| Basic Search Manuscript Search | Advanced Search | Online Archives | Help | ||||||||||||
The Surget Family
Pierre (Peter) Surget (b. May 12, 1731; d. July 27, 1796).
Native of La Rochelle, France; sea captain who was captured by British during Revolutionary War; married Katrina (Catharine) Hubbard (b. October 6, 1749; d. September 14, 1805) of Red Bank, New Jersey, daughter of Jacob and Caroline Hubbard of New York; moved to Adams County, Mississippi, in 1785; established Cherry Grove Plantation; left entire estate to his wife in will dated April 1, 1791; union produced six sons and five daughters, including:
Spent some time at sea before establishing residence in New York City; also owned Mississippi plantations which he bequeathed to his nephew, James Surget, Jr., and niece Katharine Surget Minor; married late in life and left no children; wife’s niece, Sarah S. Chapman, acted as his amanuensis and nurse during his last years.
Married to Eliza Dunbar (d. 1866), daughter of Sir William Dunbar; resided at Highland Plantation (Adams County); largest slaveholder in Adams County during fifteen years before his death and second only to Nathaniel Heyward of South Carolina in size of slaveholdings in decade before Civil War; his estate included at least eleven plantations (five in Louisiana and six in Mississippi) and 1,300 slaves and was valued at more than $2 million; surviving children included:
Married in Trinity Episcopal Church, Natchez, on March 30, 1848, to Charlotte B. Linton (d. January 3, 1910, at age eighty-five), daughter of John and Anna Maria Linton and granddaughter of his aunt, Charlotte Catherine Bingaman; resided at Clifton in Natchez; residence destroyed by Union troops in 1863; widow resided in Bordeaux, France, after Civil War. Francis Surget, Jr., inherited Ashwood Plantation (Wilkinson County) and Fletcher tract in Louisiana from his father’s estate; Unionist in politics but contributed substantial sums to local military units early in Civil War.
Inherited Highland Plantation (Adams County) and purchased Pecan Plantation (Concordia Parish) from father’s estate; also owned Esperance Plantation, adjacent to Pecan Plantation and about twenty miles south of Natchez.
Assumed direction of Palestine Plantation (Concordia Parish; renamed Morville Plantation) in January 1854; inherited Palmetto Plantation (Adams County) from father’s estate; resided in New Orleans before and after Civil War (1860-1861; 1865-1866); staunchly pro-Confederate; resigned membership in New York Club in January 1861; purchased arms in New Orleans on April 17, 1861; served as volunteer aide to General Braxton Bragg at Pensacola, Florida, in May 1861; served as a colonel on staff of General Richard Taylor during balance of war; moved to Bordeaux, France, where he joined his cousin and future wife, Mary Attwell Linton, in 1867.
Wife of Gabriel Benoist Shields; inherited Aventine Plantation (Adams County) from father’s estate.
Married in Trinity Episcopal Church, Natchez, on February 18, 1851, to Ayres P. Merrill, Jr. (ca. 1825-1883); marriage produced ten children, seven of whom lived to maturity: Anna Maria, Ayres P. III, Catharine C. B., Dunbar S., Eustace S., Francis S., and Jane S.; resided at Elms Court in Natchez; inherited that residence and The Hedges Plantation (Adams County) from father’s estate; Ayres P. Merrill, Jr., was a Unionist who moved to New York during the Civil War; became junior partner in mercantile firm of Goodman and Merrill in fall of 1865; assumed sole control of firm upon death of Goodman in April 1866.
Married to Alfred Vidal Davis, Sr. (b. ca. 1827), brother of Samuel Manuel Davis; two children: Lillie and Alfred Vidal Davis, Jr.; Davis married a Dunbar after death of Sarah Surget Davis; she had inherited Duck Pond Plantation (Adams County) from her father, and her husband purchased Sycamore Plantation (Concordia Parish) from the Francis Surget, Sr., estate.
