Guest House

The Newman Room

samuel and jane newman were the first owners of the guest house, which was originally built in the mid-1840s as a one-and-a-half story, greek revival town house. the newmans purchased the corner property in 1844 for $1, 000 and sold it in november 1853 for $9, 000. as originally built and documented in historic photographs, the guest house resembled the nearby john smith house, a smaller brick cottage at the southwest corner of north pearl and jefferson streets. samuel b. newman was the grandson of samuel brooks, the first mayor of natchez. newman was a natchez merchant who founded the business establishment of stockman and newman and also served as sheriff of adams county. in the early 1850s, he relocated to new orleans and established the firm of s. b. newman and company. (the newmans are buried in new orleans.)

The Ullman Room

jacob and leah ullman acquired the guest house as their residence in 1871 and lived there until their deaths, in 1880 and 1873 respectively. their heirs sold the property in 1884. jacob ullman, was the patriarch of the prominent ullman family in natchez and was one of many jewish immigrants who came to the natchez area before the civil war. he was born in germany in 1805 and came to america from alsace in 1852. he settled first in nearby port gibson, but, in 1870, relocated to natchez, where several of his children had already achieved success in the mercantile world. his son samuel ullman, who moved to natchez in 1865 and established the mercantile house of ullman and laub, was instrumental in the establishment of temple b'nai israel. samuel ullman later moved to birmingham, alabama, where he served as president of the board of education and as a city alderman. he wrote the well known poem, "youth, " which has been published in many languages and was a favorite poem of general douglas macarthur. jacob and leah ullman's son marcus maximillian ullman founded the well known department store, m. m. ullman & co., which operated for more than a century in downtown natchez. (jacob and leah ullman are buried in the natchez city cemetery.)