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Oakley Grove

Page history last edited by Andy McMillion 12 years, 4 months ago


Overview

Location

Adams Co., MS. The plantation was at the following land coordinates: T7N-R2w, section 5; and T8N-R2W, section 53. This coordinate may be found at the Mississippi Department of Transportation website "county highway maps." This land now belongs to the Adams County Airport. Descendants of the Dunbars have restored the Oakley Grove cemetery used by the owners of the plantation which can be accessed from the airport property. The original land survey is at the Government Land Office website run by the Bureau of Land Management.

 

Date Constructed/Founded

1800 - 1805

Associated Surnames

Dunbar, Ferguson, Hunt

Historical notes

 

Robert Dunbar (not the same family of Sir William Dunbar) owned Oakley Grove Plantation. He emigrated from Scotland with his parents in 1770 first to North Carolina. Then he moved to the Natchez area where he settled on Ivy Place Plantation (later renamed Lansdowne by a great grandaughter). He next moved to Oakley Grove Plantation.

 

David Ferguson married Robert's daughter Jane Dunbar. David Ferguson grew up on Mount Locust Plantation. His family also owned Mount Locust rest stop on the Old Natchez Trace. It still exists and is a stop on the modern Natchez Trace Parkway. David and Jane lived on Oakley Grove Plantation. Their daughter, Ann, married David Hunt of Woodlawn Plantation MS.  In 1826 Robert Dunbar's daughter Jane inherited the southern half of Oakley Grove, and another daugher - Charlotte Newman - inherited the northern half of Oakley Grove.

 

Oakley Grove Plantation is listed by a David Hunt biographer as belonging to David Hunt. What happenned is that David's wife Ann (Ferguson) Hunt and her sister inherited Oakley Grove (probably just the southern half of Robert Dunbar's original plantation) when Ann's mother Jane (Dunbar) Ferguson died near the time of the Civil War.

 

Probably some time after the Civil War Ann Hunt's sister willed the plantation to her descendants; however an Abijah Hunt is mentioned as a defendant in a court case brought by one of these descendants in the late 1800's (after the Civil War). So probably part of the land went to a descendant of Ann (Ferguson) Hunt - maybe to her grandson Abijah Hunt who was the son of George Hunt who died during the Civil War.

 

The land is now the site of the Adams County Airport.

 

Associated Slave Workplaces


Associated Free Persons

  • Robert Dunbar - first owner
  • David Ferguson and his wife Jane Dunbar - second owners
  • David Hunt and Ann Ferguson (possibly inherited Oakley Grove from Ann's parents)
  • The Archer family (David and Ann's daughter Mary Ann married James Archer - so one possibility is that Oakley Grove passed into the Archer Family)
  • The McCaleb family owned Oakley Grove sometime after the Civil War and before the Adams County airport bought it.

Associated Enslaved Persons

  • From Robert Dunbar's will dated January 10, 1826 (He died on March 13, 1826).  The slaves probably, though not definitely, all lived on Oakley Grove before Robert's death.  This is because by the time of this will, Robert had given his several other plantations to his children.
    • Item:  I give and bequeath unto my eldest son William Dunbar the following negro slaves to wit Edwin (yellow) Claiborne (little) Claiborne, Milley & her two children Elizabeth & Louisa together with any natural increase that may accrue.
    • Item:  I give and bequeath unto my daughter Jane Ferguson an addition to the bequest herein before made the following named slaves to wit (old) Longford & Mary his wife, Noah, Irwin, Flora & her three children Peggy, Grace & Patsy with their natural increase.
    • Item:  I give and bequeath unto my son James Dunbar the following named slaves to wit (old) Romeo, Humphrey, Elbert, Tilda, Eliza & her child Lucy with their natural increase.
    • Item:  I give and bequeath to my daughter Charlotte Newman & her heirs in addition & in like manner to the devise herein before made the following named slaves to wit Dave, Bess, Harry, Aggy and William with their natural increase.
    • Item:  I give and bequeath unto my son Joseph Dunbar the following named slaves to wit (old) Harry, young Romeo & young Emanuel.
    • Item:  I give and bequeath to my son Samuel Dunbar the following named slaves to wit Josimon, Ferris, old Emanuel his wife Hannah and their four children Thomas, Henry, Andrew and Harriet with their natural increase.

 


Research Leads and Plantation Records

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Miscellaneous Information

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References


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