Stephen Minor (1760–1815) was an American plantation owner and banker in the

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Early life

Stephen Minor was born on February 8, 1760, in

Greene County, Pennsylvania Greene County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,954. Its county seat is Waynesburg. Greene County was created on February 9, 1796, from part of Washington County and named for Gene ...

.MINOR FAMILY PAPERS: Stephen Minor Family

Mississippi Department of Archives and History Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is a state agency. It is the official archive of the Mississippi Government. Location The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is located in Jackson. The William F. Winter Archives ...

Louisiana State University Libraries: MINOR (William J. and Family) PAPERS
/ref>
/ref> One of his grandsons, John Minor, went on to live at the

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

Plantation in Natchez.

Career

He moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, in 1779 and served as Captain in the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...

.Mary Carol Miller, ''Lost Mansions of Mississippi'', Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1996, Volume 1, p.

/ref> He then served as the Secretary to the Spanish Governor

Manuel Gayoso de Lemos Don Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Amorín, KOM, OTS (May 30, 1747 – July 18, 1799) was the governor of Spanish Louisiana from 1797 until his death in 1799. Biography Early years and military career Born in Oporto, Portugal, on May 30, ...

(1747–1799).Herman De Bachelle Seebold, ''Old Louisiana Plantation Homes And Family Trees'', Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2004, p. 22

/ref> In 1791, he received generous land grants from the Spanish government for his service. He turned his land grants into nine Plantations in the American South, plantations, including the Southdown Plantation in

Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana Terrebonne Parish ( ; French: ''Paroisse de Terrebonne'') is a parish located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 111,860, and 110,461 in 2019. In 2020, its population declined to 109,58 ...

, where he grew

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...

. In 1797, his plantations produced twenty-five hundred bales of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

. He became one of Natchez's richest residents in the 1810s and 1820s. Additionally, he served as the first President of the Bank of Mississippi from 1797 to 1815.

Personal life

He resided in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...

from 1780 to 1815. He purchased the

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

in Natchez, which burned down in 1901. He married three times. His first wife was Anna Bingaman Minor. His second wife was Martha Ellis Minor. His third wife was Katherine Lintot Minor, the daughter of Bernard Lintot, "a founding member of the United States Mississippi Territory." They had three children.

Death

He died on November 29, 1815, in Natchez, Mississippi.

Early life

Career

Personal life

Death

References

Further reading