Overview

Location

• Natchez, Adams Co., MS, just west of Second Creek south of Natchez at T5N-R3W section 11 and T5N-R2W section 7.  Highway 61 runs south out of Natchez; Second Creek runs along to the east of Highway 61 from the intersection of Kingston Road on down to the Homochitto River.  This is the area where Independence Plantation was.
  •  See the plantation land on a modern map at: http://www.gomdot.com/Divisions/IntermodalPlanning/Resources/Maps/pdf/CountyHighwayMaps/Adams.pdf
  • See the plantation land on the original survey map at:  http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/SurveySearch/Survey_Detail.asp?dmid=74349&Index=1&QryID=5425.007

Date Constructed/ Founded

1788

Associated Surnames

Buhler, Smith

Historical notes

• Size and description of the plantation.
  • Isreal Smith obtained a 500 arpent (French name for acre) land grant in 1788 along Second Creek south of Natchez.  This was the beginning of Mount Independence Plantation.
  • 18 Jun 1818 Philemon Thomas sold Israel 800 arpents near the cypress swamp known as Devil's Swamp, bounded n. by land belonging to George Proffitt, s. by land of Charles Proffitt (possibly this was an enlargement to Independence Plantation).
• Other land owned by Israel Smith - T4N-R2W, section 35 south of the Homochitto River. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/SurveySearch/Survey_Detail.asp?dmid=74257&Index=1&QryID=7064.257

Associated Slave Workplaces

• Plantations/farms owned by Israel Smith's brothers
  • Calvin
    • Retirement Plantation - Adams MS - T6N-R2W section 42 owned by Calvin Smith (1768-1840). 
    • Monmouth - Adams MS - bought at public auction by Isreal Smith's brother Calvin in 1825.  Sold to General Quitman in 1826.  Mr. Hankinson owned it Monmouth before Calvin Smith bought it.
  • Richard - owned T6N-R2W section 35 on Second Creek, which adjoined Retirement Plantation
  • Philander - owned T6N-R2W section 41 on Second Creek, which adjoined Retirement Plantation
• Waverly Plantation - was really just a farm with only 7slaves (it takes 20 slaves to reach plantation status).  This property was the home of Isreal Smith's daughter Ann Nancy Smith and her husband, Dr. John T. Scott (b 1793 - d 1857),  It was on Second Creek south of Natchez, MS.  Dr. Scott's slaves were at the center of the planned slave uprising detailed in the book Tumult and Silence on Second Creek .

Associated Free Persons

• Reverend Jedediah Smith (b 1721 d 1776) and his wife Sarah Cook(e).  Rev. Smith was the first Presbyterian minister of the Natchez Territory.  He died shortly after arriving from Granville, MA in 1776 with his ten or eleven children.  His lineage goes back five generations to the origins of the Hartford Connecticut Colony.  Three of his sons obtained Spanish land grants in about 1790 along Second Creek south of Natchez in Adams County where they had plantations.  The three Smith brothers married three sisters named Cobb.  Isreal was one of the three who married a Cobb, it's unclear who the other two were.  Information about four of the Smith brothers follows. 
  • Calvin (1768-1840) 
    • Retirement Plantation - Adams MS - T6N-R2W section 42 owned by Calvin Smith (1768-1840). 
    • Monmouth - Adams MS - bought at public auction by Calvin in 1825.  Mr. Hankinson built the beginnings of the big house on Monmouth in 1818.   Calvin sold Monmouth to General Quitman in 1826.  The Quitmans enlarged the big house and kept the plantation until after the Civil War.
  • Richard - owned T6N-R2W section 35 on Second Creek, which adjoined Retirement Plantation
  • Philander - owned T6N-R2W section 41 on Second Creek, which adjoined Retirement Plantation
  • Isreal Smith (b 1763 d 1821) - Rev. Jedediah Smith's son.  Isreal's plantation on Second Creek was this plantation - Independence Plantation. Also known as Mount Independence.
• Isreal Smith (1763-1821) and his second wife Jane Lorenzo Doane (first wife was Sarah Cobb) - owners.  They had a lot of children - Ann Nancy, Courtland, Elizabeth, Hester, Horatio Nelson, Israel Philander, Jane Amanda, Josua Doane, Luther Sidney, Mary Isabella, Philomela, Susan and maybe a son named Calvin.

  • Ann Nancy Smith (Israel Smith's daughter) married Dr. John T. Scott.  They lived on Waverly Plantation in Adams County on Second Creek.  Waverly wasn't really a plantation with only 7 slaves and 75 acres.  It is mentioned in the book Tumult and Silence on Second Creek .

    • Julia Smith Scott (Dr. John and Ann Nanch Smith Scott's daughter - Israel Smith's grandaughter) was the second wife of Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Abner Nash Ogden.  There is an Ogden Road and an Ogden Creek near the location  of Independence Plantation south of Natchez along Highway 61 and Second Creek.  You can find them on the map at:  http://www.gomdot.com/Divisions/IntermodalPlanning/Resources/Maps/pdf/CountyHighwayMaps/Adams.pdf .  Justice Ogden and his wife Julia lived in New Orleans.  Four of their sons fought in the Civil War.  Julia died at Mt. Independence Plantation in 1856.

      • CPT William Frederick Ogden CSA - , attended Oakland College in Claiborne County, MS just before the Civil War.  After the war he attended law school at the Univ of VA and then married David Hunt's daughter Elizabeth.  David Hunt's home plantation was Woodlawn Plantation MS in Jefferson County, MS.  William and Elizabeth inherited Hole In The Wall Plantation in Concordia Parish, LA and another plantation in Mississippi from David Hunt when his estate was divided shortly after the Civil War.

•  John Robert Buhler - resident at Independence Plantation.  Grandson of Israel Smith.  John's wife was Mary Reynolds Buhler.

Associated Enslaved Persons

• In the 1818 Adams County Census, Israel Smith either had 30 or 38 slaves on Independence Plantation.  It is hard to read the census document to be sure which it was.  In this same census, Israel's brother Calvin had 119 slaves on Retirement Plantation nearby on Second Creek.  His other brother Philander had 85 slaves on land which adjoined Retierment Plantation on Second Creek.

Research Leads and Plantation Records

Natchez-Area Manuscript collections in The Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections at Louisiana State University: Buhler, John Robert, 1829-1886

Papers, 1843-1914. 6 ms. vols. Location: H:17. John Robert Buhler was the son of John Christian Buhler, a planter of Buhler's Plains near Baton Rouge. After his marriage to Mary Reynolds, they lived at Independence Plantation, home of his grandparents, the Smiths, near Natchez. Papers include three volumes of a diary containing entries (1847-1849) reflecting family and social life on Independence Plantation and providing information on events in and around Natchez and Baton Rouge. http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/guides/natchez.html

Miscellaneous Information

• none

References

• Natchez-Area Manuscript collections in The Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections at Louisiana State University http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/guides/natchez.html

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