The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga

Chapter Six

THE ROBERT MUNSON FAMILY OF LOUISIANA — 1792-present

SUMMARY
Robert Munson, his wife Winifred, and their three children, Telfair, Celia, and Thenia, most likely lived on their frontier plantation near Bayou Sara in what is now West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Each of the children married, lived nearby, and raised a family. Their descendants became The Munsons of Louisiana. Among their descendants are many distinguished citizens — lawyers, doctors, professors, inventors, and legislators, including a governor of Louisiana. Most of their many descendants still live in Louisiana.


Bayou Sara is a small tributary entering the Mississippi River at St. Francisville, Louisiana, and, with its many arms, it extends to the north and east into Louisiana and Mississippi. Over a low rise to the east are the many branches of Thompson's Creek, which also flows into the Mississippi River farther downstream toward Baton Rouge. The small branches of Bayou Sara and Thompson's Creek almost touch in the rolling hills of Louisiana and Mississippi. In about 1790 a Spanish settlement was formed at the confluence of Bayou Sara and the Mississippi — it was named Bayou Sara. St. Francisville, named by the French, was built on the adjacent higher ground. Today, St. Francisville is a lovely southern town and Bayou Sara no longer exists. Robert and Jesse Munson's land grants were on the ridge between Bayou Sara and Thompson's Creek, about ten miles north of St. Francisville and fifteen miles south of Woodville, Mississippi.

It appears that Robert Munson and his wife, Winifred, and their three children, Telfair, Celia, and Thenia, lived happily on their 1,021-acre plantation. Robert Munson appears to have been successful professionally, financially, and socially, and to have been a leader in the community. The Munsons were friends with other leading families in the area, including Lewis and Jane Alston, the Henry Johnson family, Colonel and Rebecca Kimball, Mrs. Juliet Barclay, and Benjamin and Susan Burnett. Henry Johnson became the fifth governor of Louisiana (from 1824 to 1828), and Robert Munson's daughter, Thenia, married Henry's brother, John Hunter Johnson. One of their sons, Isaac Johnson, also became governor of Louisiana. There is recorded an account of a now humorous affair involving the romance of Lewis Alston and Rebecca Kimball, and the involvement of Robert and Winifred Munson in aiding in their elopement to the displeasure of Rebecca's parents [1]. This is the only known record of Robert Munson's wife.

In the years just before 1800, Robert Munson's three children reached adulthood: the two daughters married and lived on nearby plantations, and son Telfair obtained his own Spanish land grant and established his plantation nearby. After Robert's death, his children, his grand-children, and his great-grand-children continued to live in the same area or in other parts of Louisiana. They produced a large family of successful and distinguished citizens of Louisiana, where most of the descendants still live. These are The Munsons of Louisiana.

Robert sold his 1,021 acres in Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, to Anthony Dougherty sometime before 1813. When the United States confirmed these land titles in 1813, the 1,021 acres was owned by Dougherty. Jesse had sold his land in 1801. Robert may have moved to the large ranch which he had acquired on Buffalo Creek, north of Woodville, in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. It is curious to note that Right (Wright) Munson, thought to be Robert's father or brother, bought one hundred acres adjacent to Robert's 1,021 acres for $1,000 from Archibald Rhea on September 4, 1813. Wright Munson's heir, Samuel Elder Munson, sold this land, then including a home, stables, and cotton gin, to Archibald Rhea for $2,000 on May 13, 1817 [2].

In 1797 the Spanish authorities finally and reluctantly relinquished control of all territory north of the 31st parallel, and the Mississippi Territory was created as a part of the United States. Spain, however, continued to control West Florida until 1810 and East Florida until 1819. Woodville was incorporated as the county seat of Wilkinson County, Mississippi Territory, in 1811, and Robert was active in civic affairs there. He appears to have been a resident of that county at the time of his death in about 1815. No later mention has been found of wife Winifred, and it is thought that she may have died earlier.

Robert was a member of the Grand Jury for Adams County, Mississippi Territory, on April 6, 1799; and, in August, 1801, he served on the jury for the Natchez District. He was one of the subscribers to several "Memorials" to the United States Congress, dated December 6, 1800, November 25, 1803, and October 3, 1805. These were petitions to the U. S. Congress asking for removal of severe restrictions on business and politics placed on the Territory by Congress. The leaders on these petitions were the leading Jeffersonian planters and political figures of the Territory, always including Thomas Green, Cato West, Gerard Brandon, George Poindexter, and Henry Hunter.

