The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953 Page: 212
641 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the first indications of the characteristics that were to be domi-
nant throughout her life. She was beautiful and vivacious; she
was mischievous, adventurous, and courageous; and she was as
stubborn as they came.
When Jane was thirteen, Mrs. Wilkinson moved her family to
Washington, in the Mississippi Territory, where an older daugh-
ter, Barbara Wilkinson Calvit, was living at Propinquity, a plan-
tation near Natchez.5 The family was barely settled the next year
when Jane's mother died, and Jane then moved to Propinquity
to live with her sister.
Natchez was just entering its golden age when fortunes were
made overnight, and the first big plantation homes were being
built. It was the gathering place for men from all over the
world who were seeking wealth and adventure or more enduring
fame and glory. The War of 1812 ended on her doorstep in the
battle of New Orleans. This battle decided Jane's future.
Many of the wounded found their way back to Natchez, where
they were cared for in private homes. One of these men was at
Propinquity. Dr. James Long, a hero of the battle, whom Andrew
Jackson had singled out for special praise and had called "my
brave young lion," came to dress his comrade's wounds. On see-
ing the young doctor, Kian, Jane's negro maid and companion,
rushed in to her young mistress, rolled her eyes, and reported
that "de handsomest man in de world is upstairs wid dat soldier
and you simple cain't go to school today."
Never one to refuse to meet an interesting man, much less a
handsome one, seventeen-year-old Jane threw aside her bonnet
and books and waited in the parlor. Soon Dr. Long came down.
According to Mirabeau B. Lamar, Long "was not the handsomest
man in the world, he nevertheless possessed a very com-
manding figure-tall, active and erect, with a fiery eye and a mar-
tial tread-. [He] entered the parlour, sans ceremonie, with-
out the formalities of an introduction, but with a dignity and
ease that spoke the gentleman and the man of breeding." Jane
51bid.; Edith Wyatt Moore, Natchez Democrat, Vol. 83, No. 24.
Charles Adam Gulick, Jr., and others (eds.), The Papers of Mirabeau B. Lamar:
Edited from the Original Papers in the Texas State Library (6 vols.; Austin,
1920-1927), II, 51; Henry Stuart Foote, Texas and the Texans (2 vols.; Philadelphia,
1841), I, 201.212
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953, periodical, 1953; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101145/m1/258/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.