The story of Susan Randolph and James Cage

The fascinating origins of Woodlawn Plantation in Terrebonne, Louisiana

Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, is the southernmost parish in the state. It reaches from just below Thibodaux all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. The lower parts of the parish are marshland, and the land is sinking into the sea. However, before the Civil War (and even up to the present, although to a lesser scale), this was sugar country. The dominant export from the parish was sugarcane, which can grow in only hot, humid parts of the world. Starting in the early 1800s, white settlers started snatching up the arable farmland and creating large, lucrative plantations farming sugarcane using enslaved workers.

One such “American” settler was James Cage. Cage was born in North Carolina and lived for a time in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, before heading down the bayou to start a sugarcane plantation there. In 1828, he purchased a large tract of land on Bayou Grand Caillou from Jim Bowie (yes, that Jim Bowie, of Bowie knife and Texas Alamo fame). This eventually became known as Woodlawn Plantation, and many of my ancestors lived and worked there, all the way up into the 1940s. That’s what got me interested in the people who owned and ran this particular plantation. I found them to be much more interesting than expected!

James Cage never married, but I suspect if he had been legally able to do so with the woman he considered his wife, he would have. He had a long-term relationship and several children with a woman named Susan Randolph. Her story is one of the most fascinating I’ve come across in my time doing genealogical research.

Susan was born enslaved in Virginia. She was owned by the family of former President Thomas Jefferson, specifically his daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. Martha actually wrote a letter to a relative in 1827 that goes into unusual detail about Susan and the circumstances of her sale to James Cage. Here’s an excerpt of the relevant part (emphasis mine):

"The immediate cause of distress at the time was the parting with Susan She was so bad a servant so negligent, so heartless, and of a family of such bad dispositions generally, that there was no probability of her mending; and yet we could not resolve to sell her from her friends; but when the proposal came from herself and with some urgency, I acknowledge that I was well pleased and considered it a most happy riddance. it would enable V— to get little Betty and by lightening the burthen to My dear Jefferson bring those that he had determined at any cost to retain from their attachment to the family, more within the compass of his means; [. . .] The arrangement pleased every body, particularly as she did entire justice to her Mistress to whom the professed her self much attached, said she knew she should often regret her, and if she had been going to a house of her own shortly nothing on earth would have induced her to part with her but She believed her life in danger from her father who appeared to have taken an aversion to her and beat her most unmercifully, and her relations were all ill tempered and unkind; she said she would not live another year on the same plantation with them for any earthly consideration she had, and had exercised, her veto upon several plans more advantageous to her mistress than the one adopted. Nicholas had refused 600$ but a week before because she objected to the purchaser. but after some conferences with Mr Cage, a Mississipi planter, she determined to go with him. under under those mitigating circumstances there appeared to be no cause for sorrow on our part, but V. was dreadfully distressed when it came to the point, as we all were—the distance however is really the only rational ground of for regret, but the fate of Sister R—s maid Sally has turned the head of every decent looking girl in the State they all look to New Orleans as a paradise where they have only to shew them selves to become at once ladies—that I really believe had much influence with Susan to whom however I have given a very undue portion of My letter—"

This letter shows that Susan had a surprising amount of agency in her own fate. She was the driving force behind her own sale; it seems Susan wanted to escape her abusive family members, and perhaps she had heard stories about another enslaved woman who had gone to New Orleans and found a much improved station in life. It seems that Susan vetoed several other options for her sale, and that her objections and thoughts were heard and taken into consideration, even when it was not financially advantageous to her owners. The letter makes it seem like Susan specifically chose to go with James Cage above other potential buyers, after meeting with him. Her decision seems to have been a sound one, because in 1842, James freed Susan and the three children they had had together.

Not only did Cage free Susan and their children, in 1846, he legally recognized his “natural” children as his offspring. He couldn’t marry Susan, because interracial marriage was not allowed, but he acknowledged their kids as his, and this was the only family Cage ever had. When he died in 1854, these children inherited the vast majority of his wealth, just like they would have had they been “legitimate”.

Interestingly, two of Susan’s children appear to have been named after her previous owners. Susan and James’s daughter was named Martha, and they had a son named Thomas Mann Cage. (Martha Jefferson was married to Thomas Mann Randolph.) This suggests that Susan had warm feelings towards her previous owners, despite Martha having described her as “negligent” and “heartless”. Perhaps she was grateful to have been allowed to self-determine her fate.

James Cage’s children were mixed-race, and that was no secret. However, they seem to have been always considered “white”. This just shows how complex race relations could be in antebellum America. On every census, the Cages are counted as white. I have never seen their race mentioned as anything but white; they were accepted in white society due to their social position and wealth.

When James Cage died, he owned over 300 slaves. They are all listed by name in his succession paperwork, as there was an appraisal done of his estate. In total, he was worth over $300,000, equivalent to about $11 million in today’s dollars. His children inherited almost all of this, including the enslaved people. His son, Thomas Mann Cage, was educated in Massachusetts but returned to Terrebonne and ran the plantation until around 1887, when the plantation was ordered sold to pay off debts. He was a noted contributor to journals relating to agriculture and sugarmaking.

After the Civil War, Woodlawn was one of the few plantations that ended up being run by the formerly enslaved people themselves for some time during Reconstruction. My family lived on or near this plantation (and neighboring plantation, Ashland) all the way up until the oil boom and subsequent land grab of the mid-1900s forced them and many others to move to Houma.

An interesting aside—James Cage was buried in a glass-topped coffin. There’s a really interesting newspaper article attached to his Find-A-Grave profile about the glass-topped coffin, including some pictures!

For more information, including sources, check out James Cage’s Wikitree profile. I have added all of the information summarized here and more there, and will continue to update as I learn more!