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A Yoknapatawpha Timeline

(1540-1860) (1861-1865) (1865-1883) (1884-1910) (1911-1920) (1921-1941) (1942-1962)

The Antebellum Years
1540-1860

1540

The area today known as Mississippi is inhabited by between 20,000 and 30,000 Native Americans, mostly Chickasaw in the north, Choctaw in the central regions, and Natchez in the south. Hernando de Soto reaches the present site of Columbus, but after his death in the Natchez area, the Spanish lose interest in the region. (A Faulkner Chronology)

1699

Quentin MacLachan Compson born in Glasgow, Scotland. (The Sound and the Fury [Appendix])

1772

Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin born in [South?] Carolina. (Go Down, Moses)

1779

	Thucydus, son of L.Q.C. McCaslin slaves Roskus and Fibby, born. (Go Down, Moses)
	Quentin MacLachan Compson flees with his infant grandson Jason from Carolina to Kentucky. (The Sound and the Fury [Appendix])
	Charles Stuart Compson left for dead in a Georgia swamp by his British regiment. (The Sound and the Fury [Appendix])

1783

Charles Stuart Compson overtakes his father and son in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. (The Sound and the Fury [Appendix])

1798

The Mississippi Territory is organized according to U.S. Law under governor Winthrop Sargent with a population of 5,000. Natchez is the first capital. (A Faulkner Chronology)

ca. 1799

Twins Theophilus (Buck) and Amodeus (Buddy) McCaslin are born. (Go Down, Moses)

ca. 1800

A Chickasaw agency trading-post, later to be the town of Jefferson, is founded in northern Mississippi by Doctor Samuel Habersham. (Requiem for a Nun)

1807

	Thomas Sutpen born in the mountains of western Virginia, into a large family of poor whites of Scottish-English stock. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin buys Eunice for $650 in New Orleans. (Go Down, Moses )

1809

Eunice and Thucydus, slaves owned by L.Q.C. McCaslin, are married. (Go Down, Moses)

1810

Tomasina (Tomey), born, the daughter of Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin and a slave, Eunice. (Go Down, Moses)

1811

Jason Lycurgus Compson arrives at the Chickasaw agency in what is then Okatoba County and within a year becomes a partner. (The Sound and the Fury [Appendix])

1812

Calvin Burrington born. (Light in August)

ca. 1812-
1814

	Hubert Beauchamp born; his plantation, Warwick, built by his father. (Go Down, Moses)
	The white wife of Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin dies. (Go Down, Moses)

1813

Jason Lycurgus Compson trades a racehorse to Chickasaw chieftain Ikkemotubbe for a square mile of land in the center of what will later be Jefferson. (The Sound and the Fury [Appendix])

1814

August 9: By the treaty of Fort Jackson, Indians are forced to cede their lands to the U.S. government. The resulting territory is so large it is divided into two states, Mississippi (1817) and Alabama (1819). (A Faulkner Chronology)

1817

	Sutpen family moves into the Tidewater region of Virginia, where they become sharecroppers for a plantation owned by a Mr. Pettibone. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	October 9: Ellen Coldfield born in Tennessee to Goodhue Coldfield. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	December 10: Mississippi is admitted to the Union as the twentieth state. (A Faulkner Chronology)

1820

At the age of fourteen, Thomas Sutpen runs away from home. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1823

John Sartoris born, probably in South Carolina. (The Unvanquished)

1824

At the age of 12, Calvin Burrington runs away and spends a year in a monastery. (Light in August)

1827

Thomas Sutpen marries Eulalia Bon in Haiti. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1828

Goodhue Coldfield moves to Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, with his mother, sister, wife, and daughter. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1830

Percival Brownlee born. (Go Down, Moses)

1831

December?: Charles Bon born in Haiti. When Thomas Sutpen learns his wife has negro blood, he repudiates her and their child. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1832

	The father of Reverend Gail Hightower, and son of Gail Hightower I, is born. (Light in August) His name may be Hiram Hightower. (The Reivers)
	On behalf of the Chickasaws, King Ishtehotopah (a possible model for Issetibbeha and/or Ikkemotubbe) signs the Treaty of Pontotoc which opens northern Mississippi to white settlers and agrees to relocate his people in western lands, primarily Oklahoma. (A Faulkner Chronology, Go Down Moses: The Miscegenation of Time)
	December 25: Eunice, a slave owned by Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin, drowns herself after she discovers that McCaslin has incestually impregnated his and Eunice's daughter, Tomasina. (Go Down, Moses)

