Stephen Duncan
| Stephen Duncan | |
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Stephen Duncan
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| Born | March 4, 1787 Carlisle, Pennsylvania |
| Died | January 29, 1867 (aged 79) New York City |
| Resting place | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia |
| Education | Dickinson College |
| Occupation | Plantation owner, banker |
| Known for | Wealthiest cotton planter in the South prior to the American Civil War; second largest slave owner in the country |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Ellis Catherine Bingaman (m. 1819) |
| Children | (with Margaret): John Ellis Duncan, Sarah Jane Duncan (with Catherine): Stephen Duncan, Jr., Charlotte N. Duncan, M. L. Duncan, Henry P. Duncan |
Stephen Duncan (1787-1867) became a major planter and banker in Mississippi, migrating there from his home state of Pennsylvania after getting a medical degree. He became the wealthiest cotton planter in the South prior to the American Civil War, investing in railroads and Midwest lands. He owned thousands of acres of land and more than 1,000 slaves in the 1850s, cultivating both cotton and sugar cane as commodity crops.
In 1830 he and James Brown, a wealthy US Senator from Louisiana, paid for the purchase of land in Canada to aid American free blacks from Cincinnati found a new community, which became known as the Wilberforce Colony. In the 1830s, he was among the co-founders of the Mississippi Colonization Society in the 1830s, and helped purchase land in West Africa for removal of free people of color from the state.
In 1860 Duncan was the second-largest slave owner in the country. He opposed secession, incurring ostracism in Mississippi. He moved from Natchez to New York City in 1863, where he had long had business interests. Ultimately, Duncan was what many of the northern planters from this time aspired to be, and was essential in perpetuating the connection between northern success and growth with southern networks of slavery.
Stephen Duncan was born on March 4, 1787 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He received a medical degree from Dickinson College.
In 1808, shortly before the War of 1812, Duncan moved as a young man to Natchez, Mississippi Territory, a developing river town that was important to trading along the Mississippi River. In the antebellum South, Natchez became a thriving city thanks to the booming cotton industry. In Natchez, he became a banker and planter. He served as the President of the Bank of Mississippi.
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