F. Colonel Notrebe of Arkansas Post
1. Notrebe Settles in Arkansas
In 1825 Col. Frederic Notrebe acquired two of the structures (Montgomery's Tavern and Johnston and Armstrong's Store) used by territorial officials during the months that Post of Arkansas served as territorial capital. Notrebe was born in France in 1780, and, after serving in the Imperial Army in Spain under Marshal B. A. J. de Moncey, had emigrated to the United States in 1809. As he was 29 at the time and still subject to the conscript laws of France, he had probably deserted Moncey's corps.[40]

Despite the abrupt departure from Europe and the French army, Notrebe throughout his life in the United States retained a deep admiration for the Emperor Napoleon I. When a town was platted in the early 1820s at the mouth of White River, he was one of those who insisted on naming it Napoleon. One of his grandsons was likewise christened Napoleon Notrebe.[41]

Notrebe, who probably landed at New Orleans, quickly made his way to Post of Arkansas and entered the Indian trade. A Mr. Frazier, reminiscing about early days in Arkansas, reported that his father on landing at the Post in the summer of 1810 met Notrebe. He was "conducting a French trading house, as the furs and peltries of the Indian hunt in the west was very lucrative.”[42]

The presence of Notrebe at the Post in September 1811 can be documented. On the 9th John Baptiste and Mary Gerbert sold to Frederic Notrebe for $12 their "right and title" to a lot 65 feet broad and 165 feet deep "bounded on the one side by the lot and house" of Notrebe and on the other by Main Street.[43]

2. Notrebe Marries and Raises a Family
In the same year, 1811, Notrebe married Mary Felicite, the 17-year-old daughter of John B. and Elizabeth Bellette.[44] To the couple were born at least four children, three sons and one daughter. The sons were Eugene, Charles, and John. Eugene, the eldest, was born about 1816 and died in La Habana, Cuba, in 1840; Charles was born in 1817 and died in 1841; and John, born in the late 1820s, was killed in a brawl at Post of Arkansas by Etienne Vaugine on Christmas Eve 1844.[45]

Notrebe's daughter, Francine, married in 1831 William Cummins, a prominent member of the Little Rock bar. The Kentucky-born lawyer had located in Little Rock in 1824, and in 1836 he had been elected a member of the Arkansas Constutional Convention. In 1840, three years before his death, Cummins was elected to the General Assembly from Pulaski County. His wife had preceded him in death, and their daughter, Mary Felicite, was left an orphan to be raised by her maternal grandparents.[46]

3. Travelers' Journals and Recollections
a. Nuttall's Journal
Most travelers passing through Post of Arkansas in the period 1819-49 and writing of their experiences mentioned Colonel Notrebe. The British natural scientist Thomas Nuttall, who was at the Post in the last week of February 1819, reported that the principal merchants "were Messrs. Braham and Drope, Mr. Lewis, and Monsieur Notrebe, who kept well-assorted stores of merchandise, supplied chiefly from New Orleans, with the exception of some heavy articles of domestic manufacture obtained from Pittsburgh.”[47]

b. Pope's Recollections
William F. Pope stopped at Arkansas Post in October 1832. Years later he recorded his impressions of the village. He recalled that there were "a few modern buildings, situated near the bank of the river, among them two brickhouses, one of which was the store and warehouse of the opulent Frederic Notrebe." Most of the other buildings were "built after the French style of architecture, with high pointed roofs and gables and heavy exterior timbers, and high chimneys."[48]

Pope was a guest in Notrebe' s "beautiful home." He was impressed by the display of cut glass, china, and silverware, as well as the retinue of the servants. He did not expect to find such on the frontier. Pope recalled Notrebe as a man of commanding appearance, with jet black hair and eyes, and a dark complexion. He had large but regular features and in his younger years had undoubtedly been very handsome.[49]

c. Washington Irving Meets Notrebe
Washington Irving, the man-of-letters, on returning from his western journey stopped briefly at the Post on November 15, 1832. Aboard the steamboat with Irving on the passage down from Little Rock were Mr. and Mrs. William Cummins, Colonel Notrebe's son-in-law and daughter.

