Margaret Johnson Erwin Dudley

Margaret Johnson Erwin Dudley (1821-1863) was a Southern belle, planter and letter writer in the Antebellum South. The owner of Mount Holly from 1854 to 1863, she was one of the largest slaveholders in Mississippi. She freed her slaves in 1858, prior to the beginning of the American Civil War.

Early life Margaret Johnson was born on March 4, 1821. Her father, Captain Henry Johnson, was a large landowner and slaveholder in Washington County, Mississippi. Her mother was Elizabeth Julia Flournoy.

Her paternal grandfather, Robert Johnson, was a Kentucky pioneer and surveyor.

Like many Southern belles, Margaret learned to speak French fluently and studied French culture. She disapproved of the French Revolution of 1848, which overthrew King Louis Philippe's July Monarchy and established the Second French Empire led by Emperor Napoleon III.

She believed men and women ought to be on the same level. and his brother, John Patton Erwin, was the editor-in-chief of the Nashville Whig newspaper and served as the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1821 to 1822, and from 1834 to 1835.