John Turnbull (Indian Trader)

We start with the legacy left by John Turnbull via his son Daniel. Rosedown Plantation is
found in West Feliciana parish, community of St. Francisville, one of the most historical
corridors in South Louisiana.

Societies in and. around St. Francisville, at the time Rosedown Plantation was assembled
and constructed, were dominated by European, primarily British settlers who became
cotton planters on an enormous scale. Most of the nineteenth century cotton barons of all
nationalities had received their plantations through land grants from the Spanish
government, the titles to which remained valid after the establishment of the United States
government.

John Turnbull and his wife Catherine Rucker the original owners of Rosedown, achieved high social status in West Feliciana through their immense cotton operations, and their son, Daniel Turnbull, was known before the Civil War as one of the richest men in the nation.

The Turnbulls lived there in prosperity through the 1850's, and Rosedown had become one of the most extensive and prosperous plantations in the area. The contribution of slave labor to the construction and upkeep of the plantation, as well as agricultural prosperity and wealth accrued by Daniel Turnbull, was immense. During peak years of cotton production, operation of Rose down utilized as many as 450 slaves.

John Turnbull was born around 1736, his brother Walter around 1733, and possibly a brother William born in 1738-40. The parents are unknown but thought to be Walter and Isobel Turnbull of Dumfriesshire.

The death of John is document by a letter in the Turnbull-Bowman collection: "John is gravely ill, of the epidemic", it will be the ultimate cause of his death, not an accident. In his will he declared that "my dearly beloved wife Catherine Rucker with whatever children may be at my decease, to be equally divided
among them, share and share alike".