The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga

Chapter Five


JESSE AND ROBERT MUNSON IN MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA 1792-1816

SUMMARY
Existing data suggest that Jesse Munson, and probably his brother Robert, left South Carolina in about 1790 for a visit or a move to their Munson relatives in Kentucky. Then, in the spring of 1792, with their families, they both left the settlement of Holston, Virginia, and traveled by flatboats down the Holston, Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers to the Natchez District of New Spain. They were there in the village of Villa Gayoso at the time of the 1792 Spanish census, and Jesse Munson's son, Henry William Munson, was born there in January of 1793. Robert appears to have prospered, gaining much land and many cattle and slaves. Jesse appears to have been poor and illiterate. Both died in Mississippi in late 1815 or early 1816. Each raised three known children, and today each has a large family of descendants. Robert's descendants are the Munsons of Louisiana and Jesse's the Munsons of Texas. Jesse's poverty probably had a great deal to do with his childrens' move to Texas, while Robert's success probably accounted for his descendants staying in Louisiana.


Records indicate that Jesse and Robert Munson were in South Carolina in the 1780s, obtained Spanish land grants in the Natchez District of New Spain in 1787, and left South Carolina for Kentucky (and probably for the Natchez District) in about 1790. They arrived at Natchez by flatboat from Holston, Virginia, in April of 1792, and are listed as residents of Villa Gayoso in the Natchez District in the 1792 Spanish census.


Robert & Jesse's migration from the
Holston settlement to the Natchez District

On their migration from South Carolina, Robert and Jesse Munson probably traveled overland on well marked roads from South Carolina to Virginia, then by the famous Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap to Boonesboro, in Fayette County (now Clark County), Kentucky, where a Samuel Munson Sr. was listed in the 1790 census. In 1791 or early 1792 they apparently returned through the Cumberland Gap to Holston, Virginia. There, in the company of Henry Hunter and James Grady, they built two flatboats and the four families floated down the Holston River to the Tennessee, down the Tennessee River through the dangerous Muscle Shoals to the Ohio, down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, and down the slow, winding Mississippi River to the rough and bawdy river-landing of Natchez-Under-the-Hill. They arrived there on April 17, 1792. The new town of Natchez (on-the-hill) was in its infancy, being built on the cliffs around Fort Rosalie overlooking the river. From Natchez the Munson-Hunter party apparently proceeded to the new village of Villa Gayoso, which occupied a beautiful spot on the high cliffs overlooking the Mississippi River about twenty miles north of Fort Rosalie.

A bit of evidence suggests that they may have been going to Villa Gayoso to join Narsworthy Hunter, probably a relative of Henry Hunter. It is recorded that an N. Hunter (further identified as Narsworthy Hunter) signed the petition to change the name of the village of Cole's Creek to Villa Gayoso on January 26, 1792 [1]. This indicates that he was one of the leading inhabitants of that area before the Munson-Hunter party's arrival. This might also be a lead as to how Robert and Jesse Munson, living in South Carolina, obtained their Spanish land grants in New Spain in 1787. It might have been through the local efforts and influence of Narsworthy Hunter, likely a brother of Henry Hunter.

Many of the new settlers to Natchez were Tories and their sympathizers, escaping from the American Revolution and their discomfort in the new American nation. Since it appears that Robert and Jesse Munson were in South Carolina during the American Revolution, and since no records of their participation have been found, one can only guess as to their sympathies, and these, combined with economic pressures, may have been their motivation for leaving. One early resident historian wrote about this migration from South Carolina to the Feliciana District as follows: "On such a population, restless and ill at ease. . .tired of attempting to win a living from the rocky slopes of the South Carolina mountains. . .the stirring announcement that a boundless and fertile empire. . .waiting to be peopled. . .dazzled their imaginations. . .a few years later, the country began to fill up with. . .immigrants from the Carolinas. . .to battle with the bears, panthers and wolves for possession and a peaceful home" [2].

The difficulty of their trip and the wilderness into which they ventured is probably beyond our imagination. The only extensive travel by white men was by water, as no permanent trails nor roads had been cut. Indians and robbers lay in ambush for flatboats, and river rapids were treacherous. Indian guides often took the boats through the rapids of Muscle Shoals, while the pioneers traversed by land. H. Skipwith, in East Feliciana, Louisiana — Past and Present, reports: "The Indian pilots brought most of the boats safely to the foot of the Shoals, but sometimes one would be wrecked and an outfit for a home in the wilderness would go to the bottom."

