Monmouth: Upstairs, Downstairs

Monmouth: Upstairs, Downstairs. . Natchez postmaster John Hankinson built Monmouth on two adjacent, 15-acre tracts, in 1818. He named his estate after his place of origin in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Monmouth was sold in 1826, to John A. Quitman. Quitman, born in New York, lived at Monmouth along with his wife Eliza, and their family of eleven children, along with an enslaved household staff, until their deaths in the late 1850s. , John Quitman was Monmouth's most prominent resident. Quitman served in the U.S. Congress and was the Governor of Mississippi for one term in the 1850s; he was a General during the war with Mexico. Quitman is remembered, moreover, as one of Mississippi's most vehement secessionists, or “fire-eaters.” Quitman owned approximately 400 enslaved individuals, divided between Monmouth and four plantations located in Mississippi and Louisiana. , Monmouth's history is both diverse and illustrious. Home to a one-time Mississippi governor (Quitman), this once elegant estate was occupied during the American Civil War by federal soldiers. After the war, Monmouth's grounds were rented out to former Monmouth house slaves; they paid their rent in cotton. Quitman descendants sold off portions of the property to former Monmouth house slaves in half-acre parcels in the twentieth century. , After the Quitman family sold Monmouthin the early years of the 20th century, it functioned as a dairy farm for several decades before falling into a state of disrepair. By the 1960s, Monmouth and the once elegant grounds were home to vandals and vermin. Ronald and Lani Riches from California purchased the property in 1978 and began the process of its restoration. After extensive renovations by the Riches, Monmouth was fully and imaginatively restored to its antebellum stature. More than a century after John Quitman's death, Monmouth lives on today as a renowned small luxury hotel. , Structures and Grounds , Antebellum Monmouth was considered a suburban country estate. In keeping with its status as a prominent southern estate, Monmouth during the years before the Civil War included extensive gardens filled with decorative plants, fruit trees, and vegetables. Monmouth was among one of the grandest of the fifty or more estate houses in the Natchez area. , Significant architectural changes to Monmouth occurred during the mid 1850s; construction began on the east, or left wing of the main house, roughly parallel to the kitchen building, giving Monmouth a square U shape when viewed from the rear.The front of the house was altered from a Federal style house with brick walls to a heavy Greek Revival style. Structurally designed in architectural style similar to other Natchez estates such as Gloucester, Rosalie, and Auburn, Monmouth's remodel included columns and porches to the front of the house. The building's brick walls were stuccoed and scored to look like stone as was fashionable for the time. , As in many other estates in Natchez, Monmouth's grounds included many outer buildings (or “dependencies”). These were designed to assure smooth operations of the estate. Carriage house, outhouse, greenhouse, stable and barn were built as needed, in keeping with the status of this elite planter estate. Housing for the enslaved house staff at Monmouth was located behind the main house and later upstairs from the detached kitchen. , Timeline , 1818 – Monmouth is built in 1818, by Natchez postmaster, John Hankinson. , 1824 – John A. Quitman purchases Monmouth as home for his wife Eliza Turner and newborn daughter, Louisa. , 1833 – Cholera claims Quitman's infant sons, John and Edward. An enslaved woman at Monmouth named Aunt Dicey is put into service as nursemaid to Eliza and John Quitman's children. , 1834 – Quitman purchases fifteen slaves. A house slave at Monmouth named Harry Nichols is put into service as pers A onal valet to John Quitman. , 1836 – Harry Nichols travels with Quitman to Texas. Quitman participates in Texas independence from Mexico. , 1842 – John and Eliza's family grows to seven children. Aunt Dicey is “banished” to Springfield Plantation by Eliza for “misbehaving”. , 1846 – John Quitman serves as a victorious general in the war with Mexico; he is assisted by “faithful” Harry Nichols. Quitman procures a daguerreotype of Harry. , 1850 – John Quitman becomes Governor of Mississippi. A Monmouth house slave named Belle Vessels assists at the “White House of Mississippi”. , 1856 – Aunt Dicey is allowed back at Monmouth. Viola Vessels, a Monmouth house slave, is bridesmaid at the wedding of enslaved couple at neighboring Melrose, a suburban estate owned by Quitman's law partner, John McMurran. Viola is married the following year to Marcellus Brannick, a house slave at Melrose. , 1858 – Quitman dies at Monmouth. His wife Eliza dies at Monmouth one year later. Daughters Annie Rosalie, J. Antonia, and Louisa marry and remain at Monmouth. , 1861 – The state of Mississippi secedes from the Union. The Quitman daughters see their husbands off to war. Monmouth slaves are asking, “how's master?” , 1862 – Natchez surrenders to the Union Army. Monmouth house slaves begin to run off, including Monmouth house slaves Charles Vessels, Richard Austin and Isaac, all of whom join the Union Army. , 1863 – Monmouth is occupied by Union soldiers whereupon extensive looting occurs. Harry Nichols joins the Union Army, and then returns to Monmouth “demanding wages”. Quitman daughters begin paying wages to eight former house slaves. Aunt Dicey and Old Sarah are compensated in their old age. , 1865 – The only staff left at Monmouth is “Fred and his family along with Harry and his wife”. Surviving Quitman daughters sell off Monmouth's household possessions to former Monmouth enslaved to supplement their income. , 1875 – A lease/lien agreement is signed with John Williams, giving the Quitman daughters a lien on any cotton grown on Monmouth premises for the payment of rent. , 1887 – John Quitman's granddaughters, Eva C. Lovell and Alice Lovell, move back to Natchez and take up residence at Monmouth. Viola Vessels Brannick's daughters, Corinne and Hester, childhood companions to Eva, return to Monmouth as paid staff. , 1902 – Belle Vessels, a former house slave to Governor Quitman at the “White House of Mississippi”, lives at the edge of Monmouth where she and her husband rent Monmouth land for crops. One year later Quitman's daughter, Annie Rosalie Quitman Duncan, sells a half-acre portion of Monmouth to Viola Brannick (a widow) for the sum of $200. , 1912 – Corinne Scott “a colored woman” who grew up at Monmouth purchases from Rose Duncan one-half acre of Monmouth property as “her residence for the sum of $100”. Former house slave, Charles Vessels also purchases a portion of Monmouth property. , 1914 – Annie Rosalie Quitman Duncan, the last surviving child of John and Eliza Quitman, dies at Monmouth, leaving Monmouth to her nieces, Eva Lovell and Alice Lovell. Descendants of Monmouth enslaved and staff, Corinne Scott, Frank Tolles, Viola Brannick, and Kitty Austin are listed as beneficiaries in “Aunt Rose's” will. , 1924 – Monmouth passes from the hands of Quitman descendants when it is sold to Annie Gwen. Corrina (Corinne) Scott sells her portion of Monmouth to Mamie Davis for $500. , 1978 – Ronald and Lani Riches purchase and restore Monmouth after decades of neglect.