Auburn Plantation

OVERVIEW

Location: Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi
Date Constructed/ Founded: not determined
Associated Surnames: Davis, Duncan, Ellis, Irvine, Pringle, Sergeant
Historical Notes: Dr. Stephen Duncan was from a slave-owning family in Pennsylvania. His marriage into a southern slave-owning family (Ellis) sparked his career as one of the largest landowners and enslavers in the south. Auburn was the Mississippi home of Dr. Duncan. The home, designed by Levi Weeks of New York, was leased by Duncan in 1820; he later purchased it in 1827. Auburn was next to the lands of Adam Bingaman and Job Routh (an early settler of the area). Dr. Duncan also owned a summer home in New York. Duncan owned several Issaquena Co., MS plantations including Attakapas Plantation, Camperdown Plantation, Carlisle Plantation, Duncan Plantation, Duncannon Plantation, Duncansby Plantation, Ellisle Plantation, Homochitto Plantation, L’Argent Plantation, Middlesex Plantation, Oakley Plantation, Rescue Plantation and Reserve Plantation. He also owned Sargossa Plantation in Adams Co., MS. Enslaved persons traveled frequently between Auburn Plantation in Adams Co. and a nearby plantation called The Cottage in West Feliciana Parish, LA (south of Adams), owned by Thomas Butler, (brother-in-law of Stephen Duncan) and Butler’s wife Nancy Ellis Butler (sister of Margaret Ellis Duncan).
Associated Pages: Attakapas Plantation (Issaquena Co., MS), Camperdown Plantation (Issaquena Co., MS), Duncan’s Reach (including Homochitto, Carlisle, Holly Ridge, Duncansby, Oakley, Reserve, Duncannon, Middlesex, and Ellislie Plantations in Issaquena Co., MS), Duncan Plantation (Issaquena Co., MS), L’Argent Plantation (Issaquena Co., MS), Rescue Plantation (Issaquena Co., MS), Sargossa Plantation (Adams Co., MS)

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ASSOCIATED ENSLAVED PERSONS

1820: 26 slaves (note: 1 free colored person) [1820 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules, Adams Co., Mississippi, Stephen Duncan]

1830: 337 slaves (note: 1 free colored person) [1830 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules, Adams Co., Mississippi, Stephen Duncan]

1840: 367 slaves (note: 1 free colored person) [1840 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules, Adams Co., Mississippi, Stephen Duncan]

1860: 11 slaves, 3 slave houses [1860 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules, Adams Co., Mississippi, Stephen Duncan]

ASSOCIATED FREE PERSONS

Duncan family: Stephan Duncan (b.1787-d.1867) – owner; Margaret Ellis Duncan (b.?-d.?) – first wife of S. Duncan (m.1811), daughter of Abram and Margaret Gaillard Ellis of Ellis Cliffs Plantation; John Ellis Duncan (b?) – son of S. and M.E. Duncan; Catherine Bingham Duncan (b.1801-d.1867) – second wife of S. Duncan (m.1819); Stephen Duncan Jr. (b.1836-d.1910) – son of S. and C.B. Duncan, oversaw the Duncan and Pringle Mississippi River plantations during and after the Civil War in Louisiana and Mississippi, made his headquarters in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany but traveled extensively and often kept company with his brother-in-law, John Julius Pringle in his travels to Paris, London and Louisiana.

Irvine family: Dr. William Irvine; Sarah Jane Duncan Irvine (b.?) – daughter of S. and M.E. Duncan

Duncan family: Henry P. Duncan (b.1823-d.1879) – son of S. and C.B. Duncan; Mary Sargent Postlewaite Duncan (b.1829-d.?) – wife of H.P. Duncan (m.1847), daughter of George Washington Sargent, granddaughter of Winthrop Sargent (former Governor of the Mississippi Territories)

Duncan family: Samuel P. Duncan (b.?) – son of S. and C.B. Duncan; Martha Parker Duncan (b.?) – wife of S.P. Duncan

Davis family: Samuel Manuel Davis (b.?) – Charlotte Duncan Davis (b.1833-d.?) – daughter of S. and C.B. Duncan, wife of S.M. Davis (m.1846); Catherine B. Davis (b.1848) – daughter of S.M. and C.D. Davis; Maria Davis (b.1849-d.?) – daughter of S.M. and C.D. Davis; Charlotte D. Davis (b.1852-d.?) – daughter of S.M. and C.D. Davis

Pringle family: John Julius Pringle (b.1824-d.1901) – sugar planter in Pointe Coupe Parish, LA; Maria Linton Duncan Pringle (b.1826-d.1908) – daughter of S. and C.B. Duncan, wife of J.J. Pringle (m.1849); Stephen Duncan (b.1854-d.1917) – son of J.J. and M.L.D. Pringle; Catharine “Cassie” Duncan Pringle (b.1850-d.1923) – daughter of J.J. and M.L.D. Pringle; Mary Motte Pringle (b.1852-d.1945) – daughter of J.J. and M.L.D. Pringle; Maria “Maizie” Duncan Pringle (b.1856-d.1940) – daughter of J.J. and M.L.D. Pringle; Susan Pringle (b?-d.1942) – daughter of J.J. and M.L.D. Pringle; Charlotte Duncan Pringle (b.1859-d.1945) – daughter of J.J. and M.L.D. Pringle

 

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RESEARCH LEADS AND RECORDS

• Duncan, Stephen, 1787-1867. Family papers, 1817-1877. 158 items, 2 ms. vols. Location: S:120. Planter and banker of Natchez. Duncan plantations included L’Argent, Auburn, Camperdown, Carlisle, Duncan, Duncannon, Duncansby, Ellisle, Homochitto, Middlesex, Oakley, Rescue, Reserve, and Attakapas…Papers include legal documents, bills, and receipts. A daybook includes lists of slaves present at Homochitto Plantation. Manuscript Resources on the History of Music, Drama, and Other Performing Arts in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections Hill Memorial Library, LSU. https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/record.php?id=122588191

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MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

None noted yet

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REFERENCES

• Wikipedia: Stephen Duncan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Duncan
• Brazy, MJ. An American Planter: Stephen Duncan of Antebellum Natchez and New York. LSU Press.
• Rootsweb World Connect: Many Mahons, Entry: Stephen Duncan, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bolen&id=I2110