In the late 1700s the Spanish-administered Natchez District was nothing more than a string of small settlements along the tributaries of the Mississippi — St. Catherine's Creek, the Homochitto, Cole's Creek, Bayou Pierre, and Big Black — surrounded by Indian country. Essentially the entire area of the present states of Mississippi and Alabama was the home of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and other Indians [see Inset 5]. The country was extremely virgin — one settler reported killing over one hundred bears in one winter. In 1792 the future site of Memphis was known as Chickasaw Bluffs, Vicksburg as Walnut Hills, and the town of Natchez, first laid out by Governor Carlos de Grand-Pre in 1788, was in its earliest years of development. The entire population of the Natchez District in 1792 was 4,346 — Spanish, French, Anglo, and slaves. This included only 580 adult, white males.

The Spanish governor of the Natchez District from 1789 until 1797 was the colorful and effective Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos. His predecessor, Carlos de Grand-Pre, remained as his military commander. The establishment of Villa Gayoso is described by Jack Holmes in his book Gayoso as follows:


     Grand-Pre [who had laid out the town of Natchez] had also undertaken the ground plan for the town planned for Cole's Creek. He had purchased three hundred arpents from Thomas Calvet in 1787. Unfortunately, Grand-Pre had not taken the time to examine the lands thoroughly during the season of high water. . .Grand-Pre [therefore] suggested that the crown buy instead three hundred and fifty arpents. . .about two miles from the site of the projected town for Cole's Creek. The inhabitants. . .[also] declined to move to [this] site. . .Accordingly, Gayoso [who arrived as governor in June of 1789] selected land belonging to Colonel Thomas Green, located less than a mile from the Mississippi. . .The rich cypress groves leading to Gayoso's proposed town site surrounded a high, flat plateau with a good view of the river. Two springs nearby provided fresh, healthy water. The settlers along Cole's Creek agreed with Gayoso. Thomas Green. . .joined fourteen other leading inhabitants of the area in petitioning the governor-general to change the name of [the town of] Cole's Creek to Villa Gayoso in honor of their governor. Approval was granted, and Gayoso wrote the settlers, "I cannot but feel a sensible gratification in the wish you have expressed, that the Town now erecting in your vicinity shoul'd be known to posterity by my Name.

Dunbar Rowland, in his four volumes entitled Mississippi [3], describes Villa Gayoso in 1798 as follows:


     In September, 1798, when [U. S.] Governor [Winthrop] Sargent made the first division of the [Mississippi] territory, he selected Villa Gayoso as the seat of government of the upper district, afterward named Pickering county. . .There was a church, commandant's and priest's house, kitchen, etc., all rough frame buildings. . . 


Villa Gayoso is highlighted in yellow

In 1792, when Jesse and Robert Munson and presumably Henry Hunter and their families were living there, the Spanish Census of the Natchez District reported a population in the Villa Gayoso District of 637 whites and 272 slaves. Included were but 175 adult, white males. For a number of years Villa Gayoso was the second largest town, after Natchez, in the Natchez District, and is said to have reached a population of over 900 inhabitants at its zenith. Governor Gayoso apparently granted the land surrounding the town to himself, and it became his summer estate. When the U. S. took possession of the region and Gayoso moved to New Orleans in 1797, the area's major landowner, Thomas Green, purchased the land and the town. In later years, sometime during the 1800s, the town gradually diminished and disappeared. Considerable local research was required to find the town's original site. Local inhabitants still refer to the land as the Gayoso Estate and can identify the town's former location on a bluff overlooking the former course of the Mississippi River before it was straightened by the U. S. Corps of Engineers. The site is now about five miles from the river, and no obvious signs of a town exist.

Jesse and Robert Munson and their party arrived in this frontier area in April of 1792, with Jesse having a child (Micajah), a pregnant wife, and one slave; with Robert having a wife and three children; with Henry Hunter having a wife, seven children, and fifteen slaves; and with John Grady having a wife, two children and two slaves — a party of thirty-nine persons. They surely needed to find living arrangements quickly. During these times frontier immigrants often camped-out for extended periods while awaiting the procurement of a home. Narsworthy Hunter may have been of assistance, and he is probably the reason that they went to Villa Gayoso. Years later, the Atascosita Census of 1826 [see Chapter 9] stated that Henry William Munson was born in "Mississippi" on January 15, 1793 — very probably, it is thought, at Villa Gayoso. His birth was almost exactly nine months to the day after the party's arrival at Natchez-Under-the-Hill. Robert and Jesse's land grants were in a mostly uninhabited area about ninety miles to the south. The area was not accessible by water, and wagon trails there were in their infancy. How long they lived in Villa Gayoso before moving to their land grants in the wilderness is not known, but it would seem that preparations to move their families there would take some years.


