David Hunt (October 22, 1779 – May 18, 1861) was an American planter based in the Natchez District of Mississippi. From New Jersey in approximately 1800, he took a job in his uncle Abijah Hunt's Mississippi business. After his uncle's untimely 1811 death, as a beneficiary and as the executor of the estate, he began to convert the estate into his plantation empire. By the time of the 1860 slave census, Hunt owned close to 800 slaves. This was after ensuring that each of his five adult children had at least one plantation and had an approximate minimum of 100 slaves apiece. In fact, Hunt and his five adult children and their spouses owned some 1,700 slaves by 1860. He became a major philanthropist in the South, contributing to educational institutions in Mississippi, as well as the American Colonization Society and Mississippi Colonization Society, the latter of which he was a founding member.
Known as "King David," Hunt made a fortune in cotton production and sales. He was one of twelve millionaires residing near Natchez, Mississippi, at a time when there only were 35 millionaires in the entire United States.
David Hunt was born on October 22, 1779, on a farm near Ringoes, New Jersey.[1] It was west and in the country compared to the capital of Trenton, New Jersey. He had a brother, Andrew Hunt, and several half siblings from his father Jonathan's second marriage.[2][3] They were descendants of Ralph Hunt[2] the line being Ralph, Edward, Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan.[1]
David Hunt's uncle Abijah Hunt (1762-1811) had become wealthy as a merchant to the Army in Cincinnati, Ohio and later in every area of cotton related business in the Natchez District.[4] Hunt moved as a young man to the Natchez District in approximately 1800. He laid claim to 200 acres on Coles Creek in Jefferson County where he lived and cultivated the land beginning in the spring of 1800.[5] He also worked as a store clerk for his Uncle Abijah.[1] One of Abijah's stores was in the nearby (now extinct) town of Greenville.[1] In his third year, David was promoted to a position managing all the stores - at Natchez, Greenville and the Grindstone Ford in Claiborne County.[1] Thus, his salary had increased from $200 per year to $3,000 per year.[1] Now he could more quickly expand his enslaved African and land purchases.
Plantations in the vicinity of Waterproof, and St. Joseph, Louisiana, and Rodney, Mississippi, mapped sometime between 1866 and 1874. The Hunt's Arcola, Hole-in-the-Wall, Woodlawn (misspelled as Woodland on the map), Calviton (listed as E.G.Wood), Brick Quarters, and Fatlands (also known as Flatland) are shown on this map.The name Balfour just above and to the right of Natchez is the Homewood estate. Just above that the name "Geo Marshall" is where the Marshall's Lansdowne is located. The name Archer in the upper right area of the map is where Oakwood Plantation with close to 100 enslaved Africans in 1860 is located.
After his uncle's 1811 death, David inherited his uncle's extensive land investments and his share in various businesses (general stores, public cotton gins, and a cotton brokerage). However, Abijah's estate included more than just this. From Abijah's estate inventory, land records and enslaved African censuses, it appears that he had two plantations in total at his death with about 30 enslaved Africans on each. These were Hunt Plantation on the west side of Port Gibson in Claiborne County and Huntley Plantation near the now extinct town of Greenville in Jefferson County. He also had a home in Greenville with a few enslaved house servants, as well as a nice library (which found it's way to David's estate). Though David only inherited a very small share of this $36,000 part of his Uncle's estate, he seems to have acquired all of it. From probate records it appears that David slowly used the profits of the two plantations - rather than selling them - to pay off the other heirs.[6] This helped him to be able to buy out his Uncle's business partners, and sell the businesses to create a large inventory of plantations.[7][8][7] Thus, shrewdly using this large inheritance from his Uncle is how David became one of the twelve millionaires in the Natchez area in the antebellum era.[7] He and his children eventually owned many plantations.[9] In addition to the twenty-one plantations listed below, the Hunt family is also assiciated with the following four plantations: Fatherland, Fairview, Oak Burn and Givin Place.[4][10][10]
His Jefferson County plantations were: Calviton, Woodlawn, Huntley, Waverly, Fatlands, Southside, Brick Quarters, Ashland, Black Creek, Oakwood, Buena Vista, and Servis Island.[11] David acquired these plantations through a combination of land inherited from his Uncle Abijah and through purchases. By 1860 he had sold some of them (Buena Vista, Ashland and Servis Island) and gave others to his children (Oakwood, Calviton and Huntley). In 1860 his 386 Jefferson County enslaved Africans were shared between Woodlawn, Brick Quarters, Southside, Fatlands, Black Creek and possibly other plantations.
Woodlawn.
Woodlawn was David Hunt's home plantation.[1] It likely eventually formed as a division of his uncle's Huntley Plantation. David's Woodlawn home is dated 1813, which is shortly after his Uncle Abijah's death. Land records show that David definitely purchased more land there, owning three good sized adjoining plantations (Calviton, Huntley and Woodlawn) over the years.
