The Bennehan-Cameron Plantations, Orange County, North Carolina

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Orange, North Carolina, United States
Surnames/tags: Bennehan Cameron Slavery

Plantation Index

Contents 1 Bennehan-Cameron Plantations 1.1 Richard Bennehan 1.2 Thomas Bennehan 1.3 Duncan Cameron 1.4 Paul C. Cameron 2 Sources

Bennehan-Cameron Plantations

This is a holding page for the multiple plantations owned by the Bennehan-Cameron families.

Births and Deaths of the enslaved on the Bennehan-Cameron Plantations 1776-1842^[1]

Richard Bennehan

These plantations in the Piermont area and the Stagville conglomerate, began with Richard Bennehan (1743-1825):

• Brick House Plantation also called Mount Union, Orange Co, NC, purchased from Tyree Harris in 1776.^[2] This was the first plantation that Richard Bennehan owned with his new wife.^[3][4]
• Eno Mill Plantation
• Fish Dam Plantation^[5] Wake Co, NC
• Leathers Plantation
• Little River Plantation
• Snow Hill Plantation, founded as a store by William Johnston in 1763^[6], and later co-owned by William Johnston and Richard Bennehan, who moved from Virginia to North Carolina in 1768 to manage the store at Snow Hill^[5][6][7]
• Stagville Plantation

Richard Bennehan had an overseer named Allen in 1802.^[3]

After Richard Bennehan's death, the plantations were owned and were multiplied by his son Thomas D. Bennehan, and his son-in-law Duncan Cameron.

Thomas Bennehan

Thomas Bennehan (1782-1847) was the son of Richard Bennehan. The following are the plantations Thomas owned at his death, and are found in his probate records:

• Fish Dam Plantation Wake Co, NC
• Hunt Plantation
• Jones Plantation
• Leathers Plantation
• Little River Plantation
• The Mill Seat in Orange Co, NC, this may be the Eno Mill Plantation
• Peak Plantation
• Snow Hill Plantation
• Stagville Plantation began in Orange Co, NC and became a conglomerate of plantations.

Duncan Cameron

Duncan Cameron (1777-1853), Richard Bennehan's son-in-law, had several plantations, some co-owned with his father-in-law, Richard Bennehan, his brother-in law, Thomas Bennehan, and his son Paul C. Cameron:^[3] He became one of the largest plantation owners and slaveholders in the South. A year after his marriage he built a mansion house, called Fairntosh, ^[8] on property gained from his father-in-law, on an elevated site about a mile east of the Stagville house.^[9] Duncan purchased many enslaved persons throughout his lifetime. For a listing of some of those slaves purchased, with sourced deeds, please see this Space page.

• Bobbits Plantation
• Brick House Plantation^[10]
• Cameron Alabama Plantation in Greene Co, AL
• Clements Plantation^[11] Person Co, NC
• Eno Mill Plantation
• Fairntosh Plantation^[8]
• Fish Dam Plantation Wake Co, NC
• Jim Rays Plantation in Granville Co, NC
• Leathers Plantation
• McKipack Plantation in Person Co, NC
• North Point Plantation
• Person Plantation and Mill
• Snow Hill Plantation

Paul C. Cameron

Duncan Cameron's son, Paul C. Cameron 1808-1891, owned part of these plantations as well. After his uncle Thomas D. Bennehan died, Paul inherited his plantations.

• Bobbits Plantation
• Brick House Plantation^[12]
• Cameron Alabama Plantation in Greene Co, AL
• Cameron Tunica Plantation in Tunica Co, MS
• McKipack Plantation in Person Co, NC
• North Point Plantation
• Person Plantation and Mill
• Stagville Plantation
• Snow Hill Plantation

Sources

1. ↑ Cameron Family Papers https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00133/#d1e9979 Subseries 6.7.1. Other Antebellum and Civil War Era Account Books, 1768-1865
   • Folder 3634, Volume 95: 1776-1842 Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2. ↑ Cameron Family Papers Oversize Paper OP-133/101, Indenture, 24 January 1776, Between Tyree Harris and Richard Bennehan. In two pieces. Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Cameron Family Papers https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00133/#folder_3563#1 Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
   • Letters by Richard Bennehan
4. ↑ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Durham_County/4gyxDsR0t7QC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Where+was+the+Bennehan+Brick+House+plantation+located%3F&pg=PA42&printsec=frontcover
   • p.42
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Cameron Family Papers https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00133/#folder_2207#1 *Subseries 6.4.1. Johnston-Bennehan Daybooks, 1773-1785 Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} https://www.opendurham.org/buildings/snow-hill-plantation-farm/
7. ↑ https://www.opendurham.org/buildings/stagville
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} http://www.opendurham.org/buildings/fairntosh/
9. ↑ NC Pedia http://ncpedia.org/biography/cameron-duncan
10. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94780568/bennehan-brick-house-1200-acres-1804/ Weekly Raleigh Register, Raleigh, North Carolina, 03 Sep 1804, Mon, Page 3
    • Brick House Plantation?
11. ↑ Duncan Cameron Probate Papers, Cameron Family Papers, folder 2163, image 1 Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
12. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94780568/bennehan-brick-house-1200-acres-1804/ Weekly Raleigh Register, Raleigh, North Carolina, 03 Sep 1804, Mon, Page 3
    • Brick House Plantation?