Bayside Plantation (Bayou Teche, La.)

Francis DuBose Richardson was apparently born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, in 1812, but came to Louisiana with his father, John Gaulden Richardson (1785-1856) and family in the 1820s. Francis DuBose Richardson became a planter and state legislator, married Bethia F. Liddell (d. 1852), and in January 1846, moved with his family, hired hands, and slaves to set up Bayside Plantation on Bayou Teche, Iberia Parish, Louisiana. The Richardsons were given assistance at Bayside by other Richardson and Liddell family members, most of whom are referred to in the plantation journals by initials only, including John Gaulden Richardson and Bethia's father, Judge Moses Liddell.

After Bethia F. (Lidell) Richardson died in 1852, Francis DuBose Richardson sent their youngest daughter, Margaret, to live with relatives. Their other children, Frank Liddell Richardson (fl.1850s-1869) and Bethia C. Richardson (fl.1840s-1870s), remained at Bayside, where they received a tutorial education, until the Civil War. In October 1861, Frank left to join the Confederate army, and Bethia C. left to attend the Franklin Seminary in Franklin, Louisiana. Though some sources indicate that Francis DuBose Richardson died in 1858, family sources show that he died in St. Louis County in 1906.

Bayside Plantation continued to operate until mid-December 1862, when everyone was moved to a plantation in the woods on Bayou Mallet, in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, in response to the arrival in the area of the Union army. The Richardson children visited both the Bayou Mallet and Bayside plantations at various times during the war, as did friends and relatives. Both Confederate and Union forces operated in the area, and in 1863, most of the plantation slaves sought refuge for a time in New Iberia. When the war ended, attempts were made to contract freedmen and other labor to work on the plantations, with varying success.

From the guide to the Bayside Plantation Records, 1846-1866, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)