Buena Vista. Zachary Taylor bought the approximately 2,000-acre Buena Vista Plantation (also known as Cypress Grove Plantation), which bordered Ashland Plantation and was formed on the land of David Hunt and others.[11] It was located about ten miles south of Rodney along the Mississippi River.[11] President Taylor and his son Richard "Dick" Taylor - later a Confederate General - visited Hunt's residence on Woodlawn Plantation.[1]
His Adams County plantations were: Lansdowne, located three miles north of Natchez (on what is now highway 555);[12]Homewood, which adjoined Lansdowne;[10] and Oakley Grove, located nine miles northeast of Natchez.[13] These plantations came to the Hunts from David's wife Ann Ferguson's ancestors. Lansdowne and Homewood were used as hunting estates before the Civil War and as plantations after. Oakley Grove was Ann's grandfather, Robert Dunbar's, home at the site of the current Adams County airport.
His Issaquena County plantations were: Wilderness Plantation, located on the Mississippi River[14] near Mayerville;[15] and Georgiana Plantation, located on Deer Creek south of Rolling Fork.[16] David's son George Hunt owned 400 acres on the Mississippi River in Issaquena County close to Tallulah known as Lochwood Plantation.[14]
The Hunt Family Louisiana plantations. Bureau of Land Management survey maps show that David Hunt's Uncle Abijah Hunt and his partners originally purchased the core land for these plantations. David wound up with the land after his uncle's 1811 death. Census records don't indicate that Abijah owned any enslaved Africans in Louisiana.[17]
Argyle and Belle Ella, adjoining plantations, located to the west of Waterproof, also in Tensas Parish;[18] Statistics for Argyle Plantation in 1860 follow.[19]
The plantation was in a trust for David Hunt's then deceased son Abijah's children.[19]
Shortly before the American Civil War, Hunt and his adult children owned a total of some 1,700 slaves and controlled tens of thousands of acres of land.[1] Two of the people Hunt enslaved, Cyrus Bellus and Peter Brown, recorded interviews that were later included in the WPA Slave Narrative Collection for the state of Arkansas.[22]
As a result of his extensive holdings and cotton production, Hunt became one of the wealthiest cotton planters in the Antebellum South.[4] Additionally, he owned business concerns in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Lexington, Kentucky.[4] At his financial peak in about 1850, Hunt was worth about $2,000,000.[23][7]
Hunt was among the largest financial supporters of Oakland College, near Rodney, Mississippi, which was founded in affiliation with the Presbyterian Church.[1][24] Over the years he gave a total of about $175,000 to the college.[1] He was a trustee of the College for years.[1] His sons, Abijah, George, Andrew and Dunbar, all graduated from Oakland College.[1] Oakland had to close during the war, as its students went off to war. Some of the facility was damaged during the war, and it never successfully resumed operations after the war.[25]
In 1870 the college was sold to the state of Mississippi. The state legislature used this facility to establish the first land grant institution for African Americans in American history, named Alcorn A&M College and now called Alcorn University, a historically black college.[25]
The Presbyterian Church used the money from the sale to found Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in nearby Port Gibson in 1879. C.H.A. transitioned to the military routine in 1915 and was a military college preparatory school until 1971, when girls were admitted and the military discipline was greatly relaxed. Many of David Hunt's descendants or relatives attended Chamberlain-Hunt over the years and until quite recently. The old school did not open in August 2014 and the future is uncertain.[25] The legacy of Oakland College was named to honor Presbyterian minister Reverend Jeremiah Chamberlain (1794-1851), the founding president of Oakland College, and David Hunt, who had been Oakland's most generous benefactor.[25][26][27]
Hunt also was a major supporter of the Rodney Presbyterian Church.[1] He donated the land upon which the church was built and contributed to the building of the church as well.[1] All of his children were baptized there.[1] When the church decided to rent the pews to the church members to raise money, Hunt paid to rent them all to ensure that the poor could attend.[1] He paid a large portion of the pastor's salary, gave the pastor the use of one of his slaves, and often gave the pastor beef and mutton from his plantations.[1] Hunt also gave beef to the poor families of Rodney each Christmas.[1]
As a member of the Mississippi Colonization Society and its parent organization the American Colonization Society, he donated to establish a colony for free African Americans in Liberia.[23][28] Hunt once donated $49,999.99 to this cause.[1] One of Hunt's eccentricities was to write checks for one penny less than an even dollar amount.[1] He also gave a small amount to the Fayette Female Academy in Fayette, Mississippi.[1]
Hunt resided on Woodlawn Plantation[23] in Jefferson County, Mississippi, which was seven miles south of Rodney, Mississippi, and approximately 25 miles northeast of Natchez.[1] He was one of the twelve millionaires living near Natchez in the antebellum era, when there were only thirty-five millionaires living in the entire United States.[2] He was nicknamed "King David."[2]
His third wife was Ann (Ferguson) Hunt.[4] Ann's father David Ferguson grew up on his parents' Mount Locust Inn and Plantation; and her sister Charlotte, who was married to William Aylette Buckner, lived at Airlie. Mount Locust, a "stand," or inn, that served travelers the early 1800s. It's one of the oldest structures left on the Old Natchez Trace.Ann and her husband David Hunt had 14 children, but only seven lived past the age of 21.[4] Five of these adult children married before the Civil War. Hunt gave each at least one plantation and 100 slaves as a dowry.[11] These gifts reduced Hunt's net worth, which was listed in the 1860 U.S. Census as $1,086,825.[29]
His daughter Mary Ann married James Archer and received Oakwood Plantation.[1]
His son Abijah married Mary Agnes Walton and was given Calviton Plantation.[1]
His son George Ferguson Hunt married Anna Watson and received Huntley Plantation.[1]
His daughter Catherine married William S. Balfour[1] and received Homewood.[10]
His daughter Charlotte married George Marshall and received Lansdowne Plantation.[30]
Two of David's seven adult children (Dunbar and Elizabeth) married after the American Civil War and David's death. They each got at least one plantation, but the slaves had been emancipated.
