Alexander Milne (1742–1838) was a

Scottish American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ameireaganaich Albannach''; sco, Scots-American) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, d ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and philanthropist and was born in

Fochabers Fochabers (; gd, Fachabair or Fothabair) is a village in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, east of the cathedral city of Elgin and located on the east bank of the River Spey. 1,728 people live in the village, which enjoys a rich musi ...

, Moray,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He was employed as a

footman A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage. Etymology Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...

by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon and when ordered by the duke to powder his red hair, Milne declined, left his employment and emigrated to the American colonies.Kendall, ''History of New Orleans'', p 639 By 1776, Milne had moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana (New Spain) Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...

, where, after doing well in the hardware business, he set up a brick-making company using mainly slave labour—by the late 18th century most of the brick used in New Orleans was made at his works.

Appearance

Milne was said to be small in stature with a drooping head and his eyes continuously focused on the ground and apparently heedless of things going on around him. Although his dress was shabby causing him on occasion to be mistaken for a beggar he was well regarded by those who knew him.

Real estate investments

The Spanish Government granted Milne large tracts of swamp lands bordering on

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...

and seeing the potential for development continued to invest heavily in the area right up until his death.Kendall, ''History of New Orleans'', p 640 He owned large quantities of land in his own establishment town of Milneburg (now a section of New Orleans) and according to Kendall, in the course of one week disposed of some of his landholdings realising $3,000,000. He continued to invest in property in New Orleans and at his death, his real estate properties were worth more than $2,000,000.

Death and bequests

Milne died in October 1838 and was buried in Saint Louis No. 2 Cemetery, New Orleans having made his will only three years earlier. In the will he bequeathed $30,000 to his relatives in his home town of Fochabers, Scotland; he freed his two house servants, gave them land on Esplanade Avenue and ensured that $10,000 would be provided to build two brick houses for them and until such time as the houses were built his executors would pay them $3 per day to support them. The remainder of the will was sectioned into five parts; $100,000 was provided for the founding of a free school for the boys and girls in Fochabers and surrounding area; to the other four his will stated the following:

Dispute regarding legality of Fochabers bequest

Louisiana state law prohibited foreign legatees from being able to inherit if the laws of the country in which the legatee resided prevented a citizen of Louisiana from receiving a similar inheritance. Scots Law allowed only British citizens to inherit a legacy. Lengthy litigation was brought by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon on behalf of the town of Fochabers. Louisiana courts twice ruled that the legacy could not be granted but eventually on appeal to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, the bequest was finally allowed.Kendall, ''History of New Orleans'', pp 641–2

References

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, Alexander 1742 births 1838 deaths Businesspeople from New Orleans People from Moray Scottish businesspeople British emigrants to the United States American philanthropists Scottish philanthropists