William John Minor was privately educated until he entered the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in the 1820s. There, he became acquainted with Rebecca Ann Gustine (b. May 17, 1813), who was the daughter of James & Mary Ann Duncan Gustine of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the niece of wealthy Natchez planter and investor Stephen Duncan. Rebecca Ann Gustine’s sisters, Margaret and Matilda, were married to brothers Charles & Henry Leverich, who were successful cotton factors and commission merchants in New York and New Orleans. William John Minor and Rebecca Ann Gustine were married in Philadelphia on July 7, 1829.
They returned to Natchez in the 1830s, living at Concord. The Minors had eight children: Duncan, Francis, Henry, James, John, Katherine, Stephen, and William. As a hedge against declining cotton prices, Minor sought to diversify his holdings by investing in sugar-cane production in Louisiana. He acquired Hollywood Plantation (1,400 acres) and Southdown Plantation (6,000 acres) in Terrebonne Parish and Waterloo Plantation (1,900 acres) in Ascension Parish. Prior to the Civil War, these three plantations were producing an average of more than 1,200 hogsheads of sugar annually. Although Minor was largely an absentee owner, entrusting the management of his plantations and slaves in Louisiana to overseers, he was meticulous in the administration of his holdings. His net worth, including hundreds of slaves, was estimated to be more than $1,000,000 in 1860.
Minor also found time to serve as a captain in the Natchez Hussars, a local militia unit, and was president of the Agricultural Bank in Natchez. Nationally recognized in the breeding and racing of horses, Minor owned at least sixty thoroughbreds during his lifetime. Under the pseudonym, "A Young Turfman," Minor authored more than seventy articles on horse racing between 1837 and 1860 for the Spirit of the Times, a New York sporting-life newspaper. He also published a pamphlet entitled "Short Rules for Training Two-Year-Olds," which was published by The Picayune in New Orleans in 1854. Minor was also instrumental in founding local cricket and jockey clubs in Natchez.
Active in Whig politics in the years before the Civil War, Minor lobbied against secession throughout the South. He was convinced that secession and war would lead to economic ruin for the planter class. When war did come, Minor remained loyal to the Union despite the social ostracism and economic losses that his family suffered during and after the war. Although the majority of Minor’s sons remained loyal to the Union, at least one son served in the Confederate army against his father’s wishes. William John Minor died in Terrebonne Parish 18 September 1869. Rebecca Ann Gustine Minor died in Cayuga Lake, New York, 14 July 1887.