His son Dunbar married Leila Lawrence Brent[1] and received Wilderness Plantation.[14] and Southside Plantation[11]
His daughter Elizabeth married William F. Ogden[1] and received Hole in the Wall Plantation[20] and Black Creek Plantation.[11]
Hunt died on May 18, 1861, on Woodlawn Plantation[1][2][4] at the age of 81.[1] He was buried in the Calviton Plantation cemetery.[1] Calviton Plantation adjoined Woodlawn Plantation where David had his main residence.[1]
^May Wilson McBee, The Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805: Abstracts of Early Records, Baltimore, Maryland: Reprinted for Clearfield Co., Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1994, 2003, p. 513 [2]Archived 2023-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ abcdD. Clayton James, Antebellum Natchez, New Orleans: Louisiana State University Press, 1968, p. 158 [3]Archived 2023-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^Gary D. Joiner, Cheryl H. White, Historic Haunts of Shreveport, The History Press, 2010, pp. 73-74 [4]
^Kane, Harnett T. (1947). Natchez on the Mississippi. William Morrow & Company. pp. 174–189.
^ abcdHarnett T. Kane, Natchez on the Mississippi, New York: William Morrow & Company, 1947, p. 174-189
^ abcdefMarie T. Logan, Mississippi-Louisiana Border Country: A History of Rodney, Miss., St. Joseph, La., and Environs, Baton Rouge: Claitor's Publishing Division, 1970, p.103, p. 143, pp 69-72
^"History". Welcome to Lansdowne. Archived from the original on 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
^ abJohnson, John. "Johnson's Plantation Map". Library of Congress. New Orleans, 1873. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
^ abcdefgMenn, Joseph (1999). The Large Slaveholders of Louisiana-1860. Pelican Publishing Company. pp. 405, 406. ISBN156554434X.
^ abTurpin, J. A. (July 31, 1914). "Tensas Gazette". No. July 31, 1914. St. Joseph, Louisiana: Louisiana State Newspapers, Inc. Archived from the original on September 10, 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
^Work Projects Administration, Slave Narratives: Interviews with Former Slaves Arkansas Narratives, Part 1, Keith W. Brooks Publishing, 2013, pp 94-97 and 211-213 [5]Archived 2023-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ abcDavid G. Sansing, Sim C. Callon and Carolyn Vance Smith Natchez An Illustrated History. Natchez, Mississippi: Plantation Publishing Company. 1992. pp. 64, 95, 96, 97. ISBN0-9631823-1-5.
^Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 1999, Part 1, p. 310 [6]Archived 2023-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ abcdGoodspeed Brothers, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Embracing an Authentic and Comprehensive Account of the Chief Events in the History of the State and a Record of the Lives of Many of the Most Worthy and Illustrious Families and Individuals, Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891, p. 310 [7]
^ abMary Carol Miller, Must See Mississippi: 50 Favorite Places, Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2007, p. 135 [8]Archived 2023-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ abSamuel J. Rogal, The American Pre-College Military School: A History and Comprehensive Catalog of Institutions, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009, p. 163 [9]Archived 2023-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^The Annual Report of the American Colonization Society, Volumes 33-46, Washington: C. Alexander Printer, 1840-1910, The 39th Report of 1856 p4, The 40th Report of 1857 p50, The 41st Report of 1958 P45 [10]Archived 2023-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
^United States Federal Census Detail, 1860, Police District 4, Jefferson County, Mississippi, www.ancestry.com database
^"Lansdowne". Lansdowne Plantation. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
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