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J. F. H. CLAIBORNE'S LIFE AS WRITTEN BY HIMSELF ? LOVE FOR MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST
Letter Dated July 12, 1879
"Journal of Mississippi History" - Vol. VI - Jan., 19^*+ - No. 1 "Letter From J.F.H.Claiborne to Richard Abbey" - pace ^8-50
edited by C. E. Cain
J. F. H. Claiborne (l807-l88lf) to Rev. Richard Abbey, D.D. (1805-1891) of Miss. Methodist Conference and financial secretary of its publishing house at Nashville, Tenn.
Natchez, July 12th, 1879
My dear Friend:
... I left this state (Miss.) in I8W in consequence of pecuniary misfortunes (endorsements that engulfed all my estate) for New Orleans, where I supported myself by writing and made money by adventures in cotton, under advice of the late Henry Hill.
Five years after I became a planter of Sea Island cotton on the Gulf Coast (Hancock County), and an operator in timber; was out of debt with a net income of $6000 when the war occurred.
I lost my negroes, of course, but being within the Federal lines I made some money on cotton.
Since the war, on the death of my old mother-in-law,
Mrs. Dunbar, we have resided on her plantation on Second Creek, near the old Court House (Natchez), though I still retain my interest on the Gulf Coast and spend half my time there.
I later lost there my dwelling house, library, etc., by fire, or I should be there now.
I have one daughter well married and prosperous in the city of New York; one unmarried, now at the Virginia Springs. My only son, an officer in the ill-fated Confederacy, I lost during the war. My wife and myself are here growing old together ....
I lead a quiet life here with all the accessories of comfort, but I prefer	the seashore.	Here my life	is sad. ... My brother,
William Leigh and his wife	. . . live in	Point Coupee, La.
... I	am still a temperate man; I	take a glass of wine,	beer
or toddy but	never enter a	grog shop and	was never on a spree.
I have never been inside a race track. I never learned cards, dice, billiards, or any other game. I never bet or buy lottery tickets. I never swear. Never wore weapons. Never belonged to a society or club. Never attended but one public dinner. Have not been in a theater or ballroom for forty years. Never learned the use of tobacco. Have never sued or been sued (for a debt of my own) and thank God, I am at peace with all mankind. ....
(letter in 19*+3 vas in possession of Dr. B.L.Magruder, Starkville,MS)