Walter Ross Wade (1810–1862) was an American medical doctor and planter in the Antebellum South. He owned the Rosswood Plantation, a cotton plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi. His diary was published posthumously.
Biography
Early life Walter Ross Wade was born in 1810 in South Carolina.Wade Family Papers, 1847-1851, University of South Carolina LibrariesGoogle Books: Journal description His father was Daniel Wade and his mother, Jean Brown Ross. His maternal grandfather was Isaac Ross, the first owner of the Prospect Hill Plantation.Walter Wade's Rosswood Plantation diary now available on CD, Natchez Democrat, September 17, 2003
Career He worked as a medical doctor, treating patients in the Natchez District. He kept a diary of his patient visits and other activities.
He purchased the Rosswood Plantation, a 1,250-acre cotton plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi.Bill Seratt, A Whimsical Farm of Frogs and the Singing Chef of Lorman, Visit Vicksburg, September 25, 2014Jack and Winnie Baldwin, Baldwin's Guide to Inns of Mississippi, Pelican Publishing, p. 79 He owned more than 100 African slaves who picked cotton in the fields. In 1857, he hired architect David Schroeder to design the Greek Revival mansion.Marc R. Matrana, Lost Plantations of the South, Oxford, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2009, p. 142 It was built as a gift for his second wife. The Wades entertained guests regularly and went fox-hunting on the grounds. During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, they invited the Confederate States Army to use the mansion as a Confederate hospital.
Personal life He married a cousin, Martha Taylor Wade. They had two children. After she died, he married Mabella Jane Duncan Chamberlain, and they also had two children.
Death He died in 1862.
Legacy His diary was published posthumously. In 2003, it was recorded as an audio book on a CD.
References