Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: James Allen Plantation Book, (Z/0014).
Creator/Collector: James Allen.
Date(s): 1860-1863; 1865.
Size: 0.50 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, 1968; Reprocessed, July 1980.
Provenance: The typescript of this volume was prepared by the Historical Records Survey in 1939 and was the original accession.
Provenance: Original plantation book: Gift of Mrs. Charles B. Allen of Amory, MS, September 30, 1968.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Microfilm copy must be used. Due to the fragile condition of the original volume, a microfilm copy must be used instead of the original volume. A typescript is available in Box 2.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: James Allen Plantation Book, (Z/0014), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Related Materials:
James Allen and Family Papers, (Z/1239), MDAH.
Subject File: Nanachehaw (Warren County), MDAH.

 

Biography:

Nanachehaw Plantation

Nanachehaw Plantation, originally founded by the Rapalje family, was located on a fairly flat stretch of high ground along the Loosa Chitto, near a place the Choctaw called "nanachehaw," about twenty-five miles from the river's mouth on the Mississippi River. Eventually, the plantation was managed by the Charles Allen family in the 1850s and 1860s. His son, James Allen, kept this plantation book. In 1860, the Nanachehaw plantation consisted of at least 793 acres, producing both cotton and corn and used the labor of 113 enslaved persons, including 38 children, throughout the plantation as field hands, loggers, carpenters, cooks, nurses, and others.

Note to researchers: The plantation name is sometimes spelled Nanechehaw among other primary and secondary resources

Allen Family

The Allen family in Warren County, Mississippi, begins with James Allen (1815-1869) and his wife Frances Glass Allen (1813-1869) who came from New Jersey and settled on the land which comprised of Nanachehaw Plantation. His son, Charles Benham Allen (March 21, 1843 - September 29, 1918) married Eugenia Martin Rossman (1844-1924) in 1864, and they had children: James Sequire Allen (1865-?), Frances Letitia Allen (1868-1957), Helen “Nellie” Hawksworth Allen (1869-1901), Emma Eugenia Allen (1871-1937), Charles Benham Allen, Jr. (1873-1952), Earl R. Allen (1875-?), and Guy Roberts Allen (1879-1927).

Charles Allen and his nephew and ward, James Bennett Allen (August 12, 1846 - March 31, 1919) of Port Gibson, Claiborne County, but also originally from New Jersey like his grandfather, eventually took over management of Nanachehaw Plantation. James was a member of the Woodmen of the World and served in the Confederate States of America Army. James married Lucie Ann Briscoe (1843-1911) in 1881, and they had a son, Leigh Briscoe Allen (1882-1967). James Bennett Allen, Lucie Briscoe Allen, and Leigh Briscoe Allen are all buried in Wintergreen Cemetery, Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of one plantation book of James Allen of Nanechehaw Plantation, located near Vicksburg in the community of Warrenton, Warren County, Mississippi. The entries run consistently from March 1, 1860, to May 8, 1863, but there are no entries for 1864 and only one for 1865. Additional notations concerning land, enslaved persons, cotton picking, and family history are on the endpapers.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Plantation Book. Nanechehaw Plantation, 1860-1863; 1865.

Original plantation book of James Allen of Nanechehaw Plantation, near Vicksburg, Warren County.

Box 1, folder 1 (restricted)

Series 2: Typescript of Plantation Book, Nanechehaw Plantation, 1860-1863; 1865

A typescript was made in 1939 as part of the Historical Records Survey. The typescript erroneously identified the volume as the "Charles B. Allen Plantation Book" and was reported under that title in the 1961 Guide to Civil War Source Material in the Department of Archives and History. This typescript may contain information no longer legible in the original volume.

Box 2, folder 1

Microfilm copy of Plantation Book, Nanechehaw Plantation, 1860-1863; 1865

A 35 mm positive microfilm copy (Roll 35978) of the plantation book was made by the Department in August 1980.

 

Box List:

Box 1
Folder 1: Plantation Book, Nanechehaw Plantation, 1860-1863; 1865. (Restricted)

Box 2
Folder 1: Typescript, Plantation Book, Nanechehaw Plantation, 1860-1863; 1865.

Microfilm
Call Number: Z/0014.000/M/Roll 35978