Overview

Location

Stonewall, De Soto Parish, Louisiana. T14-N, R14-W. lat: 32.23306

lon: -93.79222; About 23 miles south of Shreveport, between U.S. Hwy. 171 and Interstate 49.

Date Constructed/ Founded

1859

Associated Surnames

Brayboy, LeJay, Witherspoon

Historical notes

Boykin Witherspoon (1814-1898), a South Carolina planter, acquired about 360 acres of land from the federal government in De Soto Parish, Louisiana, in 1859. (Follow the links at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Results.asp?QryId=82163.76 to see copies of the patents). Witherspoon then moved his family and slaves there. The main buildings were designed by M. Robbins. This link to Louisiana's National Register of Historic Places will lead to photographs of Buena Vista. According to the 1860 Slave Schedule, Boykin Witherspoon held 137 slaves, the most of any slaveholder in De Soto Parish. See De Soto Parish, Louisiana, Largest Slaveholders From 1860 Slave Census Schedules, by Tom Blake.

Associated Slave Workplaces

none

Associated Free Persons

Associated Enslaved Persons

• Lewis LeJay, Syntrilla Brayboy, William Brayboy, Bettie Brayboy.

Research Leads and Plantation Records

Miscellaneous Information

References

General Land Office Records for Louisiana, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Dept. of Interior

National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, U.S. Dept, of Interior

Users Researching This Workplace

• Craig Manson