.
      • The first floor had two rooms at the front separated by a center hall.  These rooms had large pocket doors, that when opened, formed a large room that included the front part of the center hall, which could be used for entertaining.  Right behind the front two rooms another hall ran from side to side, which intersected the center hall.  This made the halls be in the shape of a cross.  Behind the side to side hallway were four more rooms - two on each side of the center hall.  Two of these rooms would have been the dining room and butler's pantry, the other two were probably bedrooms, or a library and/or study.  The stairwell was in the rear part of the center hall.
      • The second floor was the same lay out as the first floor, only without any of the large pocket doors.
      • The third/attic floor had a large room in the center where the stairs from the second floor came up.  This room also had a spiral staircase toward the front that went up to the widow's walk/observatory top floor.  It also had eight storage rooms - two on each side of the large main center room.
      • The top floor had a small glassed room that the spiral stairs rose up into.  Outside of this was the widow's walk - outdoor observation deck.

 

Associated Slave Workplaces

(Plantations/ workplaces connected to this one via owners' family and/ or enslaved persons.)

 

  • Owners' Family Connections to Other Workplaces
    • During Stephen Minor's ownership, any plantation on the land would have been associated with his other properties.
    • During Robert Dunbar's ownership, Homewood was associated with Oakley Grove and Robert's other plantations.
    • During Jane (Dunbar) and David Ferguson's ownership, this plantation was associated with Oakley Grove , and Lansdowne (a.k.a. Ivy Place), which in addition to Homewood Plantation Jane Dunbar got from her parents,  Homewood was also possibly associated with Mount Locust (belonged to David Ferguson's parents).
    • During Ann (Ferguson) and and David Hunt's ownership this plantation was associated with David's other 24 plantations - see Woodlawn Plantation MS for details of this.
    • During Catherine (Hunt) and William S. Balfour's ownership this plantation was associated with the couple's other plantation -  Fairland Plantation (Issaquena County) and probably some of William S's father (William L. Balfour of Homestead Plantation  in Madison Co., MS) plantations, and some of Catherine's clan's (the Hunt clan) other plantations.  See Woodlawn Plantation MS) for details of this.
  • Enslaved Persons Connections to Other Workplaces

 

Associated Free Persons

(Bulletted list of free persons: plantation-owning family, overseers, etc. Example: "John Doe (b.1841-d.1885) - owner; inherited Doe Plantation from his father Joe Doe")

 