Irving noted in his journal that Mrs. Cummins' father was said to be worth $40,000 to $50,000. She had inherited from her father his temperament, and it was said she ruled "her husband with the slipper." She was a "pretty, dark, black-eyed woman." The great author observed that when Colonel Notrebe traveled, he aped the Dons, taking along a servant and his own wines because he did not like those served aboard the Arkansas and Mississippi packets.[50]

The Post, Irving observed, was "a decayed, ruinous place--old Spanish wooden building, with piazza--outhouses--French buildings, with casement-- piazzas." Enclosing Notrebe's garden, store, and house was a stockade- like fence. Near the old Spanish house were two large ruins. Irving observed that the Americans had settled to the north of the old village.[51]

Five years later, Irving published his short story, "The Creole Village," in which he perpetuated the idyllic existence of the Post. It was in "The Creole Village" that Irving first used the now familiar phrase, "the almighty dollar."[52]

It is also possible that "the old ruinous Spanish house, of large dimensions, with verandas overshadowed by ancient elms," may have been Montgomery's Tavern.[53]

d. Featherstonhaugh Stops at the Post
G. W. Featherstonhaugh, visiting the Post in the mid-1830s, reported, "The great man of the place is Monsieur Notrebe, a French emigrant, who is said to have accumulated a considerable fortune here. His house appears to be a comfortable one, and has a store attached to it, where the principal business of this part is transacted.”[54]

e. General Pike Describes Notrebe
Albert Pike--poet, masonic leader, lawyer, humanitarian, and Civil War general--was well acquainted with Notrebe. He wrote:

4. Notrebe--Successful Merchant and Planter
Colonel Notrebe, unlike most other local businessmen, did not join the rush to Little Rock in late 1821 and '22, when the territorial capital was moved. Instead he determined to hold onto and expand his Arkansas County interests. Featherstonhaugh in 1835 described Notrebe's highly successful methods of doing business.

Cultivating cotton himself, advancing money to other planters to carry on their business with, upon condition of taking their crops when gathered at a given price, and taking skins and peltry of every kind in payment of goods obtained at his store--of which whiskey forms no small item--he has contrived to secure a monopoly of almost all the business of the country, and after a vigorous struggle has compelled all his competitors to withdraw from the trade.[56]

Notrebe's rise to affluence can be traced in the Arkansas County Tax Assessment Books. The one for 1817 credits Notrebe with ownership of two town lots, with improvements thereon valued at $1,100, and two slaves who were more than ten years old. His county tax in that year was $4.55.[57] In 1821 the tax roll listed Notrebe as owner of five town lots with improvements, valued at $2,800, and seven slaves more than ten years old. His taxes were $17.50.[58] In 1823 his taxes were $29.50, and in 1828 he was assessed for 805 acres in Arkansas County, ten cows, nine horses, and seven slaves. By 1836 he was credited with ownership of 14 parcels of land in the county totaling 3,496 acres, while in partnership with his son-in-law William Cummins, he owned another 4,633 acres divided into 22 parcels.

In 1848, the year before his death, Notrebe's property in Arkansas County was assessed: value of town lots, $3,000; number of slaves 71, valued at $27,400; household furniture $600; pleasure carriage $300; 28 horses and mules, valued at $1,250; 32 cattle valued at $320; and gold watches and jewelry at $100.[59]

5. Notrebe and King Cotton
a. As a Merchant
Notrebe, having first obtained financial security in the Indian trade, sensed the proper moment to diversify. While maintaining his store, which by 1819 catered to the interests of the growing white community, he entered the cotton trade, first as a merchant, then as a gin operator, and finally as a planter.

When the third issue of the Arkansas Gazette came off the press on December 4, 1819, it contained an advertisement placed by Notrebe. “The subscriber having directions to receive all the COTTON of Mr. William Drope, for the crop of 1819, requests all persons that are to deliver cotton 60 to Mr. Drope, to send it to the mill of Mr. James Scull."[60] Six weeks later, on January 15, 1820, Notrebe employed the Arkansas Gazette to announce, "I will give three and a half cents per pound for cotton--one-half to be paid in cash, the remainder in merchandise from my store."[61]

To encourage cotton growing in the area, Notrebe contracted in the spring with the farmers to purchase their cotton in the autumn at a fixed price. Typical of these contracts is one he made with Peter Corsey in May 1825:

b. Notrebe Builds a Gin
In late 1826 and early 1827, Notrebe had a gin erected on the lots opposite the square acquired from Babcock in January 1825. One of these lots Notrebe had purchased from Samuel Rutherford in June 1822. In August 1827, Notrebe inserted the following advertisement in the Gazette:

Colonel Notrebe in September 1828 advertised in the Gazette:

A reporter for the Gazette on November 4, 1828, described improvements Colonel Notrebe had made in his gin. "There is,” he wrote, a cotton gin

c. Notrebe as a planter
Colonel Notrebe, as to be expected, became increasingly interested in agriculture as he expanded his landholdings. To boost the yield per acre on his plantations, he allied himself with another wealthy Arkansas County planter, Terence Farrelly. In 1840 they, at considerable expense, imported cotton seed from Mexico. This experiment failed. Next they planted several fields of "China Silk Cotton." As this strain of cotton was not acclimated to the region, the yield was a disappointing 150 pounds to the acre. But when closely examined, it was seen that the "Bolls were in clusters, firmly united together, some containing under one pod what appeared to be a half dozen bolls compressed." This staple, with the exception of Sea Island, was superior to any Notrebe and Farrelly had heretofore inspected.

It was determined to give it another trial. For two years patches of "China Silk Cotton" were planted adjacent to fields seeded with the Mexican. Cross fertilization was thus obtained. Seeds from the best plants were retained and seeded the following year. Samples of cotton produced by this cross fertilization were forwarded in 1846 to newspapers and factors in New Orleans and Little Rock.

In 1846 poor upland fields, near Arkansas Post, seeded in "silk cotton," as it was called, produced double the yield per acre of the common cotton seed. Judge Haller, who resided on the Little Rock road, three miles west of Arkansas Post, had planted his little prairie in the new seed. Although the land had been under cultivation for about ten years, Haller found on weighing his cotton in at Notrebe's gin that the improved seed had yielded 1,500 pounds per acre, despite an invasion of caterpillars. Several of his neighbors, who had used the Mexican seed, reported yields of from 500 to 600 pounds to the acre.[66]

d. Notrebe and the Arkansas State Bank
As a successful merchant and planter, Colonel Notrebe felt the need to expand the amount of money in circulation in the region. After Arkansas was admitted to the Union in 1836, Notrebe labored to secure the establishment of a branch bank of the State Bank at Arkansas Post. He was successful. On June 19, 1839, the Arkansas Gazette carried the following notice:

Colonel Notrebe and his wife on April 4, 1840, sold to the Bank of Arkansas, for one dollar, a lot on which to build the branch bank. The lot sold was the northwest part of the one-acre square originally owned by Louis Jordella and sold by him to Bright and Company. The Notrebes had acquired the subject property in 1825 from Benjamin Babcock.[68]

The Arkansas General Assembly in 1843 enacted legislation to liquidate the Bank of Arkansas. On June 15, 1843, the receivers named by the legislature (Samuel Mitchell and William A. Doherty) announced,

A person visiting the Post in 1857 described the former bank building as "being of brick and not at the time being used for any purpose except holding elections and stabling horses.”[70]

6. Colonel Notrebe's Death and Will
Colonel Notrebe, while visiting in New Orleans, died on April 4, 1849. He was 69 years old. In reporting his death the Arkansas newspapers observed, "Few men were more proverbial for probity and strict justice in every transaction with his fellow man. As a member of society, he was unexceptionable--an affectionate parent--a kind and indulgent
master, a firm and confiding friend."

His death would be a severe blow to his widow, already "bowed down" with sorrow from the loss of her four children. His only other heir was his granddaughter, Mary Felicite
Cummins.[71]

Six years before on October 24, 1843, Colonel Notrebe-- in the presence of Samuel Mitchell, W. A. Doherty, G. W. S. Crass, and John L. Jones--had dictated his last will and testament. In the first article of the will, he declared that his wife Mary Felicite Bellette, whom he had married in 1811, was on his death to receive for her lifetime one-half of his real and personal estate. The other one-half was to be shared equally by his son John and his granddaughter Mary F. Cummins.[72] The widow, on his death, was to be given the "option and privilege in the division of the one half of all the... estate as a life dowery, after" his just debts were paid. She was to be allowed to choose those slaves she wished for her share, and would have the choice of his "cotton plantation (3 miles below the Post) which I now cultivate or the premises at the Post of Arkansas where I now reside to make her own residence which will be valued and appraised with impartiality by my" heirs, John and Mary, if they are of age or their guardians, or by three disinterested persons.[73]