Plat map showing Robert and Jesse's land grants

Surveys in later years showed Robert's land grant to contain 1,021 acres and Jesse's to be 561 acres — a total of 1,582 acres [4]. The amount of land awarded in Spanish land grants, in the absence of special influence, depended upon the number of members in the family and the number of slaves. These lands appear to have been on or beyond the fringe of settlement. When Jesse sold his land in the year 1801, some adjacent land was still listed as being public land belonging to His Majesty, the King of Spain. A nearby but not adjacent 397-acre plot of land is listed as having been originally owned by "John Gready". This may well have been their traveling companion of 1792. No record of any land owned by Henry Hunter has been found, although the names of Henry Hunter and Nausworthy Hunter (surely a son of either Henry or Narsworthy) appear frequently in later records of this area. Since few definite records have been found to show the activities of these three families — Henry Hunter, Robert Munson, and Jesse Munson — for the years between 1792 and about 1813, the bits of information that are available suggest the scenario that follows.

It is known that Henry Hunter and Robert Munson had lived in the same district in South Carolina, and that they and Jesse Munson had traveled from Virginia to the Natchez District together. Henry Hunter had arrived in Natchez with seven children, fifteen slaves, farm tools, and household furniture, and it appears that he possessed wealth, leadership, and intelligence. He later became the Speaker of the first House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory. Robert and Jesse Munson apparently arrived with but one slave between them, but they owned 1,582 acres of good land, and no land in this area has been found in the name of any Hunter. An old ledger book of the Cochran & Rhea general store in nearby Jackson, Louisiana, for the years 1803, 1804, and 1805, shows very frequent purchases of staples by Robert Munson, Henry Hunter, and Nausworthy Hunter, but not by Jesse Munson [5]. It is therefore suggested that they all may have moved as one big family to the Munson land at some time during the 1790s and lived there for the next ten to fifteen years, farming the land, trading at the local store, and raising and educating their children together. This could account for the good education received by Henry William Munson and for his high appreciation in later years of education and the professions, even though evidence suggests that his father, Jesse, was poor and illiterate.

It is assumed, but not known, that they built homes and raised their families on this frontier plantation. In later years the land was described as fine agricultural country, gently undulating and possessing soil of great fertility. If they farmed there, they probably kept beef and dairy cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry, and farmed cotton, corn, fruit, and vegetables. Tobacco was the major commercial crop of the District until about 1792, when removal of Spanish allocations to Mexico destroyed its profitability. Indigo was tried without success, but Eli Whitney's new cotton gin was introduced in 1795, and thereafter, even until today, cotton was king. One note on early Natchez District professions reports that Henry Hunter was famed as a mechanic [6].

U. S. Highway 61 from Baton Rouge to Natchez now passes through the edge of both Robert and Jesse Munson's land grants. It is interesting to study the development of the route of this highway from earliest times to today. The route today is very close to the same as the route shown on the maps of 1813. The exact route of the roadway of 1813, in those areas where it is not identical to Highway 61, is still a beautiful one lane road through the forest. In this hilly country of Louisiana these roadways follow the very highest line of the divide between the water-sheds of Bayou Sara to the west and Thompson's Creek to the east. This is obviously done to avoid frequent crossing of the tributaries of these creeks — just as the Indian trails had done before the white man, and the animal trails before the Indians. Thus today's modern highway follows the same route as the original animal trails, which were adopted by the Indians, then as horse trails by the white man, which were later widened to wagon trails, early roads, and today's highways. At the time that Jesse and Robert moved there, the horse trails were just being widened to wagon trails by the Gayoso government.

The town of Woodville, Mississippi, was established about fifteen miles to the north; Jackson, Louisiana, about ten miles to the east; and St. Francisville, Louisiana, about ten miles to the south of the Munson grants. Today the tiny village of Laurel Hill, Louisiana, lies on Jesse's original grant, and one can leave the highway and follow the old 1813 road through the hamlet with its lovely historic church.

