The Randolphs
The residents of the gorgeous mansion of Nottoway Plantations are the Randolphs. John Randolph is the owner who founded Nottoway in White Castle, Louisiana. Randolph and his wife, Emily, lived in the mansion with their eleven children since 1859. In the picture to the left, John, Emily and their oldest girl and boy are
John Randolph
John Hampden Randolph was born to a wealthy Virginia family in Nottoway County, Virginia on March 24, 1813. He lived in Virginia until his father was appointed a federal court judge in Woodville, Mississippi, where he met his wife, Emily. Four years after their marriage, the couple moved to a cotton plantation in Louisiana known as Forest Home, located about five miles from what would become Nottoway Plantation.
Believing that a fortune could be made in sugar production, Randolph changed his crop from cotton to sugarcane. And, three years later, he mortgaged his home and 46 slaves to borrow money for construction of the first steam-operated sugar mill in Iberville Parish.