Williamson at HG
During the 1960’s the Floyd Williamsons lived at Holly Grove. The Dudleys sold the plantation in 1962 to Hodges Stock Yard Co. of New Orleans to use as a cattle ranch.[1] The Williamsons purchased the property in 1962 also. Holly Grove may have been at its height in the 20th century with the tenure of the Williamsons. They entertained in the ‘plantation room’ in the rear annex.[2] Their son, an architect, designed it. It was a very nice large room with a fireplace and a bar.[3] They had a walking horse stable and barn and a riding ring to the rear of the house. They raised registered Hereford cattle and the barn across Hwy 33 was called the show barn. Both the horses and cattle were shown around the country. It is thought that they did some renovations to the main house as well: maybe the marble surrounds for the fireplaces, the new stairway to the second floor in the back hall.
Georgie’s granddaughter, Nancy Cadwallader, remembered her grandmother riding a huge stallion in the ring in the back of the home. She also noted her grandmother was an “expert gardener who planted many of the camellias still on the property. She loved flowers of all kinds, especially roses. She had a florist cooler, where she could store her flowers.”[4]
Billy McGregor of Centreville remembers Georgie as a Sunday school teacher at the Centreville Baptist Church.[5]
The section of Holly Grove owned by the Williamsons west of the Holly Grove mansion tract is now owned by Henry Darden. There is a decaying barn and several ponds built by Williamson on this tract. When Henry Darden was young he could reach the section east of the railroad through a culvert made from a tank car with the ends cut out.
Floyd Williamson was a fertilizer manufactured who made a good deal of money before the co-ops started supplying fertilizer to the farmers. Georgie had a 3 acre rose garden to the southwest of the house to supply flowers to the house. She had a walk-in cooler in the lower level of the annex to store the blooms for use in the house and parties.[6] This would give some credibility to the theory that she also did a lot of the plantings: bulbs, azaleas, camellias, flowering trees.
Floyd Williamson was a Baton Rouge businessman who manufactured fertilizer and retailed it on Choctaw St. His wife Georgia Perkins grew up at Richland, the Norwood plantation just to the south in East Feliciana Parish, just east of Norwood, Louisiana.
The Williamsons sold the Holly Grove property due to financial difficulties (due to the change in the fertilizer market) at auction in 1969. Folding chairs were set up on the front lawn.[7] Only the house with the adjoining 110 acres and the acreage across Hwy 33 was sold at the auction. The Dardens bought the acreage west of the railroad at a private sale a few months later.[8]
The Williamsons managed to save some funds as they built a brick house in Norwood near the Presbyterian Church after they left Holly Grove. The house later burned.[9]
Georgie Perkins Williamson was related to the Stewarts through the marriages of Cornelia Stewart to Albert Batchelor and also with the marriage of Albert Gallatin Cage to Elvira Scott Gayden.
Holly Grove is also connected to Richland through the Charles Dudleys who owned first Richland, then Holly Grove. The Stewart family married into the Gayden family (Cornelia Stewart, Duncan Stewart’s granddaughter married Albert Batchelor and Albert Gallatin Cage, a grandson, married Elvira Gayden) and the Gayden family also married into the Perkins family (Georgie Perkins Williamson) at Richland.
Richland Plantation was built in 1820 by Elias Norwood for his bride Katherine Chandler of South Carolina.[10] Elias Norwood’s father, Major Samuel Norwood came to the area in 1806 with six children from South Carolina.[11] Although it was said to have been built in the 1820’s the house architecturally is more 1830’s. In 1845 Elias died and his widow Catherine Chandler Norwood and her son Abel J. Norwood[12] were managing the plantation. In 1880 Abel Norwood gave the land for the town of Norwood if the new railroad trains would all stop in Norwood. Joseph E. Norwood, Abel’s son, was the next owner. Mary Eleanor, daughter of Elias and Catherine, inherited Richland in 1870. She was married to Dr. Lewis Perkins. The family owned the plantation until the 1920’s when it was sold to Walter Cline.[13] Charles Dudley, who later owned Holly Grove before the Williamsons, owned Richland from the 1940’s to the sale to the Secretary of Defense, Charles Wilson, in 1954. Wilson was visiting Dudley for hunting along with Louisiana Governor, Robert F. Kennon when he decided to buy Richland from Dudley.[14] Wilson was born in Ohio in 1890. In 1941 he became President of General Motors. He was tapped by President Eisenhower to be Secretary of Defense. He ran into some problem with his confirmation hearings because of his large holdings of GM stock, worth about 2 ½ million dollars. When asked what he would do if there was a conflict, he replied, “ for years I thought what was good for the country was good for GM and vice versa.” He was reluctant to sell his stock but he did and he was confirmed, serving from 1953-1957.[15] When he left public service he moved back to Michigan but he had bought Richland where he came to hunt and he was developing a beef cattle operation. He was at Richland in 1961 when his butler found him dead of a heart attack.[16]
The estate sold Richland in 1962.
The house is of brick with a central hall and double parlor on the first floor, a winding stairway to the upper levels with the third floor being a ballroom. Four Doric columns span the central section of the façade supporting wide galleries. Palladian windows are located in the third level on each side of the house.
