Robert Magee (1793 - 1859)

Born 14 Feb 1793 in Sampson County, North Carolina

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret (Graves) Magee — married 11 Nov 1813 in Marion County, Mississippi Territory

Descendants

Died 11 Nov 1859 at age 66 in Jaynesville, Covington, Mississippi, United States

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Robert Magee was part of a Southern Pioneer Family. Join: Southern Pioneers Project Discuss: southern_pioneers

Robert Magee served in the 13th Regiment, Mississippi Militia in the War of 1812
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Biography

Robert “Robin” Magee was born 14 February 1793 on his father’s farm in Sampson County, North Carolina. After a sojourn in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, his father (Philip Magee) followed other Magee relatives and migrated to the Mississippi Territory, settling in the St. Stephens area of Washington County (now Alabama). Before the War of 1812, the Magees continued their westward migration, ultimately settling in Amite and Marion Counties.

In Marion County, Robin met and married Margaret “Peggy” Graves. He served as a private in Capt. James McGowen’s company of the Mississippi Territorial Militia’s 13th Regiment (Nixon’s) during the war. Shortly after the end of the war, the Philip Magee clan moved north, near the border of the Choctaw Nation. In 1817, they finally settled along Skiffer Creek, a tributary of Bouie Creek, in present-day Jefferson Davis County.

Despite growing up as a yeoman farmer and herdsman with no formal education, Robin began a steady acquisition of land and slaves throughout the 1820s. By the 1830s, he had begun the cultivation of cotton. He briefly forayed into merchandising in the late 1830s, but ceased that operation after a few years to fully concentrate on cotton production. He continued to acquire land and slaves, and was the wealthiest citizen of Covington County in the 1850s, as well as one of the wealthiest in the Pine Hills of Mississippi, east of the Pearl River. The Magee Plantation was centered in Covington County, but also consisted of isolated tracts in Simpson, Smith, Scott, Rankin, and Newton Counties.

Robin and Peggy were the parents of fifteen children, twelve of whom lived to adulthood: Mary Ann, Sarah, Caroline, Amanda, Dickson, Laurin, Jehu, Jackson, Robert, Hugh, Warren, and Jane. Three of their children died young: Eliza, Leroy, and Martha. Robin also fathered a child out-of-wedlock with Peggy’s sister, Eliza (Graves) Durr, named Susannah.

Robin died at his big log house in the Jaynesville community of a stroke on 11 November 1859, and was buried in the plantation’s cemetery (known today as the Magee Cemetery). The Magee Cemetery and Hopewell Presbyterian Church are the only remaining sites dating to the plantation’s existence. All of the Magee plantation’s other structures, including the big house, kitchen, slave quarters, and outbuildings, were of ephemeral log construction (typical construction method in the antebellum Pine Hills), and no longer exist.

Brian Flynt

Known names of persons enslaved by Robert Magee

In February of 1860 a division was made of the property of Robert Magee. That division included 72 slaves^[1].

To his widow, Margaret, for life:

• Wesly and Vilet, and their two [unnamed] children
• Tom and Easter, and their two [unnamed] youngest children
• Marcus and Hen(?)
• Lefus and Amerca
• Moll and Az(?)
• Levi, Silvy, and Jim [unclear of these were a family or just 3 single people]
• George
• Ming [Wing?]
• Aron
• Allen

Lot #1 to the children of Caroline [Magee] Durr

• Bety valued at $350
• Cato $1700
• Ely $1450
• Chany [or Charry?] $700
• George $275

Lot #2 to W[arren] G Magee

• Nic valued at $500
• Nelson jr. $1500
• Henrietaa $1100
• Jeffery $1600

Lot #3 to Margaret Jane [Magee] Easterling

• Bets valued at $300
• Little Steave $1350
• Jinny $1400
• Ned $300
• Jeff $950

Lot # 4 to T[urpin] D[ickson] Magee

• Eady valued at $750
• Aggy $1500
• Big Frank $1500
• Little Frank $1000

Lot # 5 to E[manuel] J[ackson] Magee

• Milly $400
• Emip $1500
• Meg(?) $1350
• Jo $600
• Green $1100

Lot # 6 to R[obert]P[hilip] Magee

• May valued at $1000
• Daniel $1500
• Big Steve $1200
• Mim $1000

Lot # 7 to Sarah A [Magee]Weathersby

• Ned valued at $950
• Cay $1500
• Eph $1600
• Martin $300
• Calep $700

Lot # 8 to Mary Ann [Magee] Ross

• Little Hez(?) valued at $1000
• Rachael $1400
• Washington $1250
• Bill $1300

Lot # 9 to Amanda [Magee] Norwood

• Jesse valued at $900
• Charity $1400
• Sam $1400
• Clinton $300
• Dicy $100
• Tildy $500

Lot #10 to L[aurin] R[ankin] Magee

• Nelson valued at $1650
• Mariah $900
• Winy [or Wing?] $1000
• Coleman $250
• Ann $600

Lot # 11 to J[ehu] G Magee

• Big Haz(?) valued at $1300
• Faiy(?) $ 1300
• Davison $1200
• Elie $675

Lot #12 to H[ugh R[ufus] Magee

• Edmun valued at $1300
• Big Tilda $1500
• Virginia $325
• Lydia $175
• Cross $1250

When

Sources

1. ↑ Covington County, MS Probate Minutes Vol 1-2 1854-1861. Estate Settlement and Division of Robert Magee beginning on page 314. Image 176. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99Q6-H21N?i=250&cc=2036959&cat=782753

• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVY-3M1W : 10 September 2021), Robin, ; Burial, , Jefferson Davis, Mississippi, United States of America, Magee Cemetery; citing record ID 30367090, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• "Mississippi Marriages, 1800-1911", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2Z1-NN3 : 14 February 2020), Robert Magee, 1813.

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4LH-GD3 : 22 December 2020), Robert Magee, Covington, Mississippi, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• Harold Johnson's book: "Eight Generations of Descendants of Allen Johnson"