An 1803 entry in the Wilkinson County records reads: "Entered on Record this 22nd day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and three, the Brand and mark of Robert Munson, to wit, Brand, Mark" [3]. A person's mark was added to his signature or used in place of a signature on contracts and legal documents. When a person could not write his name and had no personal mark, he marked with an "X". This brand, it is assumed, was a cattle brand. Cattle rustling had become a problem and the leading ranchers banded together in an effort to control it. Universal branding was one of the policies recommended. Robert Munson had many cattle on his ranch near Buffalo Creek north of Woodville during his last years between 1811 and 1815.

There are numerous entries in the old ledger book of the Cochran & Rhea general store in Jackson, Louisiana, for the years 1803, 1804, and 1805 reflecting business done there by Robert Munson. Items purchased included flour, sugar, molasses, tools, nails, cloth, rum, and whisky. This suggests that he resided in the Feliciana District rather than the Natchez District at that time.

Spanish and British Control of West Florida

From the time of the first Spanish landing on the Atlantic coast of Florida by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513, Spain claimed the area that was called "Florida" all the way to the Mississippi River. In 1763, at the Treaty of Paris ending the French and Indian Wars in America and the Seven Years War in Europe, "Florida" was ceded by Spain to England in return for Cuba and the City of Havana. The British divided "Florida" for administrative purposes into East and West Florida. West Florida lay west of the Apalachicola River and included the western tip of today's Florida, the southern tips of what are now Alabama and Mississippi, and the eastern part of Louisiana to the Mississippi River. During this period of English rule, many English settlers came to West Florida from Georgia and the Carolinas. It will be remembered that the early records show a William Munson in the Natchez District in 1781. This English settlement period may have been the time and reason for Robert and Jesse's first interest in immigrating to this area.

These new British Florida colonies were not involved in the process leading to the American Revolution. Between 1779 and 1782, while the British were occupied in warfare with their American colonies, the Spanish again took control of West Florida. In the Treaty of Paris in 1783, ending the American Revolution, Spain regained control of all of Florida by renewing Britain's rights to Gibraltar and the Bahama Islands. In 1803, when Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States, Spain again retained control of West Florida, doggedly maintaining that the Louisiana Purchase did not included this area.

The West Florida Revolt and the West Florida Republic [4]

It is not known if Jesse and Robert Munson and Jesse's three sons were still living in the District of Feliciana at the time of the West Florida Revolt in the year 1810. It is quite certain, however, that Robert's three children and their families — Telfair Munson and wife Leah, Celia Munson and husband Samuel Tuell, and Thenia Munson and husband John Henry Johnson — each with their children and their own plantations, were there. The Johnson's home, named "Troy Plantation", was located on the southern edge of the town of St. Francisville on the road to Baton Rouge. Jesse's son Micajah was 21 years old; Henry William was 17; and Jesse P. was 10.

The Spanish governor of West Florida, Don Carlos de Lassus, made his headquarters at the old fort in Baton Rouge. The United States coveted this territory, claiming that it was a part of the Louisiana Purchase. It was also wanted for protection of New Orleans. The Anglo planters expressed numerous dissatisfactions with Spanish rule. These planters craved a strong local government in which local representatives could participate (a dissatisfaction which also foreshadowed the Texas Revolution).

Disaffections grew until secret meetings were held by the planters in the Feliciana District to discuss what actions might be taken without incurring a charge of treason. It was decided, with the reluctant approval of the Spanish commandant in their district, to call a meeting of the inhabitants of Feliciana "to discuss measures to restore public tranquility". On June 23, 1810, more than 500 persons gathered at Egypt Plantation, the home of Lewis Sterling. They adopted a plan to establish a general council from citizens of all districts in West Florida, and to hold a convention. As delegates, the Felicianians selected John Hunter Johnson, William Barrow, John Mills, and John Rhea.

News of this action by the Feliciana planters spread quickly, and, on July 6, 1810, residents of Baton Rouge District petitioned Governor de Lassus for permission to call a similar meeting in Baton Rouge. Among the signers were Philemon Thomas, Philip Hickey, Fulwar Skipwith, and Edmund Hawes. Permission was given, and this and other districts held meetings and elected delegates to a general convention. On a Sunday night toward the end of August, with the delegates apparently gathered in Baton Rouge, Governor de Lassus gave a gala dinner for them, hoping to ease the strained relations. The festive occasion ended with a twenty-one gun salute, using much of the fort's supply of gunpowder.