The discussion of the exact location of Robert and Jesse Munson's lands is sometimes confusing. Even though their residences were always referred to as being in the Natchez District and the Mississippi Territory, their land was actually about two miles south of the 31st parallel — the southern border of the Natchez District and the Mississippi Territory. Their land actually lay in the Spanish District of Feliciana in the Orleans Territory of New Spain. All of their birth, death, and legal records are recorded as "Mississippi", but it seems probable that while they were recorded in Mississippi, some may actually have taken place in what is now Louisiana. It is assumed that the District of Feliciana was lightly populated, had no independent Spanish administration, and that this area was considered by all to be a part of the "Natchez District and its dependencies". As further evidence of this, Natchez District records often included data for the districts of "Bayou Sara" and "Thompson's Creek", which lay south of the 31st parallel. In those early days on the frontier, the locations of many exact borders, if they were not rivers, were probably unknown and of no consequence in daily life. The local political and social order probably established the functional boundaries.

During the years that Jesse and Robert Munson resided in the District of Feliciana, it was claimed at one time or another by France, Spain, England, the United States, and the independent Republic of West Florida. Evidence indicates that the local government, law, and contracts were Spanish, the commercial money was English and Spanish, the land measures (arpents) were French, and the town names — and probably the languages used — were intermixed Spanish, French, English, and Indian. The Indian languages contributed the words bayou, Natchez, Mississippi, and Alabama; the French contributed Louisiana, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and St. Francisville; the Spanish contributed Feliciana, Florida, Villa Gayoso, and Bayou Sara; and the English contributed Woodville, Wilkinson, Jackson, and Buffalo Creek.

The Last Years of Jesse Munson

Records of Jesse Munson and his family are scant. No mention of him has been found in South Carolina or neighboring states. He may have always accompanied his brother Robert. Jesse's son Micajah was born in South Carolina in 1788 or 1789, and son Henry William in Mississippi in 1793. In 1800 a third son was born to Jesse and was named Jesse P. Munson. He is later reported to have been a half-brother to Henry William, so Jesse's wife may have died between 1793 and 1800.

Without assurance, it is assumed that Jesse Munson lived and raised his family with those of his brother Robert and his friend Henry Hunter on their land grants in the Spanish District of New Feliciana (now West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana). It appears that he was living in neighboring Wilkinson County, Mississippi, at the time of his death in 1815 or 1816.

On February 18, 1801, Jesse Munson sold "500 acres to William Lemon, said land located in the District of New Feliciana upon the tributaries of Bayou Feliciana just below the District of Natchez, bounded with the lands of John Bisland, Robert Munson, and vacant lands belonging to "His Majesty, the King of Spain" [7]. William Lemon agreed to pay "300 pesos in cash and to pay in the month of March of the next coming year, 200 pesos for the completion of the sale price of the said land." The price appears to have been one peso per acre. There is no mention of buildings on the land; homes, if any, may have been on Robert Munson's part of the land. The sale was witnessed by Carlos de Grand-Pre (Governor of the Natchez District at the time the Munsons received their land grants, and later the military commander under Governor Gayoso), Antonio Solier, and Franco Miranda. The Munson ownership was confirmed by "the formal titles of concession from the general government of Oct. 2, 1787 [the original land grants]." Jesse signed the deed of sale with his mark, an "X". This and a few other hints suggest that Jesse was poorly educated and possibly illiterate, which was common and no disgrace in those times.

It is interesting to note that in the year 1801 the local administration and the currency were still Spanish. After the U. S. took control of the Natchez District and incorporated it into the Mississippi Territory in 1797, the 31st parallel separated the Mississippi Territory from Spanish West Florida (then a part of Florida, but now eastern Louisiana.) Also, the land adjacent to Jesse's land was still recorded as being owned by His Majesty, the King of Spain. This parcel, also adjoining Robert Munson's land, appears to be the land from which Wright Munson purchased one hundred arpents from Archibald Rhea soon thereafter. Several bits of information indicate that Robert Munson, Henry Hunter, and possibly Jesse Munson, continued to live on this land until 1805 or later.

Captain Narsworthy Hunter, thought to be the brother of Colonel Henry Hunter, was prominent in early Mississippi Territory politics. His name is mentioned frequently in territorial political and governmental records. In 1799 he carried a hotly-worded Memorial (petition) to the U. S. Congress in Philadelphia by horseback. In 1801 he was the first delegate from the new Mississippi Territory to the United States House of Representatives in Washington D.C. . He died in Washington on March 11, 1802, while serving in this position. These functions indicate that he was near the top of the local political structure. He was a member of the dominant Jeffersonian Democratic faction which included Thomas Green, Cato West, Henry Hunter, Gerard Brandon, and George Poindexter. Robert Munson, but not Jesse, was a signer of several Memorials sent to the U. S. Congress by this group. Nausworthy Hunter, who was closely associated with the Munsons and was named as an appraiser of Jesse Munson's estate in 1816, is presumed to be a son of either Narsworthy Hunter or Henry Hunter, more likely the latter.

