Dates: 1858; 1860.

Biography/History:

Stephen Duncan, Jr., was born in 1836. He was the son of Dr. Stephen Duncan, one of the wealthiest plantation owners of the Natchez, Mississippi, area. His father began his professional life as a physician, but he acquired most of his wealth from the cultivation of cotton. Dr. Duncan was also president of the Bank of the State of Mississippi during the 1820s. Dr. Stephen Duncan died in 1867.

The mother of Stephen Duncan, Jr., was Catherine A. Bingaman Duncan. She was the daughter of Adam Lewis and Charlotte Catherine Surget Bingaman. The Bingaman and Surget families were among the wealthiest plantation owners in the Natchez area. Catherine Duncans uncle, Francis Surget, was the largest slaveholder in Adams County, Mississippi, and the second-largest slaveholder in the South after Nathaniel Heyward of South Carolina. Catherine Duncan died in 1868.

Stephen Duncan, Jr., assisted his father with the management of Auburn, an estate located in Natchez. After his fathers death in 1867, Duncans servants continued to maintain Auburn in his absence under the supervision of an uncle, Dr. Gustavus Calhoun. Stephen Duncan, Jr., died in 1910.

Scope and Content:

This collection contains two items: an 1858 list of items necessary to feed and clothe slaves on a plantation that belonged to Stephen Duncan, Jr., or his father, and an 1860 memorandum explaining the issuing of slave clothing.

Series Identification:

Series 1: List. 1858. 0.10 c.f.

Series 2: Memorandum. 1860. 0.10 c.f.