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Some Historic Homes of Mississippi

by Mrs. N. D. Deupree
From Publications The Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. VI,
Edited by Franklin L. Riley, Secretary
Published Oxford, Mississippi 1902

Public Domain Material
May not be reproduced for commercial purposes.

Online coding/layout Copyright 2001 Ellen Pack - All Rights Reserved

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About the Author

Introduction

Homes

The homes of which we write were built in the early days of Mississippi, by men prominent in politics, the professions, and literature, as well as by wealthy planters. Their beautiful names, which distinguish them from the flats which now abound, are worthy of a place in the State’s history. Also, the system of Southern life, when leisure gave time for culture and high-bred hospitality characteristic of the times rapidly receding into the past, should be preserved for the guidance and enlightenment of posterity. It it no easy task to gather the facts concerning these beautiful homes even now. Although the State is less than a century old, many of its early homes have fallen into decay. The builders dead and the heirs far away in stranger lands, it is impossible in many cases to obtain but the most meagre records.

Of the private life of these delightful people, it is possible to give only the merest outline: it was bounded by the sacred precincts of home, controlled by all that makes life beautiful, —congenial friendships, charming reunions, and high mental attainments, all combined to make an ideal life.

In the preparation of this first chapter of Historic Homes, we have received valuable aid from Mrs. S. S. Calhoon and Mrs. R. J. Harding, of Jackson; Mrs. R. Q. Duncan, of Natchez; Mrs. Howard Cabell, of Clinton; Col. James Gordon, of Okolona; Mrs. W. L. Wells, of Vicksburg; Mrs. Amelia Alcorn, of Eagle’s Nest; and Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Ray, and Mrs. LeFlore, of Malmaison.

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‘Mrs. N. D. Deupree, born Durham, is descended from a family of that name who emigrated from Saxony to the northeast coast of England in the 6th century, A. D. The city of Durham was named in honor of a chief belonging to this family. Baron Durham was among the barons who compelled King John to sign the Magna Charta in 1215. Two brothers, John and James Durham, came to America about 1790. The former settled in Maryland and from him descended the Durhams of that State and of Virginia and Kentucky. The author of this paper is a descendant of the Maryland branch. She was educated in the high schools of Cincinnati and the Ellinwood Female Seminary at Mt. Hope, Kentucky. At the close of  the War between the States she was married to Dr. J. G. Deupree, who is now Professor of Pedagogy in the University of Mississippi. —Editor
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