Levin R. Marshall
Levin R. Marshall (October 10, 1800 – July 24, 1870) was an American banker and planter in the Antebellum South. He was a founder and President of the Commercial Bank of Natchez, Mississippi. He owned 14,000 acres in Mississippi and Louisiana, and 10,000 acres in Arkansas.
Levin R. Marshall | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 10, 1800 |
| Died | July 24, 1870 (aged 69) |
| Occupation | Banker, planter |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Chotard Marshall Sarah E. Elliott Ross Marshall |
| Children | 12, including George Matthews Marshall |
| Parent(s) | Henry Marshall |
| Relatives | Stephen Minor (grandfather) |
Early life
Levin R. Marshall was born October 10, 1800, in Alexandria, Virginia.[1] His father, Henry Marshall, was from Maryland, and related to Chief Justice Marshall.[1] His maternal grandfather, Stephen Minor, was a prominent planter.[2]
Career
Marshall started his career as a banker for the United States bank in Woodville, Mississippi.[1] In 1831, he moved to Natchez, Mississippi, where he continued his work as a banker.[1] He then established his own bank, the Commercial Bank of Natchez.[1] Marshall also owned the Mansion Hotel in Natchez and worked for the commission house J. B. Byrne & Co. of New Orleans, Louisiana as well as Marshall, Reynolds, and Co. of Natchez.[1][2] In 1825, he led a group of local children to welcome Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette to Natchez.[3]
Marshall owned many cotton and sugar plantations in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.[1][3] Indeed, he owned five plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana which spanned 14,000 acres, and 10,000 acres in Arkansas.[2] By the 1850s, he produced more than 4,000 bales of cotton every year.[2] In 1860, he owned 817 African slaves.[2] He also owned a large livestock herd.[2] For a time, Henry Wirz worked as an overseer on one of Marshall's plantations in Louisiana; Wirz would later serve in the Confederate Army as commandant of the notorious prisoner-of-war camp known as Andersonville.
Personal life
In 1826, Marshall married Maria Chotard (1807–1834), the daughter of John Marie Chotard, in Woodville, Mississippi.[1] They had four children,[1] only one of whom survived: George Matthews Marshall, who later married Charlotte Hunt, the daughter of planter David Hunt, and resided at the Lansdowne Plantation.[1] A portrait of Levin R. Marshall and George M. Marshall painted by Louis Joseph Bahin hangs in the dining room at Lansdowne.[4]
After Maria's death, Marshall remarried to Sarah E. Elliott Ross, daughter of Dr. Elliott and widow of Isaac Ross.[1] They had eight children.[1] They resided at Richmond in Natchez[3] and also maintained a residence in Westchester County, New York.[1]
Death
Marshall died on July 24, 1870, at the age of 69.[1]
References
- Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 1999, Part 1, p. 397
- D. Clayton James, Antebellum Natchez, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1968, p. 155
- Historic Resources Inventory: Richmond
- Lansdowne Plantation: Tour