Z 1995.000 Magruder (James Trueman, Jr.) Mercantile Ledgers

Z 1995.000
MAGRUDER (JAMES TRUEMAN, JR.) MERCANTILE LEDGERS

The Magruder, Covington, and Wailes families were closely related by blood and allied through friendship long before they left Prince Georges County, Maryland, for the Mississippi Territory. The relationships among these three families continued to develop as they settled in their new homes in the Natchez District and intermarried through successive generations.

James Trueman Magruder, the son of Alexander Magruder II and Elizabeth Howard Magruder, was born on May 4, 1768, in Maryland. Losing his father at the age of eleven, Magruder went to sea at fourteen and became a ship's captain by the time he was twenty. After marrying Elizabeth Ann Magruder in 1803, Captain Magruder moved his family to Natchez around 1808, settling in nearby Washington in the Mississippi Territory. He planted cotton and later moved to Jefferson County, where he died on December 10, 1830.

James Trueman Magruder, Jr., was the son of Leonard Magruder and Susanna Priscilla Hawkins Magruder. Settling in Washington, Mississippi Territory, in the early 1800s, James Trueman Magruder, Jr., lived with his uncle, Captain James Trueman Magruder, for a time. James Trueman Magruder, Jr., attended Jefferson College, and he married Mary Overaker on February 29, 1818. He later operated a general merchandise store in Natchez called James T. Magruder, Jr., and Company that was in operation from 1821 through 1825, if not longer. When he died, James Trueman Magruder, Jr., was survived by one daughter, Betty Magruder.

Leonard and Alexander Covington raised families in Prince Georges County, Maryland, before moving to the Mississippi Territory. In the fall of 1809, Leonard Covington, serving as lieutenant colonel of a regiment of light dragoons, brought his family and slaves to settle near Washington in the Mississippi Territory where he was stationed. His brother, Alexander Covington, had recently settled in the vicinity with his family. A brigadier general in General Wilkinson's ill-fated Canadian campaign, Leonard Covington was mortally wounded in the Battle of Chrysler's Field on the Canadian frontier on November 11, 1813, and he died three days later. Surviving him were his wife, Rebecca Covington, his six children, and his brother, Alexander Covington.

Alexander Covington had been managing General Covington's affairs in his absence, and Rebecca Covington and her children were living with Alexander Covington at this time. He continued to oversee the affairs of Rebecca Covington and her children for some time after the general's death. Alexander Covington had moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1808, bringing his slaves and settling on a small plantation near Washington. He became involved in the Natchez mercantile business of his cousin, James Trueman Magruder, Jr., but around 1825 he paid his largest debts and moved to Warren County, Mississippi. Alexander Covington then bought numerous small farms in Warren County until he had accumulated a plantation of twelve hundred acres by 1825. He named the plantation Fonsylvania. It was located about ten miles south of Warrenton and just north of the Big Black River, while the neighboring Kensington plantation in Warren County was several miles closer to town. Kensington was part of his brother's estate, and after Leonard Covington died and his estate was divided in accordance with his will, his son, Edmund Covington, received Kensington. Edmund Covington married Ann Roberts on April 2, 1831, and managed Kensington until his death in 1833, when he bequeathed the plantation to his daughter, Susan Covington. Both of Edmund Covington's young daughters, Rebecca and Susan Covington, were left to the care of B. L. C. and Rebecca Covington Wailes after their father's death.

B. L. C. Wailes, the son of Levin Wailes and Eleanor Davies Wailes, was born in Georgia on August 1, 1797. After accompanying Captain James T. Magruder on several sea voyages, Levin Wailes moved from Prince Georges County, Maryland, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He moved to Georgia with his wife and several other relatives in 1792, and Alexander Covington briefly lived with the Wailes family before traveling on to the Mississippi Territory. Following the westward progression of the frontier, Levin Wailes also moved his family, including his firstborn, B. L. C. Wailes, to the Mississippi Territory in 1807, settling near Washington. B. L. C. Wailes was educated at Jefferson College, and he later taught there. He was eventually elected to the board of trustees of that institution. B. L. C. Wailes was elected as an Adams County representative to the Mississippi legislature, and he served from 1825 to 1826. He opposed secession from the Union despite his vested interests as a planter and slave owner. B. L. C. Wailes died in 1862.

At various times, B. L. C. Wailes operated several plantations, including Fonsylvania and Kensington and the property that would become Ivanhoe. Fonsylvania was controlled by Alexander Covington until his death in 1848, when it passed to his grandson, Turpin Covington. B. L. C. Wailes, Turpin Covington's guardian, operated Fonsylvania while Covington was still a minor. Upon Turpin Covington's death in 1855, Rebecca Covington Wailes inherited the plantation. B. L. C. Wailes took over the management of Fonsylvania for his wife in addition to the management of Kensington and the adjacent Ivanhoe plantation.

