Charles DeFrance
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Charles DeFrance (March 10, 1765 – August 14, 1820) is mostly known for serving as a Deputy Surveyor General in the U.S. Department of the Interior and leasing some of his homes to serve as the capitol buildings of the Mississippi Territory government and later the government of the State of Mississippi. Charles DeFrance’s home, Assembly Hall, is both listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as listed as a State of Mississippi Landmark.[1]
Charles DeFrance was born in 1765 in Pennsylvania to John Henry DeFrance and his wife Elizabeth Boon.[2]
Charles DeFrance migrated to Natchez, MS around 1804 to serve as Deputy Surveyor General for the United States Government.[3] Isaac Briggs, who was the Surveyor General, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury outlining the surveying and architectural work Charles DeFrance would do, and the compensation he was paid was several multiples of the average income. [4] Some of the work of Charles DeFrance has been digitized by the State of Mississippi and made available through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. [5]
Charles DeFrance, who was a wealthy heir from the inheritance he received from his DeFrance and Boon forbears, had several houses built in the Natchez, Mississippi area. One house he owned is Assembly Hall, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places[1] Charles DeFrance leased this and an adjacent home to serve as the State capitol for the Mississippi Territory and later the State of Mississippi beginning in 1808. [6] The Supreme Court and the first bank of the State of Mississippi also leased Charles DeFrance’s house (Assembly Hall) to serve as its headquarters.[1] Charles DeFrance’s house was also made a Mississippi Landmark by the State of Mississippi in the 1990s due to its political, social, and economic role in the development of the state.[7]
Natchez, Mississippi in the early 1800s was a leading region in regards to the number of free people of color during the era of slavery.[8] Some free people of color in Natchez were among the wealthiest people in the region regardless of race or ethnicity. Most of the extremely wealthy free people of color in the Natchez region inherited large estates from a white parent or had a business set up by them. [9] Charles DeFrance was among the Natchez, Mississippi planters who had a mixed-race son during the antebellum period, who was named Charles DeFrance after him, to whom the elder Charles ensured his freedom, education, and that he would get a large inheritance.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/56daa591-ffe3-48bf-b06e-7346f5abcdde
- ↑ https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/americana-vo-n09100/lot.259.html
- ↑ "United States Congressional Serial Set". U.S. Government Printing Office. July 17, 1954 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Carter, Clarence Edwin; Bloom, John Porter (July 17, 1934). "The Territorial Papers of the United States". National Archives, National Archives and Records Service. – via Google Books.
- ↑ "MS Digital Archives". MS Digital Archives.
- ↑ Miller, Mary Carol (July 17, 2002). Lost landmarks of Mississippi. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781617034206 – via Google Books. Search this book on
- ↑ Miller, Mary Carol (July 17, 2002). Lost landmarks of Mississippi. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781617034206 – via Google Books. Search this book on
- ↑ "A Contested Presence: Free Black People in Antebellum Mississippi, 1820–1860 - 2000-05". www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov.
- ↑ Welch, Kimberly M. (January 2, 2018). Black Litigants in the Antebellum American South. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469636450 – via Google Books. Search this book on
- ↑ LeBlanc, Diane; Swanson, Allys (October 13, 2016). Playing for Equality: Oral Histories of Women Leaders in the Early Years of Title IX. McFarland. ISBN 9781476626987 – via Google Books. Search this book on
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