Stephen Minor
Stephen Minor | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Greene County, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | November 29, 1815 (aged 55) Natchez, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Planter, banker, Spanish Army officer |
| Years active | 1779–1815 |
| Known for | Final acting governor of the Spanish-controlled Natchez territory; President of the Bank of Mississippi; owner of Southdown Plantation |
Stephen Minor (1760–1815) was a prominent American planter and banker who also held the position of the final acting governor of the Spanish-controlled Natchez territory during the antebellum period in the South.
Early life
Minor was born on February 8, 1760, in Greene County, Pennsylvania, as the son of Captain William Minor and Frances Ellen Phillips.
Career
In 1779, Minor moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he served as a Captain in the Spanish Army and took part in the Battle of Fort Charlotte. Subsequently, he was appointed Secretary to Spanish Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos. In recognition of his service, the Spanish authorities granted him extensive land holdings in 1791.
He transformed these land grants into nine plantations, notably including the Southdown Plantation located in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, which focused on sugar cane farming. By 1797, his estates were producing approximately 2,500 bales of cotton. These agricultural enterprises made him one of Natchez’s most affluent figures by the early 1800s.
Between 1797 and 1815, Minor held the position of first President at the Bank of Mississippi, significantly influencing financial affairs in the region.
Records from 1814 highlight major improvements on his Natchez-area plantation, such as brick manufacturing and the installation of a cotton gin. Furthermore, a building in Port Gibson, Mississippi was identified as "the tavern of Stephen Minor" by 1818, demonstrating his commercial interests extended beyond plantation operations.
Personal life
Residing in Natchez, Mississippi from 1780 until his death in 1815, Minor acquired the Concord estate, which was lost to fire in 1901. He married three times: initially to Anna Bingaman Minor, then Martha Ellis Minor, and lastly Katherine Lintot Minor—daughter of Bernard Lintot, a founding figure in the United States Mississippi Territory. They had three children together; their daughter Mary became wife to cotton broker and sugar planter William Kenner. One of his grandsons, John Minor, lived at the Oakland estate in Natchez.
Death
Minor passed away on November 29, 1815, in Natchez, Mississippi.
Further reading
- Holmes, Jack D. L.. "Stephen Minor: Natchez Pioneer." Journal of Mississippi History. 42 (1980):17-26.