In 1860, B. L. C. Wailes split Ivanhoe from Kensington plantation in order to give Susan Covington her inheritance. Covington's slaves working at Kensington were moved to Ivanhoe to work. Because of the proximity of the Wailes and Covington plantations, slaves from Kensington and Fonsylvania plantations celebrated Christmas together in 1859, and Covington visited her slaves on January 4, 1860, in order to give them presents for producing a high yield of cotton in the previous year. By 1862, Susan Covington possessed 2,352 acres and seventy-three slaves valued at about $60,000. In the same year, Covington and her uncle, B. L. C. Wailes, each had to pay over five hundred dollars to the Confederacy as a war tax. The Civil War took its toll on the Wailes and Covington plantations. When General Ulysses S. Grant marched through Warren County on his way to Vicksburg, his troops took everything of value from the plantations, shot out the windows, burned the fences, and even pulled the paper from the walls of several houses. Cotton crops were burned, and slaves were impressed for service at other times during the war.

Susan Covington employed William Owens as an overseer throughout most of her ownership of Ivanhoe. Owens had married Sarah E. Hootsell on January 18, 1854, shortly before he began work at Ivanhoe. B. L. C. Wailes also employed Owens to oversee Fonsylvania twice during the periods when Fonsylvania was without a permanent overseer. Wailes complimented Owens on his duties and once noted that Owens kept a plantation account book that was "clear and honest in every particular." In addition to his meticulous record-keeping, Owens also produced high yields of cotton, selling 162 bales in 1857, thus leaving Covington a $2,151.49 net profit, while Fonsylvania produced only 120 bales of cotton that year, leaving Wailes with a net loss. In 1858, Owens was paid four hundred dollars to manage Ivanhoe, with the incentive of a one-hundred-dollar bonus if he produced over two hundred bales of cotton. He still appeared to be managing Ivanhoe when Susan Covington died in 1865 and was buried at Fonsylvania.

Scope and Content:

The two ledgers consist of a bound volume of Natchez (Adams County) mercantile and Ivanhoe plantation (Warren County) records covering 1821, 1864 to 1865, and 1894 and an unbound volume of Natchez mercantile and Ivanhoe plantation records covering 1822 to 1824 and 1837 to 1894 (scattered). Many pages are in poor condition or completely missing from both the bound and the unbound ledgers, and each one is only partially paginated. What appears to be a later hand periodically pencils in various comments in both volumes.

The bound volume was used for at least three purposes: an account ledger for James T. Magruder, Jr., and Company, a plantation journal kept by William Owens for Ivanhoe, and a scrapbook of miscellaneous undated newsclippings. The first and main part of the bound volume gives daily accounts and balances at James T. Magruder, Jr., and Company for 1821. Short descriptions of sales and occasional balances are listed. After the mercantile records end in December of 1821, the Ivanhoe plantation journal fills the rest of the volume, starting most likely in 1865, with William Owens keeping the journal. Early entries are undated, but they record the work performed by workers on Ivanhoe plantation, including the quantity of cotton picked. Later entries record the food and supplies that William Owens bought for the workers in 1865. Owens includes an expense account and notes the days missed by various workers. Numerous pages are cut or torn from the journal, especially from the end. Included with the volume are two loose items: an undated advertisement for books and a February 1887 issue of The Student's Journal. Parts of the volume are obscured by the undated newsclippings pasted over the daily entries. These newsclippings cover a wide range of topics, from British history to ostrich farming. There is also one page entitled "Caffrey Central Sugar Refinery," dated October 8, 1894, and signed by R. A. Wailes of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The unbound ledger also records the accounts for James T. Magruder, Jr., and Company and Ivanhoe plantation. What appears to be the first and main half of the unbound ledger lists customer transactions for James T. Magruder, Jr., and Company in Natchez. Sales from 1822 to 1824 are listed by customer names, with short descriptions of the items sold, and there are periodic cash or merchandise account balances. The final section of the ledger contains records kept by William Owens for Ivanhoe plantation, starting in 1865. Owens lists the 1865 food and supplies that he furnished the workers and the amount of money due to each of them after the supplies were deducted. The ledger ends with an 1873 account of plantation workers. Included in the volume are two loose items: a June 27, 1837, legal document signed by Thomas Rodney, Robert Williams, and Thomas H. Williams and an annotated 1849 guide to sugar planting.

Series Identification:

1. James T. Magruder, Jr., and Company (Natchez, Miss.) Mercantile Ledgers. 1821–1824; n.d.

Box 1: Volume 1, 1821 (restricted; microfilm—MF Roll # 36600—must be used instead).
Box 2: Volume 2, 1822–1824, n.d.

2. Ivanhoe Plantation (Warren County, Miss.) Records. 1864–1865; 1873; 1894.

Box 1: Volume 1, 1864–1865; 1894 (restricted; microfilm—MF Roll # 36600—must be used instead).

Box 2: Volume 2, 1865; 1873; 1894; n.d.

3. Newsclippings. n.d.

Box 1: Volume 1 (scattered throughout).

4. Loose Papers (Miscellaneous). 1837; 1849; 1887; n.d. 2 folders.

Box 1: Folder 1: loose items removed from Volume 1, 1887; n.d. (restricted; microfilm—MF Roll # 36600—must be used instead).

Box 2: Folder 2: loose items removed from Volume 2, 1837; 1849.