An uneasy quiet followed.

On the morning of September 20, 1810, militiamen under Colonel Philemon Thomas intercepted a messenger being sent by de Lassus to Governor Vicente Folch in Pensacola, asking for an armed force to put down the budding rebellion. Colonel Thomas acted quickly and quietly. He informed Philip Hickey, and Hickey volunteered to carry the information to the other leaders. The danger the leaders had feared most was armed intervention by a superior Spanish force. So, in a manner reminiscent of Paul Revere, Hickey rode north, spreading the news across Bayou Sara and Thompson's Creek to the Feliciana plantations.

The next night a group met at Troy Plantation, the home of John Hunter and Thenia Munson Johnson. They decided that a quick blow must be struck, and word was sent to Colonel Thomas — "gather all the armed men available and capture the fort at Baton Rouge. This is war!" Knowing of his later military involvements, one can wonder if Henry William Munson may have been involved.

A battle plan was developed. One man, Larry Moore, knew that the cows that furnished milk to the fort entered through a small opening in the stockade on the river side. If cows could get through, men on horses should be able to. Colonel Thomas sent a detachment to test the plan. Under cover of early morning fog from the river, the horsemen moved quietly up the river bluff, through the narrow stockade opening, and into the fort. A sentry spotted them, shots rang out, and young Lieutenant Luis de Grand-Pre dashed from the guardhouse calling on the intruders to turn back. He gave the order to fire, shots were exchanged, and de Grand-Pre fell mortally wounded. Another Spanish soldier was killed, five were wounded, and de Lassus, who arrived after the shooting had stopped, was taken prisoner. None of Colonel Thomas' men was hurt.

The fort surrendered, the red and gold banner of Spain was hauled down, and in its place was raised a new flag, secretly made by the women of Baton Rouge — a blue banner with a single silver star. Wild cheers greeted the banner, the flag of the West Florida Republic and the first "Lone Star" flag.

On September 26, 1810, a convention met and adopted a Declaration of Independence. A General Assembly was elected, and Fulwar Skipwith was named Governor. The Assembly adopted a constitution, a government, and a flag, with the capital at St. Francisville. Negotiations for annexation to the United States were initiated, but, with the territory around New Orleans pushing for statehood, President James Madison issued an executive order declaring West Florida to already be a part of U. S. territory, acquired in the Louisiana Purchase . On October 27, 1810, he ordered William C. C. Claiborne, Governor of the Territory of Orleans, to take possession of West Florida in the name of the United States. Claiborne took possession in December of 1810, but this area was not included when the U. S. Congress admitted Louisiana as a state on April 8, 1812. The area of west Florida was annexed, partly to the new State of Louisiana and partly to the Mississippi Territory, with the Pearl River being the dividing line. This remains the eastern-most border of the State of Louisiana today.

Only after becoming a state in the United States were these Spanish "districts" called parishes. Land ownership claims were presented to U. S. authorities and proven ownerships were confirmed. A major source of proof was an original Spanish land-grant document. A map of the resulting land ownership, published in 1813 and now located in the West Feliciana Parish Courthouse, shows the lands originally granted to Jesse and Robert Munson.

The Last Years of Robert Munson

On November l2, 18ll, Robert Munson sold 2,200 acres on Buffalo Creek, a few miles north of Woodville in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, to Daniel Clark of New Orleans [5]. Daniel Clark was one of the most influential citizens, merchants, and landowners in Louisiana. Edward Randolph was attorney for Robert Munson. Later records show this to be only a part of Robert's holdings in this area. No record has been found showing Robert's acquisition of his extensive ranch properties on Buffalo Creek. He had apparently disposed of his Feliciana property earlier, certainly by 1813.

With this sale in 1811, it appears that Robert was beginning to dispose of all his property for settlement of his estate in anticipation of death. Estimates would place his age somewhere in the sixties. The following deed appears in the archives of the Wilkinson County Courthouse in Woodville, Mississippi, under the date of December 31, 1813:


     Robert Munson of Wilkinson County in the Mississippi Territory of the United States, for $3,490.00, sold to John H. Johnson [husband of Thenia Munson] of the Parish of Feliciana of the State of Louisiana:
     The entire stock of Robert Munson on the plantation on Buffalo Creek; all negro slaves, horses, cattle, implements and furniture; one negro man, Alexander, his wife, Maria, and his children, one negro girl, Alice, 14 yrs old, one negro boy, Nelson, 12 yrs old, one negro boy, Lewis, 10 yrs old, one negro boy, Levi, 6 yrs old, one negro girl, Sucky, 3 yrs old and one infant child, Harriet. Also one negro man, Peter, his wife, Waffa, and one girl, Jenny, 13; one negro man, Tom, 60, and one black boy. Also one black, one bay, one sorrel and one roan horse, four beds and furniture, blacksmith tools, 74 head of cattle and 2 yoke of oxen.

