10/07/2024
🌿 The People of Holly Hedges: Family 2: The Turner Family
In 1818 Holly Hedges, as it is known today, was sold by its owners Susanna Scott Smith and her second husband Philander Smith to Judge Edward Turner and his wife Eliza Baker Turner (Betsy) for $2,000. Philander's will talks about all the funds Susanna had received from her previous marriage plus the growth during her widowhood going to her two children, Anna Belle and John, so I wonder if they gave them the money from this sale? I believe they did.
About a year later the Turners also purchased Texada Tavern across the street, the oldest brick home in the area, as a rental property. Their first tenant was the MS state legislature. Apparently there is some growing evidence that John James Audubon stayed there for a time when he was in the area (his painting of Natchez was 1822 so I'm supposing it would have been at that time, while the Turners owned it.)
The Turners were a very interesting and well-known family at the time. I have attached two portraits along with a silhouette from a museum in New Orleans.
Here's a bit more about the illustrious Judge Turner and his wife Betsy:
Edward Turner was born in Fairfax County, VA in Nov. 25, 1778. He was educated at Transylvania University in Kentucky, where he studied law. In 1801 he moved to Natchez where he began practicing law. He was appointed aide-de-camp of the Mississippi Territory and soon became the clerk of the territorial house of representatives, also serving as the governor’s private secretary.
He was elected to the Mississippi legislature (twice serving as Speaker of the House), and served as Attorney General of Mississippi. He served on the Mississippi Supreme Court, including a time as Chief Justice in 1829. That's quite a resume!!
Sept 5, 1802 he married Mary West and they had two children, who died at ages 6 and 24. Sadly his young wife Mary West Turner also died in 1811 at the age of 25.
Edward then married Eliza (Betsy) Baker (1789-1878) from New Jersey on Dec. 26, 1812. They had two daughters Mary Louisa Turner (McMurran) and Elizabeth Frances Turner -known as F***y (Conner.) He also had two sons, John and Edward, but both died around age 4.
He was described as a portly and commanding figure , standing 6’ 2”. He was said to be generous and kind, brilliant in conversation, and gracious in manners. I always read that he was not considered a “profound lawyer” but he was thoroughly honest and industrious and is considered the great judicial figure of the early period of Mississippi.
I have seen it questioned whether Judge Turner built a new home on the spot or remodeled the home ... but I don't think so... I think he bought it as it stood and here is why. Susanna had been building a house on the spot in 1805 ...which I personally also believe was also adding onto the original 1796 structure... but can't prove it.
I could be wrong, but I just don't picture those early territorial days being quite flush enough with cash that they would tear down anything of value. I would think they would add to what was there. The first owner John Scott was known as a builder so I personally like to assume that his starter home was at least decent quality since John Scott was a proper builder.
Then, after John Scott's 1801 death, Susanna was also "building a home" on the site in 1805 and later married Philander Smith, a man of some note. I can't picture what any of these people had built to be so shoddy that Judge Turner would have torn it down. I mean, who has the time? 😂 He also bought Texada across the street which was also already a fully formed house.
Natchez history is blessed by the existence or so many portraits and paintings because there was SO much wealth there at the in the decades before the Civil War. That would have made it a very attractive destination for portrait artists seeking multiple commissions.
In 1822 John James Audubon spent some time in the area and painted a well known portrait of Natchez, in which you can see Holly Hedges as a single gabled building. It's certainly not so grand that it makes me think Judge Turner's predecessors couldn't have built it before his acquisition in 1818 (see the close up). In 1835 Tooley painted a very similarly angled portrait and we will see tomorrow that between 1822 and 1835 an obvious and significant addition had been done, putting the home into basically the foot print we have today. That would have been done by the third owners, the Turners daughter and son-in-law (the daughter Mary Louisa is the young girl in the portrait).
After a long and well lived life Judge Turner died May 23, 1860... shortly before the start of the Civil War... in Natchez at his then home, The Woodlands. He was 81. His wife Betsy lived on at The Woodlands until her death in 1878 at the ripe old age of 89. They both lived a very long life for those times.
