Background
Stephen Minor was born on February 8, 1760, in Greene County, Pennsylvania. His father was William Minor (1735-1804) and his mother, Frances Ellen Phillips Minor (1739-unknown).
Stephen Minor was born on February 8, 1760, in Greene County, Pennsylvania. His father was William Minor (1735-1804) and his mother, Frances Ellen Phillips Minor (1739-unknown).
He moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1779 and served as Captain in the Spanish Army. He then served as the Secretary to the Spanish Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos (1747–1799). In 1791, he received generous land grants from the Spanish government for his service.
He turned his land grants into nine plantations, including the Southdown Plantation in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, where he grew sugar cane.
In 1797, his plantations produced twenty-five hundred bales of cotton. He became one of Natchez"s richest residents in the 1810s and 1820s.
Additionally, he served as the first President of the Bank of Mississippi from 1797 to 1815. He died on November 29, 1815, in Natchez, Mississippi.