Should the widow remarry, "which is not probable," the aforementioned clauses in her favor were to be null and void, and she would receive from the estate only what she was allowed by the laws of Arkansas for her dowry. John and Mary would then be willed an additional share to be distributed in the "same proportion of one half each."[74]

The granddaughter Mary Cummins was to receive as a part of her share all the money owed Notrebe by her late father, “as cash advanced to him on several times to help him in paying his share of purchases and entries of lands made in partnership between him ...and myself as it will appear by his three notes in my favor and to my order amounting" to $12,090.18 as principal as of March 17, 184l, and bearing interest of six per cent per annum for ten years. As security for these notes, Notrebe held a mortgage on lands belonging to the deceased in Arkansas and Desha counties. In addition, the granddaughter was to receive on account as part of her share of the estate a receipt given by Notrebe to her parents for $2,741.58, representing cash advanced to the Cumminses “to help them in their first year of marriage."[75]

If Mary Cummins died before coming of age or before marriage, John Notrebe or his legitimate descendants would be the "sole heirs" of "all the amounts of patrimony allotted to the granddaughter." Should the granddaughter die after marriage without any lawful children, John or his legitimate heirs would inherit from her "all and singular her goods and chattels, real property, and slaves as a patrimony coming and arising" from Notrebe's estate.

Article 7 provided that should John die without lawful issue, his mother would be the executrix of all property, chattels, and slaves inherited from his father's estate, and after the death of his mother they were to pass to the granddaughter or her lawful descendants.

When the granddaughter married, to protect her in the enjoyment of her inheritance and to prevent her husband from making "bad use of her property without her consent," a contract of marriage was to be entered into between her and her spouse before a notary, and "a court of record giving a full description of the amount of cash, real and personal property, number of slaves with their names and ages" made.[76]

To protect the interest of his son John, the granddaughter and her husband were denied the right of demanding "a sale or division" of the estate without John's consent. If the estate were to be disposed of, John and Mary, assisted by two disinterested parties, would have an inventory prepared.

Mary's spouse would be prohibited from interfering in any way with John in his business operations of the estate. John at the same time was expected to divide equally with Mary the one-half of all revenue arising from the estate. This clause Notrebe had included to prevent Mary's husband, "who may be ambitious," from forcing a "sale or division at a great sacrifice" of Colonel Notrebe's property.[77]

As his father-in-law John Bellette, to whom he had given two lots and five slaves in 1835, had died, Notrebe willed them to his mother-in-law Elizabeth Bellette for her lifetime. He urged his heirs to continue to cherish his mother-in-law in her old age.

Upon the death of his wife, the share of the estate willed to her ''as a life estate" was to revert to equal shares "to my only two heirs... or to their legitimate heirs of desents."

The executors of the estate were to be the widow, John Notrebe if of age, Terence Farrelly, Wm. B. Wait, Louis Refeld, and A. B. K. Thetford. Each executor was to receive $500 to reimburse him or her for their services. Should any of them refuse to serve, the widow was to name their replacements.[78]

7. The Division of the Estate
a. The Debits and Credits
The death of John Notrebe on Christmas Eve 1844, in a brawl, left only two heirs--the widow and granddaughter. Within hours of receipt of news of Notrebe's death, Edward Chancey Morton, age 28, on April 22, 1849, took as his wife the 16-year-old granddaughter Mary Felicite Cummins.[79] Twenty-one days later, Notrebe's will was submitted to probate, and on July 17, 1849, Farrelly, Refeld, and Thedford, as executors, were bonded for $240,000.[80]

When they examined claims against the estate and its assets, the executors found that cash on hand totaled $3,606.40 1/2 against which there were claims outstanding of $18,427.10.[81] On Captain Morton's motion, it was ordered that the clerk of the probate court have an audit made and "strike a pro-rata dividend" of the assets among the creditors.[82]

In January 1851 Farrelly and the widow appeared before the court and submitted a petition, stating that in March 1850 the widow had determined "to take dower in the estate of her late husband." She asked that the executors be ordered to pay her a proportion of the value of the rent of land and hire of slaves. The court allowed the widow's petition, and ordered the executors to pay to her a percentage of "the value of rent of land and hire of slaves not to exceed the dower interest."[83]