Elias Norwood also built White Hall Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.[17]
Agrapina Gayden, a daughter of Agrippa Gayden was the mother of Lewis Perkins, the grandfather of Georgie Williamson.[18] Mary Gayden (1862) who married Lewis Perkins was also the daughter of IG Gayden and the granddaughter of Agrippa Gayden. In the other Gayden genealogy I do not find an Agrapina Gayden.
Lewis Gayden Perkins, MD[19] m. Mary Eleanor Norwood
Children:
1. Harry Scott Perkins m. Mary Gayden
b. 9 Feb 1862
d. 6 July 1940, bur Norwood[20]
Children:
1. Gayden
Perkins
2. Mackintosh
Bridges Perkins
b. 4 June 1892
d. 5 Jan 1979
3. Georgie
Perkins m.
William Floyd Williamson
4. Iva
Perkins m. Thomas
R. Drisdale
b. 26 Mar 1902
d. 12 June 1998, bur Norwood d. 23 Jan 1952, bur Norwood
5. …Perkins
2. Sam J. Perkins, MD m. Julia Gayden
b. c. 1868 Oakland Plantation
Georgie Perkins m. William Floyd Williamson, Sr.
b. 19 June 1899[21] b. 27 Feb 1897
d. 17 Dec 1987, buried Norwood d. 18 May 1976, buried Norwood, Hillcrest Cem
Children:
d. 20 Dec 1996, buried Norwood,
Hillcrest Cem. d. 15 Nov 2016[25]
Children:
1. Adele Redditt Williamson m. Nicholas Henry Scielzos[26]
Children:
1. Henry
Andrew Scielzos, Washington DC m. Asha
Children:
1. Emma
Scielzos, Chevy Chase MD
2. Piya
Scielzos
Children:
1. Rusty
Compton Cadwallader, Austin TX
2. Scott
Davis Cadwallader
Samuel Norwood
b. c. 1765 England
Children:
b. c. 1795 Richland County, SC
Children:
Children:
1. Harry Perkins m. Mary Gayden
Children:
1. Gayden
Perkins
2. Mack
Perkins, d. 5 Jan 1979
3. Georgie
Perkins
4. Iva
Perkins
2. Norwood Perkins m. Minerva Gayden
Children:
1. Mary
Perkins
2. Agrippa
Perkins
3. Ellie
Perkins
3. Sam Perkins m. Julia Gayden (m. 2. Mr.
Woodside)
4. Joe Perkins m. Amanda Stone
Children:
1. Almena
Perkins
2. a
son
5. Octavia Perkins m. Dr. Agrippa Gayden (his 1st
wife)
Children:
1.
a son
6. Kate Perkins m. Dr. Agrippa Gayden (his 2nd
wife)
Children:
1. Lewis
Gayden
2. Octavia
Gayden
7. Almena Perkins m. Mack Bridges
2. Capt Sam Norwood, lived on Norwood Plantation, Pointe Coupee
3. Abel John Norwood, lived on Kirkwood Plantation, Pointe Coupee[30]
Abel J. Norwood (b. 1860) m. Victoria Batchelor (b. 1865) She
was the daughter of James Madison Batchelor and Eliza Nutt.[31]
George Gayden[32] m. Ann Wardell
b. 4 Jan 1739 b. c.1740
d. 29 May 1819
Children:
1. Rebecca Gayden m. 1. Leith
b. 27 Feb 1774 m. 2. Francis Wren
d. 14 Jan 1836 m. 3. Thomas Agrippa Batchelor
b. 23 Dec 1770
d. 14 Apr 1842
Thomas Agrippa Batchelor (1770-1842) helped frame the Mississippi Constitution in 1817 and his name is on the Monument at Jefferson College, Washington, MS. He was the first Chancery Clerk of Amite County, Justice of the Peace, and was instrumental in the separation of Amite from Wilkinson County. He was the eldest son of Solomon and Sarah Boswell Batchelor. Another source lists his wife’s name as Victoria Gayden Wren and notes she is buried at the Lewis Cemetery adjacent to Beechgrove Plantation, the home of Thomas Batchelor.[33] Thomas Agrippa Batchelor (23 Dec 1772-14 Apr 1842) was born in Franklin County, North Carolina and died in Amite County, Mississippi. His parents were Solomon Batchelor (1750-1806) and Sarah Boswell (Braswell) (1750-1808).[34]
Children:
1. Victoria Caroline Batchelor m. 1. Abel Hodge Bucholtz
b. 20 Sept 1806 2. Henry Goodall Street
2. Mary Ann Harriot Batchelor m. 1. Iverson G. Lea
b. 14 Jan 1809 2. Rev. James Smylie
3. James Madison Batchelor m. Elizabeth Ker Nutt (she was the dau.
b. 14 Jan 1809 of Rush Nutt. Rush Nutt and Elizabeth
Ker were the parents of Haller Nutt of
Longwood in Natchez
4. Thomas Agrippa Gayden Batchelor m. 1. Martha Stuart (Stewart)
b. 7 Aug 1813 2. Martha Louisa Chandler
3. Mary Virginia Griffin[35]
Children:
2. Iverson
Batchelor m.
