David Hunt (October 22, 1779 – May 18, 1861) was an American planter based in the Natchez District of Mississippi. From New Jersey in approximately 1800, he took a job in his uncle Abijah Hunt's Mississippi business. After his uncle's untimely 1811 death, as a beneficiary and as the executor of the estate, he began to convert the estate into his plantation empire. By the time of the 1860 slave census, Hunt owned over 500 enslaved Africans. Had he not given approximately 500 enslaved Africans to his children, he would have had over 1,000. He gave each of his five adult children at least one plantation and about 100 slaves. In fact, Hunt and his five adult children and their spouses owned some 1,700 slaves by 1860.

Known as "King David," Hunt made a fortune in cotton production and sales. He was one of twelve millionaires residing near Natchez, Mississippi, at a time when there only were 35 millionaires in the entire United States. He became a major philanthropist in the South, contributing to educational institutions in Mississippi, as well as the American Colonization Society and Mississippi Colonization Society, the latter of which he was a founding member.

Biography

Early life in New Jersey David Hunt was born on October 22, 1779, on a farm near Ringoes, New Jersey.Dunbar Hunt, " ," The Fayette Chronicle, 29 May 1908, Volume XLI, Number 35. It was west and in the country compared to the capital of Trenton, New Jersey. He had a brother, Andrew Hunt, and several half siblings from his father Jonathan's second marriage. They were descendants of Ralph Hunt the line being Ralph, Edward, Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan.

Plantation Empire in the Natchez District

David Hunt's uncle Abijah Hunt (1762-1811) had become wealthy as a merchant to the Army at Fort Washington in Cincinnati, Ohio and later in every area of cotton related business in the Natchez District. Abijah lived in Old Greenville, Jefferson County, Mississippi. David moved as a young man to the Natchez District in approximately 1800. He laid claim to 200 acres on Coles Creek in Jefferson County where he lived and cultivated the land beginning in the spring of 1800.May Wilson McBee, The Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805: Abstracts of Early Records, Baltimore, Maryland: Reprinted for Clearfield Co., Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1994, 2003, p. 513 This land was near Greenville. In addition to working his land, David also worked as a clerk in one of his uncle's stores - probably in the nearby (now extinct) town of Old Greenville. In his third year, David was promoted to a position managing all of his uncle's stores, which were along the Old Natchez Trace at Natchez in Adams County, Greenville in Jefferson County and at the Grindstone Ford in Claiborne County. It made sense for Abijah and David to live in the Greenville area because it was in approximately equidistance between Abijah's Natchez and Grindstone Ford stores along the Old Natchez Trace. David's salary was, consequently, increased from $200 per year to $3,000 per year due to this promotion. Now he could more quickly expand his enslaved African and land purchases. He married Thomas Calvit's daughter - Mary Calvit - in 1808 and moved to her parents' Calviton Plantation, which was near Old Greenville and David's uncle's Jefferson County plantation called Huntley. Soon after, Mary died in childbirth, and her new child died too.

David's Uncle Abijah died in a duel in 1811. After his uncle's 1811 death, David inherited his uncle's extensive land investments and his share in various businesses (general stores, public cotton gins, and a cotton brokerage). Shortly, in 1813 David built a new house on his Woodlawn Plantation, which adjoined Calviton, and in 1817 married Ann Ferguson.

Abijah's estate included more than just the land investments and various businesses. From Abijah's estate inventory, land records and enslaved African censuses, it appears that he had two plantations in total at his death with about 30 enslaved Africans on each. These were Hunt Plantation on the east side of Port Gibson in Claiborne County and Huntley Plantation near the now extinct town of Greenville in Jefferson County. He also had a home in Greenville with a few enslaved house servants, as well as a nice library (which found its way to David's estate). Though David only inherited a very small share of the two plantations and Greenville home, he seems to have acquired most or all of it. As an executor of his uncle's estate, from probate records it appears that David slowly used the profits of the two plantations - rather than selling them - as well as profits from his big inheritance to pay off the other heirs. This helped him to be able to buy out his Uncle's business partners, and sell the businesses to create a large inventory of plantations.Gary D. Joiner, Cheryl H. White, Historic Haunts of Shreveport, The History Press, 2010, pp. 73-74 Thus, shrewdly using this large inheritance from his Uncle is how David became one of the twelve millionaires in the Natchez area in the antebellum era. It seems to have taken being a rich doctor, lawyer, merchant, banker or having a large inheritance to ever have the wealth necessary to build up more than just one plantation. David and his children eventually owned many plantations.