Six months later at the July Term of the Probate Court, Farrelly reported that the 1850 cotton crop had been shipped to New Orleans and sold by Captain Morton. Besides being absent, Morton had in his possession the accounts, so it had been impossible for the executors to make a settlement with the widow.[84]

b. The Division of the Estate
On September 10, 1850, the widow released to Mr. and Mrs. Morton "all her title and interest and estate as devised" under her late husband's will to the land and tenements, along with all slaves belonging to the estate.[85] To liquidate the claims outstanding against the estate, the Mortons secured from the firm of A. W. Walker and Company of New Orleans, a letter of credit for $10,000, payable in not less than 12 months from February 4, 1852, in their counting room in New Orleans. For this loan the Mortons were to pay a commission of five per cent and interest of eight per cent per annum, and to ship to A. W. Walker and Company all cotton raised on their plantations until the indebtness was retired. Morton then approach Albert Pike, and he agreed to become his surety for the letter of credit.

Pike was given a mortgage on a tract constituting the plantation of “the late Frederic Notrebe ... whereon he resided" and where the Mortons then lived, on the north bank of the Arkansas, three miles below Arkansas Post, and the lands on the opposite side of the river, totaling 3,546 acres.[86]

By May 1854 the Mortons had repaid A. W. Walker and Company, and before the year was over Albert Pike gave them a release on the mortgage which he held on their property.[87]

Meanwhile, the Widow Notrebe and the Mortons had quarrelled. In October 1851 the Chancery Court of Arkansas County, at the widow's request, named Samuel Mitchell, B. L. Haller, and J. A. Jordon court commissioners to examine the plantation of Frederic Notrebe and other lands owned by him and

The Court, after reviewing the will of the deceased and the commissioners' report, on October 26, 1852, declared that the Widow Notrebe was entitled to her dower. She would have possession in severalty during her lifetime of the following tracts and improvements on the plantation of her late husband, on the Arkansas River, three and one-half miles below Arkansas Post: (a) all that tract fronting on Arkansas River above the lane containing 109 acres, enclosing the patrimony of Colonel Notrebe; and (b) a second tract below the tract aforementioned, fronting on the river and extending from said lane down the Arkansas 90 poles "to a stake planted as a boundary point" by the commissioners charged with laying out the widow's dowry, "and then back on a line running parallel with the lane aforesaid, containing 111 acres." Except for these two tracts totaling 220 acres, Mrs. Edward Morton and her husband were to have and retain in severalty the remainder of the deceased's real estate. In addition, Mrs. Notrebe was to have the privilege of cutting wood on the tract below the plantation.[89]

As her dowry, Mrs. Notrebe was also awarded 37 slaves, nine horses, and six oxen, along with all plate and silver belonging to the estate. The executors and heirs were to hold in severalty the residue of the personal effects and real estate of the deceased.

It was further ordered that the Mortons for two calendar years have use of and occupy the well and garden on the lands allotted to the Widow Notrebe, along with one Negro cabin and the plantation kitchen.[90]

Despite Frederic Notrebe's statement in his will, his widow in 1853 married William Price, a widower. In October 1854 the Prices brought suit in the Arkansas County Chancery Court against Terence Farrelly, the other executors, and Edward and Mary Morton to force a division of the estate. The court, after reviewing the case, decreed that William Halli Burton proceed "to make and state an account current in respect of the persons in pursuance of said bill and decree." He was to: (a) report the amount of all money on hand at Notrebe's death; (b) make an accounting of the expenses and profits of the plantation, slaves, and other property thereon from the death of Notrebe until January 1, 1853, the date the widow was assigned her dower right; (c) state an "account of all parts of the property of Frederic Notrebe at the Post of Arkansas and elsewhere other than the plantation"; (d) list all other sources of income from the estate "other than from the slaves ...and debts due the same";' (e) make an accounting of all money received by the executors and the Mortons from the estate; and (f) submit his report at the next term of court.[91]

A search of the records of the Arkansas County Chancery Court failed to locate Halli Burton's report. This report, if found, might provide valuable information on the real estate owned by Colonel Notrebe at the time of his death. It might even tell us something about Montgomery's Tavern and Johnston and Armstrong Store, provided they were still standing in 1849.