Married Catherine Lintot (b. 1808; d. March 17, 1839), daughter of William and Grace Mansfield Lintot; union produced three children, one of whom died in infancy; apparently resided at Gloucester (Natchez, Adams County); surviving children were:
Married (1873) to Catharine Charlotte Boyd (b. February 16, 1854), daughter of Samuel S. and Catharine Charlotte (Wilkins) Boyd; purchased major part of Ashley Plantation (Concordia Parish) from Francis Surget, Sr., estate in 1856; also owned Waterloo Plantation (Concordia Parish), which he probably inherited from his father; owned Linwood Plantation (Adams County), on which mortgage was held by his uncle, Jacob Surget, until the latter’s death in 1869; also owned part of Fatherland Plantation (Adams County) after Civil War.
Married (March 1855) to John Minor (b. 1831; d. June 27, 1869), son of William J. Minor; resided at Oakland Plantation (Adams County); purchased Palestine Plantation (Concordia Parish) from Francis Surget, Sr., estate in 1856; also owned Palo Alto Plantation (Concordia Parish), directly across river from Natchez; Minors were staunch Unionists; according to testimony before Southern Claims Commission, she took oath of allegiance as soon as Union troops occupied Natchez; claimed to be "an abolitionist in principle."
Married Adam Lewis Bingaman, Sr. (b. 1767; d. October 27, 1819, of yellow fever); children included:
Married Julia Maria Murray, daughter of John (1741-1815) and Judith Sargent Stevens Murray (1751-1820) of Boston; Bingaman was living in New Orleans at the time of his death.
Wife of Dr. Gustavus Calhoun, a native of Pennsylvania and resident of Natchez; one child, Catharine Maria Calhoun, was married (1872) to Stephen Duncan Marshall, son of Levin R. Marshall and his second wife, Sarah E. (Elliott) Ross Marshall.
Wife of John Linton (b. 1786; d. August 27, 1834), wealthy New Orleans merchant and Rapides Parish, Louisiana, planter; surviving children in 1870 were Charlotte B. Linton Surget, widow of Francis Surget, Jr., and Mary Attwell Linton, both residing in Bordeaux, France; Eustace Surget left entire estate to his wife, Mary Attwell Linton, by will dated 1866.
Married 1819; second wife of Dr. Stephen Duncan (1787-1867) of Natchez; children were:
Resident of Frankfort-on-Main, Germany, in 1910.
Married Samuel Manuel Davis (b. ca. 1827; d. 1878), brother of Alfred Vidal Davis; resided in New York City after Civil War.
Married John Julius Pringle (1824-1901), son of Georgetown District, South Carolina, rice planter William Bull Pringle (1800-1881); owned plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, before Civil War; lived in Paris, France, after war.
Married (1810) to James Campbell Wilkins (d. 1849), business partner of John Linton; Wilkins’s first wife was a sister of William J. Minor; surviving children in 1870 were Catharine C. Boyd (married 1838), widow of Judge Samuel S. Boyd of Natchez, and Ann B. Wilkins, then residing in Bordeaux, France.
Married first, to Daniel Duncan Elliott; second, to the Reverend James Pilmore on July 26, 1824; children were:
Residing in New York City in fall of 1868.
Wife of Benjamin F. B. Hunter of Natchez.
Wife of John Hampton White (d. October 1819 in yellow fever epidemic); Arlington was built for her in Natchez in 1816.
Estate sale of January 5, 1835, yielded total proceeds of more than $80,000.
Note: Information on the Pierre Surget family was compiled primarily from the Surget Family Papers (Z 1496.000 M) and Surget-McKittrick-MacNeil Family Papers (Z 1795.000 S), both at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Supplementary information was compiled from materials supplied by Donald G. Linton of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and from Goodspeed’s Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi and various other printed sources.
Compiled by William K. Scarborough, 1997.
Copyright 1997 by William K. Scarborough.