David Hunt's enslaved African ownership numbers from census data in various years: 1805 - Jefferson County, MS, 9 1808 - Jefferson County, MS, 11 1810 - Jefferson County, MS, 24 (also David's father-in-law Thomas Calvit, 50 enslaved and 3,050 acres on Coles Creek and the MS. River) 1811 - David Inherited from his Uncle Abijah: well over 10,000 acres of land in Adams (including Franklin), Jefferson, and Claiborne Counties in Mississippi; and in Concordia and Tensas Parishes in Louisiana. He also was executor for two plantations with approximately 30 enslaved each - Huntley in Jefferson County and Hunt Plantation adjacent to Port Gibson, Claiborne County. David inherited the land comprising these plantations and possibly slowly bought the enslaved, livestock and equipment as he settled his uncle's estate, which was still being settled in 1838. 1816 - Jefferson County, MS, 31 (During the War of 1812 when many firms went bankrupt and could be purchased cheaply, David had bought out the other heirs to his uncle's stores. He later sold the stores making $30,000, and invested in a plantation on the Bayou Pierre, probably in Claiborne County. Possibly this was David investing in his uncle's former plantation that was adjacent to Port Gibson and the Bayou Pierre. However, it was sold before very many years, because David was not listed as having slaves in Claiborne County in later years.) 1818 - Jefferson County, MS, 70 1820 - Jefferson County, MS, 101. Some of the details of this follow. 776 acres which was Fatlands Plantation (also known as Flatlands) on the north side of Dowds Creek with 43 enslaved, 636 acres on Coles Creek known as the Hunt Place, and the 880-acre Black Creek Plantation (which was mainly valuable for its cypress trees). 50 slaves were shared between the Hunt Place (Woodlawn) and Black Creek Plantation. 1827 - Jefferson County, MS, 159 enslaved worth $47,800, 7,968 acres worth $78,975, 212 horses and cattle worth $4,460, 6 wheels of pleasure carriages, $3,000 loaned at interest, assessed for tax purposes on $134,235. 1860 - Jefferson County, MS, 386 shared between Woodlawn, Southside and Brick Quarters, Fatlands, and Black Creek; Concordia Parish, LA, Hole-in-the-Wall 99; Issaquena County, MS, 82 on Wilderness Plantation; Tensas Parish, LA, 139 on Argyle - in trust for grandchildren by his son Abijah. Thus, he had 567 enslaved if the 139 Argyle enslaved are already being counted as belonging to his grandchildren. Otherwise, he had 706 on seven plantations. Of course, it has been written that by this time he had given away another 500 enslaved and at least five plantations (but most likely eight plantations) to his children - Mary Ann, Abijah, George, Catherine and Charlotte.

In addition to the many plantations listed below, the Hunt family is also assiciated with the following plantations: Waverly, Fatherland, Fairview, Oak Burn, Givin Place and others.Harnett T. Kane, Natchez on the Mississippi, New York: William Morrow & Company, 1947, p. 174-189 Approximately, by 1860 the Hunt clan (David Hunt, his children and their spouses) had built up to at least 450 enslaved in Issaquena County (including William Balfour's Fairland), 359 enslaved in Louisiana, 25 enslaved in Adams County, and 750 enslaved in Jefferson County (Including Edgar Wood's Givin Place). Thus, Hunt clan ownership of between 1,600 to 1,700 enslaved Africans is not an exaggeration. From loans to his children in David Hunt's probate records and from land inherited and purchased by David that went to his children, it is clear that David was bankrolling the aggressive expansion of the family cotton plantation empire with each year's plantation profits. Jefferson County. In 1862 David's approximately 375 Jefferson County enslaved Africans were shared between Woodlawn (123 enslaved), Brick Quarters (sometimes called Southside and Brick Quarters - 128 enslaved), Fatlands (approximately 121 enslaved), and Black Creek (3 enslaved). Only three enslaved Africans were on Black Creek - possibly because it was mostly a cypress swamp. The enslaved are listed by name in the probate records on the Family Search website. Other Jefferson County plantations that David Hunt was associated with included: Calviton, Huntley, Ashland, Oakwood, Buena Vista, and Servis Island. These were plantations that David bought, created or inherited and gave to his children or plantations that others created on land that David sold to them. Plantations David still owned in Jefferson County when he died in 1861. Woodlawn. Woodlawn was David Hunt's home plantation. Probate records show 123 enslaved by 1862. David's Woodlawn home is dated 1813, which is shortly after his Uncle Abijah's death. After inheriting Huntley, land records show that David purchased about 300 acres adjoining Calviton for his Woodlawn house and much more land over the years, which eventually created the plantation and connected it to Huntley Plantation as well. Calviton and Huntley were given to David's sons Adijah and George, respectively. Woodlawn was on Cole's Creek, seven miles south of the town of Rodney. It was about 1,500 acres when it was sold to the Wagners after the Hunts owned it. It was then increased to 2,200 acres. Brick Quarters Plantation. The Brick Quarters enslaved count was 128 in 1862 probate records. It was sometimes referred to as Southside or Southside and Brick Quarters in later years when it was expanded to the Mississippi River and to adjoin Fatlands Plantation on the southside of Dowd's creek. It adjoined Calviton Plantation. David Hunt's son Dunbar inherited Southside after the Civil War. Dunbar had more than 50 acres of pecan trees there. He sold one crop to the Hotel Waldorf in New York for one dollar per pound. Southside was 2,200 acres. Southside and Brick Quarters was located on maps in and around Sections 28-29-38 T10N-R1W. Fatlands Plantation. It was on the north side of Dowds Creek opposite Southside Plantation. It was also on the Mississippi River - just south of the town of Rodney. In 1862 probate records, the plantation had 121 enslaved. Black Creek Plantation. It possibly contained 3,200 acres located on Coles Creek near the Mississippi River. It was given to David Hunt's daughter Elizabeth when she married William F. Ogden after the Civil War. Its main value was in its cypress trees. Thus, it was probably swampy, and only had 3 enslaved in 1862 probate records. It was put into a trust for Elizabeth's children. Black Creek Plantation was located on maps in and around Sections 39-40 T10N-R1W.