Charlotte Marshall

Caretaker verified burial on Lansdowne Plantation.

From WIKIPEDIA: David Hunt, a prominent plantation owner, gave his daughter Charlotte Hunt and his new son-in-law, George M. Marshall, Lansdowne Plantation as a dowry, and the couple planned and built the mansion on the plantation in 1852-53.Lansdowne Plantation's cash crop was cotton. The plantation was 727 acres in size. Not being one of David Hunt's biggest plantations, he gave Charlotte another plantation across the Mississippi River in Louisiana as well.

George Marshall had twenty-two slaves on Lansdowne and owned Louisiana real estate valued at $119,000. In 1860 his Louisiana and Mississippi property was valued at $319,000. This did not include any other investments he would have had. His father was Levin R. Marshall, a Natchez millionaire planter who owned 1,058 slaves just before the Civil War. Levin R. Marshall lived at the suburban Natchez estate known as Richmond. A portrait of Levin R. Marshall and George M. Marshall, painted by Louis Joseph Bahin, hangs in the dining-room.

George Marshall fought in the Civil War. He was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh, returned home, and paid someone else to fight on in his place.During the War on December 12, 1865, eleven Union soldiers broke into Lansdowne to rob the Marshalls. They did not get much because the butler, Robert, had hidden the Marshall's silver under the floor of the mansion. In frustration the soldiers took a few pieces of the Marshall's fine china and smashed it along the road as they left.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 3 2017, 19:58:20 UTC

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GEDCOM Note

Charlotte Hunt

Charlotte Hunt (born in 1831) married George Marshall on May 13 1852.[clxiv] Charlotte’s father, David, gave them the 600 acre Lansdowne Plantation in Adams County (which adjoined sister Catherine’s Homewood Plantation). They built the house at Lansdowne Plantation in about 1853. Charlotte’s father gave them two additional plantations in Louisiana as well.[clxv] One of these may have been Arcola Plantation with 104 slaves in Tensas Parish, LA.[clxvi]

George Mathews Marshall (born March 8, 1830) didn’t get too involved in business like his brother-in-law William S. Balfour. Instead George traveled a lot to Europe to shop for art and ornaments for Lansdowne. He also had lots of projects, one of which was to install a private gas works to supply the chandeliers in the house at Lansdowne Plantation. He didn’t really have to worry about money anyway.[clxvii] His father was Levin R. Marshall of Natchez[clxviii] who was a banker as well as a big planter like David Hunt. George proved himself after the Civil War by working harder than he ever had in his life to keep Lansdowne in the family. It is still in the family. [clxix] A photo and description of this house is at http://www.natchezpilgrimage.com/houses.htm . George died June 23, 1899 and Charlotte died on April 23, 1910.[clxx] Both are buried in the Natchez Cemetery.[clxxi] Built in an antebellum rush of youth and bloom as a wedding present for George Marshall and his bride Charlotte Hunt, Lansdowne has been the seat of grandeur at times and has been kept together with nothing more than the meager sales from butter and eggs after the Civil War. It has known triumph and sacrifice. Its walls contain sentiments of majesty and tragedy, of weddings and funerals, of 150 Christmas mornings and 150 New Year’s Eves.

Lansdowne is still owned by the descendants of George and Charlotte. It contains most of the original furnishings. The parlor still has the original wallpaper and paint on the woodwork. Each room has original Italian marble mantles from Carrera and faux bois painting on doors and baseboards. Outbuildings two wings housing a school room, Governess's room, billiard room, kitchen and washroom, and the original Privy. Lansdowne is situated on 120 acres just one mile from the city limits of Natchez. Lansdowne doesn’t advertise, but you can find it. The way is farther into the thin roads that sway with the country. Red cliffs rise and crumble through parts of town that once knew fortune and parts that only heard of it. Follow the road out of town, past freshly painted picket fences, and houses with new names, to where houses are the color of old women. This is where it all gets real. You begin to slow under the weight of memories – your own and not your own. Then you see the sign for Lansdowne, flung up like a barrier and you must stop. It walks in your skin like a visitor. Inside the gates you may sense the fading and coming of seasons. You will not be prepared for the beauty as you pass under seventeen shades of green sprung from vines and deep trees, or for the suddenness with which your slow procession leads to the sight of the awakening house. You will not be prepared for the lovely women, those daughters of daughters born and buried here waiting to welcome you, or for the undeniable sentience of personality and character acquired from the people who breathe or have breathed in it.

Lansdowne has never been bought or sold. It has never undergone a restoration. It has endured. What you will find is not a show, it is real. That stillness felt around the house makes a sound like the scrape of a hat doffed by a quiet man, ignored as he stands back to let a lovely woman pass, her dress just brushing his coat is real. It is the sound of generations of ghosts who lived here and are buried here in the family cemetery. Inside the stillness evaporates as the past and future collide in a tapestry so complicated and beautiful that it will leave you knowing you have found a thing you can believe in. Parlor:

One of the finest remaining examples of Rococo Revival, the room remains almost unchanged since the house was built. The Zuber wallpaper is the original dating from 1853. The furniture is hand carved rosewood from France. Mantles throughout the house are Carrara marble. The marbleized cypress baseboards are hand painted to match the mantles. The bronze gasoliers throughout the house were made by Cornelius and Baker in Philadelphia. Lansdowne had its own coal-fired illuminating gas plant. The house was wired for electricity in 1940.

Dining Room:

Double sliding doors connect the parlor and the dining room. The dining room is presided over by portraits of the builder, George M. Marshall and his father Levin R. Marshall, painted by Louis Bahin. The two large sideboards display the large collection of family silver. According to family legend, the Marshalls’ butler buried the silver under the parlor to save it from Union soldiers.

Hall:

The hall is 65 feet long and has ceilings 14 feet high. Family portraits and other artwork line the walls of the hall which is used to day as a family living room. Six rooms including the parlor, dining room, butler’s pantry and three bedrooms all open into the hall.

Front Bedroom:

The front bedroom was originally the master bedroom and features rosewood furniture made by Mallard. The large canopy bed was designed for mosquito netting which was attached to brass rings and rods around the canopy. The netting was pulled forward at night by a silken cord and draped over posts at the foot of the bed which extend upward telescopically. The front bedroom and parlor have jib doors beneath the windows which can be opened providing access to the front gallery.

Middle Bedroom:

This room was originally intended to be a library. However, the family became impatient to finish the house and decided to make it a one story house instead of two story, hoping to add the second story later. Thus some of the downstairs rooms had to be converted to bedrooms. This room features a mahogany “clover leaf” bed made in New Orleans by Signoret.

Butler's Pantry:

Food was cooked in the kitchen which was separate from the house, and was then brought into the Butler’s Pantry for serving into the adjacent dining room. The Pantry has the original cabinetry featuring “faux grois” or false grain. The cypress was hand painted to look like oak grain. This room had been converted into a kitchen.

17 Marshall Road Natchez, MS

GEDCOM Note

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@R-1568955730@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created.

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