1833

	The county seat of Yoknapatawpha County renamed Jefferson to appease the mail rider Thomas Jefferson Pettigrew for the taking of the lock from his mail bag for the jailhouse door. (Requiem for a Nun)
	June: Thomas Sutpen appears in Yoknapatawpha County, purchases a hundred-square-mile tract from the Chickasaw chieftain Ikkemotubbe, and begins building his house. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	June: Terrel Beauchamp (Tomey's Turl), son of L.Q.C. McCaslin and his slave (and daughter) Tomasina (Tomey) born at the McCaslin plantation. Tomey dies in childbirth. (Go Down, Moses)

1834

Clytemnestra (Clytie), Thomas Sutpen's daughter, born to a slave woman. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1835

Calvin Burrington arrives in Missouri. (Light in August)

1836

	Nathaniel Burden born. (Light in August)
	Lafayette County, Mississippi, which will serve as Faulkner’s chief model for Yoknapatawpha County, is formed with the Tallahatchie River as a portion of its northern boundary and the Yocona River (formerly called the Yockney-patafa) as its southern boundary. (A Faulkner Chronology)

1837

	June 27: Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin dies. Roskus and Fibby freed the same day. (Go Down, Moses)
	June 28: Thucydus refuses a 10-acre plot of land and $200 in cash from Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin's will, claiming he wants "to stay and work it out." (Go Down, Moses)

1838

	Tennie, a slave owned by Hubert Beauchamp, born at Warwick. (Go Down, Moses)
	Thomas Sutpen marries Ellen Coldfield. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1839

	Henry Sutpen born at Sutpen's Hundred. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	Virginia Sartoris [Du Pre], sister of John and Bayard, born. (Sartoris/Flags in the Dust, The Unvanquished)

ca. 1840

Bayard Sartoris I born in South Carolina. (The Unvanquished)

1841

	Drusilla Hawk born at Hawkhurst Plantation in Gihon County, Alabama. (The Unvanquished)
	January 12: Roskus, a slave owned by L.Q.C. McCaslin, dies. (Go Down, Moses)
	October 3: Judith Sutpen born. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	November 3: Thucydus purchases his freedom for $200 and leaves the McCaslin plantation. (Go Down, Moses)
	December: Thucydus (McCaslin) sets up a blacksmith shop in Jefferson. (Go Down, Moses)

1843?

Boon Hogganbeck born. (Go Down, Moses: The Miscegenation of Time)

1845

Rosa Coldfield born in Jefferson, Mississippi. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1849

	August 1: Phoebe (Fibby), a slave owned by L.Q.C. McCaslin, dies. (Go Down, Moses)
	September: Bayard Sartoris II born. (Sartoris/Flags in the Dust, The Unvanquished)

1850

	Carothers McCaslin "Cass" Edmonds born. (Go Down, Moses)
	Poor white squatter Wash Jones moves into an abandoned fishing camp along the Tallahatchie River on Thomas Sutpen's plantation with his daughter. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	At the age of 14, Nathaniel Burden runs away and does not return for 16 years. (Light in August)

Early 1850s

Buck and Buddy McCaslin establish a $1,000 legacy for Tomey's Turl. (Go Down, Moses)

1853

Milly Jones born to Wash Jones' daughter. (Absalom, Absalom!)

1854

	Calvin Burden II, son of Nathaniel and Juana Burden, born. (Light in August)
	February 17: Thucydus McCaslin, a former slave once owned by L.Q.C. McCaslin, dies and is buried in Jefferson. (Go Down, Moses)
	June: Tomey's Turl turns 21; he elects to stay on the McCaslin plantation, but he turns down the $1,000 legacy left to him by Buck and Buddy McCaslin. (Go Down, Moses)

1856

	March 3: Buck McCaslin buys Percival Brownlee from Nathan Bedford Forrest at Cold Water for $265. (Go Down, Moses)
	October 2: Percival Brownlee freed after proving incompetent at bookkeeping, plowing, and leading livestock to water. Though free, he refuses to leave the plantation. (Go Down, Moses)
	October 29: Buddy McCaslin writes in the plantation commisary ledger that he has changed Percival Brownlee's name to "Spintrius." (Go Down, Moses)

1859

	Charles Etienne de Saint Velery born in New Orleans. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	Henry Sutpen meets Charles Bon at the University of Mississippi. Charles meets Henry's sister Judith that Christmas. (Absalom, Absalom!)
	Summer: Buddy McCaslin wins Tennie from Hubert Beauchamp in a poker game. She marries Tomey's Turl. (Go Down, Moses)

1860

December: At Christmas, Thomas Sutpen forbids the marriage between his daughter Judith and Charles Bon. Henry Sutpen repudiates his birthright and departs with Charles. (Absalom, Absalom!)

(1540-1860) (1861-1865) (1865-1883) (1884-1910) (1911-1920) (1921-1941) (1942-1962)

This page was last modified on Monday, October 09, 2000 at 11:57 AM -0500
Copyright © 1995-2001 by John B. Padgett