  • Stephen Minor - owner
    • The land had originally belonged to Stephen Minor. 
  • Robert Dunbar - owner
    • Robert Dunbar is thought to have purchased the property and had his house on the adjoining Ivy Place (later known as Lansdowne ).  Robert bought land in the area as early as 1782 and slaves as early as 1786. As he expanded, Robert also purchased Oakley Grove Plantation just to the east of Lansdowne and moved to a home on that plantation.
  • Jane (Dunbar) and David Ferguson
    • Either the property was passed on to Jane (Dunbar) Ferguson, or directly to her daughter Ann (Ferguson) Hunt.  David Ferguson grew up on his parents Mount Locust , which served as a stand (rest stop) on the Old Natchez Trace in its early years and was developed into a plantation later when traffic on the Trace declined.  Jane (Robert Dunbar's daughter) and David lived at Robert Dunbar's Oakley Grove where they raised their daughter Ann.
  • Ann (Ferguson) and David Hunt - owner
    • Ann (Ferguson) Hunt acquired Homewood , Wilderness Plantation, 1/2 of Oakley Grove (where Ann grew up), and Lansdowne Plantation from her Dunbar ancestors.  David Hunt had 21 other plantations besides the ones he got when he married Ann.  He was one of only 35 millionaires in the U.S. at the time - possibly the 7th richest on the list.  They lived on Woodlawn Plantation MS in the winters and in Lexington, KY in the summers.  David owned about 1,100 or 1,200 slaves at his peak, and the entire Hunt clan (included David's children and their spouses) owned about 1,700 slaves just before the Civil War.
  • Colonel William Suggs Balfour (b.10 Dec 1827 Homestead Plantation - d.8 May 1902 Homewood Plantation) and his wife Catherine (Hunt) Balfour (b.29 Apr 1829 Woodlawn Plantation -d.4 Jul 1871 Homewood Plantation);  owners;  received Homewood in 1850 as a wedding gift from Catherine's parents. 
    • The children of William and Catherine Balfour:
      • Ann Hunt Balfour (b.18 Oct 1851 Homewood-d.2 Jan 1916 Forrest City, AK; burial Natchez City Cemetery) - married James Surget Shields, born at Richland Plantation, Adams County, father was Major Gabriel Benoist Shields, mother was Catherine Surget
      • William Lovett Balfour (b.13 Jun 1853-d.11 Jul 1929) - married Jane "Jennie" Gustine Martin, father was Confederate General William Thompson Martin, mother was Margaret Dunlop Conner
      • Elizabeth Gartley Balfour (b. 17 Aug 1854 Woodlawn Plantation -d. 1 Sep 1940 Rose Hill, Adams Co, MS) - married William S. Balfour, father was Colonel John Weeks Balfour, mothe was Mary Coburn Humphreys
      • Kate Balfour (b.5 Aug 1856 Woodlawn Plantation -d 18 Jul 1863 Newton Co, MS)
      • David Hunt Balfour (b.9 Sep 1857 Woodlawn Plantation -d. 25 Aug 1863 Montgomery, AL)
      • Mary B. Balfour (b.9 Aug 1859-d. 21 Jan 1864 Columbus, GA)
      • Josephine Balfour (b.18 Mar 1861-d. 29 Dec 1889 Kansas City, MO) - married Dr. William H. Aikman 6 Feb 1889
      • Dunbar Hunt Balfour (b.10 Mar 1864 Columbus, GA - d. 28 Sep 1864 Columbus, GA)
      • George Pendleton Balfour (b.28 Jun 1867 Homewood Plantation -d. 18 Aug 1925 Palm Beach, FL) - married Julia Ashton Devereux, father was Wilmer Shields, mother was Julia Devereux Ashton
      • Charlotte Hunt "Lot" Balfour (b.8 May 1869 Mississippi -d. 31 Jan 1957 Rose Hill, Adams Co, MS, burial Natchez City Cemetery) married Dr. William H. Aikman 26 Oct 1894.
      • Catherine "Kate: Hunt Balfour (b.2 Jul 1870 Homewood -d.5 Jul 1841 Atlanta, GA, burial Natchez City Cemetery) married Joseph Shields Dunbar, father was William Forman Dunbar, mother was Mary Conway Shields
    • Timeline for William and Catherine
      • In 1850 Catherine Hunt married William S. Balfour. The most likely way the couple met was that William was probably introduced to Catherine through her brothers. Both William and Catherine's brothers attended Oakland College (now Alcorn State) which was near Catherine's childhood home - Woodlawn Plantation MS. This is how Catherine's sister Elizabeth met her husband William F. Ogden a few years later.
      • As a wedding gift, Catherine's parents (David and Ann (Ferguson) Hunt) gave the couple the 600 acres of land that the newlyweds named Homewood. The Hunts also gave the couple about 100 slaves and a set of silverware (probably about 40 of these slaves lived on Homewood and the rest went to William's Fairland Plantation .
      • William's parents (William L. Balfour and his wife) gave the couple the resources to build the Homewood mansion and to furnish it. Either they gave the money or the profits from Fairland Plantation in Issaquena County (a few counties to the north of Homewood along the MS River) that they gave to their son was enough to pay for it.  William had 177 slaves in Issaquena County in the  1860 census - probably all on Fairland Plantation  . 
      • These gifts established William and Catherine Balfour as members of the Natchez elite. Homewood was popular in the Natchez social circles because of its fox hunts and parties before the Civil War.
      • Homewood was Catherine and William's residence except during the time (1855-1860) while their mansion on Homewood was being built. They lived on Fairland Plantation during this time. Most of their children were born at Catherine's parents plantation Woodlawn Plantation MS during this time. Before the Civil War the Balfours, like most of the Natchez elite, probably left the Natchez area in the summers to escape the heat and threat of yellow fever which often killed whole families.
      • William served in the Confederate Army as a Major during the Civil War (about 1861 to 1864). The probable reasons for his high rank were his family wealth combined with the fact that his father (William L. Balfour) was close friends with Confederacy President Jefferson Davis' older brother Joseph. The Davis and Balfour clans were intermarried about four different ways.
      • During the War, Catherine was not comfortable living on Homewood Plantation for some reason. Instead, she spent about a year travelling around the area nervously by carriage with her children. A few of her children died during this time.
      • William returned to live on Homewood with Catherine and their children after the War. Probably Only Plantation (and whatever other assets William and Catherine had) was/were gradually sold off after the War so that the family could live in their mansion on Homewood as long as possible. The family was gradually losing everything.  William hung on to the entire 600 acre Homewood Plantation/Estate until his death in the early 1900s.  William and Catherine are buried in the Natchez City Cemetery.  Shortly after that time it was sold out of the family (they had realized that they had to get out of there and go find new ways to earn a living). The mansion was purchased by very rich people who modernized it (with electricity, etc). It burned in about 1940
  • Lucy Stone Balfour (b.?-d.1903) - second wife of William S. Balfour (m.aft.1871)
    • Mary S. Balfour (b.1875-d?) - daughter of William S. and Lucy S. Balfour.
    • The 1880 federal census lists the following people at Homewood.
      • William and Lucy Balfour and the children
        • Josephine, Charlotte, Catherine, George and Mary
      • The black and mulatto servants were:
        • Sallie McGraw - house servant (must mean that she cleaned the house)
        • June Henderson - cook
        • Lizzie Washington - washing (clothes)
        • Alex Lucas - carriage driver
        • Hattie Lucas - seamstress (wife of Alex) - and her children Anna, Fannie, Bell and Woton

