FURNITURE PATRONAGE in ANTEBELLUM NATCHEZ - Natchez, Misssissippi

Magazine Antiques, May, 2000 by Jason T. Busch

(23.) Record of purchase from Lemuel Conner to Sampson and Keen, May 15, 1854, Lemuel P. Conner family papers (Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Hill Memorial Library). In 1854 the R. G. Dun and Company Report, Louisiana, vol. 9, p. 49 stated that Sampson and Keen was regarded as the best New Orleans furniture business, which supports the many purchases made from the firm by Natchez planters, including Haller Nutt, during the mid-1850s (see receipt from Sampson and Keen to Haller Nutt, May 20, 1853, in Haller Nutt papers, series F, part 1, microfilm 5322, Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War [University Publications of America, Frederick, Maryland, 1986]).

(24.) Siebrecht's main competitor, Prudent Mallard (1812-1879), also imported goods from Paris and New York City and was sought after by the Natchez elite (see R. G. Dun and Company Report, Louisiana, vol. 10, p. 326; Prudent Mallard research file [Historic Natchez Foundation]; and receipt from P. Mallard to E. Surget, June 15, 1861 [Surget family papers, private collection, microfilm at Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson]).

(25.) Probate box 173, estate papers of Frederick Stanton, cause no. 173 (Chancery Clerk's office, Adams County Courthouse, Natchez).

(26.) For a study of the furniture makers and retailers of antebellum New Orleans see Harrison, "The nineteenth-century furniture trade in New Orleans," pp. 748-759; and Stephen G. Harrison, "Furniture Trade in New Orleans, 1840-1880: The Largest Assortment Constantly on Hand" (master's thesis, University of Delaware, Newark, 1997).

(27.) In 1853 W. and J. Allen (w. together c. 1847-1869) informed their Natchez clients that they had changed locations in Philadelphia but still offered "SPLENDID FURNITURE of every description" (advertisements in Natchez Mississippi Free Trader, June and July 1853).

(28.) Customs manifests from Philadelphia to Natchez, September 7 and October 22, 1836, and October 8, 1838 (United States Bureau of Customs, Record Group 36).

(29.) Later furniture produced by White may also be at Melrose. A walnut revolving sofa of 1850-1855 there is identical to a labeled White sofa (New Orleans Auction Galleries, March 17-19, 2000, lot 1329). The sofa appeared in White's 1854 trade catalogue, where it was priced from $77 to $110 (Chas H White Upholstery and Furniture Bazaar [Philadelphia, 1854], copy in the Philadelphia Athenaeum).

(30.) For the construction and furnishing of Longwood, see Ina May Ogletree McAdams, The Building of "Longwood" (Ina May Ogletree McAdams, Austin, Texas, 1972).

(31.) In December 1849 Jane Conner of Natchez bought furniture at the New Orleans stores of Daniel Kelham (w.c. 1843-1874) and Henry Weil (w. in New Orleans c. 1843-1854) (receipt from H. Weil and Brothers to Jane Conner, December 9,1849, and receipt from D. Kelham to Jane Conner, December 12, 1849, Lemuel P. Conner family papers, Louisiana State University Library). Mary Linton ordered furniture from J. and J. W. Meeks and Henry Siebrecht (estate papers of John Linton, cause no. 107 [Adams County Courthouse, Natchez]).