FURNITURE PATRONAGE in ANTEBELLUM NATCHEZ - Natchez, Misssissippi

Magazine Antiques, May, 2000 by Jason T. Busch

Some New Orleans establishments obtained significant commissions from Natchez planters, among them the firm of Sampson and Keene (c. 1846-1864), which furnished an entire house for Lemuel Conner of Natchez in 1854. [23] The planter Frederick Stanton (Pl.I) in 1859 spent more than eight thousand dollars on furniture and upholstery from Henry Siebrecht, one of the premier decorators in New Orleans, to furnish his grand town house, known today as Stanton Hall (see Pls. II, XII). Siebrecht sought out wealthy clients by offering the most stylish New York and European furnishings. [24] Receipts indicate that he valued the business of his elite customers since he was willing to send his men to Natchez to decorate on site. [25] The same services and goods could have been acquired in Natchez through Robert Stewart, who himself ordered furniture from Siebrecht in the 1850s. Evidently however, there was little loyalty among wealthy residents of Natchez to local furniture retailers. The extensive stock in the New Orlean s showrooms tempted the planters. [26]

The Natchez elite also liked to order directly from prestigious furniture firms in Philadelphia [27] and New York City. Manufacturers in these cities advertised in Natchez newspapers at moments when wealthy planters and their families escaped the summer heat to resorts such as Newport, Rhode Island, and Saratoga Springs, New York. During summers in the late 1830s, for example, the planter Levin R. Marshall (1800-1870), Edward Turner (1778-1860), the chief justice of Natchez, and the hotel owner Elijah Bell all placed furniture orders with the Philadelphia manufacturer Charles Haight White. [28] Earlier, John McMurran bought a labeled sideboard and pair of card tables (now at Melrose) from White (see Pls. XIV, XVIII). [29]

While visiting his daughters at school in Philadelphia, the cotton planter and physician Haller Nutt (1816-1864) of Natchez engaged the architect Samuel Sloan (1815-1884), the furniture manufacturer George J. Henkels (1819-1883), and the upholsterer Gottlieb Vollmer (1816-1883) to design and furnish the picturesque villa that Nutt called Longwood. [30]

Natchez women coordinated many of these furniture purchases. [31] Magazines such as Godey's Lady's Book, which was popular in Natchez, pictured furniture, named manufacturers, and provided ideas for interior designs, all of which encouraged wealthy women to take an active role in furnishing their mansions. [32] Charlotte Surget Bingamen presumably had decorated Arlington with Philadelphia furniture by the early 1830s (see Pl. XIX). [33] Mary Duncan Gustine bought from several New York City furniture makers and retailers, including E. W. Hutchings (w. c. 1832-1884) and Deming and Bulkley (c. 1820-1850). [34] And during a visit to her daughter at boarding school in New York City in 1858, Eliza Wilson (1812-1892) bought two identical parlor suites made in the factory of John Henry Belter (see Pl. III). [35]

Throughout most of the antebellum period Natchez planters and their wives ordered furniture through their cotton agents in the Northeast. To stay in touch with the international economy as well as the growing domestic market for cotton, many planters relied on these agents. Some agents offered cash advances, paid the planters' bills, and assured them cheap rates and easy access to products like furniture. The best documented of these contacts were between the Natchez planters Stephen Duncan (1787-1867), William Newton Mercer, and William J. Minor (1807-1869), and the cotton agents Charles P. and Henry Leverich of New York City, who supplied the Natchez group with elegant furniture from the 1830s through the 1850s. [36] At their clients' request, the Leveriches worked with commission merchants to arrange for the delivery and the assembly of furniture in New Orleans and Natchez. The bedstead in Plate XVI, for example, was delivered to John McMurran in the 1840s or 1850s by Stanton, Buckner and Company, commiss ion merchants in Natchez and New Orleans. [37] Sometimes the Leveriches were responsible for finding suitable furniture for planters, and in most cases they supervised furniture transactions with New York City makers chosen by their clients. In 1860, for example, Charles Leverich paid Bruner and Moore (w. c. 1848-1891) of New York City for furniture ordered by Francis Surget Jr. of Natchez. [38] Ten years earlier Surget had complained bitterly to Leverich that J. and J. W Meeks of New York City had botched an order.