 

Associated Enslaved Persons

(Bulletted list of enslaved persons. You can add several seperate lists with subheadings like "1850 - 1860: Slaves listed in the Doe Family Bible")

 

  • Nothing so far but an educated guess of the number of slaves (30 to 50 slaves)

    • Homewood is not listed in Tom Blake's list of largest Adams County slaveholders - the smallest slaveholder on the list held 89 slaves.

    • Adjoining Lansdowne Plantation, which was about the same size - 600 acres - but which had a "big house" about 1/2 as large as Homewood, had 22 slaves.

    • Thus, Homewood Plantation probably had in the range of from 30 to 50 slaves.

      • Some of the 20 or so slaves that ran the mansion probably slept in the four large rooms with fireplaces in the basement and in the upper rooms of the separate kitchen building which was close to the back of the mansion.  Most likely, there was a group of slave cabins just behind the kitchen for the rest of the house/yard slaves to live in as well as for the field hands who worked out on the plantation to grow the corn and cotton and to raise the livestock, etc.


 

Research Leads and Plantation Records

(Bulletted list of primary sources, plantation records from archives, books, microfilm, etc., that you think would help the reader to find his/ her ancestors.)

 

  • See the "Research Leads and Plantation Records" section on the Woodlawn Plantation MS plantation page for information about the Hunt family plantation records.
  • More research is needed to determine where the Balfour plantation records for Homewood may be located.  Nicka Sewell was able to find a lot about the Eyrie Plantation - Balfour in East Carroll Parrish, LA, so maybe the same can be done for Homewood someday:
    •  FHL Microfilm # 2230249 and 2230250 - Estate Papers of William Lovett Balfour
    • (East) Carroll Parish Conveyance, Mortgage and Succession Books

    • Will and codicil of William Lovett Balfour, Cause #733, Madison County, MS Chancery Clerk of Court
    • See land and mortgage sales (including slave names) http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/eastcarroll/deeds/byrne515gdd.txt and http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/eastcarroll/deeds/byrne516gdd.txt
    • (East) Carroll Parish Conveyance, Mortgage and Succession Books, "A Place to Remember, East Carroll Parish, LA, 1832-1976" by Georgia Payne Durham Pinkson; FHL Microfilm # 2230249 and 2230250 - Estate Papers of William Lovett Balfour, Issaquena County Mississippi Genealogical Association Website, US Census 

 


 

Miscellaneous Information

(Any additional information that does not fit under the preset headings)

 

  • The following website contains narratives by slaves who escaped to freedom - some from Mississippi. www.docsouth.unc.edu . They can give the reader a most full understanding of what slavery was really like for a slave. One of the best narratives from the website is: http://www.docsouth.unc.edu/neh/campbell/campbell.html .  

 


 

References

(Bulletted list of primary references that you used to add information to this page)

 

  • Books
    • This link is to an interesting book (pages 339 and 340 mention Homewood and Lansdowne.  http://www.archive.org/stream/mississippiguide00federich#page/338/mode/2up
    • The Homewood Estate is described in the book In Old Natchez by Catharine Van Court.
    • Movie/Book
      • Some of the lawn and porch scenes in the movie The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith were filmed at Homewood.
    • The book So Red the Rose describes the parlors at Homewood.  The 1936 film version of So Red the Rose may have been filmed partially at Homewood.  
    • Van Court, Catharine. In old Natchez , Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1937, pp. 92-93.
  • Newspaper articles
    • Smith, Carolyn Vance, "Mystery Shrouds the Burning of Homewood," The Natchez Democrat , 6 Jan 1985.
    • Smith, Carolyn Vance, "Natchezians Recall the Day That Homewood Burned," The Natchez Democrat , 13 Jan 1985.
    • Moreland, George M., "Rambling in Mississippi," The Memphis Commercial Appeal , 18 Jan 1925.
  • Websites

 


 

Users Researching This Workplace

(Put your name or a link to your personal profile page here)

 

  • Andy McMillion .  I welcome corrections, and hope that the way the information is presented makes it easy to add your research in bulletted lists to this webpage.

 

 

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