Background
John C. Calhoun II was born on July 9, 1843 in Demopolis, Alabama. His father, Andrew Pickens Calhoun, was a planter.
John C. Calhoun II was born on July 9, 1843 in Demopolis, Alabama. His father, Andrew Pickens Calhoun, was a planter.
He was educated in Demopolis, Alabama. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1863.
He was a large landowner in Chicot County, Arkansas and a Director of railroad companies. He was a prominent financier and developer of the "New South". He had a brother, Patrick Calhoun.
A year later, he decided to do this on his own, and on a larger scale.
Over the years, he moved over 5,000 freedmen from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama to the Yazoo Valley of Mississippi. By 1881-1882, he acquired a few more plantations in Chicot County: Harwood, Hebron, Luna, Fawnwood, Patria, Hyner"s, and Latrobe.
He also acquired the Sunnyside Plantation from the Starling family for United States$90,000. He also acquired the Lakeport Plantation from his mother-in-law.
He established the Calhoun Land Company, the Florence Planting Company, and the Chicot Planting Company.
He teamed up with investors J. Baxter Upham of Boston and Austin Corbin of New York City. Meanwhile, Calhoun moved to New York City, where he invested in the construction of Southern railways. He served as on the Board of Directors of railroad companies.
He became the majority proprietor of the Baltimore Coal Mining and Railway Company.
He sued the United States Shipbuilding Company. He died on December 18, 1918 at his home 200 West Fifty-eighth Street, in Manhattan.