unmarried
3. Mary
Norwood Batchelor m. Patton
Thomas A. Batchelor raised his family in Amite County, Mississippi. His grandsons, Albert and Iverson, inherited a house after the Civil War built by their uncle Charles Stewart,[37] called Lakeside House, built about 1823[38] in Pointe Coupee Parish at Red River Landing. It was later called Bella Vista. Iverson bought out Albert. He never married and left the house to his sister Mary Norwood Batchelor Patton.[39]
5. Napoleon Bonaparte Batchelor
2. Cadesby Gayden
b. 1776
d. 1841
3. Agrippa Gayden m. Margaret Lea
b. 2 July 1778 b. 2 Jan 1803
d. 17 Jan 1845 d. 9 Oct 1845
Children:
1. Minerva
Cecilia Gayden
b. 1819
2. William
Gayder
b. 1821
3. George Lea Gayden m. Martha Evelyn Scott
b. 3 Oct 1822 b. 2 Aug 1828
d. 30 Sept 1861 d. 11 Feb 1878
4. Elvira Gayden m. Albert Gallatin Cage (grandson of Duncan
Stewart of Holly Grove)
5. Mary Elizabeth Gayden m. Joseph Redhead
b. 1830
d. 1851
Children:
1. Mary Redhead m. …Morrill
2. Jack Redhead m. Julia Norwood
b. 24 Nov 1891
d. 19 Jan 1970, bur Norwood
6. Franklin
Agrippa Gayden
b. 23 June 1836
7. Iverson
Green Gayden, Sr. m. 1 Ellen Scott (dau.
Judge Thomas Scott
b. 19 Jan 1825 of Oakland
Plantation, near Gurley)
d. 17 Nov 1896
Children:
1. Ellen Gayden m. L. Duncan Norwood
Children:
1. Minerva
Norwood
2. Thomas
S. Norwood, MD m. Belle
b. 10 Dec 1881
d. 24 Sept 1915, bur Norwood
Children:
1. George
Scott Norwood
b. 27 Feb 1910
d. 21 Nov 1910, bur Norwood
3. Frank
Norwood
4. Nell
A. Norwood
b. 17 Apr 1884
d. 26 Feb 1904, bur Norwood
Iverson Greene Gayden m. 2. Martha Jane Thompson
Children:
1. Julia
Gayden m.
Sam J. Perkins, MD
b. c. 1868 Oakland Plantation
4. Patsey Martha Gayden m. Lewis Perkins
b. 1781
d. 1819
Children:
1. Dalcho
Perkins
2. Nancy
Perkins
3. Elisa
Perkins
4. Monroe
Perkins
[1]
State-Times, Baton Rouge, May 17, 1962.
[2] Personal
communication, Jenn Brian.
[3] Personal
communication, Jenn Brian, 2011.
[4] The
Advocate, 16 Jan 2015.
[5] Personal
communication 2019.
[6] Personal
communication, Marvin Stuckey, 2009.
[7] Personal
communication, Jenn Brian, 2011.
[8] Personal
communication, Henry Darden, 20ll. The
land had been marketed for $500/acre but the Dardens purchased the pasture land
for $300 and the timber land for $150.
This included the 200 plus acre separate tract that he later sold and
which was eventually purchased by Marvin Stuckey off Ancil Cox Rd.
[9] Henry
Darden, personal communication, 2012.
[10] Pelican
Guide to Plantations of Louisiana by Anne Butler and Henry Cancienne
[11] a web
posting, looks like a national register nomination.
[12] WR. 1
Feb 1879. The gin house and several bales of cotton belonging to AJ Norwood
burned.
[13] ibid
[14] Obit
for Wilson in The Watchman, Clinton
[16] Obit
for Wilson
[17] New
Roads….p. 145.
[18] papers
in the possession of Ann Newton.
[19] The
following genealogy is from Ancestry.com
[20] Those
noted buried Norwood; dates from Hillcrest Cemetery, Norwood, La.
[21] at
Richland according to Jen Bryant, 2012
[22] Tulane
Architecture, Methodist
[23]
daughter of Willard Isbell Redditt. Graduate Sophie Newcomb 1945
[24]
Columbia LA
[25] Baton
Rouge, buried Columbia LA
[26] living
Highlands NC 2016
[27] lives
Baton Rouge 2015.
[28] The
Majesty of the Felicianas, by Lee Malone, 1989, p. 73
[29] The
Perkins genealogy that follows comes from data from Ann Newton, 2011.
[30] New
Roads…p. 145.
[31] See
Ker/Nutt genealogy.
[32] This
genealogy is from web: Worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com
[33]
familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/i/l/ed/r/killian
[34]
freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com
[35]
famillytreemaker.genealogy.com
[36]
granddaughter of Duncan Stewart of Holly Grove
[37]
Youngest son of Duncan Stewart of Holy Grove
[38] The
actual date was probably the 1850’s based on style and the age of Charles
Stewart.
[39] ibid
No comments:
Post a Comment