The deed for this transaction was recorded by John H. Johnson in May, 1815, possibly as Robert's health deteriorated. The items included in this sale suggest that Robert may have lived at this ranch at Buffalo Creek during his later years, sometime after 1805.

Three deeds were executed on August 19, 1815. In one, Robert transfers "to daughter Theney Johnson of Feliciana Parish, La., for $1,200.00, one negro man, Ellich, and wife, Mariah and four children Levi, Suckey, Charlotte and Evelina". In another, he transfers to daughter Celia Tuell of Feliciana Parish for $800.00, "one negro man, Harry, one woman, Worphy and one boy, Lewis." And the final deed reads, "Robert Munson, of Wilkinson Co., for love and affection to my son, Telfair Munson and my two daughters, Celia Tuell and Theny Johnson, all of Feliciana Parish, La., all my stock of horses, cattle and hogs." This appears to be his last action, intending to give his children the last of his useful property, surely in anticipation of death.

The next records of Robert Munson, also in the Wilkinson County Courthouse, are as follows:


Monday, July 1, l816
     The court orders that letters of administration be granted to John H. Johnson on the estate of Robert Munson, dec.
     That Edward Randolph be approved of as security in the amount of $4000.00.
     That Hugh Ried, Peter Prester and Peter Smith be appointed appraisers of said estate.

Monday, October 2, 1816
     [Estate of Robert Munson] - Order of sale issued to John H. Johnson to sell personal estate thereof at the village hall in Pinckneyville [Mississippi] and Woodville.

April 7, 18l7
     The estate of Robert Munson - the personal property of said estate of said dec. is not sufficient to pay the debts against said estate, hence citation for all persons interested in real estate to be sold.

July 7, 1817
     [The estate of Robert Munson] - Order to John H. Johnson to sell property to pay expenses.

Then, in 1819, "the heirs of Robert Munson" appear on the tax roll of Wilkinson County, and were assessed for 1,816 acres of land situated on Buffalo Creek. This is the last known record pertaining to Robert Munson and to his estate.

It thus appears that Robert Munson was a very successful farmer, rancher, businessman, and family man. If the situation was, in fact, as these records seem to indicate, he had acquired about 4,000 acres on Buffalo Creek with many slaves and extensive livestock. Because in these later deeds his residence was always given as Wilkinson County, it appears that he had moved permanently from his original land grant in Feliciana Parish, possibly after his children had married and his wife had died, and at least by December 31, 1813.

There are few references to Robert's wife or wives. A Robert Munson married a Patience Daughtrey in North Carolina in about 1757. A Patience Munson with two daughters was listed as head-of-household in South Carolina in the 1790 census. In 1793 there are references to "Robert Munson and wife Winifred" [6], and this completes the known records.

An interesting speculation involves the origin of the name Telfair. During the late years of the 1700s, a leading family in Savannah and in all of Georgia was the Telfair family. Edward Telfair was an early governor of Georgia, a county in Georgia is named Telfair, and today the municipal art gallery of Savannah is housed in the beautiful, old Telfair mansion in Telfair Park. A very common choice of names for a son in those days, as today, was the maiden name of his mother. Also, there is one known reference to a land grant award to a Robert Munson in Liberty County, Georgia, not far from Savannah, in 1791 — a grant that was never taken. Could one of Robert's wives (and maybe his only wife) have been a Telfair? Limited research has not uncovered such a record, but the possibility persists.

The Family of Telfair Munson

On April 10, 1795, Telfair Munson was granted a Spanish land grant of 400 acres in the Feliciana District "between the waters of Bayou Sara" [7]. This is probably the site at which he established a plantation and raised his family. If he acquired this land grant after reaching adulthood at the age of 21, he would have been born in or before 1774. He was Robert Munson's oldest known child, and if Robert was approximately 24 years old at the time of Telfair's birth, Robert's year of birth would have been around 1750. These are the best current estimates for the years of their births. The marriage dates of Robert's children are not known, but all can be estimated as being near the year 1800.

