Margaret Johnson Erwin Dudley (1821-1863) was a

Southern belle "Southern belle" () is a colloquialism for a debutante or other fashionable young woman of European heritage in the planter class of the Antebellum South, particularly as a romantic counterpart to the Southern gentleman. Characteristics Th ...

, planter and letter writer in the

Antebellum South The ''Antebellum'' South era (from ) was a period in the history of the Southern United States that extended from the conclusion of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. This era was marked by the prevalent practic ...

. The owner of Mount Holly from 1854 to 1863, she was one of the largest

slaveholders Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in Mississippi. She freed her slaves in 1858, prior to the beginning of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Early life

Margaret Johnson was born on March 4, 1821. Her father, Captain Henry Johnson, was a large landowner and slaveholder in

Washington County, Mississippi Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,922. Its county seat is Greenville. The county is named in honor of the first president of the United States, George Washingt ...

. Her mother was Elizabeth Julia Flournoy. Her paternal grandfather,

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

, was a Kentucky

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community. A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...

and surveyor. One of her paternal uncle,

Richard Mentor Johnson Richard Mentor Johnson (October 17, 1780 – November 19, 1850) was an American lawyer, military officer and politician who served as the ninth vice president of the United States from 1837 to 1841 under President Martin Van Buren. He is ...

, served as the ninth

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

from 1837 to 1841, under President

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth president of the United States, serving from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as Attorney General o ...

. Her maternal grandfather, Major Matthew Flournoy, served in the

American Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonization of the Americas, European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States o ...

.Harry S. Laver, ''Citizens More Than Soldiers: The Kentucky Militia and Society in the Early Republic'', Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2007, p. 18

/ref> Like many Southern belle, Southern belles, Margaret learned to speak French fluently and studied French culture.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese Elizabeth Ann Fox-Genovese ( Fox; May 28, 1941 – January 2, 2007) was an American historian best known for her works on women and society in the Antebellum South. A Marxist early on in her career, she later converted to Roman Catholicism and ...

, Eugene D. Genovese
''The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview''
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 48 She disapproved of the

French Revolution of 1848 The French Revolution of 1848 (), also known as the February Revolution (), was a period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation of the French Second Republic. It sparked t ...

, which overthrew King

Louis Philippe Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

and established the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

led by Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

Career

In 1854, Dudley acquired Mount Holly, a 1,699-acre Southern

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

Lake Washington Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...

with outbuildings, livestock and 100 enslaved people, from her father. She paid US$100,000 for it. With 100 slaves, she became "among the top 1 per cent of all slaveholders in Mississippi" according to Civil War historian John Y. Simon. After she remarried in 1855, an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

mansion was erected on the land. Margaret was critical of the South, which she described as "stagnant." She was a "staunch supporter" of

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

politician

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. She corresponded with

Ellen Ewing Sherman Eleanor "Ellen" Boyle Ewing Sherman (October 4, 1824 – November 28, 1888) was the wife of General William Tecumseh Sherman, a leading Union general in the American Civil War. She was also a prominent figure of the times in her own right. ...

, the wife of

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

General

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

. She criticized ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...

'' by

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

as "jejune, sentimental, and piffling". She freed her slaves in 1858, prior to the

. She believed men and women ought to be on the same level. She was described by Civil War historian John R. Brumgardt as "an independent southern woman who disrespected convention." She often took trips to Europe with Caroline Wilson, a friend from Philadelphia.

Personal life

She married James Erwin, the son of Colonel

Andrew Erwin Andrew Erwin may refer to: * Andrew Erwin (businessman) (1773–1834), an American merchant * Andrew Erwin (b. 1978), a film director, one of Erwin brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin, known as the Erwin Brothers, are American Christian film d ...

, a politician from Tennessee, in 1843. His former wife was Ann Brown Clay, the daughter of

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

,Woody Woods
''Delta Plantations - The Beginning''
2010, p. 39 and his brother,

John Patton Erwin John Patton Erwin (January 8, 1795 – August 27, 1857) was an American Whig politician. He served as the Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1821 to 1822, and from 1834 to 1835. Early life John Patton Erwin was born on January 8, 1795, in Wilkes ...

, was the editor-in-chief of the '' Nashville Whig'' newspaper and served as the mayor of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

from 1821 to 1822, and from 1834 to 1835. Moreover, his sister married

Thomas Yeatman Thomas T. Yeatman Sr. (1787–1833) was the owner of an iron foundry and was a prominent cotton trader, banker, steamboat owner, and commission business partner in Nashville, Tennessee. Yeatman's father was a boatbuilder in Brownsville, Pen ...

and later John Bell. They had a son, James William Erwin, who died as an infant, in 1851. Meanwhile, her husband died in 1851. She remarried in 1855 to Dr Charles William Dudley, the son of Kentucky surgeon Benjamin Winslow Dudley. They lived at Mount Holly. They had a son, Charles Wilkins Dudley Jr., who died in 1911 in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Death and legacy

Dudley died on August 28, 1863. She was forty-one years old. She was buried at the

Lexington Cemetery Lexington Cemetery is a private, non-profit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 833 W. Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky. The Lexington Cemetery was established in 1848 as a place of beauty and a public cemetery, in part to deal w ...

in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1981, Dudley's great-grandson John Seymour Irwin edited a collection of her letters entitled ''Like Some Green Laurel: Letters of Margaret Johnson Erwin, 1821-1863'', published by the

Louisiana State University Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of University Pres ...

. Irwin transcribed the letters in shorthand, then owned by collector A. S. W. Rosenbach. Their location is now unknown. The book is a biography, based on the letters but also on recollections from other descendants and documents about business and legal transactions he inherited. It contains many factual errors. The Mount Holly mansion burned down on June 17, 2015.The Associated Press
Fire destroys Mount Holly Plantation near Greenville
''

The Sun Herald The ''Sun Herald'' is a U.S. newspaper based in Biloxi, Mississippi, that serves readers along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The paper's current executive editor and general manager is Blake Kaplan, and its headquarters is in the city of Gulfpor ...

'', June 17, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson Erwin Dudley, Margaret 1821 births 1863 deaths People from Washington County, Mississippi 19th-century American letter writers American women letter writers Women slave owners American slave owners 19th-century American women writers 19th-century American planters 19th-century American women farmers 19th-century American farmers 19th-century American women landowners