It is also curious to note that Jesse sold his land within a year after his son, Jesse P. Munson, was born. This suggests that Jesse remarried and moved away from the farm in about 1800. Henry William was seven years old at this time and Micajah was about eleven. It is not known for certain where the family lived during these years. In any event, there is evidence that Jesse needed the money. Two entries in the old ledger book of the Cochran & Rhea general store in Jackson, Louisiana, in its list of receipts, tell a story. The first, dated April 25, 1804, reads, "[Received from] Robert Munson, amount of Jesse Munson acct, assumed"; and, on April 27, 1805, "Jesse Munson, in full, his acct assumed by Robert Munson."

Between the years 1805 and 1814, Jesse and Robert Munson are frequently listed on the tax rolls of Wilkinson County, Mississippi Territory, but not in the census [8]. Also on the 1805 tax rolls of Wilkinson County are Henry Hunter Sr., Henry Hunter Jr., Joseph Hunter, and William Hunter. The fact that they are found on the tax rolls but not on the census may indicate that they owned property there while residing across the border in Spanish West Florida. However, during the last years of their lives Robert and Jesse Munson appear to have been residents of Wilkinson County, as Louisiana became a state in 1812, and all records from 1812 to the time of the probate of their estates in 1816 are in Wilkinson County, Mississippi Territory.


The next record of Jesse Munson in the archives section of the Wilkinson County Courthouse in Woodville, Mississippi, reads as follows:


Mississippi Territory                     By the Orphans Court of Said County
Wilkinson County                     April Term 1816
To Nausworthy Hunter, Joseph Hunter and Samuel Munson

Greetings: You are appointed to appraise the goods and chattel rights and credit of Jesse Munson, late of said County, deceased, which shall be known to you by Henry W. Munson of the same, and the said Court also direct that you make a true and perfect inventory of the same and return it on oath into the Register's Office of the said Court within three calendar months from the date thereof. Witness the Honorable James Carraway, Esquire, Chief Justice of the said Court the 1st day of April, 1816.

Joseph W. Hutton, Reg.


No appraisal was returned, and the following entry reads, "The above order is continued by the Chief Justice until January Term, 1817 — James Johnston, Reg."

The next entry in the probate of Jesse Munson's estate reads as follows:


Mississippi Territory                     To the Honorable, the Orphans
Wilkinson County                     Court in the County of Wilkinson:

Inventory and return of the estate of Jesse Munson, dec'd, of said County up to December 20, 1816.

l sorrel Horse, 3 Beeves, 3 Promissory notes — Ruffian Deloach to Jesse Munson, whole amount Twelve Hundred Dollars. One due bill to $10.84 cents. On account to Robert Munson, dec'd, $1952 dollars.

Henry Munson, administrator of the estate of said Jesse Munson, dec'd, being duly sworn deposed and with that the above is a true and just Inventory of the estate of said Jesse Munson, December 20th, as it has come to his knowledge since his administration. The appraisers appointed by the said Court having refused to act, the above Inventory is returned without appraisement.

Henry W. Munson, administrator

Given and subscribed to this 20th day of December A.D. 1816 before me.                 J. Childs, J. P.

Henry W. Munson was 23 years old on the above date. These records relate that Jesse died between the time of the 1814 tax roll and the April, 1816, court date — most likely in 1815 or early 1816. He left an insignificant estate including no slaves and no real estate, and he owed his late brother, Robert, $1,952. This estate had not been settled as late as 1825. On March l, 1825, letters of administration were granted to Gerard Brandon on the estate of Jesse Munson, with bond made at $2,000, and with Wm. L. Brandon security. This is the last record found on the estate of Jesse Munson.

No records have been found of the names of any of Jesse's wives, but a guess can be made. His oldest son, Micajah, married Elizabeth Everett, and they named their daughters Ann Elizabeth and Martha Caroline Henry William and Ann Pearce named their only daughter Amanda Caroline. If these contain namesakes, the favorite guess for Jesse's first wife is Martha, because there was a Martha Munson as head-of-household in the 1790 census of South Carolina, and there is a possibility that this was Jesse's wife and Micajah's mother [see Chapter 4 ].

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