Celia, Thenia, and Telfair Munson all married and lived on plantations in Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and they had twenty children among them. These are the foundations of the Munsons of Louisiana. Most of these appear to have remained in Louisiana and many, in fact, very near to their ancestral homes. Among these descendants can be counted a governor of Louisiana, judges, legislators, lawyers, doctors, professors, inventors, real estate developers, farmers, and many others.


Governor Isaac Johnson

Celia Munson married Samuel Tuell and they named their only daughter Ann Munson Tuell. Celia died at the home of Colonel John B. Dawson, a nephew, in St. Francisville, Louisiana, on Sunday evening, January 17, 1824, at the age of 47, and was buried in St. Francisville. This record of her age places her birth in 1776. This matches very well with the earlier estimates of Telfair's birth as 1774 or before, Robert's marriage in the early 1770s, and Robert's birth around or before 1750. By these estimates, Robert would have been in his mid to late sixties at the time of his death in 1815.

Ann Tuell, probably born around 1800, married, first, John Middlemist, who died in 1827. Their children were Jane Middlemist and John Byron Middlemist. Son John died in 1832. Ann then married John McCall, of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, in 1832. They had no recorded children.

Thenia Munson married John Hunter Johnson. His brother, Henry Johnson, was the fifth governor of Louisiana. They were probably married about 1797 or 1798, as their first child was born in 1799. Thenia would have been approximately 20 years old at such a marriage date. John and Thenia Johnson lived at Troy Plantation, near St. Francisville. The ten children born and raised at Troy Plantation by this couple were as follows:


  1. Margaret Johnson, b. March 12, l799, married Colonel John B. Dawson.
  2. William H. Johnson, b. June 30, 1800, married, first, Mary Doherty in Louisiana and, second, Mrs. Caroline Land McBee in Mississippi.
  3. Mary Johnson, b. November 4, 1801, married Anthony Doherty.
  4. Issac Johnson, b. November 1, 1803, married Charlotte McDermett and became the thirteenth governor of Louisiana from 1846 to 1850.
  5. Robert Johnson, b. April 3, 1805, d. in 1827 in Louisiana, was named for his grandfather Munson.
  6. Joseph E. Johnson, b. October 4, 1806, d. 1838 in Louisiana.
  7. Charles Llewllyn Johnson, b. August 1, 1808, married Martha Cuerton, d. 185l.
  8. Ann Mills Johnson, b. March 8, 1810, d. 1830.
  9. Tullia Robinson Johnson, b. January 26, 1814, married John A. Harbour.
  10. John H. Johnson, b. December 16, 1815, d. 1819 in Louisiana, was named for his father.

Much credit for the genealogy of the Munsons of Louisiana goes to May Wilson McBee, a genealogist and historian of Louisiana and Mississippi in the early 1900s. She was the wife of John Harbour McBee , who was the great-grandson of both Tullia Robinson Johnson and Mrs. Caroline Land McBee, the second wife of William H. Johnson.

Telfair Munson married Leah N. Whitaker. The date is unknown, but it was probably close to the year 1800. Both had died by 1833, at which time Telfair would have been at least 59 years old. Leah Whitaker was the daughter of William and Sarah Moore Whitaker. The children of Telfair and Leah Munson were as follows:


  1. Robert Munson, (the first son was named for his grandfather).
  2. William W. Munson, (the name William Munson again) married November 22, 1837, Matilda Adeline Howell.
  3. Henry Horatio Munson (another Henry).
  4. Charles W. Munson, married Mary Anne Perry.
  5. Louise M. Munson, married John M. Gray.
  6. Samuel T. Munson (the name Samuel Munson again).
  7. John Munson
  8. Mary Ann (Marian) Munson
  9. Llewllyn Munson

Louise, Samuel, John, Mary Ann, and Llewllyn were all minors in 1833, which indicates that Louise was not born before 1813, and John, Mary, and Llewllyn were minors as late as 1844, more than ten years after the death of their parents. This would mean that John was not born before 1824, at which date Telfair would have been approximately fifty years old. All of the children were probably born and raised on the Munson plantation near St. Francisville, and as far as is known, all remained in that area.

The known descendants of Robert Munson and of Telfair and Leah Munson are shown on the accompanying charts 3A, 3B, 3C.

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