The White Castle of Louisiana

Louisville, KY: John P. Morton and Company. Near Fine. 1986. Reprint. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations; This book is in Near Fine condition and is lacking a dust jacket. The book and its contents are in clean, bright condition. The text pages are clean and bright. John Hampden Randolph, a native of Virginia born in 1813 came to Mississippi with his parents in 1819. He grew up on his father's plantation in Wilkinson County and subsequently became a cotton farmer. This was his occupation in Mississippi until 1841 when he bought a plantation in Iberville Parish, Louisiana to which he moved in December of that year. For three years he raised cotton as a staple on his plantation. "Forest Rome," but at the end of that time changed to sugar cane. In the period prior to the Civil War and in the years shortly after its close, Randolph built up a large estate and in the meantime became a very successful sugar planter. By 1871 his landed possessions in Iberville Parish amounted to over 7000 acres which, however, included more than 3000 acres of swamp land. He also owned lands in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, and Texas. In 1858 he built a beautiful mansion on his plantation fronting the Mississippi River and named it "Nottoway," after the County in Virginia where his ancestors had lived. During the Civil War Randolph held on to his land in Louisiana and Texas, and about 1863 took his slaves and other valuable property to Texas, where he cultivated his land in that state. After the war he returned to Louisiana with a number of the Negroes, many of whom continued to work for him as freedmen." (from Louisiana State University regarding the subject of this book: John Hampden Randolph, A Southern Planter) "She loved her father deeply and wrote "The White Castle of Louisiana," a diary about her life at Nottoway in 1903. She used her named and initials spelled backwards, M. R. Ailenroc, to publish this book and dedicate it to her father. She married Dr. David Gamble Murrell at the plantation. " (from the Nottaway website) .